Vita Edwardi condemns Gaveston

November 1310

English barons led by Thomas of Lancaster drew up the Ordinances, a sweeping reform program aimed at curbing Edward II's favorite Piers Gaveston and requiring parliamentary consent for royal expenditures and appointments. The document listed forty-one specific grievances against royal misgovernment. It was an early written attempt to constitutionalize the English monarchy, though the king would resist its terms fiercely.