Cultural depictions of Edward II of England

Edward II of England has been portrayed in popular culture a number of times.

Theatre and music

The most famous fictional account of Edward II's reign is Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II (c. 1592). It depicts Edward's reign as a single narrative, and does not include Bannockburn. It makes reference to Gaveston.

In recent years, several acclaimed productions have been staged in the United Kingdom, although the play is seldom performed in the United States outside of large cities and university towns.

Bertolt Brecht's adaptation of Marlowe's play, The Life of Edward II of England, was written in 1923.

The English composer John McCabe's ballet, Edward II (1994), is also based on the Marlowe play.Edward II appears in Maurice Druon's series of historical novels The Accursed Kings. Actor Christopher Buchholz played him in the 2005 French TV series adaptation of the novels.

Literature

Margaret Campbell Barnes' Isabel the Fair, Hilda Lewis' Harlot Queen, Maureen Peters' Isabella, the She-Wolf, and Brenda Honeyman's The Queen and Mortimer all focus on Queen Isabella. Eve Trevaskis' King's Wake starts shortly after the fall of the Despensers and ends with the fall of Roger Mortimer.

Most recently, Susan Higginbotham in The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II looks at the reign and its aftermath through the eyes of Hugh le Despenser's wife, Eleanor de Clare. Medieval mystery novelists P. C. Doherty and Michael Jecks have set a number of their books against the...
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