Deitz Family Tree
Gaveston-De Clare Line
Piers Gaveston-24th Great Grandfather
My research into my family history has taken me back to the 13th Century quite a bit lately.
I have always found the medieval era fascinating and now lately even more so since I discovered that many of my mother's lines go back to some of the most written about people of the time.
Today I discovered that Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall and the doomed lover of King Edward II was the 1st husband of my 21st Great Grandmother, Margaret De Clare Galveston Stafford, Countess of Gloucester.
Then as I continued my research I discovered that he was also my 24th Great Grandfather while researching one of my other lines!!
Piers and Margaret had one daughter, together named Joan, who died at age 13.
But Piers also had an illegitimate daughter named Amie (Amy) with another woman and this Amie would become my 23rd Great Grandmother
My 24th Great Grandfather lived a very interesting life. He was born of parents that held no special social standing and rose to become one of the favorites of a King as well as the Earl of Cornwall.
He was given a wife of royal lineage and was given much wealth by the same king who favored him intimately.
And because of his relationship with that King, he met an untimely death.
Come along as I try to tell the story of a man who's blood runs through the veins of myself and my siblings and their children......
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| Gaveston Coat of Arms |
Introduction
Piers Gaveston
(24th Great Grandfather)
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One likeness of Piers Gaveston-24th Great GrandfatherMy Pedigrees to Piers Gaveston & Margaret De Clare
Pedigree # One with Piers being my 21st Great Grandmother's 1st husband
Piers de Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall is your 21st great grandmother's 1st husband.
You
→ Marlene Grace Repinski
your mother → Raymond Harold Dietz
her father → Henry Chester Dietz
his father → Eleanor May Dietz
his mother → Mary E. Brown
her mother → Mary Elizabeth Smith
her mother → Ziba Smith
her father → Elizabeth Smith
his mother → Esther Sayles
her mother → Major Sylvanus Scott
her father → John Scott
his father → Katherine Scott
his mother → Bridget Marbury
her mother → Elizabeth Dryden (Cope)
her mother → Bridget Cope
her mother → Edward Raleigh, Esq.
her father → Sir Edward Raleigh, Kt.
his father → Elizabeth Raleigh
his mother → Philippa Greene
her mother → Robert de Ferrers, 4th Baron Ferrers of Chartley
her father → Elizabeth de Cobham (de Stafford)
his mother → Countess Margaret de Stafford (de Audley)
her mother → Margaret de Clare, Countess of Gloucester
her mother → Piers de Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall
her husband
Pedigree # Two with Piers Gaveston being my 24th Great Grandfather
Piers is the 24th great grandfather of John
1. John is the son of Marlene Grace (Dietz) Repinski
2. Marlene is the daughter of Raymond Harold Dietz
3. Raymond is the son of Grace Elizabeth (Pope) Dietz
4. Grace is the daughter of Isadora S. (Smith) Pope
5. Isadora is the daughter of Edward Y Smith
6. Edward is the son of Harrison Smith
7. Harrison is the son of Samuel Smith
8. Samuel is the son of Ann (Wass) Smith
9. Ann is the daughter of Rebecca (Allen) Wass
10. Rebecca is the daughter of Margaret (Homes) Allen
11. Margaret is the daughter of Katherine (Craighead) Homes
12. Katherine is the daughter of Agnes (Hart) Craighead
13. Agnes is the daughter of John (Hart) Heart
14. John is the son of Jean Mowat
15. Jean is the daughter of Christian Stewart
16. Christian is the daughter of Robert Stewart
17. Robert is the son of James Stewart
18. James V is the son of Margaret Tudor
19. Margaret is the daughter of Henry (Tudor) of England
20. Henry VII is the son of Margaret (Beaufort) Stanley
21. Margaret is the daughter of Margaret (Beauchamp) Welles
22. Margaret is the daughter of Edith Stourton
23. Edith is the daughter of Jane (Basset) Stourton
24. Jane is the daughter of Alice (Driby) Bassett
25. Alice is the daughter of Amie (Gaveston) de Driby
26. Amy is the daughter of Piers Gaveston
This makes Piers the 24th great grandfather of John.
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Part One-Origins
Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall was an English nobleman of Gascon origin, and the favourite of King Edward II of England.
At a young age he made a good impression on King Edward I "Longshanks", and was assigned to the household of the King's son, Edward of Caernarfon.
Birth & Family History & Early Life
Born: 1284, Gascony
Died: June 19, 1312, Leek Wootton, United Kingdom
Place of burial: England, United Kingdom
Spouse: Margaret de Clare (m. 1307)
Cause of death: Decapitation
Children: Joan de Gaveston, Amy de Gaveston (Amy being my 23rd Great Grandmother)
Piers was one of four sons and one daughter of a Gascon Knight, Arnaud (Gaveston) de Gabaston and Clarimunda Marsau (De Marsan).
Piers Gaveston was to be their second child, his elder brother being Arnaud-Guillaume de Marsan, but he also had a recognised illegitimate half-brother Guillaume-Arnaud de Gabaston.
There were three other siblings. Two younger brothers, Gerard de Gabaston and Raimon-Arnaud de Gabaston, as well as his sister Amy who was with Piers in 1312 at the siege of Scarborough castle.
From looking at the historical records, I didn't think much had been written about my 25th Great Grandparents other than that they came from an area of France called GASCONY....but upon some further digging and research I discovered a vibrant and rich history on them and the Gabaston and De Marsan families which sheds quite a bit of light on how Piers rose from a "Nothing" to a "Someone"...
The infamous name ‘Gaveston’ is a anglicisation of his father’s family surname, which takes it’s heritage from the village of Gabaston in an area known as Béarn.
The first part of the name Gabaston comes from the local river ‘Gabas’ and was certainly adopted by one of his ancestors, appearing in the records in the 1040’s. Béarn is an important part of Gascony, which sits in the south-west of France near the border between France and what is now modern day Spain.
Gascony in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was part of the much reduced Duchy of Aquitaine, which had first come to the English crown when Henry II had married Eleanor of Aquitaine and then went on to inherit the throne of England in 1154.
During the middle part of the thirteenth century, the young duke of Aquitaine was Edward, the future Edward I.
The viscounts of Béarn owed Edward homage and fealty for some of their lands, albeit it Béarn itself remained fiercely independent, and in turn Arnaud de Gabaston and Clarmonde de Marsan owed the viscount Gaston VII, their homage and fealty for their lands in and around large swathes of Béarn and Marsan.
In short, despite the complexity of the landholdings in this part of the world at this time, it was somewhat inevitable that Arnaud de Gabaston and Edward I were to come into direct contact.
Gascony area of France
Arnaud de Gabaston was a man of significant status, who could trace his ancestors back to the eleventh century.
He was especially noted for his position as jurat which he undertook from 1269. This role came with many facets, but the most important was effectively sitting as a judge in Béarn.
This gave him significant power in the region.
As did Arnaud’s marriage, to Piers Gaveston’s mother, Claramonde de Marsan, who was daughter of another jurat called Arnaud-Guillaume de Marsan.
Claramonde, was co-heir to her father’s estates with that of her brother, Fortaner de Lescun.
So when she married de Gabaston, with her came substantial land holdings which included the five castles of Louvigny, Hagetmau, Montgaillard-des-Landes, St. Labouer, Roquefort-de-Marsan valued collectively at £100 sterling, as well as lands in Marsan, Turban, Chalosse and Sauveterre-de-Béarn.
A few of these ancestral family castles and estates:
There were also other lands which Clarmonde retained in her own right after her marriage. The marriage proved to be successful by the standards of the day.
Furthermore, through the de Marsan family, Piers Gaveston was also connected to a third significant family – the Caillau, who were one of the most prominent families in Bordeaux, whose family members had risen to the rank of mayor among other positions.
Gaveston’s aunt, Miramonde de Marsan, married Pierre Caillau the head of the Caillau family.
Gaveston’s relation, Bertrand de Caillau had risen in status in the papacy and it was he who was sent by Clement V among others in 1309 to bring about the return of Piers from his second exile from Ireland.
With the marriage of Claramonde and Arnaud, two ancient Gascon families had thus been united; it is quickly evident that Piers Gaveston was no mere nothing.
In fact his family was at the high-end heart of Gascon society.
Piers Gaveston was to be their second child, his elder brother being Arnaud-Guillaume de Marsan, but he also had a recognised illegitimate half-brother Guillaume-Arnaud de Gabaston.
There were three other siblings. Two younger brothers, Gerard de Gabaston and Raimon-Arnaud de Gabaston, as well as his sister Amy who was with Piers in 1312 at the siege of Scarborough castle.
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| Arnaud De Gabaston & Clarmonde De Marsan-23rd Great Grandparents |
From looking at the historical records, I didn't think much had been written about my 25th Great Grandparents other than that they came from an area of France called GASCONY....but upon some further digging and research I discovered a vibrant and rich history on them and the Gabaston and De Marsan families which sheds quite a bit of light on how Piers rose from a "Nothing" to a "Someone"...
A Land Called Gascony
The first part of the name Gabaston comes from the local river ‘Gabas’ and was certainly adopted by one of his ancestors, appearing in the records in the 1040’s. Béarn is an important part of Gascony, which sits in the south-west of France near the border between France and what is now modern day Spain.
Gascony in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was part of the much reduced Duchy of Aquitaine, which had first come to the English crown when Henry II had married Eleanor of Aquitaine and then went on to inherit the throne of England in 1154.
During the middle part of the thirteenth century, the young duke of Aquitaine was Edward, the future Edward I.
The viscounts of Béarn owed Edward homage and fealty for some of their lands, albeit it Béarn itself remained fiercely independent, and in turn Arnaud de Gabaston and Clarmonde de Marsan owed the viscount Gaston VII, their homage and fealty for their lands in and around large swathes of Béarn and Marsan.
In short, despite the complexity of the landholdings in this part of the world at this time, it was somewhat inevitable that Arnaud de Gabaston and Edward I were to come into direct contact.
Gascony area of France
Arnaud de Gabaston (25th GGF)
He was especially noted for his position as jurat which he undertook from 1269. This role came with many facets, but the most important was effectively sitting as a judge in Béarn.
This gave him significant power in the region.
Clarmonde de Marsan (25th GGM)
Claramonde, was co-heir to her father’s estates with that of her brother, Fortaner de Lescun.
So when she married de Gabaston, with her came substantial land holdings which included the five castles of Louvigny, Hagetmau, Montgaillard-des-Landes, St. Labouer, Roquefort-de-Marsan valued collectively at £100 sterling, as well as lands in Marsan, Turban, Chalosse and Sauveterre-de-Béarn.
A few of these ancestral family castles and estates:
Ancestral Family Estates in Aquitane
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| The remains of Louvingy Castle |
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| Hagetmau Castle (for Sale!) |
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Montgaillard-des-Landes Roquefort-de-Marsan |
There were also other lands which Clarmonde retained in her own right after her marriage. The marriage proved to be successful by the standards of the day.
Furthermore, through the de Marsan family, Piers Gaveston was also connected to a third significant family – the Caillau, who were one of the most prominent families in Bordeaux, whose family members had risen to the rank of mayor among other positions.
Gaveston’s aunt, Miramonde de Marsan, married Pierre Caillau the head of the Caillau family.
Gaveston’s relation, Bertrand de Caillau had risen in status in the papacy and it was he who was sent by Clement V among others in 1309 to bring about the return of Piers from his second exile from Ireland.
With the marriage of Claramonde and Arnaud, two ancient Gascon families had thus been united; it is quickly evident that Piers Gaveston was no mere nothing.
In fact his family was at the high-end heart of Gascon society.
Part Two-To Serve A King
Piers' Father & King Edward I
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| Arnaud de Gabaston was often sent on missions for Edward I between 1282 and 1302 |
From the 1270’s Gabaston became intricately linked with Edward I, especially when the reclatriant viscount of Béarn, Gaston VII, rebelled against the king of England.
In the end the rebellion was short lived and in the ensuing peace, the viscount was forced to offer homage and fealty again for his lands excluding Béarn.
During the act of homage, Arnaud de Gabaston – the jurat – along with three others, acted as surety for the viscount.
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| King Edward I |
The year before this event, Gabaston formally acknowledged in the official royal records, a debt of £450 to Edward I in 1272, the year of Edward I’s accession to the throne of England.
This is a princely sum – we are uncertain what the debt was in response to – but to help ease the burden, Gabaston granted to Edward I his wife’s castle at Louvigny as security until the debt was paid.
Arnaud de Gabaston had therefore placed himself in the mind of the king, for from 1282, he would render service to the king of England that would last until his death in 1302.
It is through this service, that Piers Gaveston would enter into the history of England.
In 1282-3, Arnaud was in England initially, joining the king on his later campaign into Wales where Edward I was attempting, and succeeded, to subdue the native Welsh Prince Llewellyn ap Gruffydd. Arnaud was part of a contingent made up of 3 knights, 7 mounted archers and 120 foot.
In 1288, Piers Gaveston’s father, the year after his wife Clarmonde died, was again in English service, only this time as a hostage for Edward I.
He, along with 63 others were sent to Alfonso III of Aragon as security for the king’s pledge to pay the ransom of Charles of Salerno at the cost of 70,000 marks.
In the end he may not have been held for long, because the deal between Edward I and Alfonso III was overturned by pope Nicholas IV.
In 1294 he reprised the role, becoming hostage again on behalf of Edward I, this time being sent to the king of France, Phillip IV; until he escaped on 13 November 1296 along with two other hostages back to England and was favourably received by the king.
They were decked out with new clothes initially at a cost of £67, and then further awards were made to the tune of £106. 5s to pay for armour and equipment for their retinues, and £34 on horses.
This was used no doubt for the forthcoming campaign in Gascony.
My 24th Great Grandfather, Piers Gaveston, first appears in the records in 1297, when he served in the army of Edward I in Flanders, following which he became a yeoman in the king's household.
He served in Scotland in 1300, as did his father and brother.
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| After fleeing Philip IV, Arnaud brought three of his sons to England sometime between 1296-7 |
In 1297 Arnaud was fighting for Edward I in Flanders, as was his second son for the first time. Piers Gaveston was paid 12d a day and had a horse valued at 12 marks; a modest sum.
In the spring of 1298, Arnaud was in Gascony and given the town and castle of Sault and the castle of Roquefort to defend, that was at least until Guillaume-Arnaud de Brocas complained to the king that de Gabaston had overreached his authority and executed a man without trial.
The king raised a commission in which Gabaston appears to have been acquitted of any crime, but nevertheless he had given up his custodianship of the castles before or soon after the inquiry got going.
In 1300 he and his sons were fighting in Scotland for the king, with Arnaud , once more becoming a royal household knight, receiving £38 from1 August until 3 November as wages for him and his four or six squires which included two of his sons, Arnaud-Guillaume de Marsan and Guillaume-Arnaud de Gabaston. His retinue in total consisted of 8 yeomen.
Part Three-Piers & Edward II
A Love Affair Like No Other
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| Piers Gaveston |
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| King Edward II |
Piers on this occassion was not to squire for his father but was instead fighting in the household of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward II, still being paid the sum of 12d a day but had now acquired a servant and a horse valued at 36 marks, rather than the 12 marks of 1297. The horse didn’t make it through the campaign however and was duly compensated for.
In 1302, Arnaud de Gabaston died and was buried in Winchester Cathedral where his effigy can still be seen today.
Before his death, he had ensured that his family had found service with Edward I, leaving them with stable jobs and regular incomes; their futures seemed secured.
After 1302 the Gabaston family found themselves maintaining that mantle of service like before, only for Piers his position within the household of the future Edward II would place him at the very heart of the royal government.
Joining The Royal Household
The Beginnings of an Intimate Relationship with a Prince of England
It was during his assignment to the royal household that began in 1300 that he would establish an intimate relationship with Prince Edward.....
In 1300 Gaveston’s entry into the household of the Prince of Wales set him and the prince on a course that would have a profound impact on the annals of history.
According to a contemporary chronicle, Gaveston was placed there by Edward I because of his ‘courteous manners’ and because he excelled in military arms.
He was a tourney champ and proven in war.
He was also known to Guy Ferre, the former seneschal of Gascony through his family’s position in that region, and it may in fact be through this connection that he was recommended to Edward I by Guy himself.
Guy Ferre had become Prince Edward’s horse master and teacher of military arms and was a key member of the heir to the throne’s household.
Yet again, Gaveston’s Gascon connections ensured he was promoted within royal circles. There were only approximately two years that separated the future Edward II and Gaveston in age and they appeared to quickly hit it off.
On 14 December 1302, Edward I ordered that Gaveston’s daily allowance be raised from 12d to 15d and that he was suitably robed each season.
Clearly he was impressing the king.
On 29 July 1304, the king at his son’s request, granted to Piers custody of Edmund of Mortimer’s lands in the Welsh March and Ireland, and this wardship of his heir – the future Roger Mortimer of Wigmore – proved lucrative until Mortimer entered into his estates, still a minor, in April 1306.
It was a note of honour from the king and one that recognised Gaveston’s positive contribution to the Price’s household.
Given the above request came from the young Edward, it was most likely that he and Piers were already in an intimate relationship, as Edward had begun his efforts to reward his lover and drive his position yet further. Before 1307, the Annalist of St Paul’s noted that ‘the Prince of Wales had an inordinate affection for a certain Gascon knight.'
The gifts after this date grow bigger.
Piers went on to be knighted in May 1306 and his wealth increased steadily.
For the 1306 campaign in Scotland his horse was valued at an impressive £60, he now had his own modest household and was the holder of lands in ten counties according to official records in that year (although these may have been wrapped up in his wardship of the Mortimer lands as noted above).
By the dawn of 1307, Piers Gaveston by virtue of his family’s position in Gascony, his military ability and courteous manners, had risen high in English royal service, a service that began with his father Arnaud de Gabaston as far back as 1282.
He had won the respect of the king of England, Edward I, most likely the heart of the king’s son, the future Edward II, and was friends with men at court who would one day become his enemies.
To say that Piers Gaveston was ‘raised up as if from nothing’ belies the reality of who he was and where he and his family came from.
Like with so much of history, we need to take the time and care to look beyond the rhetoric. What followed after this date remains to be Gaveston’s legacy, but to better understand him, we need to see the whole picture and not just the bits that make the best of stories......
A Prince & His Paramour
To say that the relationship between my 24th Great Grandfather and the future King Edward II was an affair would be a gross understatement.
While Edward II is so often remembered because of his close male favourites, the one that history records with the greatest of infamy is Piers Gaveston.
His twelve years spent at the side of the king, beginning when Edward was still heir to the throne and ending with Gaveston’s untimely and dramatic death in 1312, is marked by contemporaries now and then with much opprobrium.
It is well documented that their relationship was sexually and emotionally intimate beyond any doubt.
To understand the underpinnings of this relationship, one must look at the circumstances in which Piers and Edward grew up.......
Piers was two years older than Edward, most likely born around July 1282; Edward, a little younger, was born on 25 April 1284.
They had a lot in common. Both their fathers were often absent at war, their mothers died when they were both young; Edward six and Gaveston five.
They also shared a love of fine clothes, music and entertainment.
During these heady early years, their friendship grew and spilled over to something more intimate. This intimacy would bind the two men together against all odds for the remainder of Piers' short life.
‘Of Edward’s love for Piers it was reported that “upon looking on him the son of the king immediately felt such love for him that he entered into a covenant of constancy, and bound himself to him before all other mortals with a bond of indissoluble love, firmly drawn up and fastened with a knot”.
It is far to easy to apply modern terms of sexual identification onto people’s intimate behaviours in the past.
This in itself is made more complicated by the absence of evidence that explicitly states what people did behind their closed doors.
Edward II of course married Isabella of France, and whilst initially a political union, was for at least fifteen years, a highly successful marriage.
Only the benefit of hindsight which focusses on the last four years of Edward’s reign does this truth become distorted and falsely recorded by those who seek to overplay the facts.
They had four children, most notably their eldest son who became Edward III in January 1327 following his father’s fall from power. Edward II also had one illegitimate son called Adam, who was fathered before he ascended the throne and who died in 1322.
However, Edward II also had intimate and intense relationships with men, by far the most notable with Piers Gaveston. Whilst they would not have identified themselves as ‘bisexual’ at the time, the word itself a modern evolution, their behaviour was in the modern sense of the word bisexual and helps us today understand their actions using this framework.
Piers married Edward II’s niece, Margaret de Clare, in December 1307 at Berkhampstead castle and they went on to have a daughter together, named Joan who was born in 1312.
Joan died young at age 13.
Most rulers and men amongst the magnate class at this time had a string of illegitimate children born from unions long or short with other women outside of their marriage vows and Piers was no different.
Piers had a daughter outside of his marriage and that child would become my 21st Great Grandmother. Her mother is not recorded in the history books.
My 23rd Great Grandmother
Amie (Amy) de Driby formerly Gaveston
Born after 6 Jan 1312 in Tunbridge Castle, Kent
Daughter of Piers Gaveston and [mother unknown]
Sister of Joan Gaveston [half]
Wife of John (Driby) de Driby — married before 18 Jun 1338 in Wokefield, Berkshire, England
Mother of Alice (Driby) Bassett
Died after 12 Jun 1340 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England
My 23rd Great Grandmother, Amy Gaveston, would grow up in the household of Queen Phillipa and marry a man named John Driby.
John, while not showing any titles or substantial noble lines at the get go , descends from the noble and Royal houses of France. The family surnames in order from him back take him to Charlemagne of France as one of his ancestral great grandfathers.
John's ancestry follows this path:
Tateshall, Grey, FitzRandolph, Percy,Berenger, Bretagne, Taillebois, Rennes, Bayeux, Anjou, Vermandois, Troyes and to Robert I of France and back to Charlemagne as one of his (and thus mine) direct ancestors.
The fact Edward had marital affairs to was a product and almost expectation of his age. To the modern eye, this degree of promiscuity feels at odds with our modern values, but nevertheless needs to be seen in context of the time. The fact Edward’s extra-martial affairs were with men comes under more scrutiny with writers looking back at his life after his fall from power, seeking to find causes for his failings which were often embellished and their actions set out of context, including his predilections for men.
Same sex relationships were condemned by the church and the penalties could include castration or burning, but for those at the highest level of society, especially the king, they were often set apart and their actions overlooked.
Their perceived crime was either not openly acknowledged or overtly commented on for fear of retribution or out of respect. Essentially, for contemporaries, what a king chose to do behind the closed door of the bedchamber was his business, even though the chamber itself was never that private, attended by household staff.
So Gaveston’s relationship with Edward was not in itself the reason for the hostility that built up around Piers within the first six months following the king’s accession in July 1307.
The principal reason, but by no means exclusive, was Gaveston’s elevated position and control over royal patronage.
As Edward rose in power when he became king, so was his intention to elevate Gaveston to the highest ranks of the nobility.
In August 1307 the king granted to Piers the earldom of Cornwall which the magnates of the time supported and attached their seals to the charter of enfeoffment.
Only the earl of Warwick’s seal is absent. Edward wanted to give his lover a status that befitted his closeness to the king. Gaveston’s lucrative marriage to the earl of Gloucester’s sister Margaret in quick succession did not help matters.
Their intimate relationship meant Edward and Gaveston spent a great deal of time in each others company, especially at the start of the reign, and by virtue of his office, access to a king was widely sort after and a jealousy guarded affair, highly regulated and full of precedent which was underpinned by the strict hierarchical society of medieval England.
However, with continued land grants and gifts for his retinue and associates, Gaveston had secured unwitting access by virtue of his intimate relationship with Edward to royal patronage that other magnates of the day could not hope to aspire. In an age when land and titles meant power, Gaveston’s access to Edward upset the apple cart. There are many more reasons, that layered together create a unified hostility to Gaveston, but the access to patronage was by and far the greatest reason for opposition to him.
That opposition became life threatening. From 1307 to 1312, in a bid to separate the king from Gaveston so the nobility could gain access to Edward and restore what they felt where their traditional sources of power and patronage, pressure was applied on the king at critical times during Edward’s early reign.
Gaveston suffered three exiles from England, the first enacted by Edward I months before the king’s death, the latter a result of clause 20 of the Ordinances, legislation imposed on Edward II which demanded a final solution to what the magnates believed was an ‘evil councillor’ and their principal adversary to the king’s affection.
His removal they felt would enact the chance for ‘good government’. The Ordinances made it clear; Gaveston was to leave England and all the domains of the king, never to return or, if he did, to face the full penalty of the law.
Under Edward’s direction, Piers returned in January 1312, two months after he was forced to leave for Flanders.
Determined to bring him down, the earls of England led by Thomas of Lancaster, the king’s cousin, set off around the country to capture him.
Besieged at Scarborough castle and without much hope of holding out, Gaveston surrendered to the earl of Pembroke under generous terms possibly engineered by the king, who was hunkered down at York. Agreeing to take Gaveston south to his castle at Wallingford under safe protection until the next parliament, Pembroke believed his oath to protect the earl of Cornwall was sufficient to keep him safe. It wasn’t.
During the night at Deddington in Oxfordshire whilst Pembroke was off visiting his wife, the earl of Warwick who had long since hated Piers Gaveston, surrounded the house he was being held in under guard and seized him, marching him back to Warwick Castle.
There after a mock trial attended by the earls of Lancaster, Hereford, Warwick and John Botetourt, in which Gaveston was not allowed to speak to defend himself, he was summarily sentenced to death.
The next day, 19 June 1312, just after dawn, the twenty-nine year old Gaveston was taken from his cell and forced a few miles north of Warwick to Blacklow Hill which belonged to the earl of Lancaster, and there as the earls watched on, was handed over to two Welshmen.
One ran him through with a sword, whilst eventually the second hacked of Piers’ head.
The death of Piers Gaveston was nothing short of brutal murder.
When Gaveston returned from Flanders, Edward II had openly revoked the Ordinances, the legal framework which prohibited Gaveston’s return.
It also meant he was taken back under the king’s royal protection. In short, the trial held at Warwick and the sentence passed against him had no sound legal basis. The action of his mock jury at Warwick castle was simply mob rule underpinned by savage brutality.
The murder of Piers Gaveston had a profound impact on England and Edward II in particular. Edward would spend ten years seeking revenge on those who murdered his lover.
The king’s response, long in the waiting, was to be as brutal as Gaveston’s murder itself when he had his cousin’s head hacked off outside the walls of Pontefract castle in March 1322. The intervening ten years created enormous political instability in England as trust between the king and the Blacklow earls was highly strained, most evident in his intensely difficult relationship with Lancaster.
While Edward II is so often remembered because of his close male favourites, the one that history records with the greatest of infamy is Piers Gaveston.
His twelve years spent at the side of the king, beginning when Edward was still heir to the throne and ending with Gaveston’s untimely and dramatic death in 1312, is marked by contemporaries now and then with much opprobrium.
To understand the underpinnings of this relationship, one must look at the circumstances in which Piers and Edward grew up.......
Piers was two years older than Edward, most likely born around July 1282; Edward, a little younger, was born on 25 April 1284.
They had a lot in common. Both their fathers were often absent at war, their mothers died when they were both young; Edward six and Gaveston five.
They also shared a love of fine clothes, music and entertainment.
During these heady early years, their friendship grew and spilled over to something more intimate. This intimacy would bind the two men together against all odds for the remainder of Piers' short life.
‘Of Edward’s love for Piers it was reported that “upon looking on him the son of the king immediately felt such love for him that he entered into a covenant of constancy, and bound himself to him before all other mortals with a bond of indissoluble love, firmly drawn up and fastened with a knot”.
It is far to easy to apply modern terms of sexual identification onto people’s intimate behaviours in the past.
This in itself is made more complicated by the absence of evidence that explicitly states what people did behind their closed doors.
Edward II of course married Isabella of France, and whilst initially a political union, was for at least fifteen years, a highly successful marriage.
Only the benefit of hindsight which focusses on the last four years of Edward’s reign does this truth become distorted and falsely recorded by those who seek to overplay the facts.
They had four children, most notably their eldest son who became Edward III in January 1327 following his father’s fall from power. Edward II also had one illegitimate son called Adam, who was fathered before he ascended the throne and who died in 1322.
However, Edward II also had intimate and intense relationships with men, by far the most notable with Piers Gaveston. Whilst they would not have identified themselves as ‘bisexual’ at the time, the word itself a modern evolution, their behaviour was in the modern sense of the word bisexual and helps us today understand their actions using this framework.
Marriage & Children
Piers married Edward II’s niece, Margaret de Clare, in December 1307 at Berkhampstead castle and they went on to have a daughter together, named Joan who was born in 1312.
Joan died young at age 13.
Most rulers and men amongst the magnate class at this time had a string of illegitimate children born from unions long or short with other women outside of their marriage vows and Piers was no different.
Piers had a daughter outside of his marriage and that child would become my 21st Great Grandmother. Her mother is not recorded in the history books.
My 23rd Great Grandmother
Amie (Amy) de Driby formerly Gaveston
Born after 6 Jan 1312 in Tunbridge Castle, Kent
Daughter of Piers Gaveston and [mother unknown]
Sister of Joan Gaveston [half]
Wife of John (Driby) de Driby — married before 18 Jun 1338 in Wokefield, Berkshire, England
Mother of Alice (Driby) Bassett
Died after 12 Jun 1340 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England
My 23rd Great Grandmother, Amy Gaveston, would grow up in the household of Queen Phillipa and marry a man named John Driby.
John, while not showing any titles or substantial noble lines at the get go , descends from the noble and Royal houses of France. The family surnames in order from him back take him to Charlemagne of France as one of his ancestral great grandfathers.
John's ancestry follows this path:
Tateshall, Grey, FitzRandolph, Percy,Berenger, Bretagne, Taillebois, Rennes, Bayeux, Anjou, Vermandois, Troyes and to Robert I of France and back to Charlemagne as one of his (and thus mine) direct ancestors.
The fact Edward had marital affairs to was a product and almost expectation of his age. To the modern eye, this degree of promiscuity feels at odds with our modern values, but nevertheless needs to be seen in context of the time. The fact Edward’s extra-martial affairs were with men comes under more scrutiny with writers looking back at his life after his fall from power, seeking to find causes for his failings which were often embellished and their actions set out of context, including his predilections for men.
Same sex relationships were condemned by the church and the penalties could include castration or burning, but for those at the highest level of society, especially the king, they were often set apart and their actions overlooked.
Their perceived crime was either not openly acknowledged or overtly commented on for fear of retribution or out of respect. Essentially, for contemporaries, what a king chose to do behind the closed door of the bedchamber was his business, even though the chamber itself was never that private, attended by household staff.
So Gaveston’s relationship with Edward was not in itself the reason for the hostility that built up around Piers within the first six months following the king’s accession in July 1307.
The principal reason, but by no means exclusive, was Gaveston’s elevated position and control over royal patronage.
As Edward rose in power when he became king, so was his intention to elevate Gaveston to the highest ranks of the nobility.
In August 1307 the king granted to Piers the earldom of Cornwall which the magnates of the time supported and attached their seals to the charter of enfeoffment.
Only the earl of Warwick’s seal is absent. Edward wanted to give his lover a status that befitted his closeness to the king. Gaveston’s lucrative marriage to the earl of Gloucester’s sister Margaret in quick succession did not help matters.
Their intimate relationship meant Edward and Gaveston spent a great deal of time in each others company, especially at the start of the reign, and by virtue of his office, access to a king was widely sort after and a jealousy guarded affair, highly regulated and full of precedent which was underpinned by the strict hierarchical society of medieval England.
However, with continued land grants and gifts for his retinue and associates, Gaveston had secured unwitting access by virtue of his intimate relationship with Edward to royal patronage that other magnates of the day could not hope to aspire. In an age when land and titles meant power, Gaveston’s access to Edward upset the apple cart. There are many more reasons, that layered together create a unified hostility to Gaveston, but the access to patronage was by and far the greatest reason for opposition to him.
That opposition became life threatening. From 1307 to 1312, in a bid to separate the king from Gaveston so the nobility could gain access to Edward and restore what they felt where their traditional sources of power and patronage, pressure was applied on the king at critical times during Edward’s early reign.
Gaveston suffered three exiles from England, the first enacted by Edward I months before the king’s death, the latter a result of clause 20 of the Ordinances, legislation imposed on Edward II which demanded a final solution to what the magnates believed was an ‘evil councillor’ and their principal adversary to the king’s affection.
His removal they felt would enact the chance for ‘good government’. The Ordinances made it clear; Gaveston was to leave England and all the domains of the king, never to return or, if he did, to face the full penalty of the law.
Part Four
Captured & Executed
Under Edward’s direction, Piers returned in January 1312, two months after he was forced to leave for Flanders.
Determined to bring him down, the earls of England led by Thomas of Lancaster, the king’s cousin, set off around the country to capture him.
Besieged at Scarborough castle and without much hope of holding out, Gaveston surrendered to the earl of Pembroke under generous terms possibly engineered by the king, who was hunkered down at York. Agreeing to take Gaveston south to his castle at Wallingford under safe protection until the next parliament, Pembroke believed his oath to protect the earl of Cornwall was sufficient to keep him safe. It wasn’t.
During the night at Deddington in Oxfordshire whilst Pembroke was off visiting his wife, the earl of Warwick who had long since hated Piers Gaveston, surrounded the house he was being held in under guard and seized him, marching him back to Warwick Castle.
There after a mock trial attended by the earls of Lancaster, Hereford, Warwick and John Botetourt, in which Gaveston was not allowed to speak to defend himself, he was summarily sentenced to death.
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| Piers being brought before the Earl of Warwick |
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| Piers being brought before the Earl of Lancaster |
The next day, 19 June 1312, just after dawn, the twenty-nine year old Gaveston was taken from his cell and forced a few miles north of Warwick to Blacklow Hill which belonged to the earl of Lancaster, and there as the earls watched on, was handed over to two Welshmen.
One ran him through with a sword, whilst eventually the second hacked of Piers’ head.
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| The head of Piers Gaveston brought to the Earls |
The death of Piers Gaveston was nothing short of brutal murder.
When Gaveston returned from Flanders, Edward II had openly revoked the Ordinances, the legal framework which prohibited Gaveston’s return.
It also meant he was taken back under the king’s royal protection. In short, the trial held at Warwick and the sentence passed against him had no sound legal basis. The action of his mock jury at Warwick castle was simply mob rule underpinned by savage brutality.
The murder of Piers Gaveston had a profound impact on England and Edward II in particular. Edward would spend ten years seeking revenge on those who murdered his lover.
The king’s response, long in the waiting, was to be as brutal as Gaveston’s murder itself when he had his cousin’s head hacked off outside the walls of Pontefract castle in March 1322. The intervening ten years created enormous political instability in England as trust between the king and the Blacklow earls was highly strained, most evident in his intensely difficult relationship with Lancaster.
Part Five
Rest In Peace
Vowing revenge, Edward bided his time and in his grief had the mutilated body of Piers (whose head had been decapitated and run through his stomach with a sword) embalmed at the Dominican house at Oxford. A contemporary chronicler of the time noted;
‘But I am certain the king grieved for Piers…for the greater the love, the greater the sorrow. In the lament of David on Jonathan, love is depicted which is said to have surpassed the love of women. Our king also spoke thus.’
The greatest sadness in this tale, is in his grief, Edward was unable to immediately bury Piers on account that he had been declared excommunicate on his return to England in January 1312, and was therefore unable to receive Christian burial in sacred ground. Only after the sentence of excommunication was lifted was this possible, and it took Edward nearly two-and-a-half years to achieve it, when during a papal interregnum, Walter Reynolds, Archbishop of Canterbury was able to quash the church’s anathema. In the time that had passed since the earl of Cornwall’s murder, Edward had been publicly reconciled to Gaveston’s murderers, but deep in his heart the king still sought vengeance. On the 2nd January 1315, Edward, in a great ceremony finally laid his lover to rest.
Excerpt from ‘Edward II the Man: A Doomed Inheritance’ – Chapter 15, Disputes & Discord.
‘If Edward could not yet enact his revenge he could still make a point. The date for the funeral at the Dominican House at Edward’s residence at Langley was set for 2 January, which fell within the octave of the Holy Innocents. The symbolism could not have been plainer. Those in attendance included the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Winchester, Worcester and Bath and Wells; thirteen abbots, and many Dominican friars from beyond Langley… The earls of Pembroke and Hereford also attended with Henry de Beaumont and Hugh Despenser the Elder, who was accompanied by his son and namesake. The chancellor John Sandale and the treasurer Walter of Norwich were also present along with a multitude of household knights and royal household officials. Not all those invited, however, according to Trokelowe, attended, some preferring to stay away. Even in death, Gaveston still deeply divided opinion.
When the time came to bury him, an emotional Edward ensured Gaveston’s body, moved from Oxford, was re-wrapped in three cloths of gold, which the king paid for at a cost of £300.
Having died excommunicated, Edward II would not bury him until this had been revoked. It was almost 2 years before Edward could secure a papal dispensation. The body was cared for by the Dominican Friars at Oxford. An elaborate funeral was held at the Dominican Friary at Kings Langley, where Edward and Piers had spent many happy times.
After the interment, the congregation feasted, the king having ordered twenty-three tuns of wine for the occasion. With Gaveston’s body interred, that chapter of Edward’s life was far from over. From the grave, Piers Gaveston would continue to influence the political agenda for some time to come.
Rest in peace Great Grandfather. You are remembered by me and by many others and your name and your life will never be forgotten.
A few links to learn more about my ancestor:
Piers Gaveston Find a Grave Memorial
Wikipedia article on Piers
‘But I am certain the king grieved for Piers…for the greater the love, the greater the sorrow. In the lament of David on Jonathan, love is depicted which is said to have surpassed the love of women. Our king also spoke thus.’
The greatest sadness in this tale, is in his grief, Edward was unable to immediately bury Piers on account that he had been declared excommunicate on his return to England in January 1312, and was therefore unable to receive Christian burial in sacred ground. Only after the sentence of excommunication was lifted was this possible, and it took Edward nearly two-and-a-half years to achieve it, when during a papal interregnum, Walter Reynolds, Archbishop of Canterbury was able to quash the church’s anathema. In the time that had passed since the earl of Cornwall’s murder, Edward had been publicly reconciled to Gaveston’s murderers, but deep in his heart the king still sought vengeance. On the 2nd January 1315, Edward, in a great ceremony finally laid his lover to rest.
Excerpt from ‘Edward II the Man: A Doomed Inheritance’ – Chapter 15, Disputes & Discord.
‘If Edward could not yet enact his revenge he could still make a point. The date for the funeral at the Dominican House at Edward’s residence at Langley was set for 2 January, which fell within the octave of the Holy Innocents. The symbolism could not have been plainer. Those in attendance included the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Winchester, Worcester and Bath and Wells; thirteen abbots, and many Dominican friars from beyond Langley… The earls of Pembroke and Hereford also attended with Henry de Beaumont and Hugh Despenser the Elder, who was accompanied by his son and namesake. The chancellor John Sandale and the treasurer Walter of Norwich were also present along with a multitude of household knights and royal household officials. Not all those invited, however, according to Trokelowe, attended, some preferring to stay away. Even in death, Gaveston still deeply divided opinion.
When the time came to bury him, an emotional Edward ensured Gaveston’s body, moved from Oxford, was re-wrapped in three cloths of gold, which the king paid for at a cost of £300.
Having died excommunicated, Edward II would not bury him until this had been revoked. It was almost 2 years before Edward could secure a papal dispensation. The body was cared for by the Dominican Friars at Oxford. An elaborate funeral was held at the Dominican Friary at Kings Langley, where Edward and Piers had spent many happy times.
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| The Funeral of Piers Gaveston two and 1/2 years after his death |
After the interment, the congregation feasted, the king having ordered twenty-three tuns of wine for the occasion. With Gaveston’s body interred, that chapter of Edward’s life was far from over. From the grave, Piers Gaveston would continue to influence the political agenda for some time to come.
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| Plaque commemorating Piers Gaveston's death |
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| The monument that marks the place of Piers Gaveston's execution on Blacklow Hill |
Rest in peace Great Grandfather. You are remembered by me and by many others and your name and your life will never be forgotten.
A few links to learn more about my ancestor:
Piers Gaveston Find a Grave Memorial
Wikipedia article on Piers
Sources:
https://www.britainexpress.com/History/Edward-II-and-Piers-Gaveston.htm
http://edwardthesecond.blogspot.com/2006/03/piers-gaveston-and-his-daughters-joan.html
https://fourteenthcenturyfiend.com/2016/12/12/piers-gaveston-life-love-death-an-overview/
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gaveston-3
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gaveston-1
https://www.geni.com/people/Piers-de-Gaveston-1st-Earl-of-Cornwall/6000000004838088326
https://www.britainexpress.com/History/Edward-II-and-Piers-Gaveston.htm
http://edwardthesecond.blogspot.com/2006/03/piers-gaveston-and-his-daughters-joan.html
https://fourteenthcenturyfiend.com/2016/12/12/piers-gaveston-life-love-death-an-overview/
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gaveston-3
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gaveston-1
https://www.geni.com/people/Piers-de-Gaveston-1st-Earl-of-Cornwall/6000000004838088326
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