1-627-891 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

King Edward II (1284-1327) and the minstrel. Edward was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in 1327. His tendency to ignore his nobility in favour of low-born favourites led to constant political unrest and his eventual deposition. He was the first monarch to establish colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; he founded Cambridge's King's Hall in 1317 and gave Oxford's Oriel College its royal charter in 1326. From Cassell's Illustrated History of England.