Edward, after such a struggle as he could make to save Gaveston--a matter which was to him far more important than any of the legal questions involved in the Ordinances--consented that they should become a law, intending perhaps to obtain absolution when it was needed, or to allege that his consent was given under compulsion. He went back into the North, was rejoined by Gaveston, and after some short consideration annulled the ordinances which were made against him. The barons immediately on hearing of this prepared to enforce the law in arms. Winchelsey excommunicated the favorite; the king left no means untried to save him. After a narrow escape at Newcastle, where he lost his baggage and the vast collection of jewels which he had accumulated, many of them belonging to the hereditary hoard of the crown, Gaveston was besieged in Scarborough Castle. In May, 1312, he surrendered, and was conducted by the Earl of Pembroke into the South, to await his sentence in parliament. His enemies, however, were too impatient to wait for justice. The Earl of Warwick carried him off whilst Pembroke was off his guard, and he was beheaded in the presence of the Earl of Lancaster. It is more easy to account for than to justify the hatred which the earls felt towards Gaveston. His conduct had been offensive, his influence was no doubt dangerous, but the actual mischief done by him had been small; neither he nor Edward had exercised power with sufficient freedom as yet to merit such a punishment, and no policy of mere caution or apprehension could excuse the cruelty of the act. It was a piece of vile personal revenge, for insults which any really great man would have scorned to avenge. [Sidenote: Changes in the administration. ]