[Sidenote: His reappearance with the King. 1312.] [Sidenote: The baronial chiefs.] [Sidenote: Gaveston beheaded at Warwick.] In pursuance of these Ordinances, Gaveston left England, and took refuge in Flanders. But before the year was over he again appeared in England, and joined Edward as he hurried to the North, to be, as he believed, less within the reach of his enemies. At Knaresborough, Edward thought himself strong enough to put forward a proclamation declaring the banishment of Gaveston contrary to the Constitution. He readmitted him to favour, and restored him his property. It was even reported that he was intriguing to secure him a retreat in Scotland. This flagrant violation of his word set all England against the King. The old Archbishop Winchelsea of Canterbury, as in the last reign, became a centre of revolution; he excommunicated Gaveston, while the Barons, at the head of whom were now the Earls of Lancaster and Hereford, proceeded to take active measures. This Lancaster was the eldest son of Edmund, brother of Edward I. His power in England was enormous; he was Earl of five counties. From his father he had received Lancaster and the confiscated estates of De Montfort and Ferrers, the Earldoms namely of Leicester and Derby; he had married the heiress of the De Lacys, and upon the death of the Earl of Lincoln had succeeded to the Earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury. He began that opposition, which will be frequently mentioned afterwards, of the younger branch of the Plantagenets to the reigning house. Hereford, the son of the great Humphrey Bohun, was the hereditary chief of the baronial party. He had married Elizabeth, the King’s sister. The leaders of the baronial party agreed to repair to those parts of England where they had most influence. Lancaster proceeded northwards so rapidly, that the King had to fly before him, and was nearly captured at Newcastle, where Gaveston’s jewels and horses fell into Lancaster’s hands, and thence he took ship for Scarborough. Lancaster took up his position in the middle of England, while the rest of the baronial party besieged Gaveston in that fortress, where he was soon obliged to surrender. This he did to the Earl of Pembroke, who was no enemy to the King, upon a promise that if he could not come to terms with the Barons he should be restored to Scarborough. Pembroke persuaded him to go with him to his castle at Wallingford, but on the way, during a temporary absence of Pembroke, he was surprised by Warwick, who hated him for having nicknamed him “The Black Dog,” brought to his castle of Warwick, and there beheaded on Blacklow Hill. The King was naturally full of anger, nor did he, in fact, ever forgive Lancaster, but he yielded to necessity, being perhaps in a particularly good humour at the birth of a son and heir; and the Barons, who appeared in arms at Ware, all received pardon in exchange for some slight concessions, among others for the restoration of Gaveston’s jewels.