Among the Anglo-Normans the De Clares held the foremost rank. So immense were their possessions, that castles all over England and Wales owned them as lords, and from Westminster to Newminster there were few religious houses on the windows of which their armorial bearings were not to be seen. Moreover, they could boast of an alliance worthy of their wealth and grandeur. One of the earls of Gloucester, known as 'the Red De Clare,' had married a daughter of the first Edward, and, dying a few years later, left her a widow, with a son, Gilbert, and three daughters. Of these, Margaret, then in her teens, was the fairest. Edward, of course, stood in the relationship of uncle to this damsel; and he availed himself of his position as king and kinsman to bestow her on the Gascon whom he called 'Brother Peter.'

Isabel was, doubtless, mortified to see a man whom she treated as an enemy so highly favoured by her husband. It does not, however, appear that the young Earl of Gloucester objected to the match; and as Gaveston, besides being Earl of Cornwall, was a most handsome and accomplished cavalier, Margaret de Clare probably thought she might have gone farther and fared worse. The barons of England, however, exclaimed against being thus bearded. After refusing to attend a parliament at York, they did attend a parliament at Westminster; but they came with arms and horses, and in a mood the reverse of compromising. Indeed, they took the government into their own hands, appointed a committee of ordainers,' to arrange the affairs of the kingdom and of the king's household, and sternly insisted on the favourite's banishment.

Edward yielded so far as to send Gaveston across the Channel, and Isabel probably flattered herself that she had seen the last of him. If so, she greatly deceived herself. It was not her father's interest to have a man whose presence in England kept king and barons at discord living quietly in exile. No sooner, therefore, did Philip the Fair hear of

Gaveston's arrival in France, than he issued orders for his arrest. In alarm, the Gascon fled to Flanders; but, finding that in Flanders also he was denied refuge, he returned to England. Another king would have been horrified to see his face. Edward not only received him with open arms, but appointed him to the office of Secretary of State.

Isabel did not share, in any degree, the delight which Edward felt at Gaveston's return. In her anger, she pointed out to the Gascon the baneful influence which his presence had on the king's affairs, and, in no measured language, expostulated with him on the iniquity of exposing his benefactor to unpopularity. Gaveston, whose Gascon vanity had always been considerable, and whose head was now turned with prosperity, replied with contempt; and the queen, in no serene humour, complained to Edward. But after having been treated by Gaveston as a brawling girl, Isabel was treated by Edward as a spoiled child. Enraged beyond measure at the favourite's influence being greater than her own, she vowed vengeance, and brooded over what she deemed her wrongs. As the likeliest person to set matters right, she thought of her father, and wrote to the French monarch, that Gaveston was leading the king to ruin, and that, of all women on earth, she was the most injured and the most unhappy.

More than three years had now elapsed since Isabel was married at Boulogne; and, during that period, Philip the Fair, who was a crafty and faithless man, had been keenly watching English affairs. Not without a Capet's ambition to make France the great monarchy of Europe, he had exerted himself to keep the king and barons of England at feud, and secretly fomented the discord that prevailed. Nor was Philip's the only mischievous influence at work. Robert Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been proved guilty of conspiracy in the previous reign, and fain to leave the country, had returned from exile to renew his plot against the monarchy. Unfortunately Edward, by his display of friend

ship for Gaveston, played the game of his enemies; and in 1312 he suddenly found himself menaced by an armed baronage, inspired by the counsels of the primate, and encouraged by the King of France, and by the sympathy of the Queen of England. At the head of this confederacy was the king's cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, a prince of the blood, who, in his own right and that of his wife, the heiress of the Lacies, possessed five earldoms, and the honour of Pontefract. Lancaster, who was a host in himself, was closely allied with Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. All the three were sons of men who had been noted royalists in the old Barons' War; but Pembroke and Warwick exhibited much of the spirit that fifty years earlier animated the Bigods and Bohuns; and Lancaster had the ambition, if not the ability, to play the part of Simon de Montfort.

At this crisis Edward was at York, with the queen and Gaveston. Isabel, between the king and the favourite, must, considering the encouragement she had given to insurrection, have found her position peculiarly awkward. At first, however, Edward treated the confederacy with contempt, and listened while Gaveston exercised his lively insolence at the expense of the confederates. Lancaster's style of dress was somewhat picturesque; Pembroke was thin, dark, and sallow; Warwick had a dark complexion, and, when in a rage, foamed at the mouth; and the favourite was in the habit of calling Lancaster 'the stageplayer,' Pembroke 'Joseph the Jew,' and Warwick 'The Black Dog of Ardern.'

But the day had gone by for dealing in nicknames. Every hour the business became more serious; and ere long the king, while listening to the Gascon's talk and encouraging his vanity, was roused from his inaction by tidings that the barons were marching to take him by surprise.

Edward was perplexed in the extreme. However, it was necessary to do something, and that quickly. Without

delay, therefore, he set out from York, with the queen and Gaveston, for Newcastle. But, on hearing that the king had left, the barons, being in a persistent humour, pursued their course northward; and the king, finding that he was closely followed, left the queen in the castle of Tynemouth, embarked with Gaveston for the coast of Yorkshire, and, placing the Gascon in the strong fortress of Scarborough, repaired to the midland counties. Never did crowned monarch find himself in a more unhappy position than that of the young king; and the most enthusiastic of royalists must have despaired, when they heard of the son of the conqueror of Evesham flying before a band of malcontent barons.

Meanwhile Isabel, who was now in her seventeenth year, remained at Tynemouth, and soon learned that Lancaster had seized Newcastle, and despatched Pembroke in pursuit of Gaveston. However, the queen was in no danger. Lancaster, whose interest it was to maintain a good understanding with Philip the Fair, avoided every appearance of harshness to Philip's daughter. Messengers speedily came to Tynemouth to give her full assurances of safety.

'Madam,' said they, 'be under no apprehensions; you are in no peril. Our sole object is to get the favourite into our hands.'

Following on Gaveston's track, as a blood-hound on that of a marauder, Pembroke appeared before Scarborough. In that fortress Gaveston believed himself secure; but, being without provisions to hold out for any time, he, after a siege of three days, offered to capitulate; and terms were granted. It was agreed that he should be carried southward, and lodged in Wallingford; but Wallingford he was destined not to reach. In fact, the conditions of capitulation were grossly violated.

It appears that, while travelling southward with Gaveston as his prisoner, Pembroke one day pretended great eagerness to go out of the way to visit his countess in Oxfordshire,

and, leaving the favourite at Deddington in charge of his servants, he took his departure. During Pembroke's absence, Warwick suddenly presented himself, surrounded the place with soldiers, seized Gaveston without ceremony, and carried him off. Being conveyed to Warwick castle, Gaveston was brought to trial, and Lancaster, sitting in judgment, pronounced sentence of death. In vain Gaveston appealed to the terms of capitulation. He was hurried off to Blacklow Hill, a gentle knoll about a mile from the castle, and hard by the Avon, and there beheaded in presence of the barons.

While Lancaster and Warwick were wreaking their vengeance on Gaveston, Isabel, leaving Tynemouth, returned south, and took up her residence at Windsor. At first Edward did not join her. On hearing of his favourite's violent death, he expressed strong resentment at the outrage, and much regret that he had not power to punish its perpetrators.

Learning that the barons were approaching London, Edward retired sullenly to Canterbury. After some pensive reflection, however, he repaired to Windsor, and in the company of his fair spouse endeavoured to cheer himself with the hope of better days.

Windsor had been the favourite residence of Eleanor of Castille; and it was unfortunate, perhaps, for the king that his memory could not carry him back to the time when his admirable mother kept her court there, and when at Christmas no one was more full of gamesomeness in the hall, as Englishmen and Englishwomen of all ranks heard with delight, than his mighty father, whose policy had made England so great, and whose victories in war and peace had made them so proud of England. The contrast, indeed, between past and present would have been saddening; but Edward of Carnarvon was still under thirty, and Isabel the Fair was still under twenty, and they might have been spared a world of woe and shame if one could have profited

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