Introduction

How did Edward II develop his sexual reputation? Despite repeated statements from scholars about what the nature of that reputation was, this question has been surprisingly seldom asked. When it has been, investigation has largely focused on chronicle accounts written in Edward's lifetime or shortly afterwards. This chapter makes the case for the important role played by texts of other genres. Focusing exclusively on historical texts or contemporary political documents means that we miss what was ultimately the most influential development during Edward's lifetime: the attribution of ‘lechery’ to his allegorical character in the prophetic text The Prophecy of the Six Kings to Follow John. Moreover, the ongoing process of constructing Edward's reputation did not end in the immediate aftermath of his reign: it took nearly three centuries for it to crystallize as a narrative involving love and sex between men. Building on Chapter 1's discussion of how narratives of Edward II reveal the strategic use of ambiguous sexual vocabulary, this chapter focuses on the vocabulary which shaped Edward's reputation, and the terms and texts which constitute milestones in that process. Through this, it traces the means by which hints of sexual transgression became a consensus that Edward's relationships with his favourites were sexual and romantic: by which the sexual connotations of allegorical goats became the unequivocal accusations of allusions to Ganymede, the cupbearer of Jupiter in classical mythology.