Edward was called the English Justinian; yet those acts for which he is
most famous were reluctantly done because of the demands made by a
determined people.

During his reign gunpowder was discovered by Roger Bacon, whereby Guy
Fawkes was made possible. Without him England would still be a
slumbering fog-bank upon the shores of Time.

[Illustration: ROGER BACON DISCOVERS GUNPOWDER.]

Young Edward was not much of a monarch. He forgot to fight the Scots,
and soon Robert Bruce had won back the fortresses taken by the English,
and Edward II., under the influence of an attractive trifler named
Gaveston, dawdled away his days and frittered away his nights. Finally
the nobles, who disliked Gaveston, captured him and put him in Warwick
Castle, and in 1312 the royal favorite was horrified to find near him a
large pool of blood, and on a further search discovered his own head
lying in the gutter of the court. Turning sick at the gory sight, he
buried his face in his handkerchief and expired.

The nobles were forgiven afterwards by the king, who now turned his
attention to the victorious Scots.

Stirling Castle and the Fortress of Berwick alone remained to the
English, and Robert Bruce was besieging the latter.

The English, numbering one hundred thousand, at Bannockburn fought
against thirty thousand Scots. Bruce surprised the cavalry with deep
pits, and before the English could recover from this, an approaching