Edward II

Edward II succeeded his father, Edward I after the first Edward died while campaigning in Scotland.

Edward II has been alleged to have been gay. He ended up fathering four children, though, so if he was gay, he must have put his preferences to one side a number of times, for the good of the country. In fact, it wasn't so much his physical relationships with his court favourites that got him into trouble so much as the fact that he appointed them to positions of power, ahead of people who thought they were better qualified for the job.

Edward is also famous for the alleged manner of his death. Edward was imprisoned in Berkeley castle, where he died. Apparently his death was somewhat hastened by his having had a hot poker inserted up his backside and his insides being burnt out. This method of killing him was considered particularly appropriate, because of Edward's alleged preferences, but more pragmatically because it produced a corpse with no signs of visible injury. If Edward had been murdered that way, no one would be any the wiser.

After Edward's death, Isabella and Mortimer became regents, effectively ruling the land between them. After less than a year, his 16 year-old son, Edward, who had been crowned as Edward III soon after the death of his father became public knowledge, acted to become king in deed as well as in name.

timnfromoz

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