II. i 453). Between 5 and 10 Nov. he was at Neath beseeching the men of Gower to come to his aid (Parl. Writs, II. i. 454) On 10 Nov. he sent the abbot of Neath and others to negotiate with the queen. Meanwhile Henry of Lancaster and Rhys ap Howel, a Welsh clerk newly released from the Tower by the queen, were specially despatched to effect his capture. Bribes and spies soon made his retreat known. On 16 Nov. the king and all his party fell into the hands of the enemy, and were conducted to the castle of Llantrissaint (Ann, Paul p. 319; Knighton, c. 2545, says they were captured at Neath). On 20 Nov. Baldock and the younger Despenser were handed over to the queen at Hereford, where they were speedily executed. On the same day Edward, who had been retained in the custody of Lancaster, was compelled to surrender the great seal to Bishop Adam of Orlton at Monmouth (Fœdera, ii. 646). Edward was thence despatched to Kenilworth, where he remained the whole winter, still in Lancaster's custody, and treated honourably and generously by his magnanimous captor.
A parliament assembled at Westminster on 7 Jan. 1327. At Orlton's instigation the estates chose Edward, duke of Aquitaine, as their king. Bishop Stratford drew up six articles justifying Edward's deposition. But a formal resignation was thought desirable by the queen's advisers. Two efforts were made to persuade Edward to meet the parliament (Parl. Writs, II. i. 457; Lanercost p. 257), but on his resolute refusal a committee of the bishops, barons, and judges was sent to Kenilworth. On 20 Jan. Edward, clothed in black, gave them audience. At first he fainted, but, recovering himself, he listened with tears and groans to an address of Orlton's. Then Sir W. Trussell, as proctor of parliament, renounced homage to him, and Sir T. Blount, the steward of the household, broke his staff of office. Edward now spoke, lamenting his ill-fortune and his trust in traitorous counsellors, but rejoicing that his son would now be king (Knighton, c. 2550). The deputation then departed, and Edward II's reign was at an end.
The deposed king remained at Kenilworth until the spring, on the whole patiently bearing his sufferings, but complaining bitterly of his separation from his wife and children. Some curious verses are preserved which are said to have been written by him (they are given in Latin in Fabian, p. 185, but the French original is given in a manuscript at Longleat, Hist MSS, Commission 3rd Rep. 180). The government of Isabella and Mortimer was, however, too insecure to allow Edward to remain alive and a possible instrument of their degradation. He was transferred at the suggestion of Orlton from the mild custody of his cousin to that of two knights, Thomas de Gournay and John Maltravers, who on 3 April removed him by night from Kenilworth. Such secrecy enveloped his subsequent movements that very different accounts of them have been preserved. Sir T. de la Moor (pp. 315-19), who has preserved the most circumstantial narrative (but cf. Archæologia, xxvii. 274, 297), says he was taken first to Corfe Castle and thence to Bristol. But on his whereabouts becoming known some of the citizens formed a plot for his liberation, whereupon he was secretly conducted by night to Berkeley. Murimuth (pp. 53-5) gives a rather different account of his wanderings, but brings him ultimately to Berkeley. The new gaolers now inflicted every possible indignity upon Edward, and entered on a systematic course of ill-treatment which could have but one end. He was denied sufficient food and clothing, he was prevented from, sleeping, he was crowned with a crown of hay, and shaved by the roadside with ditch water. Yet the queen reproved the guards for their mild treatment. At last Thomas of Berkeley was removed from his own castle, so that the inhumanity of the gaolers should be deprived of its last restraint. Edward was now removed to a pestilential chamber over a charnel-house in the hope that he would die of disease; but as his robust constitution still prevailed, he was barbarously murdered in his bed on 21 Sept. His dying shrieks, resounding throughout the castle, sufficiently attested the horror of his end. It was given out that he had died a natural death, and his body was exposed to view as evidence of his end ('Documents relating to the Death and Burial of Edward II,' by S. A. Moore, in Archæologia, l. 215-226). At last it was buried with considerable pomp in the abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester, now the cathedral (ib.) In after years his son erected a tomb over his remains, which is one of the glories of mediæval sculpture and decorative tabernacle work (Archæol. Journ, xvii. 297-310). His misfortunes had so far caused his errors to be forgotten, that it was much debated by the people whether, like Thomas of Lancaster, he had not merited the honour of sanctity (Knighton, c. 2551). The Welsh, among whom he was always popular, kept green the memory of his fate by mournful dirges in their native tongue (Walsingham, i. 83).
Edward's death was so mysterious that rumours were soon spread by the foes of the government that he was still alive. For believing such rumours Edmund of Kent incurred the penalties of treason in 1328. In
