Edward I (17 June 1239 – 7
July 1307), popularly known as Longshanks[1], also as "Edward the Lawgiver" or "the English Justinian" because of his legal
reforms, and as "Hammer of the Scots",[2] achieved fame as
the monarch who conquered Wales and tried to do the same to Scotland. He reigned from 1272 to 1307, ascending
the throne of England on 20 November 1272 after the death of his father, King Henry III of England. His
mother was queen consort Eleanor of Provence.
He was voted the 92nd greatest Briton in the 2002 poll of 100 Greatest
Britons.
Childhood and marriage to Eleanor
Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the evening of 17 June 1239.[3] He was an older brother of Beatrice of England and
Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster. He was named after
Edward the Confessor. [4] From 1239 to 1246 Edward was in the care
of Hugh Giffard (the son of Godfrey Giffard) and his wife, Sybil, who had been one of
the midwives at Edward's birth. On Giffard's death in 1246,
Bartholomew Pecche took over. Early grants of land to Edward included Gascony, but
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester had been appointed by
Henry to seven years as royal lieutenant in Gascony in 1248, a year before the grant to Edward, so
in practice Edward derived neither authority nor revenue from the province.
Edward's first marriage (age 15) was arranged in 1254 by his father and Alfonso X of Castile. Alfonso had insisted that Edward receive grants of land worth 15,000
marks a year and also asked to knight him; Henry had already planned a knighthood ceremony
for Edward but conceded. Edward crossed the Channel in June, and was knighted by Alfonso
and married to Eleanor of Castile (age 13) on 1
November 1254 in the monastery of Las Huelgas.
Eleanor and Edward would go on to have sixteen children, and her death in 1290 affected Edward
deeply. He displayed his grief by erecting the Eleanor crosses, one at each place where
her funeral cortège stopped for the night. His second marriage, (age 60) at Canterbury on
September 10 1299, to Marguerite of
France, (age 20) (known as the "Pearl of France" by her English subjects), the daughter of King Philip III of France (Phillip the Bold) and Maria of
Brabant, produced three children.
Early ambitions
In 1255, Edward and Eleanor both returned to England. The chronicler Matthew Paris tells of a row between Edward and his father over Gascon affairs; Edward and Henry's
policies continued to diverge, and on 9 September 1256,
without his father's knowledge, Edward signed a treaty with Gaillard de Soler, the ruler of one
of the Bordeaux factions. Edward's freedom to maneuver was limited, however, since the
seneschal of Gascony, Stephen Longespée, held Henry's
authority in Gascony. Edward had been granted much other land, including Wales and
Ireland, but for various reasons had less involvement in their administration.
In 1258, Henry was forced by his barons to accede to the Provisions of Oxford. This, in turn, led to Edward becoming more aligned with the barons and their
promised reforms, and on 15 October 1259, he announced that he
supported the goals of the barons. Shortly afterwards, Henry crossed to France for peace negotiations, and Edward took the
opportunity to make appointments favouring his allies. An account in Thomas Wykes's
chronicle claims that Henry learned that Edward was plotting against the throne; and, in the spring of 1260, Henry returned to London and eventually were reconciled by Richard of Cornwall's efforts. Henry then forced Edward's allies to give up the castles
they had received, and Edward's independence was sharply reduced.
Edward's character greatly contrasted with that of his father, who reigned over England throughout Edward's childhood and
consistently tended to favour compromise with his opponents. Edward had already shown himself
as an ambitious and impatient man, displaying considerable military prowess in defeating Simon de Montfort at the Battle of
Evesham in 1265, having previously been imprisoned by de Montfort at Wallingford Castle and Kenilworth Castle. He gained a
reputation for treating rebels and other foes with great savagery. He relentlessly pursued the
surviving members of the de Montfort family, his cousins.
Military campaigns
Crusades
In 1269, Cardinal Ottobono, the Papal Legate, arrived in England and appealed to Prince Edward and his brother Edmund to participate in the
Eighth Crusade alongside Louis IX of France.
In order to fund the crusade, Edward had to borrow heavily from Louis IX and the French. It is estimated by scholars such as P.R.
Coss that Edward raised and spent close to half a million livres.
The number of knights and retainers that accompanied Edward on the crusade was quite small, possibly around 230 knights, other
sources stating 1,000.[5] Many of the members of Edward's
expedition were close friends and family including his wife Eleanor of Castile, his
brother Edmund, and his first cousin Henry of Almain.
The original goal of the crusade was to relieve the beleaguered Christian stronghold of Acre, but Louis had been diverted to Tunis. By the time Edward arrived at
Tunis, Louis had died of disease. The majority of the French forces at Tunis thus returned home, but a small number joined Edward
who continued to Acre to participate in the Ninth Crusade. After a short stop in
Cyprus, Edward arrived in Acre with thirteen ships. Then, in 1271,
Hugh III of Cyprus arrived with a contingent of knights.
Alliance with the Mongols
As soon as Edward arrived in Acre, he sent an embassy to the Mongol ruler of
Persia Abagha, an enemy of the Muslims. The embassy was led
by Reginald Rossel, Godefroi of Waus and John of Parker, and its mission was to obtain military support from the Mongols.[6] In an answer dated September 4th, 1271, Abagha agreed for
cooperation and asked at what date the concerted attack on the Mamluks should take place:
"The messengers that Sir Edward and the Christians had sent to the Tartars came back to Acre, and they did so well that they
brought the Tartars with them"
The arrival of the additional forces of Hugh III of Cyprus further emboldened Edward, who engaged in a raid on the town of
Ququn. At the end of October 1271, the Mongol troops requested by Edward arrived in Syria and ravaged the land from
Aleppo southward. Abagha, occupied by other conflicts in Turkestan could only send 10,000 Mongol horsemen under general Samagar from
the occupation army in Seljuk Anatolia, plus auxiliary Seljukid
troops, but they trigerred an exodus of Muslim populations (who remembered the previous campaigns of Kithuqa) as far south as Cairo.[8]
When Baibars mounted a counter-offensive from Egypt on November 12th, the Mongols had already retreated beyond the
Euphrates, but these unsettling events allowed Edward to negotiate a ten year peace treaty
with the Mamluks. Upon hearing of the death of Henry III, Edward left the Holy Land and returned to England in 1274.
Overall, Edward's crusade was rather insignificant and only gave the city of Acre a reprieve of ten years. However, Edward's
reputation was greatly enhanced by his participation in the crusade and was hailed by some contemporary commentators as a new
Richard the Lionheart. Furthermore, some historians believe Edward was inspired by
the design of the castles he saw while on crusade and incorporated similar features into the castles he built to secure portions
of Wales, such as Caernarfon Castle.
- See also: Franco-Mongol
alliance
Welsh Wars
One of King Edward's early achievements was the conquest of Wales. Under the 1267 Treaty of Montgomery, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd had extended Welsh territories southwards into what had been the lands of the
English Marcher Lords, and gained the title of Prince of
Wales although he still owed homage to the English monarch as overlord. King Edward refused to recognize this Treaty -
which had been concluded by his father - and in 1275, pirates in King Edward's pay intercepted a
ship carrying Eleanor de Montfort, Simon de
Montfort's only daughter, from France to Wales, where she
expected to marry Llywelyn. Edward then imprisoned her at Windsor. After Llywelyn
repeatedly refused to pay homage to Edward in 1274–75, Edward raised
an army and launched his first campaign against the Welsh prince in 1276–77. After this campaign, Llywelyn was forced to pay homage to Edward and was stripped of all but a rump of
territory in Gwynedd. But Edward allowed Llywelyn to retain the title of Prince of Wales, and the marriage with Eleanor de Montfort
went ahead.
Llywelyn's younger brother, Dafydd (who had briefly been an ally of the English)
started another rebellion in 1282. But Edward quickly destroyed the remnants of resistance,
capturing, brutally torturing, and executing Dafydd in the following year. To consolidate his conquest, he commenced the
construction of a string of massive stone castles encircling the principality, of which Caernarfon Castle provides a notable surviving example.
Wales became incorporated into England under the Statute of Rhuddlan in
1284, and in 1301, Edward dubbed his eldest son Edward first
Prince of Wales, since which time the eldest son of most English monarchs have borne the
same title, the only exceptions being Edward III and Edward VII.
The subdual of Wales and its people and their staunch resistance was commemorated in a famous poem The Bards of Wales
by the Hungarian poet János Arany in 1857 as a way of encoded resistance to the suppressive
politics of Alexander von Bach in Hungary and the planned visit of
Franz Joseph I, instead of a poem of praise. [2]
Scottish Wars
Edward then turned his attentions to Scotland. He had planned to marry off his son and heir Edward, to the heiress Margaret, the Maid of
Norway, but when Margaret died with no clear successor, the Scottish Guardians invited Edward's arbitration, to prevent
the country from descending into dynastic war. Before the process got underway Edward insisted that he be recognized as Lord
Paramount of Scotland, the feudal superior of the realm and, after some initial resistance, this precondition was finally
accepted.
Edward presided over a feudal court held at the castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed in November 1292, where judgment was given in
favour of John Balliol over other candidates. Balliol was chosen as the candidate with the strongest claim in
feudal law, but Edward subsequently used the concessions he had gained to undermine the authority of the new king even summoning
Balliol to do homage to him in Westminster in
1293. Edward also made it clear he expected John's military and financial support against France.
But this was too much for Balliol, who concluded a pact with France and prepared an army to invade England.
In response Edward gathered his largest army yet (25,000) and razed Berwick,
massacring almost the whole population of 11,000 inhabitants. He then proceeded to Dunbar and
Edinburgh from where the Stone of Destiny was removed
and taken to Westminster Abbey. Balliol renounced the crown and was imprisoned in the Tower of
London for three years before withdrawing to his estates in France. All freeholders in
Scotland were required to swear an oath of homage to Edward, and he ruled Scotland like a province through English
viceroys.
Opposition sprang up (see Wars of Scottish Independence), and Edward
executed the focus of discontent, William Wallace, on 23
August 1305, having earlier defeated him at the Battle of Falkirk (1298).
Death
Edward's plan to conquer Scotland never came to fruition during his lifetime, however, as he died in 1307 at Burgh-by-Sands, Cumberland on the Scottish border, while on his way
to wage another campaign against the Scots under the leadership of Robert the
Bruce. According to chroniclers, Edward desired to have his bones carried on Scottish military campaigns, and that his
heart be taken to the Holy Land. Against his wishes, Edward was buried in Westminster
Abbey in a plain black marble tomb, which in later years was painted with the words Scottorum malleus, Latin for
Hammer of the Scots.[9] He was buried in a
lead casket wishing to be moved to the usual regal gold casket only
when Scotland was fully conquered and part of the Kingdom of England.
To this day he still lies in the lead casket — although the thrones of Scotland and England were united in 1603 following the
death of Elizabeth I and the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne, and the Kingdom of Great Britain was created in 1707 by the Acts
of Union 1707, uniting Scotland and England in an incorporating union, the conquest Edward envisaged was never completed.
His son, King Edward II of England, succeeded him.
Government and law under Edward I
- See also List of Parliaments of Edward I
Unlike his father, Henry III, Edward I took great interest in the workings of
his government and undertook a number of reforms to regain royal control in government and administration. It was during Edward's
reign that Parliament began to meet regularly. And though still extremely limited to matters of taxation, it enabled Edward I to
obtain a number of taxation grants which had been impossible for Henry III.
After returning from the crusade in 1274, a major inquiry into local malpractice and alienation
of royal rights took place. The result was the Hundred Rolls of 1275, a detailed document reflecting the waning power of the Crown. It was also the allegations that emerged from
the inquiry which led to the first of the series of codes of law issued during the reign of Edward I. In 1275, the first Statute of Westminster was issued correcting many specific problems in the Hundred Rolls. Similar
codes of law continued to be issued until the death of Edward's close adviser Robert Burnell in 1292.
Persecution of the Jews
In 1290, by the Edict of Expulsion, Edward formally
expelled all Jews from England. In the course of this persecution, he arrested all the heads of
Jewish households. The authorities took over 300 of them to the Tower of London and
executed them, while killing others in their homes. All money and property was confiscated.
The exact reason behind this expulsion has been a subject of some speculation, ritual murder being one such assertion in
reference to the Jew, Isaac de Pulet, who was contained for the murder of a young Christian boy in Oxford. It has been also
claimed, for example, that the persecution was for financial gain. But despite the fact that the Jewish community was thought to
deal exclusively in moneylending, it is evident that by the time of Edward's reign, there was little left of the community to be
made useful for the Crown financially. (Jews had been harshly squeezed by King John and
Henry III). Furthermore, Edward I had adequate financial resources from the Italian banking company of Riccadi before
1292, therefore there was virtually no financial motive behind Edward's persecution of the
Jews.
The expulsion can also be viewed in the context of the 13th century's growing movement
of anti-Jewish feeling; France, for example, had expelled all Jews from its cities. Edward's mother, Eleanor of Provence had expelled Jews from her estates in 1275. And it was Edward who introduced to
England the practice of forcing Jews to wear denotive yellow patches on the outer garments,
a practice to be taken up by Adolf Hitler over six centuries later.
Later contacts with the Mongols
The Mongol ruler Arghun sent several embassies to European rulers from 1287, in an attempt to mount combined operations against the Mamluks in the
Holy Land. In 1287, he sent the Nestorian Rabban Bar
Sauma, with the objective of contracting a military alliance to fight the Muslims in the Middle-East, and take the city of
Jerusalem. Sauma returned in 1288 with positive letters from Pope
Nicholas IV, Edward I of England, and Philip IV
the Fair of France whom he had all visited. He met with Edward in the city of Bordeaux:[10].
"King Edward rejoiced greatly, and he was especially glad when Rabban Sauma talked about the matter of Jerusalem. And he said
"We the kings of these cities bear upon our bodies the sign of the Cross, and we have no subject of thought except this matter.
And my mind is relieved on the subject about which I have been thinking, when I hear that King Arghun thinketh as I think"
—
Account of the travels of Rabban Bar Sauma, Chap. VII.[11]
In 1289, Arghun sent a third mission to Europe, in the person of Buscarel of
Gisolfe, a Genoese who had settled in Persia. The objective of the mission was to determine at what date concerted
Christian and Mongol efforts could start. Arghun committed to march his troops as soon as the Crusaders had disambarked at
Saint-Jean-d'Acre. Buscarel was in Rome between July 15th and September 30th 1289. He was
in Paris in November-December 1289. Buscarel then went to England to bring Arghun's message to Edward I. He arrived in London
January 5, 1290. Edward, whose answer has been preserved, answered enthousiastically to the project but remained evasive and
failed to make a clear commitment, probably due the difficult internal situation with the Welsh and the Scots.[12] Edward sent a prominent English notable, Sir Geoffrey de Langley, to accompany Buscarel back to Persia.[13]
Arghun then sent a fourth mission to European courts in 1290, led by a certain Chagan or Khagan, who was accompanied by
Buscarel of Gisolfe and a Christian named Sabadin.
All these attempts to mount a combined offensive failed, mainly due the internal conflicts European monarchs had to deal with.
On March 1291, Saint-Jean-d'Acre was conquered by the Mamluks in the Siege of Acre, and furthermore Arghun died on March 10th.
Ancestry
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16. Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou |
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8. Henry II, King of England |
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17. Matilda, Lady of the English |
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4. John, King of England |
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18. William X, Duke of Aquitaine |
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9. Eleanor of Aquitaine |
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19. Aenor de Châtellerault |
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2. Henry III, King of England |
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20. William VI Taillefer,
Count of Angoulême |
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10. Aymer Taillefer, Count of
Angoulême |
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21. Marguerite de
Turenne |
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5. Isabella of Angoulême |
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22. Peter of Courtenay |
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11. Alice de Courtenay |
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23. Elisabeth de
Courtenay |
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1. Edward I, King of
England |
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24. Alfonso II, King of Aragon |
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12. Alfonso II, Count of Provence |
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25. Sancha of Castile |
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6. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence |
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26. Rainou, Count of
Forcalquier |
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13. Gersenda II of
Sabran |
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