Pre-Medieval Poison

The use of poison—a toxic substance deliberately introduced to a living creature for the sake of incapacitating or killing it—is found as early as 4500 BCE. How do we know? Grooves in ancient weapons, such as arrows, have been found to contain evidence of toxic substances like tubocurarine, an alkaloid found in the bark of a South American climbing vine. It paralyzed the muscles of a mammal, but did not prohibit eating the flesh safely. Pliny claimed there were over 7000 different poisons.

King Mithridates of Anatolia (114 - 63 BCE) was so paranoid about being poisoned that he worked hard to discover cures. He would test cures (after applying poisons) to criminals. He also attempted to immunize himself by taking minuscule amounts of poison himself daily. He eventually created a "cure-all," a mixture of dozens of substances, which he named Mithridatium. His notes on plants and cures were taken to Rome after Mithridates' kingdom was defeated by Pompey the Great. 

The Roman Empire brought poisoning "into the mainstream," using it to eliminate enemies and political rivals, even right at the dinner table. Several emperors were eliminated by poison, if we believe Roman historians. A praegustator or "pre-eater" (food taster) was a slave used to try out one's food for safety. If you could bribe a food taster, however, you could get rid of your victim easily. Of course the food taster in many cases ate the food when it was ready for eating, immediately prior to the diner tucking in, so there was no warning. If the diner and the food taster died with the same symptoms, however, the survivors knew it was poison, and could react accordingly (either seeking revenge or enjoying their nefarious plan).

The European Middle Ages likewise embraced poison to solve political problems:

Henri of Flanders (d. 1216), the second Latin emperor of Constantinople, and Blanche II of Navarre (d. 1464) were both supposedly poisoned by members of their own families. This was also the case for Robert IV of Artois, count of Eu, and his wife Joanna of Durazzo, who paid a visit to Joanna’s sister Margherita, Queen of Naples, in 1387. Neither of them would leave the royal residence of Castel dell’Ovo alive, ...

Dmitriy Yurievich Shemyaka, twice Grand Prince of Moscow, however, irritated the Muscovites ... In 1453, the city’s inhabitants bribed the prince’s cook to poison his roast chicken dinner. Other poisonings of high-ranking individuals remain unsolved: the Irish peer James Butler, earl of Ormond and a cousin of Anne Boleyn, died in London in 1546 as the apparent victim of poisoning along with seventeen other members of his household. [link]

Medieval apothecaries provided many different substances and the knowledge of their uses. What did they supply? Tomorrow we will look at several of the known poisons available at the time.

Tennis, Anyone?

The earliest version of the game now called "real tennis" (or court tennis or royal tennis) was jeu de paulme, literally "palm game," because a ball was hit back and forth with the hand. Paddles and racquets were introduced in the 16th century, and were standard by the late 17th century, but the original name stuck. "Tennis" derives from tenez, "hold," which a player would call to pause the game. The tennis that we normally think of is distinguished as "lawn tennis."

Believed to have been started by monks and villagers in the 12th century in northern France, it became the "sport of kings" when the French royalty took up the game. Louis X was an avid player, and died after a particularly vigorous game; he reportedly drank a large quantity of cooled wine and died of pneumonia or pleurisy (or poison, as is always suspected when a healthy king with potential claimants to the throne dies at 27).

Louis did not like playing outdoors, and constructed indoor courts, starting a trend for royal palaces across Europe. He is history's first tennis player known by name. King Charles V of France (1338 - 1380) had a tennis court created at the Louvre Palace. Henry VIII of England was also a fan.

The original court was very different from the modern one in use today. It had several different areas marked out. Let me give you a sense of the complexity of the game and the court:

The game is begun by a service which is always from the same end of the court (the service side). The opposite end of the court where the receiver stands is called the hazard side. The service does not alternate with each game as in lawn tennis. The server changes ends and ceases to serve only when a chase has been laid. The meaning of a chase will be explained below. To be a valid service the ball has to touch the penthouse roof at least once on the hazard side of the net and drop in the service court. If it does not touch the penthouse roof or if it hits a window or the roof it will be a fault. A second serve is available, as in lawn tennis. [Click this link if you want to be overwhelmed.]

The ball used would have been far less uniform than modern balls, and would have been prone (like Miss Climpson's eraser), to an eccentric bounce. Today's real tennis balls have cork centers, surrounded first by fabric and then string and then a hand-sewn layer of heavy woolen cloth. Traditionally white, the color has changed to the "optic yellow" of lawn tennis balls.

"Real tennis" is still played today; the century-old governing body is in France.

Poison has been mentioned in this and the previous post, as a rumor concerning the death of a king. Was poison that prevalent, or was it an "urban myth" of the time? How would someone in the Middle Ages go about poisoning someone? Let's take a look at that tomorrow.

Louis' Second Marriage

Poor Louis X of France! He became king after his father's death, but he did not have an heir. (Well, he did, but she was a daughter, so...) He was married, but his wife had been imprisoned for life due to infidelity. To put away his wife and re-marry required an annulment from the pope, but the college of cardinals was still fighting over an election because of politics. What to do?

As it happens, his wife, Queen Consort Margaret of Burgundy, died in prison on 30 April 1315 after "catching a cold." Some say she was strangled. Of course there is no way to know if the story of the cold was made-up and someone had her eliminated to resolve the crisis.

Whatever the case, Louis was free to marry again, and he did. Louis married Clementia of Hungary (pictured here) on 19 August. Less than a year later, on 5 June 1316, Louis died after playing tennis. Clementia was pregnant at the time, and this created a question: if she gave birth to a son, he would have precedence over Louis' daughter by Margaret. If she gave birth to a daughter, then the elder daughter, Joan, would have precedence; on the other hand, Margaret's affair raised questions as to the true parentage of Joan.

Louis' brother Philip was appointed regent for the five months until Clementia gave birth. On 15 November 1316, King John I was born and reigned under his uncle Philip's regency for five days until his death on the 20th. He is the youngest person to be King of France, and the only King of France to hold the title for his entire life. Of course there were rumors that Philip had him killed, especially since Philip succeeded him as Philip V. The child mortality rate was very high, however: estimates for the medieval era worldwide are that one in four children died in the first year of life.

But let us not just ignore that Louis died after playing tennis. Was his death connected to the tennis game? And tennis? In 1316? Of course you are curious about tennis in the Middle Ages, and I will attempt to satisfy that curiosity next time.

The Empty Papacy

The Avignon Papacy, when the French Pope Clement V decided to move the papal headquarters from Rome to Avignon, was not a simple change in geographical location. Many non-French cardinals and others opposed the move, and the rivalries that rose led in one case to the longest period in history without a functioning pope.

Clement died 20 April 1314. The papal conclave to elect a successor was convened on 1 May and lasted until 7 August 1316 with the election of John XXII. The conclave had such a difficult time electing a pope because of three opposing factions of cardinals: Italian (eight cardinals, who wanted to return to Rome), Gascon (10 cardinals, who enjoyed the convenience of having the papal offices so close to home), and French/Provençal (five cardinals, who did not appreciate a return to Rome or the special privileges enjoyed by the Gascon cardinals under the Aquitainian Clement V).

The Italian cardinals tried and failed to gain the support of the Provençal cardinals. The various groups were refusing to meet until they could get their own politics worked out. King Philip IV of France convened a group of jurists to help find a resolution, but he died on 29 November 1314. His son, Louis X, tried to get the cardinals to come together at Lyons.

Louis had a special reason to get a pope elected. His wife had been imprisoned for adultery, but automatically became queen consort when Louis succeeded his father to the throne. Louis wanted a wife to rule by his side and bear children, but without a pope, he could not obtain the annulment he needed. Louis died on 5 June 1316, and the papal conclave became the problem of his brother, Philip, who locked the cardinals in a Dominican convent until they made a final decision.

Ultimately, a compromise candidate was chosen: Jacques d'Euse was 72 years old, and his selection seems to have been a way of "kicking the can down the road" so that they could have a pope now, knowing that they would be having this discussion again presently. Jacques d'Euse surprised them all, however, ruling as Pope John XXII from 7 August 1316 until his death on 4 December 1334!

But back to Louis X of France. He never did get an annulment, but his problem was solved another way, and he was able to remarry and produce a son by his new wife, a son who reigned as King of France for five days. For that sad tale, you will have to wait until next time.

The Tour de Nesle Affair

In the early 13th century, Philip II of France fortified Paris with four large guard towers. The Tour de Nesle (the "s" is silent) on the south bank of the Seine was 10 meters in diameter and 25 meters tall. The illustration shows it in 1608, a few decades before it was taken down. In 1314, it became the site of a huge royal scandal.

King at the time was Philip IV, who in 1307 had managed to get the pope to condemn the Templars, allowing him to seize all their assets for himself. He had three sons and one daughter, Isabella of France. The sons (each of whom had a turn as king) were Louis, who was married to Margaret, daughter of Robert II, Duke of Burgundy; Philip, who married Joan the daughter of Otto IV, Count of Burgundy; and Charles, who married Blanche, another of Otto's daughters.

In 1313, Isabella and Edward II of England visited her parents in France, during which Isabella presented her sisters-in-law with embroidered purses. (Note that these would not have been a modern "lady's purse" but a pouch for carrying coins.) Upon the couple's return to England, a feast was held in their honor. During the gathering, Isabella saw two of the embroidered purses in the possession of two visiting Norman knights, the brothers Walter and Philip Aunay.

Walter was an equerry to Prince Philip, and Philip was an equerry to Prince Charles. An equerry was a "personal assistant" responsible for the horses of a royal personage. Isabella concluded that her sisters-in-law had given the purses to the men for "special favors" and, when she re-visited France in 1314, informed her father of her suspicions. Philip placed the men and his daughters-in-law under surveillance, eventually deterring that Blanche and Margaret had been meeting the two men for drinking and debauchery in the Tour de Nesle, while the third daughter-in-law, Joan, had been aware of the carousing (though not a participant).

Philip gathered enough evidence to accuse those involved publicly. The two sisters were found guilty of adultery, had their heads shaved, and were sentenced to life imprisonment. Joan was found innocent, especially with her husband speaking up for her. (Joan and Philip had a notably romantic marriage: several children in a short space of time, and numerous love letters written by Philip.)

The brothers (under torture) confessed their adultery, were found guilty of lèse-majesté, "crime against the dignity of the crown," and were beaten, skinned alive, covered in boiling lead sulfite, and hanged. Other reports say they were castrated and beheaded. Whatever their fate, it was brutal and terminal.

Some think the stress of the Tour de Nesle affair contributed to Philip IV's death later that year. He was succeeded by Louis in 1315. Margaret, held underground at Château Gaillard, became Queen of France automatically. Louis would have liked to avoid this, but he could not get his marriage annulled because to do so required the pope. Why could he not procure an annulment from the pope? Simple: there wasn't one.

I'll explain next time.

The She-Wolf of France, Part 2

In 1325, Queen Isabella went to see her brother, King Charles IV of France, to negotiate over Charles' seizing of King Edward II's possessions on the continent. She was likely also very glad to get away from England, where Edward's close companion and new chamberlain, Hugh le Despenser the Younger, was making her miserable. She stayed there for some time with her son, Edward.

In Christmas 1325 she was still at her brother's court and encountered Roger Mortimer. Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore and 1st Earl of March, had fled England after escaping from the Tower of London where he had been imprisoned for life after rebelling against Edward in the Despenser War. Rumors that Isabella and Mortimer developed a romantic relationship led them to leave the royal court. Each of them was married; Mortimer had gained great wealth and land through his wife.

According to the contemporary biographer who wrote the Vita Edwardi Secundi ("Life of Edward II"), Mortimer threatened to slit Isabella's throat if she returned to Edward. They first went to Flanders, then Isabella went to Ponthieu to raise troops and Mortimer (with Prince Edward) went to raise support in Hainault.

On 24 September 1326, Isabella and her son arrived back in England (see illustration). London allied with her, and Edward II fled westward, hiding out in Wales for a few weeks until he was captured on 16 November and imprisoned in Kenilworth Castle. A January 1327 Parliament was convened to discuss the situation, but they had a problem: there was no mechanism for removing a king. A delegation was sent to inform him that if he did not abdicate in favor of his son, his son might be disinherited and the kingship go to an alternate candidate. Edward chose to abdicate on 21 January. Edward II was crowned on 1 February.

In truth, the next few years in England were run by Isabella and Mortimer as regents for the young Edward. Their rule was not welcome by many of the barons, and the threat of civil war was never far away. Also, there were many lawyers and others who claimed Edward II was still king, and the chance that former supporters would try to restore him was not zero. Edward II was moved from Kenilworth to the more secure Berkeley Castle and put under the charge of Lord Berkeley. On 23 September, a message came from Berkeley that Edward had died from a "fatal accident." Rumors abounded: that Isabella had him killed; that Mortimer had him killed; that he had escaped and was hiding in disguise somewhere in Wales or on the continent. Edward's heart was given in a silver casket to Isabella. 

When Edward III came into his majority, Isabella's authority in the country faded, although as the king's mother she was treated well. Edward had Mortimer taken to the Tower, after which he was accused of assuming royal power improperly and other crimes. On 29 November 1330, he was taken from the Tower to Tyburn Hill and hanged. His wife was pardoned of any part in her husband's crimes, and all Mortimer's lands were taken by Edward.

Isabella wound up in Castle Rising in Norfolk with a yearly income of £3000, which rose to £4000 by 1337. Her lifestyle was lavish with plenty of staff and extras like minstrels. The She-Wolf who had turned on her husband and taken over a country doted on her children and grandchildren and became more interested in religion, making several visits to shrines. She eventually took the veil with the Poor Clares. When she died on 22 August 1358, she was buried at the Franciscan church at Newgate with the silver casket containing Edward's heart.

She survived the accusations of an improper relationship with Mortimer, but she knew well the dangers involved in female infidelity. In fact, she herself was intimately involved in a French royal scandal involving adultery. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the Tour de Nesle affair.

The She-Wolf of France, Part 1

Isabella of France (c.1295 - 1358) was a queen whose father and three brothers all became kings. Although she was used for a political marriage at an early age, she grew up understanding how to wield power of her own. So at a point when her husband, Edward II of England, was having yet more difficulties with his barons and relying more on the objectionable Hugh le Despenser the Younger, she decided to do something radical about the situation.

At the beginning of their marriage, to be fair, Edward had relied on his French in-laws for help, such as Isabella's uncle Louis of Évreux (who advised trying for a peaceful solution to the split among his barons after Gaveston's death). Edward even trusted Isabella with the Great Seal on occasion, as you will see.

During earlier problems with the barons, Isabella had gone to France to assure that the French would come to Edward's aid if a civil conflict broke out. Later tensions in England however, both political and personal, motivated Isabella to act against her husband. The Despensers convinced Edward to take control of the lands in Isabella's possession in 1324, giving him the taxes and leaving Isabella dependent on the king for her finances. She was forced to trim her retinue of many retainers and friends. Worse for Isabella, one of her ladies-in-waiting was Eleanor de Clare. A niece of Edward, Eleanor had been married to Hugh the Younger, making her a spy in Isabella's household, reporting on her communications.

As of 1321 she had still supported her husband and his faction (including the Despensers) against the faction led by Thomas of Lancaster. On a pilgrimage to Canterbury, she stopped by Leeds Castle, held by the king's steward who had allied himself with Lancaster. The steward was away, and his wife refused entry to the queen, causing a fight to break out between the two groups and resulting in the death of some of Isabella's guards. Historians believe this was staged as a casus belli, giving Edward a reason to answer the royal insult by besieging Leeds and teaching a lesson to his steward—on this occasion he left Isabella with the Great Seal and in charge of Chancery—placing the steward's wife and children in the Tower and executing 13 of the Leeds garrison.

This was the start of the Despenser War, in which the king and his allies fought barons led by Humphrey de Bohun and Roger Mortimer. It was relatively brief; within a year, Lancaster was captured and executed and the rest forced to surrender. Mortimer was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in the Tower. In August 1323, however, he escaped and fled to France. Warrants were put out for his return, dead or alive.

Isabella's brother Charles was now King Charles IV of France, and he seized England's possessions in France. Isabella went to France with Edward's blessing, ostensibly to ask her brother for peace. At Charles' court, however, she found none other than Roger Mortimer, who had been not long before on the "other side" of her political position. From helping her husband start a war to deal with his enemies, to becoming his enemy because she saw Edward's rule becoming increasingly inappropriate, seemed to be an easy shift for her.

The alliance between Isabella and Mortimer led to deposing Edward and crowning her son; details tomorrow.

Isabella of France

Isabella of France was the only surviving daughter of King Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre, promised to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward II) by the 1303 Treaty of Paris. That she was eight at the time was not unusual—Philip used all his children for political marriages—and the marriage itself did not take place until 25 January 1308, so that she was respectably a teenager. Ironically, the marriage was meant to cease hostilities between England and France, but its chief issue (Edward III) would produce both a claimant to the French throne and the Hundred Years War. There is evidence that Edward I would have preferred his son marry someone from Gascony, but the Treaty's terms tied his hands. As it is, the marriage did not take place until after Edward I's death.

She was raised in Paris, learning to read and developing a love of books (she may have been more literate than her husband). The records of her wardrobe indicate the wealth from which she came: dresses of velvet and taffeta, furs, 72 headdresses, over 400 yards of linen, and two gold crowns. She also brought to the marriage gold and silver dinnerware.

A contemporary chronicler called her "the beauty of beauties... in the kingdom if not in all Europe." Since her father was called le Bel ("the Fair") because of his looks, and her brothers were all described as handsome men, it is likely that her description was not just courtly flattery. Contemporaries also commented on her charm, her skill at persuasion, and her intelligence. It was specifically said that she took after her father, not her mother, who was said to be short and heavy.

Although she well understood the duties of a woman married for political expedience, she was likely annoyed at her new husband's preference for the company of certain others, such as Piers Gaveston and Hugh le Despenser the Younger. Although she and Piers are said to have made peace with each other, Hugh was less gracious, and her husband's increasing closeness to Hugh (after Gaveston's death) ultimately motivated her to return to France and raise an army to invade England and deal with her increasingly wayward husband.

Still, between 1312 and 1321, she bore him four children, one of whom succeeded Edward as king, one of whom became queen of Scotland. She also stood by his side through some difficult times with his barons, until Hugh le Despenser started deliberately giving her cause for anger and desire for revenge. Ultimately, she felt she had no choice to ally herself with others and invade England, deposing her husband and eliminating Despenser.

How she managed the invasion and earned the epithet "She Wolf of France" will be offered in more detail in the next post.

The Worst Briton

Hugh le Despenser the Younger was an able administrator and close friend and advisor of King Edward II, who had made Hugh his chamberlain. He was not well-liked, however, by many of the king's barons, nor by the general populace.

His problem was exercising too much power, so much so that he easily made enemies of powerful people. Moreover, the liberty with which he wielded authority—he was referred to as a "second king"—brought accusations against the king: that they were "too close." Hugh was accused of sodomy, a charge not even leveled at Piers Gaveston, of whom a modern age has no trouble assuming a homosexual relationship with Edward.

But Hugh had failed to do something that Gaveston had accomplished: treating Queen Isabella with respect. As chamberlain, he removed her children from her care, and mocked her for being French. As much as Edward's nobles may have hated the Despensers, the people also hated the influence on their king and the taxes promoted by his chamberlain. Some citizens of Coventry even hired a magician to kill the Despensers through sorcery.

Hugh was killed by ordinary means, however. Isabella partnered with Roger Mortimer to raise a force to rebel against her husband. Their assault on the king started in September 1326; in November, Edward and Hugh were captured. Edward was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, who became King Edward III.

Hugh was taken to Hereford. He began a hunger strike, perhaps hoping to die before what was liable to be a painful execution. On 24 November he had his trial in the market square in Hereford. He was charged with treason, of returning to England after banishment, of stealing (he had spent a part of his exile engaging in piracy), et cetera. The punishment for thievery was hanging; the punishment for treason was to be drawn and quartered.

He was stripped naked and dragged by horses to the walls of his own castle where a scaffold had been raised. There, in front of the populace as well as Isabella and Mortimer, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Jean Froissart, a French youth who came to Edward III's court, says Despenser's genitals were cut off and his entrails pulled out while he was still alive. Froissart was born after this event, however, and relies on an account by Jean le Bel, who was known for only relaying what he could learn by eyewitnesses. No contemporary English account mentions the castration, however.

Despenser's head was cut off and displayed in London. The rest of him was cut into four pieces and sent off display to Bristol, Dover, Newcastle, and York.

BBC History Magazine has labeled him the 14th century's worst Briton.

With the forced abdication of Edward II and elevation of his son Edward, Isabella was now mother to a 14-year-old king. She had proven herself to be able to take matters into her own hands and achieve bold results. Where did she come from, and what happened next for her? Let's take a close look at Isabella of France next time.

Those Despensers!

One of the complaints about King Edward II of England by his barons was that he took the wrong people into his confidence and acted on their advice. Much is made of the colorful and witty Piers Gaveston, who Edward's father had attached to his son's household while they were both young. Many historians allow discussing Gaveston's relationship with Edward to overshadow the influence on Edward of the Despensers.

Hugh le Despenser the Younger was a few years younger than Edward. Through no effort on his own part, he became extremely wealthy and powerful. The young king—who was known for treating friends and favorites well—gave him estates and castles. His marriage to Eleanor de Clare in summer of 1306 was partially arranged because her grandfather, Edward I, owed Hugh's father 2000 marks. The debt was considered paid by his marriage into a wealthy noble family. Since his wife was also niece of the new king, Hugh was even closer to the royal family.

Then her brother was killed in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn. Her brother was Gilbert, 8th Earl of Gloucester, and through Eleanor Hugh inherited one-third of the Gloucester estates. Landless when first knighted, in a few years he became one of the wealthiest knights in England.

A few years after Gaveston's death, Edward elevated Hugh to the important position of chamberlain. The older barons saw this as yet another instance of Edward forsaking them for younger and less suitable councillors.

Hugh was not careful with his authority, alienating Edward's queen, Isabella of France. He also vowed revenge on Roger Mortimer, whom Queen Isabella took into her confidence (and perhaps her bed), because Mortimer's grandfather had killed Hugh's grandfather. Hugh also was known to seize lands that were not his own, and cheating others of their properties. In August of 1321, the barons forced Hugh and his father, Hugh le Despenser the Elder, into exile. The Vita Edwardi Secundi ("Life of Edward the Second"), covering the years of Edward's reign up to 1326, says the Younger became a pirate in the English Channel during this time, "a sea monster, lying in wait for merchants as they crossed the sea."

Edward recalled the Despensers from exile, and they and their forces helped him to put down a rebellion, capture Mortimer, and execute one of Edward's harshest critics, Lancaster. The wheel of fortune turns, however, and there was no long and contented life ahead of Hugh. For details of his death, you will have to come back tomorrow.

The King's Favorite

In 1307, the Knights Templar were condemned in France by Philip IV and lost their possessions and lives. One of the accusations was that they indulged in sodomy. Sexual morality was a concern in Western European society, and accusations of perversion had great consequences for the accused.

A year later, Philip married his daughter, Isabella of France, to Edward II of England. Edward's letters to Isabella while he was away show affection. Later, however, his closeness to Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser the Younger became an issue: Edward spent his coronation feast in 1308 by Gaveston's side and not Isabella's. Isabella and Gaveston did form a relationship, and Edward and Isabella had children in 1312, 1318, 1321, and 1324.

Gaveston had many strikes against him in the barons' eyes: he was wittier than they, tended to give them unflattering nicknames, and was a better jouster. When Edward made the young man from Gascony Earl of Cornwall, there were many complaints about an earldom in foreign hands. His closeness to Edward meant Edward ignored the counsel of many more established men, although not all: Edward had plenty of well-respected men in positions of authority to run the kingdom.

But the barons' and Edward were in conflict during his entire reign, as was the case with his father's. When they decided that he needed to be deposed in favor of his eldest son (who would become Edward III), they drew up the Articles of Deposition (1327). There were six items:

1. That he is incompetent
2. That he won't listen to good counsel
3. That he lost Scotland (honestly, his father never gained Scotland, so to say he "lost" it...)
4. He has destroyed holy church (he actually built and supported many churches)
5. He has not done justice according to his coronation oath (see here)
6. He has done all he could to ruin his realm.

Curiously, no hint of improper sexual behavior.

The first hint of such comes 50 years later when a Cistercian in the abbey at Meaux accuses the king not of sodomy but of "too much sodomy." A contemporary historian, writing two years before Edward's death, refers to Edward's and Gaveston's relationship in comparison to David and Johnathan from the Old Testament, "a love which is said to have surpassed the love of women." That writer claims the hatred of Gaveston is because he was a foreigner and an upstart.

Did Edward and Gaveston have a homosexual relationship? It is certainly possible. Did they? Even those who hated Gaveston and killed him, and hated Edward and deposed him, never chose to accuse either of that sexual activity. The popularity of that view starts with Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593), and has provided fodder for controversy among historians ever since. The illustration is a 19th century painting showing the two cavorting while courtiers look on in concern. People can (and do) read into the facts whatever conclusion they prefer.

But those Despensers? So despised that devout Christians would even hire a magical hitman to eliminate them? Let's find out what they were guilty of next time.