Piers Gaveston

On 2nd or 3rd January 1315, 711 years ago, Piers Gaveston (the 1st Earl of Cornwall), King Edward II’s favourite was buried here in Kings Langley at the Dominican Priory Church which once stood within the Royal Palace grounds at the top of Langley Hill where the Rodolf Steiner School is located.

Piers Gaveston had been executed 3 years before on 19th June 1312 at Blacklow Hill, Warwickshire having been imprisoned at Warwick Castle by Guy de Beauchamp the Earl of Warwick. He was run through with a sword and then beheaded. Other key figures involved in his murder included Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke.

Piers had been excommunicated against King Edward II’s wishes so could not be given a Christian burial and it is said that his body was left to rot on the top of Blacklow Hill until a group of Dominican friars rescued the body which they took to Oxford where is was embalmed and the head sewn back on.

History depicts King Edward II and Piers as more than just friends with Medieval chroniclers describing their relationship as “beyond measure and reason” (Vita Edwardi Secundi). Robert of Reading in his Flores Historiarum described their “Illicit and sinful unions”. However it was not until the 16th century that Shakepeare’s contemporary, Christopher Marlowe wrote his play Edward II in which the King and Piers are portrayed as having an intimate relationship.

By 1315 the excommunication of Piers had been lifted which allowed Edward II to finally lay Piers to rest, here in Kings Langley where, most likey, the two had first met when Edward was growing up and Piers accompanied his father Arnaud de Gabaston, a royal knight who served Edward I and brought Piers into royal service. Arnaud de Gabaston is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

According to accounts the burial ceremony was a grand affair. Piers body was dressed in three cloths of gold. In attendance were many dignitaries including the Archbishop of Canterbury and many lords and earls. 23 tons of wine was ordered for the ceremony.