Biography of Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall 1284-1312
1307 Marriage of Piers Gaveston and Margaret de Clare
1307 Tournament at Wallingford
1308 King Edward II and Isabella of France arrive in England
1308 Coronation of Edward II and Isabella
1308 de Clare and de Burgh Double Marriage
1312 Gaveston Returns from Exile
1312 Gaveston's Escape from Newcastle
Around 1284 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall was born.
Around 1305 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 21) assigned to the household of the young (future) King Edward II of England (age 20).
On 22 May 1306 the Feast of the Swans was a collective knighting of two hundred and sixty seven men at Westminster Abbey [Map].
At the feast following the knightings two swans were brought in. King Edward "Longshanks" I of England (age 66) swore before God and the swans to avenge the death of John Comyn 3rd Lord Baddenoch - see Robert "The Bruce" murders John "Red" Comyn.
King Edward "Longshanks" I of England (age 66) first knighted his son King Edward II of England (age 22).
King Edward II of England (age 22) then knighted the remaining two-hundred and sixty six including ...
Hugh "Younger" Despencer 1st Baron Despencer (age 20)
Edmund Fitzalan 9th Earl Arundel (age 21)
John le Blund, Mayor of London
William Brabazon
Roger Mortimer 1st Baron Mortimer of Chirk (age 50)
Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 22) - this may have been the first time Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 22) and King Edward II of England (age 22) met?
John Harrington 1st Baron Harington (age 25)
John Maltravers 1st Baron Maltravers (age 16)
Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March (age 19)
William Montagu 2nd Baron Montagu (age 31)
John Mowbray 2nd Baron Mowbray (age 19)
Thomas Multon 1st Baron Multon (age 30)
John Warenne 7th Earl Surrey (age 19)
After 14 Jul 1306 Hugh "Younger" Despencer 1st Baron Despencer (age 20) and [his future sister-in-law] Eleanor Clare Baroness Zouche Mortimer (age 13) were married. She the daughter of Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford and Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford (age 34). He the son of Hugh "Elder" Despencer 1st Earl Winchester (age 45) and Isabella Beauchamp Baroness Monthermer. They were third cousin once removed. He a great x 5 grandson of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England. She a granddaughter of King Edward "Longshanks" I of England. 
On 26 Feb 1307 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 23) exiled by King Edward "Longshanks" I of England (age 67) for being his son Edward's (age 22) favourite.
On 07 Jul 1307 King Edward "Longshanks" I of England (age 68) died at Burgh by Sands [Map] whilst on his way north to Scotland. His son King Edward II of England (age 23) succeeded II King England. Earl Chester merged with the Crown.
Edward (age 68) had gathered around him Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln (age 29), Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick (age 35), Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 32) and Robert Clifford 1st Baron Clifford (age 33) and charged them with looking after his son in particular ensuring Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 23) didn't return from exile.
On 06 Aug 1307 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 23) was created 1st Earl Cornwall by King Edward II of England (age 23) to the shock of the nobility; Earl Cornwall usually reserved for the heir. The earldom gave Gaveston substantial landholdings over great parts of England, to the value of £4,000 a year. These possessions consisted of most of Cornwall, as well as parts of Devonshire in the south-west, land in Berkshire and Oxfordshire centred on the honour of Wallingford, most of the eastern part of Lincolnshire, and the honour of Knaresborough in Yorkshire, with the territories that belonged to it.
Calendars. 06 Aug 1307 King Edward II (age 23). Dumfries [Map]. To the treasurer and the barons of the Exchequer. Order to discharge the Abbot of Hayles of £50Yearly, which he used to pay for the town of Leechelade [Map] to the late Edmund Earl of Cornwall, and, after his death, to the late King, the king having granted the earldom of Cornwall and all the lands of the said Edmund to Peter de Gavaston (age 23), knight.
To the like favour of Michael de Meldon for 4 marks annually for his lands in Worton.
On 02 Nov 1307 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 23) and Margaret Clare Countess Gloucester were married. Arranged by King Edward II of England (age 23). Margaret Clare Countess Gloucester grand-daughter of Edward I through his daughter Joan and, as such, significantly higher than Gaveston in the nobility. She the daughter of Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford and Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford. She a granddaughter of King Edward "Longshanks" I of England.
On 02 Dec 1307 King Edward II of England (age 23) held a tournament to celebrate Piers Gaveston's (age 23) recent wedding. Gaveston (age 23) took the opportunity to humiliate the older nobility including John Warenne 7th Earl Surrey (age 21), Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex (age 31) and Edmund Fitzalan 9th Earl Arundel (age 22) further increasing his unpopularity.
After 02 Dec 1307 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 23) was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
After 02 Dec 1307 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 23) exiled as a result of the nobilty forcing King Edward II of England (age 23) to do so.
Calendars. 08 Jan 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23) To the Sheriff of Leicester. Order to cause a coroner for that county to be elected in place of John de Noveray, of Burton, lately elected in the late King's reign, who is insufficiently qualified.
Memorandum, that on Sunday before the Feast of St Vincent the Martyr [22 Jan], at Dover, Kent [Map] in the King's chamber in the Priory of St Martin, Dover [Map], in the evening (crepsusculo noctis), in the presence of William Inge, knight, William de Melton and Adam de Osgoodby, clerks, Bishop John Langton, the King's Chancellor, delivered under his seal to the said King his great seal; and the King received the said seal in his own hands, and delivered it to Sir William Melton (age 33) to be carried with him in the wardrobe beyond sea; and the King straightaway delivered by his own hand another seal of his shortly before made anew at London for the government of the realm in the King's absence in a red bag (bursa) sealed with the seal of William Inge to the chancellor. With which seal the chancellor caused writs to be sealed, after the King's passage, in the hospital of Domus Dei, under the testimony of Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 24) then Keeper of the realm of England, on the Monday next following, on which day the King in the early morning (summo mane) passed the sea at Dover, Kent [Map].
Calendars. 22 Jan 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23). Dover, Kent [Map]. Robert Terry, of Whytefield, imprisoned at Northampton [Map] for the death of Galianus de Bek, has letters to the Sheriff of Nottingham to bail him until the first assize. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 24).
Calendars. 22 Jan 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23). Dover, Kent [Map] To the Sheriff of Kent. Order to provide 75 thousands of wood and 200 quarters of charcoal for the expenses of the King's household on his return from parts beyond the sea, so that he have at Dover, Kent [Map] against the King's return 25 thousands of wood and 30 quarters of coal, and at Canterbury, Kent [Map] 30 thousands of wood and 100 quarters of coal, and at Rochester, Kent [Map] (Rofham) 20 thousands of wood and 70 quarters of coal; to be delivered by indenture to John de Sumery, scullion (scutell') of the king's household, or such as supply his place. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 24).
Calendars. 24 Jan 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23). Canterbury, Kent [Map]. To the Sheriffs of London. Order to deliver John de la Dune, Roger de Hopton, Richard le Harpour, Roger de Soppewalle, Roger le Keu, Rober le Hunt, Thomas de Sydenham, Henry le Gardener, Thomas de la More, Philip Kemp, John le Wayt, and John le Wodeward, the men and servants of Adam de Kyngeshemede, in the King's prison of Newgate [Map] for a trespass committed by them upon the King's men at Westminster [Map], from prison upon their finding sufficient mainpernor's to have them before the King (age 23) or his Lieutenant in the quinzaine of the Purification of St Mary to stand to right concerning the said trespass. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 24).
Calendars. 03 Feb 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23). Ewell, Surrey [Map]. To the Treasurer and the Barons of the Exchequer. Whereas the king lately commanded them to put into execution all the writs of the late King pending in the exchequer, and although the late King commanded his treasurer and barons of the exchquer, at the supplication of the burgesses of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk [Map], by his writ now in the exchequer, as the said burgesses assert, to allow them 1,000 marks in which the late king was bound to them for a loan in the time when John de Kirkeby was his treasurer, and 1,£760 for the arrears of the wages of divers men sent by them to the late King's command into Gascony for the expedition of this war and for remaining there for a great time, and also for £250which they expended, by the order of the late King, in the making of two galleys (galiarum) in the said town, and also £780 for the wages of certain sailors and divers other costs expended by them at divers times for the expedition of the war in Scotland, to be allowed to them out of the debts owing by them to the said late King, as well as the tenth, eleventh, sixth, seventh, twentieth, and thirtieth granted by the community of the kingdom to the late King, as from other causes whatsoever; they are ordered to execute the said writs. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 24).
Calendars. On 07 Feb 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23) and Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 13) returned from their wedding in Boulogne sur Mer [Map] to Dover, Kent [Map].
07 Feb 1308. Be it remembered that on Wednesday after the Purification, Edward II (age 23), the king, returning from beyond seas, to wit, from Boulogne sur Mer [Map], where he took to wife Isabel (age 13), daughter of the king of France (age 39), touched at Dover, Kent [Map] in his barge about the ninth hour [1500], Hugh le Despenser (age 46) and the lord of Castellione of Gascony being in his company, and the Queen a little afterward touched there with certain ladies accompanying her, and because the great seal which had been taken with him beyond seas then remained in the keeping of the keeper of the wardrobe who could not arrive on that day, no writ was sealed from the hour of the king's coming until Friday following on which day the bishop of Chichester, chancellor, about the ninth hour [1500] delivered to the king in his chamber in Dover castle [Map] the seal used in England during the king's absence, and the king, receiving the same, delivered it to William de Melton (age 33), controller of the wardrobe, and forthwith delivered with his own hand to the chancellor the great seal under the seal of J. de Benstede, keeper of the wardrobe, and Master John Painter Fraunceis, in the presence of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster (age 30), Peter, Earl of Cornwall (age 24), and Hugh le Despenser (age 46), William Martyn and William Inge, knights, and Adam de Osgodby, clerk; and the chancellor on that day after lunch in his room (hospicio) in God's House, Dover, sealed writs with the great seal.
Calendars. 09 Feb 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23). Dover, Kent [Map]. To Alice, late wife of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Marshall of England. Order to meet the king at Dover, Kent [Map] on his return from France with his consort about Sunday next after the Feast of the Purification of St Mary. Witnessed by Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 24).
The like to:
Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford and Essex (age 25).
Henry de Lancastre (age 27).
Robert de Monte Alto.
Almaric de Sancto Amando[Ibid].
To R Archbishop of Canterbury (age 63). Order to attend the king's coronaion on Sunday next after the feast of St Valentine [14 Feb] at Westminster [Map], to execute what pertains to his office.
To the Sheriff of Surrey. Order to proclaim in market towns, etc., that no knight, esquire, or other shall, under pain of forfeiture, pressure to tourney or make jousts or bordices (torneare, justos seu burdseicas facere), or otherwise go armed at Croydon, Surrey [Map] or elsewhere before the king's coronation.
On 25 Feb 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23) was crowned II King England at Westminster Abbey [Map] by Henry Woodlock, Bishop of Winchester. Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 13) was crowned Queen Consort England.
Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 24) carried the Royal Crown.
William Marshal 1st Baron Marshal (age 30) carried the Gilt Spurs.
Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex (age 32) carried the Royal Sceptre.
Henry Plantagenet 3rd Earl of Leicester 3rd Earl Lancaster (age 27) carried the Royal Rod.
Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln (age 30) carried the sword Curtana (the sword of Edward the Confessor).
Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March (age 20) carried the table bearing the Royal Robes.
Thomas Grey (age 28) and Robert Fitzwalter 1st Baron Fitzwalter (age 61) attended.
Calendars. 06 Mar 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23). Westminster Palace [Map]. To Thomas de la Hide, late steward of Cornwall and Sheriff of the same. Order to deliver to Peter de Gavaston (age 24), knight, all the ferms, rents, and issues of the said County from Michaelmas last, and of the lands of the late Edmund Earl of Cornwall, the king having granted to the said Peter the county of Cornwall, and all the lands of the said Edmund.
The like to John de Tresimple, for the ferms, etc., of the manor, etc.
The like to Walter de Gloucester, escheator this side of Trent, for the ferms, etc., of the manors.
On 29 Sep 1308 (possibly 30th) in a Siblings Marriage de Clare siblings married de Burgh siblings at Waltham Abbey [Map] in the presence of King Edward II of England (age 24).
John Burgh (age 22) and [his sister-in-law] Elizabeth Clare Lady Verdun (age 13) were married. She the daughter of Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford and Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford. He the son of Richard "Red Earl" Burgh 2nd Earl Ulster (age 49) and Margaret Burgh Countess Ulster. She a granddaughter of King Edward "Longshanks" I of England. 
[his brother-in-law] Gilbert de Clare 8th Earl Gloucester 7th Earl Hertford and Matilda Burgh Countess Gloucester and Hertford (age 20) were married. She by marriage Countess Gloucester, Countess Hertford. She the daughter of Richard "Red Earl" Burgh 2nd Earl Ulster (age 49) and Margaret Burgh Countess Ulster. He the son of Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford and Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford. He a grandson of King Edward "Longshanks" I of England.
On 05 Aug 1309 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 25) was restored 1st Earl Cornwall.
Calendars. 16 Jan 1310 King Edward II of England (age 25). The Grove, Watford [Map]. To the Treasurer and the Barons of the Exchequer. Order to discharge the Abbot of Hayles of £100yearly, the rent of the manor of Lychelad [Map], as the King granted it to Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 26) and [his wife] Margaret his wife.
To the same. Order to discharge the men of Wallingford, Oxfordshire [Map] of the ferm of that town from August 5 last, to Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 26) and Margaret his wife.
Calendars. On 16 Jan 1310 King Edward II of England (age 25). Stamford [Map]. To the Sheriff of York. Order to proclaim that the king does not intend to change the money current in the Kingdom in the late King's time, as had been rumoured, and to forbid anyone from thinking little of it, whereby victuals and other necessaries may be sold more dearly.
The like to all the Sheriffs of England [Ibid].
Enrolment of deed of Peter de Gavaston (age 26), knight, surrendering to the king the castle, manor, and honour of Knaresborough [Map], with the free chase of Knaresborough, and the manors of Routheclyve and Auldburgh, lately granted to him by the King for his lifetime. Witnesses: [his brother-in-law] Gilbert de Clare 8th Earl Gloucester 7th Earl Hertford, Henry Lacy 4th Earl Lincoln, Earl Salisbury (age 59), John Warenne 7th Earl Surrey (age 23), John de Brittania, Earl of Richmond, Hugh "Elder" Despencer 1st Earl Winchester (age 48), Henry Percy 9th and 1st Baron Percy (age 36), Robert son of Walter, Robert son of Payn, William de Burford, William Inge. Dated at Stamford [Map] July 26, 3 Edward II.
Enrolment of like surrender by the said Peter (age 26) of the county of Gaure and the castles of Talanon, Tantalon, and Mauleon, the provostships (preposituras) and Camparian(um) called 'la Cointal' and of the city of Bayonne, the manor of Erebafaveyra, Born, Comtad, Salmun, Dagenes, and the island of Oleron, and the lands of Marempne and of Lancras in Saintogne, and all rights, appurtenances, etc., etc., thereto pertaining to the king, which the king lately granted him for life. Witnesses as above. Dated August 4, 3 Edward II.
Memorandum, that this deed was delivered to the king in his chamber in the House of the Friars Preachers, Stamford [Map] at Stamford, by the hands of the said Peter (age 26) and the king delivered the said deed to J his chancellor, to be enrolled in the chancery, and it was afterwards delivered to Ingelard de Warle, keeper of the King's Wardrobe to be kept in the king's wardrobe, but the king's charters that the said Peter hereof were not then restored.[CONTINUES].
In Apr 1311 Parliament exiled Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 27). Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 27) was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by King Edward II of England (age 26) who immediately started to plot for his return.
In Aug 1311 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 27) withdrew at Bamburgh Castle [Map].
On 03 Nov 1311 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 27) exiled.
On 13 Jan 1312 King Edward II of England (age 27) and Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) were reunited at Knaresborough Castle [Map] (probably).
On 04 May 1312 King Edward II of England (age 28) and Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) were at Newcastle on Tyne Castle [Map] where they barely escaped a force led by Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln (age 34), Henry Percy 9th and 1st Baron Percy (age 39) and Robert Clifford 1st Baron Clifford (age 38). Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) escaped to Scarborough [Map], King Edward II of England (age 28) to York [Map].
On 19 May 1312 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) surrendered to Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 37), John Warenne 7th Earl Surrey (age 25), Henry Percy 9th and 1st Baron Percy (age 39) and Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) who were besieging the castle. The terms of the surrender were that Pembroke, Warenne and Percy would take Gaveston to York, where the barons would negotiate with the king.
On 09 Jun 1312 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28), under the protection of Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 37), stayed at The Rectory, Deddington whilst en route south. Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 37) left Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) there whilst he left to visit his wife. The following morning Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick (age 40), with Edmund Fitzalan 9th Earl Arundel (age 27), Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex (age 36) and John Botetort 1st Baron Botetort (age 47) arrested Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) and took him to Warwick Castle [Map].
Around 15 Jun 1312 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) was tried at Warwick Castle [Map] by Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick (age 40), Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex (age 36), Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln (age 34) and Edmund Fitzalan 9th Earl Arundel (age 27). He was condemned to death.
On 19 Jun 1312 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 28) was taken to Blacklow Hill, Worcestershire where he was beheaded. Blacklow Hill, Worcestershire being outside of the Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl of Warwick's (age 40) lands. Gaveston's body was left where it lay eventually being recovered by Dominican friars who took it to Oxford, Oxfordshire [Map]. Earl Cornwall extinct.
Calendars. 16 Oct 1313. Westminster.
Pardon to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster (age 35), and his adherents, followers, and confederates, of all causes of anger, indignation, suits, accusations, &c, arisen in any manner on account of Peter de Gavaston, from the time of the king's marriage with his dear companion Isabella, whether on account of the capture, detention, or death of Peter de Gavaston, or on account of any forcible entries into any towns or castles, or any sieges of the same; or on account of having borne arms, or of having taken any prisoners, or of having entered into any confederacies whatever, or in any other manner touching or concerning Peter de Gavaston, or that which befel him. French. [Fœdera: Parl. Writs.]
The like, word for word, to the under-mentioned persons, adherents of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, for the death of Peter de Gavaston, viz.-
Humphrey de Bohun (age 37), Earl of Hereford and Essex.
Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (age 41).
Henry de Percy (age 40).
Robert de Clyfford (age 39).
John Boteturte (age 48).
Robert de Holand.
Griffith de la Pole.
John de Heselarton.
Alexander de Cave.
Thomas le fiz Johan de Heselarton.
Robert de Stepelton.
Jordan de Dalden.
Robert le Conestable of Halsham.
William du Lunde and Thomas le fiz Phelip le Mareschal of Milford.
William Trussel.
William de Dacre (age 47).
William de Holand (age 60).
William la Zusche of Haringworthe (age 48).
Continues with another two hundred or so names.
On 02 Jan 1315 Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall was buried at King's Langley Priory, Hertfordshire [Map] some two and a half years after his murder. The ceremony was attended by King Edward II of England (age 30) and his wife Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 20) as well as Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex (age 39), Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 40), Thomas of Brotherton 1st Earl Norfolk (age 14), Bartholomew Badlesmere 1st Baron Badlesmere (age 39), Hugh Despencer 1st Baron Despencer (age 7) and his son Hugh "Younger" Despencer 1st Baron Despencer (age 29).
On 28 Apr 1317 Hugh Audley 1st Earl Gloucester (age 26) and [his former wife] Margaret Clare Countess Gloucester were married. She the daughter of Gilbert "Red Earl" Clare 7th Earl Gloucester 6th Earl Hertford and Joan of Acre Countess Gloucester and Hertford. They were half fourth cousins. He a great x 3 grandson of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England. She a granddaughter of King Edward "Longshanks" I of England. 
Around 06 Apr 1342 [his former wife] Margaret Clare Countess Gloucester died.