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Edward II Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Edward II Quizzes, Trivia

Edward II Trivia

Edward II Trivia Quizzes

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2 Edward II quizzes and 25 Edward II trivia questions.
1.
  Edward II, King of England    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
He was weak, incompetent and greedy but, he gave England one of its most remarkable of Kings, his son Edward III. Let me introduce to you His Majesty Edward II.
Average, 10 Qns, gywalgi, Nov 07 10
Average
gywalgi
718 plays
2.
  Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
His father conquered Wales and his son defeated the French but Edward II remains firmly on the list of great losers. Try this multi-choice quiz to see why.
Difficult, 15 Qns, Philian, Jan 23 10
Difficult
Philian
783 plays

Edward II Trivia Questions
1. How many sisters did Edward II have?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: five

Mary became a nun. All of the other four sisters married -Eleanor married the King of Aragon, Joan married the Earl of Gloucester, Margaret married the Duke of Lorraine, Elizabeth married the Count of Holland and later the Earl of Hereford and Essex. Edward I had ensured that his family was very powerfully connected.

2. Edward II was the son of Edward I. Who was his mother?

From Quiz Edward II, King of England

Answer: Eleanor of Castile

Marguerite of France was Edward I's second wife. Blanche of Artois was the wife of Edmund, brother of Edward I. Philippa of Hainault will later be the wife of Edward III (son of Edward II).

3. What title did Edward II bestow on his friend Gaveston?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Earl of Cornwall

This is the first example of Edward's foolish misuse of the power of patronage. Giving titles and lands was a way of confirming the allegiance of powerful men to the crown. Previously, Cornwall was a title that went to a member of the royal family and not to a foreign (Gascon in Gaveston's case) nobody.

4. Edward married the daughter of King Philippe IV of France. What was her name?

From Quiz Edward II, King of England

Answer: Isabelle

Isabelle had 3 brothers and all of whom would be king of France: Louis X, Philippe V and Charles IV. After the death of Charles, the French concocted the Salic law (that no woman can inherit land and therefore, no woman can reign over a country) to avoid France passing to England by way of Isabelle. And then started the Hundred Years' War but that is another story.

5. What were the names and titles of Edward II's two half-brothers? (They shared the same father but a different mother; one of the half-brothers was executed in 1330).

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Thomas Earl of Norfolk, and Edmund, Earl of Kent

It was Edmund, Earl of Kent who was executed in 1330. This was during the time that the young Edward III was controlled by his mother and her lover, Roger Mortimer.

6. Despite the fact that Edward prefered men to women, he had children by his wife. How many?

From Quiz Edward II, King of England

Answer: 4

He fathered Edward who would be king as Edward III, John of Eltham, Lord of Cornwall, Eleanor and finally Joan, who would marry David II King of the Scots.

7. Edward II was succeeded by Edward III but, apart from this eldest son, what were the other children he had by his wife Isabella?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: one son and two daughters

Edward's second son was John, Earl of Cornwall (after Gaveston's death). John died in 1336 aged 20. Edward II's daughter Joan married David Bruce, King of Scotland. His younger daughter married Reynald, Duke of Gueldres. Though rumoured to be homosexual, Edward did his "royal duty" and produced legitimate issue to carry on the line.

8. The year 1314 was a horrible one for Edward. After his cousin's rebellion, he lost the important battle of Bannockburn against the Scots. Who led the Scottish Army?

From Quiz Edward II, King of England

Answer: Robert the Bruce

Remember the last scene of "Braveheart"!

9. Which unusual country activities did Edward II like to take part in?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: hedging and ditching

After Bannockburn one royal messenger said it was not surprising the king did not win battles as he spent his time hedging and ditching rather than hearing mass. One household account records quantities of iron and plaster bought for "the private works of the king". He also liked to build walls.

10. At which castle in the north of England did Edward's favourite Gaveston fall into the hands of the rebel lords?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Scarborough

The rebel lords (sometimes called the Ordainers because of the list of ordinances or demands they drew up) soon disposed of Gaveston once he was in their power. The Earl of Warwick managed to steal him away from the safe-conduct of the Earl of Pembroke. After a quick trial he was executed at Blacklow Hill.

11. Which rich nobleman died at Bannockburn with the result that the three heiresses to his vast estates were married off to the King's favourites?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Earl of Gloucester

Hugh Audley and Wiiliam Montague were just household knights who married two of the three heiresses to Gloucester's fortune. The third heiress was married to the younger Despenser who gradually became Edward II's most preferred favourite. Eventually Despenser began to make inroads into the lands of the other two unfortunate knights. Once again Edward II misused the power of patronage and this time with the greatest windfall of land known to any medieval monarch.

12. The Earl of Lancaster (Edward's cousin) was the greatest land owner in the north of England and became the king's greatest opponent. What was his first name?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Thomas

Thomas of Lancaster organised the opposition to the King and his favourites. However,historians have judged that he had almost as little skill for leadership as Edward. He was involved in too many private land disputes and quarrels to carry through to a conclusion any rebellion against Edward II.

13. Edward was not a good king, that is a fact, but did he really deserve to be murdered with unspeakable cruelty? How was he reported to have been killed?

From Quiz Edward II, King of England

Answer: A red-hot poker was thrust into his bowels

The story was put about that his murderers first inserted a funnel in his anus and then thrust the red-hot poker in his body through the funnel. By these means his corpse would have borne no external marks that indicated how he had been killed. This story of his death was a singularly evil mockery of his sexuality.

14. What happened at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Lancaster was defeated, captured and executed.

Lancaster didn't really put up much of a fight. Unlike Edward I or Edward III neither Edward II nor Thomas of Lancaster seem to have had much relish for a military campaign. Boroughbridge was won for Edward II by Andrew Harclay (Earl of Carlisle), employing tactics he had learned from the Scottish campaigns.

15. Which position did Robert Baldock hold under Edward II?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Chancellor

Baldock was ruthless and efficient where raising money was concerned. He was a close ally of Despenser. One of his tactics was to force men to pay large fictitious debts by producing fraudulent deeds. Most of this money went straight to Despenser rather than to the Exchequer.

16. Who or what was responsible for the overthrow of the Despenser rule of the country?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: The faction led by Queen Isabella and Mortimer

Lnacaster was long dead. Mortimer was a Marcher lord but only became Earl of March after Isabella had taken over. The Archbishop of Canterbury did help to force the issue of Edward II's abdication after the Despensers had been executed.

17. In which part of Britain was Edward II when he was taken prisoner by Henry of Lancaster, the previous earl's brother?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: Wales

As soon as Isabella landed in Suffolk in September 1326 all of Edward II's supporters ran away. Edward himself was eventually captured in Glamorgan and taken to Kenilworth Castle by Henry of Lancaster. Despenser was executed at Hereford and his genital were cut off and burned in front of him for being a heretic and a sodomite.

18. What was the only condition that Edward II asked for when he agreed to resign the throne?

From Quiz Edward II - the Monarch Who Failed

Answer: That his son should succeed him as Edward III

The Archbishop of Canterbury by this stage was also against Edward. This was because Edward had failed not just in the patronage of the nobles but also in keeping on the right side of the Church. Edward's son did succeed him but, though Edward was killed in 1327, Mortimer's rule was not overturned until October 1330.

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