The future king was born on April 25, 1284, in Carnarvon Castle in north Wales. At the place of birth he is sometimes called Edward of Carnarvon. By that time, Wales was ruled by England for less than a year, and perhaps Carnarvon was deliberately chosen as the birthplace of the next royal son: it was a symbolically important place for the Welsh, associated with the history of the Roman Empire, and also the center of the new royal administration in the northern part of the region. The modern day prophet, who believed that the end of time was approaching, foretold a great future for the baby, calling it the new king Arthur, who would lead England to glory.
The prince grew tall and muscular, and by the standards of that time was considered the owner of a good appearance. He had a reputation for being eloquent and generous to those who served at his court. He liked rowing, digging ditches, planting hedges and communicating with peasants and other common people, which was not considered normal for the nobility of the time and was criticized by contemporaries.
In 1297-1298, while Edward I fought with the French on the continent, the prince remained in England as regent. Upon his return, the king signed a peace treaty in which he agreed to marry Prince Edward with Philip’s daughter Isabella , who was then only two years old. In theory, this marriage meant that the controversial part of Gascony would be inherited by the common descendants of Edward and Philip, and the feuds would end there. Young Edward seems to have established a good relationship with his new stepmother, who became the mother of his two half-brothers, Thomas Brotherton and Edmund Woodstock. After accession to the throne, Edward supported his brothers with money and won titles for them. Characteristically, contemporaries criticized Edward II for allegedly supporting his favorite Pierce Gaveston more than his brothers, but Alison Marshall’s detailed study shows a great deal of generosity towards Thomas and Edmund. Marshall writes that in this case, criticism of Edward was unfair.
Having graduated from the French, Edward I once again went with troops to Scotland (1300) and this time took his son with him, appointing him the commander of the rearguard during the siege of Kerlaverok Castle. In the spring of 1301, the king proclaimed Edward the Prince of Wales, bestowing upon him the county of Chester and lands in north Wales; apparently, he hoped that this would help pacify the region and give his son a certain financial independence. Edward took homage from his Welsh vassals and rejoined his father in the 1301 Scottish campaign. He moved north with a detachment of three hundred soldiers and captured Turnberry Castle. Prince Edward also took part in the campaign of 1303, in particular, in the siege of Brikhinsky castle. In the spring of 1304, he negotiated with the leaders of the Scottish rebels, but did not succeed and later joined his father for the siege of Stirling Castle.
In 1305, there was a quarrel between Edward and his father – perhaps because of the money. The prince engaged in an altercation with Bishop Walter Langton, the royal treasurer, and it was allegedly a question of the amount of financial support Edward received from the crown. Edward I took the side of the treasurer and forbade Edward and his comrades to approach the royal court closer than thirty miles, denying them money. Only thanks to the intercession of the young queen, father and son reconciled.
The war in Scotland broke out with a new force in 1306, when Robert the Bruce killed his rival John Comyn and proclaimed himself king. Edward I assembled a new army, but decided that this time the formal commander would be his son. Prince Edward was proclaimed Duke of Aquitaine and then knighted with three hundred young men at a magnificent ceremony in Westminster Abbey. In the middle of the big feast in the next hall, whose decoration reminded of King Arthur and the Crusades, the meeting brought a collective oath to defeat Bruce. In particular, the Prince of Wales vowed that he would not spend even two nights in one place until victory was won. Little is known about the events that followed: Bruce was not able to offer serious resistance, and sources report cruel punitive actions by the British, and it is unclear what role Prince Edward’s troops played in this: the chronicler William Rishenger put the blame for the massacre on him, and historian Seymour Phillips noted that many of Rishenger’s other reports are definitely unreliable. Accordingly, in this case, the chronicler could distort the real picture. Edward returned to England in September when diplomatic negotiations continued on the final date of his marriage with Isabella de France.
Friendship with Gaveston
The young Prince of Wales became close to Pierce Gaveston, the son of a Gascon knight who joined the retinue of Edward in 1300. Gaveston became a squire, and soon he was already called a close friend of Edward; in 1306, he was knighted with the prince. In 1307, the king expelled Sir Pierce to Gascony. According to one of the chronicles, Edward asked his father to allow him to bestow Gaveston on Pontier County, and the king was so enraged by this request that he tore out a tuft of hair from his son and drove the failed graph to the continent.