2-376-527 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, being led to execution, Pontefract, Yorkshire, 1322 (1864). Thomas Plantagenet (1278-1322), 2nd Earl of Lancaster allied with the Scots against Edward II, but was defeated and captured at Boroughbridge in 1322. In 1312 he had been responsible for the killing of Piers Gaveston, Edward's favourite and, possibly, lover. Thomas was tried and convicted of treason (he was not allowed to speak in his defence) and was executed on 22nd March 1322. In 1326 or 1327 Parliament posthumously overturned his conviction and for a time he was venerated as a martyr and a saint.