A King and His Scorned Queen
Humiliated by his defeat in Scotland, Edward II was unable to resist his magnates when they formed a baronial committee that sidelined the monarch and ruled the realm. It lasted until Edward found another favorite and rumored lover, Hugh Despenser, and raised him. As with Gaveston, the barons demanded that Edward banish Despenser, but this time Edward fought back. With the Despenser family’s support, the monarch defeated the barons and regained his authority in 1322. However, his public displays of affection for Hugh Despenser humiliated and alienated Edward’s queen, Isabella.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. When she was on a diplomatic mission to Paris in 1325, Queen Isabella became the mistress of Roger Mortimer, an exiled baronial opponent of Edward. Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (1287 – 1330) was a powerful English nobleman who fell out with the king over his maladministration and employment of corrupt royal favorites. Mortimer led a baronial revolt, but it was crushed in 1322, and he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He eventually escaped and fled to France, where he plotted payback.
