A King couldn't rule without the support of his powerful nobles.
They would help him keep order in the kingdom and defend it from attack,
while the King himself offered leadership and security.
But that's just what the nobles thought Edward wasn't doing.
His father, the great warrior King Edward I,
had defended the country and earned the title "Hammer of the Scots"
for his ferocious attempt to conquer Scotland.
But these hard-won gains were now being lost by his son
and the nobles laid the blame on his obsession with Gaveston.
Eventually, seeing no other option, a group of nobles came to parliament, armed and angry.
They demanded that Gaveston be banished,
and forced Edward to agree that 21 of them should rule on his behalf.
This was not what Isabella had signed up for when she married the King of England.
But she was still little more than a child, and she was powerless to stop the conflict.