Myth: Edward was a foppish weakling.
See Braveheart for the nadir of this theory, based far more on outdated and offensive assumptions of how gay men are supposed to act than on any historical evidence. It also crops up in not a few novels featuring Edward II, where the king flutters his hands, stamps his feet, throws tantrums and shrieks a lot - and even in non-fiction!
Whether Edward ever fluttered his hands, stamped his feet and shrieked, I can't tell you - it doesn't seem very likely - but here's what some fourteenth-century chronicles wrote about him:
"one of the strongest men of his realm." (Scalacronica)
"elegant, of outstanding strength." (Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon)
"a handsome man, of outstanding strength." (Polychronicon)
"tall and strong, a fine figure of a handsome man." (Vita Edwardi Secundi)
"a handsome man, strong of body and limb." (Anonimalle)
Edward II was criticised by some of his contemporaries and slightly later chroniclers for his odd hobbies - digging ditches, building walls, doing iron-work, thatching roofs, shoeing horses. One of his own household said in 1314 that the reason Edward had lost Bannockburn because he spent all his time in "improper occupations," rather than hearing Mass. The king's willingness to "give himself up always to improper occupations" was deemed important enough to be given as one of the articles of deposition against him in January 1327. Given that Edward loved going out into the fields, shimmying up roofs and the like, and that he was said to be "one of the strongest men of his realm," it seems unlikely in the extreme that he had the "smooth, girlish hands" which Eleanor Herman's Sex With The Queen gives him. There seems to be no reason for Ms Herman to assume that Edward had 'smooth, girlish hands' except that he was a lover of men - another horrible stereotype. Not intending to pick on Ms Herman here - there are numerous other similar depictions of Edward in fiction and non-fiction, all of them based on cliches rather than reality.
See Braveheart for the nadir of this theory, based far more on outdated and offensive assumptions of how gay men are supposed to act than on any historical evidence. It also crops up in not a few novels featuring Edward II, where the king flutters his hands, stamps his feet, throws tantrums and shrieks a lot - and even in non-fiction!
Whether Edward ever fluttered his hands, stamped his feet and shrieked, I can't tell you - it doesn't seem very likely - but here's what some fourteenth-century chronicles wrote about him:
"one of the strongest men of his realm." (Scalacronica)
"elegant, of outstanding strength." (Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon)
"a handsome man, of outstanding strength." (Polychronicon)
"tall and strong, a fine figure of a handsome man." (Vita Edwardi Secundi)
"a handsome man, strong of body and limb." (Anonimalle)
Edward II was criticised by some of his contemporaries and slightly later chroniclers for his odd hobbies - digging ditches, building walls, doing iron-work, thatching roofs, shoeing horses. One of his own household said in 1314 that the reason Edward had lost Bannockburn because he spent all his time in "improper occupations," rather than hearing Mass. The king's willingness to "give himself up always to improper occupations" was deemed important enough to be given as one of the articles of deposition against him in January 1327. Given that Edward loved going out into the fields, shimmying up roofs and the like, and that he was said to be "one of the strongest men of his realm," it seems unlikely in the extreme that he had the "smooth, girlish hands" which Eleanor Herman's Sex With The Queen gives him. There seems to be no reason for Ms Herman to assume that Edward had 'smooth, girlish hands' except that he was a lover of men - another horrible stereotype. Not intending to pick on Ms Herman here - there are numerous other similar depictions of Edward in fiction and non-fiction, all of them based on cliches rather than reality.
Kathryn Warner Oct 2009