Edward II. was the fourth son of Edward I. and Eleanor. John, their eldest boy, had died in 1272; Henry, the next, died in 1274; Alfonso, the third, lived to be twelve years old, and died in 1285. Edward was born in 1284, at Carnarvon, became heir-apparent on his brother’s death, and in 1301 was made Earl of Chester and Prince of Wales. Losing his mother in 1290, he was deprived of the early teaching which might have changed his whole history. His father, although he showed his characteristic care in directing the management of his son’s household, in choosing his companions, and rebuking his faults, was far too busy to devote to him the personal supervision which would have trained him for government and secured his affections. He grew up to dread rather than to love him, hating his father’s ministers as spies and checks upon his pleasures, and spending his time in amusements unbecoming a prince and a knight. His most intimate friend, Piers Gaveston, the son of an old Gascon servant of his father, had been assigned him by the King as his companion, and had gained a complete mastery over him. Gaveston was an accomplished knight, brave, ambitious, insolent and avaricious, like the foreign favorites of Henry III. Edward, although a handsome, strong lad, did not care to practice feats of arms or to follow the pursuits of war. He was fond of hunting and country life, averse to public labor, but splendid to extravagance in matters of feasting and tournament. He was indolent, careless about making new friends or enemies; the only strong feeling which marked him was his obstinate championship of the men whom he believed to be attached to himself. Edward was not a vicious man, but he was very foolish, idle, and obstinate, and there was nothing about him that served to counterbalance these faults or invite sympathy with him in his misfortunes. Edward I. some months before his death had found out this to his sorrow. He saw in the influence that Gaveston had won a sign that the scenes were to be repeated which, as he so well remembered, had marked the stormy period of his own youth. He had banished Gaveston from court and made him swear not to return without his leave. No sooner was he dead than the favorite was recalled, and by his return began that series of miseries which overwhelmed himself first, and then his master, and the consequences of which ran on in long succession until the great house of Plantagenet came to an end. [Sidenote: Peace with Scotland. ]