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| | Edward II - Ballet |
 | | Edward II, born in 1284, was the youngest of 14 or more children of Edward I and his queen, Eleanor of Castile, and it was only the tragedy of child mortality of the period that brought him to the throne. |
 | | One of Edward's first acts, on ascending the throne at the death of his father, was to recall Gaveston from exile, to the consternation of his young bride, and it is here that the tragedy begins which was to culminate in Edward's cruel and appalling death, at the hands of Isabella and her lover, Mortimer. |
 | | The ballet of Edward II was created by David Bintley from the play by Christopher Marlowe, probably the greatest of Shakespeare's rival playwrights, and himself a homosexual, who died by violence, in a tavern brawl, at the age of 29. |
| www.johnmccabe.com /edwardii (476 words) |
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