successfully formed an alliance with Gaveston, but after his death at the hands of the barons, her position grew increasingly precarious. Edward began to take revenge on his enemies, using an ever more brutal alliance with the Despenser family, in particular his new favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger. By 1326, Isabella found herself at increasing odds with both Edward and Hugh, ultimately resulting in Isabella's own bid for power and an invasion of England. Fall of Gaveston: 1308–1312 Edward was an unusual character by medieval standards. Edward looked the part of a Plantagenet king to perfection. He was tall, athletic, and wildly popular at the beginning of his reign. He rejected most of the traditional pursuits of a king for the period—jousting, hunting and warfare—and instead enjoyed music, poetry and many rural crafts. Furthermore, there is the question of Edward's sexuality in a period when homosexuality of any sort was considered a serious crime, but there is no direct evidence of his sexual orientation. However, contemporary chroniclers made much of his close affinity with a succession of male favourites. Some condemned Edward for loving them "beyond measure" and "uniquely", others explicitly referring to an "illicit and sinful union". Nonetheless, Isabella bore four children by Edward, leading to an opinion amongst some historians that Edward's affairs with his male favourites were platonic. When Isabella first arrived in England following her marriage, her husband was already in the midst of a relationship with Piers Gaveston, an "arrogant, ostentatious" soldier, with a "reckless and headstrong" personality that clearly appealed to Edward. Isabella, then aged twelve, was effectively sidelined by the pair. Edward chose to sit with Gaveston rather than Isabella at their wedding celebration, causing grave offence to her uncles Louis, Count of Évreux, and Charles, Count of Valois, and then refused to grant her either her own lands or her own household. Edward also gave Gaveston Isabella's own jewelry, which he wore publicly. Isabella complained to her father that Gaveston took her place next to Edward II, she received insufficient funds and Edward visited Gaveston's bed more than hers. It took the intervention of Isabella's father, Philip IV, before Edward began to provide for her more appropriately. Isabella's relationship with Gaveston was a complex one. For a time, her dislike of him was widely known, and she was said to be in contact with her father, the pope and cardinals in order