his case was, Edward sent word to the mayor and sheriffs that the
barons might be admitted provided the city was still held for the king.
Accordingly the barons were admitted without bloodshed, and held
consultation at St. Paul's as to what was best to be done.(356) Gaveston's
days were numbered. On the 12th June he was forced to surrender
unconditionally to the Earl of Warwick, and that day week was beheaded
without the semblance of a trial.(357)

The influence he had exercised over the king had been remarkable from
their youth. The son of a Gascon knight, he had been brought up with
Edward as his foster brother and playfellow, and in course of time the
strong will of the favourite gained a complete mastery over the weaker
will of the prince. But his arrogant behaviour soon raised such a storm
among the nobles at Court that he was forced to leave England. When Edward
succeeded to the throne, one of his first acts was to recall Gaveston, to
whom he gave his own niece in marriage, after having bestowed upon him the
Earldom of Cornwall. The king seemed never tired of heaping wealth upon
his friend. Among other things, he bestowed upon his favourite (28th Aug.,
1309) the sum of 100 shillings payable out of the rent of L50 due from the
citizens of London for Oueenhithe, to be held by him, his wife, and the
heirs of their bodies.(358)

Both of them had friends and enemies in common. As Prince of Wales, Edward
had made an attempt to encroach upon some woods belonging to Walter
Langton, Bishop of Chester. This caused a breach between father and son,
and the prince was banished from Court for a whole half-year. Gaveston
also bore the same bishop a grudge, for it was owing in a great measure to
Langton's influence as treasurer to Edward I that he was in the first
instance forced into exile. When the prince succeeded his father, there
came a day of retribution for the bishop; his property was handed over to
Gaveston, and he himself carried prisoner from castle to castle by the now
all powerful favourite. A proclamation was also issued at the instance of
Gaveston, inviting complaints against the bishop.(359)

(M220)

Edward had purposed holding a parliament at Lincoln towards the end of
July, 1312, but the turn that affairs had taken induced him to change his
mind, and he summoned it to meet at Westminster.(360) It was important
that he should secure the city, if possible, in his favour. In this he was
successful; so that when