 In the parliament of April 1308 , it was decided that Gaveston should be banned from the realm upon threat of excommunication . The king had no choice but to comply , and on 24 June , Gaveston left the country on appointment as Lieutenant of Ireland . The king immediately started plotting for his favourite 's return . At the parliament of April 1309 , he suggested a compromise in which certain of the earls ' petitions would be met in exchange for Gaveston 's return . The plan came to nothing , but Edward had strengthened his hand for the Stamford parliament in July later that year by receiving a papal annulment of the threat of excommunication . The king agreed to the so @-@ called " Statute of Stamford " ( which in essence was a reissue of the Articuli super Cartas that his father had signed in 1300 ) , and Gaveston was allowed to return . 
