Edward I of England

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 (but failed) 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. His mother was queen consort Eleanor of Provence.

As regnal post-nominal numbers were a Norman (as opposed to English) custom, Edward Longshanks is known as Edward I, even though he is the fourth King Edward, following Edward the Elder, Edward the Martyr, and Edward the Confessor.

Edward's royal motto was pactum serva, 'Keep troth'. He was voted the 92^nd 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, Margaret 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 17) (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 manoeuver 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 barons' goals. 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 Henry learned that Edward was plotting against the throne; Henry, returning to London in the spring of 1260, was eventually reconciled with Edward 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 curtailed.

English Royalty
House of Plantagenet
Armorial of Plantagenet
Edward I
Joan, Countess of Gloucester
Alphonso, Earl of Chester
Edward II
Thomas, Earl of Norfolk
Edmund, Earl of Kent

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.

Relations with the Mongols

See also: Franco-Mongol alliance

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 4, 1271, Abagha agreed for cooperation and asked at what date the concerted attack on the Mamluks should take place.

The arrival of the additional forces of Hugh III of Cyprus further emboldened Edward, who engaged in a raid on the town of Qaqun. 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 triggered an exodus of Muslim populations (who remembered the previous campaigns of Kithuqa) as far south as Cairo.^[7]

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.

At this point Edward was forced to return to England, having heard of his father's death. He remained in communication with the Mongols, and when a delegation was sent by Abagha to the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, the Mongol embassy visited Edward after the Council on January 28, 1275. A letter from Edward is known, in which he acknowledges Abagha's promise to fight together with the Crusaders.^[8]

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, such as Krak des Chevaliers, and incorporated similar features into the castles he built to secure portions of Wales, such as Caernarfon Castle.

He was also largely responsible for the Tower of London in the form we see today, including notably the concentric defences, elaborate entranceways, and the Traitor's Gate.

Accession

At the time of the death of Henry III, Edward was on the Crusades. Upon hearing of the death of Henry III, Edward left the Holy Land and returned to England. He was crowned after his return, on 19 August 1274.

He initially intended to call himself Edward IV, recognising the three Saxon kings of England of that name. However, for unknown reasons, this designation does not appear to have been formally used, the King instead being known as 'King Edward' not only by custom (for a King would generally not be known by his regal designation in ordinary conversation), but in all known formal documentation. Upon the accession of his son, also named Edward, the custom of the old reign was taken as rule — the new King was named Edward II, and the old Edward I. Technically, then, this established the custom of numbering English monarchs only from the Norman Conquest (although Edward is the only name that has been shared by pre- and post-Conquest monarchs).

Welsh Wars

One of King Edward's early moves 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 1274–1275, Edward raised an army and launched his first campaign against the Welsh prince in 1276–1277. 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 exception being Edward III.

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. 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. During the Scottish campaign, he made extensive use of a large trebuchet called the Warwolf.

After Berwick, he proceeded to Dunbar and Edinburgh, also removing the Stone of Destiny from Perth 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).

Edward was known to be fond of falconry and horse riding. The names of his horses have survived: Lyard, his war horse; Ferrault his hunting horse; and his favourite, Bayard. At the Siege of Berwick, Edward is said to have led the assault personally, using Bayard to leap over the earthen defences of the city.

Later career and death

Edward's later life was fraught with difficulty, as he lost his beloved first wife Eleanor and his heir failed to develop the expected kingly character.

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.

On 2 January 1774, the Society of Antiquaries opened the coffin and discovered that his body had been perfectly preserved for 467 years. His body was measured to be 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm).^[10]

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.

Edward's personal treasure, valued at over a year's worth of the kingdom's tax revenue, was stolen by Richard of Pudlicott in 1306, leading to one of the largest criminal trials of the period.

Persecution of the Jews

In 1275, Edward issued the Statute of the Jewry, which imposed various restrictions upon the Jews of England, most notably; outlawing the practice of usury and introducing to England the practice of requiring Jews to wear a yellow badge on their outer garments.

Edict of Expulsion

By the Edict of Expulsion of 1290, Edward formally expelled all Jews from England. In the course of this persecution, he ordered the arrest of all heads of Jewish households. The authorities took over 300 of them to the Tower of London and executed them there, killing others in their homes. All money and property was confiscated.

The motive for this expulsion has been the subject of perennial speculation; the prevalence of allegations of ritual murder of Christian children by Jews has been proposed; particularly because of the case of Isaac de Pulet, who was detained for the alleged murder of a Christian boy in Oxford. It has also been claimed that the persecution was financially motivated. Although the Jewish community specialised in moneylending, it is evident that, by the time of Edward's reign, there was little profit to the Crown in persecuting them. (Jews had been harshly levied by King John and Henry III). Furthermore, before 1292, Edward I had adequate financial support from the Italian banking company, Frescobaldi, making this motive even less plausible.

In fact, the availability of other sources of capital, coinciding with the growth of religious intolerance following the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, is the simplest and most likely explanation for the Edict.^[11] The expulsion should also be viewed in the context of the growth of anti-Jewish sentiment in 13th century Continental Europe; France, for example, had expelled all Jews from its cities; Edward's mother, Eleanor of Provence had expelled Jews from her estates in 1275.

Later contacts with the Mongols

The Mongol ruler Arghun sent several embassies to European rulers from 1287, to invite them to join in 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:^[12].

"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.^[13]

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 enthusiastically to the project but remained evasive and failed to make a clear commitment, probably because of the difficult internal situation with the Welsh and the Scots.^[14] Edward sent a prominent English notable, Sir Geoffrey de Langley, to accompany Buscarel back to Persia.^[15]

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. Arghun's death on March 10, 1290, deprived the plan of a motivating force. On May 18, 1291, Saint-Jean-d'Acre was conquered by the Mamluks following a six week siege.

These attempts to mount a combined offensive had mainly failed because of the internal conflicts which preoccupied the European monarchs and this pattern was to continue.

In March 1302, Edward I would again respond to Mongol proposals (this time from Ghazan), explaining that he supported combined action but that he was obliged to give priority to challenges from nearby states:

"The wars that trouble Christiandom have blocked us for a long time from taking, as we would like, resolutions regarding the Holy Land. But when the Pope will have established favourable conditions, we will gladly commit all our forces to this enterprise, for which we wish a successful outcome, more than anything in the world."

—Letter from Edward I to Ghazan, 12 March 1302, Westminster.^[16]

Ancestry

Issue

Children of Edward and Eleanor:

1. Eleanor, born ca. 17 June 1264 (or possibly as late as 1269, although the issue rolls of 1302 describe her as Edward's eldest daughter) and died 12 October 1298. She was long betrothed to Alfonso III of Aragon, who died in 1291 before the marriage could take place, and on 20 September 1293 she married Count Henry III of Bar.
2. Joan, born Summer 1265, either in Paris, or perhaps at Abbeville, Ponthieu. She died in France but was buried at Westminster Abbey before September 7 1265.
3. John, born at either Windsor or Kenilworth Castle June or July 10 1266, died August 1 or 3 1271 at Wallingford, in the custody of his granduncle, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. Buried at Westminster Abbey.
4. Henry, born on July 13 1267/8 at Windsor Castle, died October 14, 1274 either at Merton, Surrey, or at Guildford Castle.
5. Alice, born at Woodstock Palace, Oxon, but the date of her birth is unknown. May have died at the age of twelve. Sometimes identified with the child, Isabella, born in March 1279, but this cannot be correct, as that infant's funeral took place during the same year.
6. Juliana (also known as Katherine) born at Acre, Palestine, in 1271, and died there on 28 May or 5 September 1271
7. Joan of Acre. Born at Acre in Spring 1272 and died at her manor of Clare, Suffolk on April 23 1307 and was buried in the priory church of the Austin friars, Clare, Suffolk. She married (1) Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, (2) Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer.
8. Alphonso, Earl of Chester, born either at Bayonne, at Bordeaux, Gascony or at Maine 24 November 1273, died 14 or 19 August 1284, at Windsor Castle, buried in Westminster Abbey.
9. Margaret, born September 11 1275 at Windsor Castle and died in 1318, being buried in the Collegiate Church of St. Gudule, Brussels. She married John II of Brabant.
10. Berengaria (also known as Berenice), born 1 May 1276 at Kempton Palace, Surrey and died on June 27 1278, buried in Westminster Abbey.
11. Mary, born 11 March or 22 April 1278 at Windsor Castle and died 8 July 1332, a nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England.
12. Isabella, born on 12 March 1279, either at Woodstock Palace, Oxon, at Windsor Castle or at Marlbourgh Castle Wiltshire, she died in 1279, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
13. Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, born August 1282 at Rhuddlan Castle, Flintshire, Wales, died c.5 May 1316 at Quendon, Essex, in childbirth, and was buried in Walden Abbey, Essex. She married (1) John I, Count of Holland, (2) Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford & 3rd Earl of Essex.
14. Edward II of England, also known as Edward of Caernarvon, born 25 April 1284 at Caernarvon Castle, Wales, murdered 21 September 1327 at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, buried in Gloucester Cathedral. He married Isabella of France.
15. Beatrice born after 12 August 1286 either in Gascony or in Aquitaine. She died young.
16. Blanche born in 1289/90 and died young.

Children of Edward and Marguerite:

1. Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk born 1 June 1300 at Brotherton, Yorkshire, died between the 4 August and 20 September 1338, was buried in the abbey of Bury-St.-Edmunds, married (1) Alice Hayles, with issue; (2) Mary Brewes, with issue.
2. Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, 5 August 1301 at Woodstock Palace, Oxon, married Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell with issue. Executed by Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer on the 19 March 1330 following the overthrow of Edward II.
3. Eleanor, born 4 May 1306 at Winchester, died in 1311 at Amesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, buried in Beaulieu Abbey, Hants.

Portrayal in fiction

Edward's life was dramatized in a Renaissance play by George Peele, The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First.

Edward is unflatteringly depicted in several novels with a contemporary setting, including:

• Edith Pargeter - The Brothers of Gwynedd quartet
• Sharon Penman - The Reckoning and Falls the Shadow
• Nigel Tranter
  • The Wallace: The Compelling 13th Century Story of William Wallace. McArthur & Co., 1997. ISBN 0-3402-1237-3.
  • The Bruce Trilogy -- Robert the Bruce: The Steps to the Empty Throne. Robert the Bruce: The Path of the Hero King. Robert the Bruce: The Price of the King's Peace. London: Hodder & Stoughton. 1969-1971. ISBN 0-3403-7186-2.

The subjection of Wales and its people and their staunch resistance was commemorated in a poem, The Bards of Wales, by the Hungarian poet János Arany in 1857 as a way of encoded resistance to the suppressive politics of the time.

Edward is portrayed by Patrick McGoohan as a hard-hearted tyrant in the 1995 film Braveheart. He was also played by Brian Blessed in the 1996 film The Bruce and by Michael Rennie in The Black Rose (1950), based on the novel by Thomas B. Costain.

Notes

References

• Michael Prestwich, Edward I (London: Methuen, 1988, updated edition Yale University Press, 1997 ISBN 0-300-07209-0)
• Thomas B. Costain, The Three Edwards (Popular Library, 1958, 1962, ISBN 0-445-08513-4)
• The Times Kings & Queens of The British Isles, by Thomas Cussans (page 84, 86, 87) ISBN 0-0071-4195-5
• Luisetto, Frédéric (2007). Arméniens & autres Chrétiens d'Orient sous la domination Mongole (in French). Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner S.A. ISBN 9782705337919.
• GWS Barrow, Robert Bruce and the community of the realm of scotland

External Links

Edward I of England at royal.gov.uk

Images of the castles of Edward I in Wales

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