Second (History Plays, Book 1)

Author's Note

This work is based on Christopher Marlowe's 'Edward II', a history play, not unlike Shakespeare's history plays and written about the same time as the Henry VI plays and Richard III. Edward II is fairly historically accurate so far as history plays go, in that the major themes and deaths are all effectively true. Edward II and Piers Gaveston, Isabella, Kent, and Roger Mortimer, and Margaret de Clare were all real people. The main difference from reality is, where Gaveston is Edward's only partner, in reality Piers Gaveston, sadly, was murdered when he and the King were in their late twenties (we don't know Gaveston's exact age but he was close to the king, so about 27 when he died). King Edward reigned many more years and had another 'favorite', Hugh Despenser (he's in the play but it's not obvious or overt that he's Edward's partner). Marlowe basically condenses the two people, as they were quite similar, also the only reason we can tell that Edward became involved with Hugh is because Gaveston died. So for simplicity of casting and story telling it makes sense to cast them as the same person.
Gaveston, in reality, was a knight, a fairly good one as well he competed in jousts and such and did well. He was French. We know little of his character, other than that everyone at court hated him for homophobic reasons. There are no surviving portraits of him, though we know Edward commissioned them. To be safe, we blame Isabella and Mortimer for their destruction. He and Edward were childhood friends, however he was banished as a teenager when their parents discovered that they were more than friends.
Gaveston was married to Margret de Clare, the king's niece, presumably so she could be his beard. The couple had one daughter, six months before his death. It is unknown if the child is his or not, but they'd be married since she was thirteen and didn't have the kid until she was of consenting adult age so yeah, he gets points for not presumably not raping her. Also, she went with him on exile once and travelled with him and the king, so we can assume they got along decently.
She also married Edward's second life-partner/boyfriend, Hugh, and they also had only one kid, and she was also fairly happy with him. We don't know if she was a lesbian and in fact had lovers on the side, or if she was asexual. Possibly, she was heterosexual and had her own lovers, but we have no proof and relatively few children if that's true. She and Gaveston came back from Ireland with a child, Amiee Gaveston, but it's not clear where they got said kid except they let the French guy name it. Like seriously, no birth records (which there would be if Margret had given birth), and fun fact, Amiee stayed in the King's household and wound up being friends with Edward III's wife. Later in life, Edward II gave Margret a couple of political appointments, serving as a Sheriff at one point, so he got along with his niece and trusted her guidance. So yeah, make of that what you will. Edward II would make a habit of marrying off his nieces to his boyfriends, which was a fine deal for them as well and from what we can tell they were absolutely fine with. This is hilarious to me mostly because I'd love to know how those conversations went down. Anyway.
I made Roger Mortimer a much better person in this than he was in reality. The dude was married and had over ten children, and had a loooong affair with the queen. For narrative purposes I made him sympathetic, reality he absolutely is not. However, in reality he was kind of this ah, foppish, incompetent, pretty boy, so I tried to kind of work that in. He ticked more boxes for gay stereotypes than Edward and Gaveston/Hugh, and in fact in Marlowe's play you can interpret that he hates them due to his own repressed homosexuality. Anyway, not a likable person in reality, and Edward III absolutely killed him/had him killed (given everything about E3, I would not be surprised if he did it personally, also rumor had it Mortimer was tortured). In this I wanted to show how toxic people/situations/upbringings can twist a person who maybe was redeemable if he got proper help in time, or maybe that while he's sympathetic in some areas that doesn't make his actions okay. But in reality, he gets much fewer points, in fact Gaveston and Edward were nice to him, (he was younger than them by about ten years), and in fact Gaveston was briefly his legal guardian and didn't take his land or anything, and Edward gave him back his father's titles at an early age. So, homophobia, Mortimer kind of completely sucks.
Same kind of with Isabella? She and Edward II did have four children in reality (She was also cheating on him like, this entire time, definitely with Mortimer potentially with other people), and we have reason to believe Edward could have been bisexual, but yeah, she really absolutely betrayed him for we're going with obviously homophobic reasons. Also, she and Edward had the children only after Gaveston was dead, (theoretically E3 was conceived though prior to his death by several months) so maybe Edward gave heterosexuality a try? We don't know, but she was cheating on him and had contempt for him, largely for homophobic reasons as other than lack of interest Edward was pretty much a decent guy.
So far as giving heterosexuality a try: Edward II did supposedly have an illegitimate son early into his marriage (Adam who would support E3 and eventually die young), and later on during Edward's marriage to Isabella we have record of him visiting a woman, presumably for a sexual liaison. Who she was we don't know. Now, scholars take that to mean he's bisexual. I'm not saying he's not, I'm saying it doesn't make him bi. Like, it's a thing, trust me, to be like 'ha, maybe I can be straight I can handle this—-oh fuck—-oh god—oh no forget it,' and you're like texting all your gay friends 'good news, still gay' and they're like 'yeah we knew that already'. Anyway, point being, he was expected be straight he may have been simply trying to you know, fit in. He may also have been bisexual I don't know. I make him gay in the novel because he feels just gay in the play, and I personally think if he'd had the choice he would have chosen Gaveston and no one else.
Edward III was in reality pretty bad ass, as shown here. He did have Mortimer killed in revenge for his father's death, and interestingly enough he totally was cool with his gay dads, and in fact essentially disowned his mother. Now, we don't know if he killed Mortimer personally, but so far as all these history plays go and assigning personal responsibly I don't think E3 would have hesitated. He was something of a warlord, epic fighter, actually (as king) would enter jousting tournaments under false names to compete. On top of all that, he was married to Philippa about 40 years, having thirteen children in that time (spread out though), and they were apparently happy. He let her be regent when he was off at war, and none of his children challenged him for the throne, or fell out with him, and they really didn't ever fall out with each other either. So, yeah, he and Philippa get A plus parenting, I guess. Also, he did essentially disown his mother, but he had a good relationship with his wife and daughters so, he obviously had reason to blame his mother for his father's death. His eldest daughter didn't marry till her thirties, and she was apparently his pet, she got married to one of her horrible brother's kidnapping victims (that's a cool story for another day) point being E3 and Pippa (Philippa) were apparently fine with this, and let all the kids kind of do their thing. In fact, two of their daughters joined the Order of the Garter, a secret knight's society Edward III and Edward the Black Prince formed because they could and thought it was cool I guess? I mean it's an order of chivalry but that means 'secret club' in the middle ages. Anyway girls didn't generally join those things in those days, so kind of cool. Also, not all of them joined it so it wasn't like an honor thing or anything; they were voluntarily doing this.
From what I found, E3 and Philippa didn't marry off their kids much at all, at least not until they were older anyway. One daughter was engaged at a young age but it was to a childhood/family friend who she grew up with so we're guessing she was cool with it. So Edward III, kind of a cool guy, if we're like, praising any of these mediaeval probably committed actual war crimes, dudes, Edward III seems like a genuinely decent human being. To set the record straight he did take a mistress later in life, but that was after his wife's death/serious illness (they probably knew each other before her death, but we have no proof of ANY other affairs). So, again, so far as these people go, Edward III was fairly neat.
Edward I (Edward Longshanks) himself doesn't appear in this work or the play, as it begins after his death. We don't know for a fact he was a horrible homophobic person and overall a bad dad to his sensitive gay child, however it's believed that one of his deathbed commands was to not let Edward II recall Piers Gaveston from his meaningless and solely homophobia based exile. Also, he tried to disown Edward more than once primarily due to his sexuality, when he discovered that sending Gaveston away did not in fact make Edward less gay. So, I realize I portray him pretty bad here, and you know I feel pretty okay with that. Also, this is the dude, who, after a strong hold surrendered, said the equivalent of 'we just put this trebuchet together and we're not gonna use it?' And raised the city anyway. Yeah. Not the warm and fuzzy type.
Also, side note, how epic is it that if it's true, the actual king, Edward I's dying words were not to let Gaveston come back? I mean, like your name on the king's lips with his dying breath because he thinks you have the power to seduce his son? Seriously though.
Edward II himself? Little is known since so much of the documents we have everyone is hating on him for clearly homophobic reasons. We have some records of his financial ledgers and such. This is kind of sad because we're piecing together his life through, like, notes of expenses. But we'll try. He was kind to his servants, often paying for their medical care and paying sick leave, and he often went and helped laborers on his castle grounds (that might be for gay reasons), and would go down to the Thames and shoot the shit with the sailors (again that might just be gay) but anyway all his servants and such liked him and he was nice to them. He was fond of his pet greyhounds and even had a pet lion for a while.   Edward III clearly had no issues with him and took his side, so that speaks for itself. Also Edward II really wasn't irresponsible in keeping his lover nor did he really go overly murder on people who opposed him (cough Henry8 cough) he just wanted his companion, that's it. Half of what he did to reinstate Gaveston was due to everyone trying to get rid of Gaveston. He lived his last few years in captivity, while Edward III actively tried to find him. In fact, he was probably killed because his son was getting close, so that's sad. No known cause of death, but rumor is it was a hot fire poker driven through the anus, as that was thought to leave no obvious wounds and they could claim he died of natural causes. Piers Gaveston was stabbed and beheaded, and his body was left in a field. Roger Mortimer was beheaded, but probably tortured prior to that so that's fun. The ladies, Isabella and Margret, died of presumably natural causes at reasonable ages. Margret survived all this just fine, but Isabella was essentially banished by her son which is pretty interesting. He clearly blamed her for his father's death/deposition and interestingly enough did not appreciate becoming king (like many would do), he kind of wanted his dad back which is sad but speaks to Edward II's character. Also, again, Edward III had positive relationships with women the rest of his life, so it was definitely something personal between him and his mother.
Kit Marlowe was revolutionary to write a play with openly gay protagonists. That wasn't done at the time and the only way he really got away with it was by the fact that both gay lovers die on stage (Gaveston technically is taken off stage to be killed but this is common with staging, it's hard to carry big 'dead' actors off stage, Edward can be moved off stage on the table they kill him on).
Typically, queer coded charters had to be villains or buried. Now days, we don't have to bury our gays anymore, and while I still wanted to keep with the play, I wanted to keep with the spirit of defying conventions, hence the hopeful ending which could be interpreted as Gaveston and Edward, survived, years later and living happily in New York.
And yes, I know I technically bury our gays in most of the other history play adaptations I've done, but, consider that we also bury everyone else too. Also, Richmond and Lizzie survive the experience and we confirm Lizzie is bisexual, and Richmond is unclear about his sexuality so there, they live. Yeah, everyone else dies, but I started this with the plan to keep the same deaths as in the plays for major characters.
There is a film version of Edward II from the 90s it has Tilda Swindon as Isabella, and I do not personally recommend it. I tried to get through it for research purposes but..it's painful. Sir Ian Mackellen did a BCC version in 1970 I can't get my hands a recording but there is a clip or two on YouTube, and those are fun, worth checking out.

**UPDATE**
So there is the possibility, that Edward II...didn't actually die when we think he did.
So, there exist a couple of letters. One is from a monk in Italy, to Edward III, claiming that Edward II escaped prison, by switching clothes with a servant, and got on a boat to Italy, and did Edward III know this? We get no response, we don't know. But, it's possible in that Edward II was fairly popular with the common man, he was personable, and polite, he paid well and was generous with keeping people on retainer it's not beyond the realm of imagination that they would help him get out, and he could impersonate a commoner with success.
Then we have another letter, this one is from an Italian monk to Edward III, saying 'William is ill, he wants you to come' well the William person referenced doesn't exist anywhere. Almost immediately Edward III for unknown reasons took a trip near to the region the monk was from.
There's a town in Italy, where the people said an Englishman lived who claimed 'his son was king' and they have a grave for him, but the son came and collected the body.
Yeah.
So, true? Possibly, Edward III was a massive fan of codes, and Edward II was not stupid, I could see him deciding to just leave and let his son take over. If Edward III was involved in the escape is anyone's guess, but it's far from out of character, he himself would don disguises and use secret codes, and the monk's letter saying that 'William' was ill doesn't make sense otherwise,  Edward III was clearly going to see someone. He would have been savvy enough to destroy any letters with his father's handwriting or the like.
Also, Edward III did wait three years to kill Mortimer and imprison his mother, did he find out his father was alive, and was not interested in taking the throne, so he then just asserted himself?
So...happy ending? I mean, Piers did definitely die, weaponless, murdered. But, maybe Edward II made it out? I'd like to think he did, and that he was at peace somewhere, in the countryside, with you know, pets like he liked, maybe a boyfriend, and got to know his son was okay and maybe hear about his grandchildren. I hope Edward II did get his happy ending somehow, and that Edward III got to say goodbye or at least make peace with his father's memory.
That said, the evidence against Edward II living also comes from Edward III, but sadly he's a known liar and manipulator, so literally anything Edward III does could be for A) fun B) giggles C) bitchy pettiness D) generally amusements. So.
Edward III had his father's funeral held in a relatively grand manner, and he delayed it so he could personally attend and cry. So dramatic, if he knew at that point his father wasn't dead (this was a while after Edward II 'escaped' so he would know at that point if he was alive or not).
Edward III , when his own son the Black Prince died before him, was known to say that it was God's punishment for taking the crown from his father and causing his death. Which doesn't make sense, it was clear he didn't really do that...also if his father didn't die then, why would he feel guilty? Unless it was just for usurping him? Or he didn't feel guilty at all and it was just a thing he said. This is the person who made up rumors in his own court for tax benefits and drama and the like. I am not kidding Edward III once came back from campaign, and spread the rumor that the French were trying to eradicate English, to get his nobles to speak English. After hours of research, scholars determined that the source of this rumor was Edward III's evil little mind, nowhere else.
But anyway, more on Edward III and everybody's favorite, the Black Prince, in the afterwords for his books Three, and Three (the second part). Note, those aren't connected to this book so while Edward Windsor is a main character, it's not the Teddy from this book per say, different fictional universe. Edward II does show up in flashbacks so that's fun.