Edward I of England

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward I Longshanks
Portrait in Westminster Abbey, thought to be of Edward I
King of England (more...)
Reign	16 November 1272 – 7 July 1307
Coronation	19 August 1274
Predecessor	Henry III of Winchester
Successor	Edward II of Carnarvon
Consort	Eleanor of Castile m. 1254; dec. 1290 Marguerite of France m. 1299; wid. 1307
among others Issue
Eleanor, Countess of Bar Joan, Countess of Hertford and Gloucester Alphonso, Earl of Chester Margaret, Duchess of Brabant Mary Plantagenet Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford Edward II of Carnarvon Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent
House	House of Plantagenet
Father	Henry III of Winchester
Mother	Eleanor of Provence
Born	17 June 1239(1239-06-17) Palace of Westminster, London
Died	7 July 1307 (aged 68) Burgh by Sands, Cumberland
Burial	Westminster Abbey, London

Edward I (17 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), known as Edward Longshanks for his height of 6 ft. 2 in. (188 cm),^[1] and sometimes referred to as the "English Justinian"^[2] and the "Hammer of the Scots" (Latin: Scottorum malleus), was a Plantagenet King of England. Edward achieved historical fame by conquering large parts of Wales and almost succeeding in doing the same to Scotland. However, his death led to his son Edward II taking the throne and ultimately failing in his attempt to subjugate Scotland. Longshanks reigned from 1272 to 1307, ascending the throne of England on 16 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 Anglo-Saxon) custom, Edward Longshanks is known as Edward I, even though he was England's fourth King Edward, following Edward the Elder, Edward the Martyr, and Edward the Confessor.

[edit] Childhood and marriage

Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17/18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence.^[3] Henry was devoted to the veneration of Edward the Confessor, and for this reason decided to name his firstborn son Edward – not a common name among the English aristocracy at the time.^[4] Edward was in the care of Hugh Giffard – father of the future Chancellor Godfrey Giffard – until Bartholomew Pecche took over at Giffard's death in 1246.^[5] Among his childhood companions was his cousin Henry of Almain, son of King Henry's brother Richard of Cornwall.^[6]

In 1254 there were fears that Castile might invade the English province of Gascony. As a preventative measure, it was agreed that Edward should marry Eleanor, half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile.^[7] Eleanor and Edward were married on 1 November 1254 in the monastery of Las Huelgas in Castile.^[8] As part of the marriage agreement, Alfonso insisted that grants of land worth 15,000 marks a year be made to the young prince, not yet fifteen years of age.^[9] Though the endowments King Henry made were sizable, the independence they provided for Edward was limited. He had already received Gascony as early as 1249, but Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester had been appointed to serve as royal lieutenant there the year before, so in practice Edward derived neither authority nor revenue from this province.^[10] The grant he received in 1254 included most of Ireland, and much land in Wales and England, including the earldom of Chester.^[11] The king maintained much control of the land in question and, particularly in Ireland, Edward’s power was limited.^[12]

In the years from 1254 to 1257, Edward was under the influence of the court faction known as the Savoyards, relatives of his mother, Eleanor of Provence.^[13] The most notable of this group was Peter of Savoy, the queen’s uncle.^[14] From 1257 onwards, he increasingly fell in with the Poitevin, or Lusignan faction – the half-brothers of his father Henry III – led by men such as William de Valence.^[15] Both these groups were considered privileged foreigners, and were deeply resented by the established English aristocracy.^[16]

[edit] Early ambitions

Edward had shown independence in political matters as early as 1255 when he took sides in a local conflict in Gascony, contrary to his father’s policy of mediation.^[17] In May 1258 a group of magnates drew up a document for reform of the king’s government – the so-called Provisions of Oxford – largely directed against the Lusignans. Edward stood by his political allies, and strongly opposed the Provisions. The reform movement had success, however, and gradually Edward’s attitude started to change. In March 1259 he entered into a formal alliance with one of the main reformers Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. Then, on 15 October, 1259 he announced that he supported the barons' goals, and their leader, Simon de Montfort.^[18]

The motive behind Edward’s change of heart could have been purely pragmatic; Montfort was in a good position to support his cause in Gascony.^[19] When the king left for France in November, Edward's behaviour turned into pure insubordination, as he made several appointments to advance the cause of the reformers. King Henry started believing that his son was plotting to depose him.^[20] When the king returned he initially refused to see his son, but through the mediation of the Earl of Cornwall and the archbishop of Canterbury the two were eventually reconciled.^[21] Edward was sent abroad, and in November 1260 he once more united with the Lusignans, who had been exiled to France.^[22]

Back in England, early in 1262, Edward fell out with some of his former allies over financial matters. A year later he led a campaign in Wales against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, with limited results.^[23] Around the same time Simon de Montfort, who had been out of the country since 1261, returned to England and reignited the baronial reform movement.^[24] The king gave in to the barons’ demands, but Edward – who was now firmly on the side of his father – held out. He reunited with some of the men he had alienated the year before – among them Henry of Almain and John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey – and retook Windsor Castle from the rebels.^[25] Through the arbitration of King Louis IX of France, an agreement was made between the two parties. This so-called Mise of Amiens was largely favourable to the royalist side, and laid the seeds for further conflict.^[26]

[edit] Civil war

The years 1264–1267 saw the conflict known as the Barons' War, where baronial forces led by Simon de Montfort fought against those who remained loyal to the king.^[27] The first scene of battle was the city of Gloucester, which Edward managed to retake from the enemy. When Robert de Ferrers, earl of Derby, came to the assistance of the rebels, Edward negotiated a truce with the earl, the terms of which he later broke. Edward then proceeded to capture Northampton from Montfort's son Simon, before embarking on a retaliatory campaign against Derby's lands.^[28] The baronial and royalist forces finally met at the Battle of Lewes, on 14 May 1264. Edward's forces performed well, but the king's army nevertheless lost the battle. Edward, along with his cousin Henry of Almein, was given up as a prisoner to Montfort.^[29]

Edward remained in captivity until March, and even after his release he was kept under strict surveillance.^[30] Then, on 28 May, he managed to escape his custodians, and joined up with the earl of Gloucester, who had recently defected to the king's side.^[31] Montfort's support was now dwindling, and Edward retook Worcester and Gloucester with relatively little effort.^[32] In the meanwhile, Montfort had made an alliance with Llywelyn, and started moving east to join forces with his son Simon. Edward managed to make a surprise attack at Kenilworth Castle, where the younger Montfort was quartered, before moving on to cut off the earl of Leicester.^[33] The two forces then met at the second great encounter of the Barons' War – the Battle of Evesham, on 4 August 1265. Montfort stood little chance against the superior royal forces, and after his defeat he was killed and mutilated in the field.^[34]

Medieval manuscript showing Simon de Montfort's mutilated body at the field of Evesham

The war was not over with Montfort's death, and Edward participated in the continued campaigning. At Christmas he came to terms with the younger Simon de Montfort and his associates in the Isle of Axholme in Lincolnshire, and in March he led a successful assault on the Cinque Ports.^[35] A contingent of rebels held out in the virtually impregnable Kenilworth Castle, and did not surrender until the drafting of the conciliatory Dictum of Kenilworth.^[36] In April it seemed as if Gloucester would take up the cause of the reform movement, and civil war would return, but after a renegotiation of the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth the parties came to an agreement.^[37] Edward, however, was little involved in the settlement negotiations following the wars; at this point his main focus was on planning his upcoming crusade.^[38]

[edit] Crusade and accession

^[39]

Edward took the cross in an elaborate ceremony on 24 June 1268, along with his brother Edmund and cousin Henry of Almain. Among others who committed themselves to the cause were former adversaries like the earl of Gloucester, though the earl did not end up going.^[40] With the country pacified, the greatest impediment to the project was providing sufficient finances.^[41] King Louis IX of France, who was the leader of the crusade, provided a loan of about £17,500.^[42] This, however, was not enough; the rest had to be raised through a lay tax, something which had not happened since 1237.^[42] In May 1270, Parliament granted a tax of a twentieth,^[43] in exchange for which the king agreed to reconfirm Magna Carta, and to impose restrictions on Jewish money lending.^[44] On 20 August Edward sailed from Dover for France.^[45] It is impossible to determine the size of the force with any certainty, but Edward probably brought with him around 225 knights and all together less than 1000 men.^[41]

The original goal of the crusade was to relieve the beleaguered Christian stronghold of Acre, but Louis had been diverted to Tunis. The French king and his brother Charles of Anjou, who had made himself king of Sicily, decided to attack the emirate in order to establish a stronghold in North Africa.^[46] The plans failed when the French forces were struck by an epidemic which, on 25 August, took the life of King Louis himself.^[47] By the time Edward arrived at Tunis, Charles had already signed a treaty with the emir, and there was little else to do than to return to Sicily. The crusade was postponed until next spring, but a devastating storm off the coast of Sicily dissuaded Charles of Anjou and Louis's successor Philip III from any further campaigning.^[48] Edward decided to continue alone, and on 9 May 1271 he finally landed at Acre.^[49]

Operations during the Crusade of Edward I

The situation in the Holy Land at the time of Edward's arrival was a precarious one. Jerusalem had fallen in 1187, and Acre was now the centre of the Christian state.^[50] The Muslim states were on the offensive under the Mamluk leadership of Baibars, and were now threatening Acre itself. Though Edward's men were an important addition to the garrison, they stood little chance against Baibars' superior forces, and an initial raid at nearby St Georges-de-Lebeyne in June was largely futile.^[51] An embassy to the Mongols helped bring about an attack on Aleppo in the north, allowing the crusading armies a distraction.^[52] In November, Edward led a raid on Qaqun, which could have served as a bridgehead to Jerusalem, but both the Mongol invasion and the attack on Qaqun failed. Things now seemed increasingly desperate, and in May 1272 Hugh III of Cyprus, who was the nominal king of Jerusalem, signed a ten-year truce with Baibars.^[53] Edward was initially defiant, but an attack by a Muslim assassin in June forced him to abandon any further campaigning. Even though he managed to kill the assassin, he was struck in the arm by a dagger feared to be poisoned, and became strongly weakened over the next months.^[54][55]

It was not until 24 September that Edward left Acre. Arriving in Sicily, he was met with the news that Henry III had died on 16 November.^[56] Edward was deeply saddened by this news, but rather than hurrying home at once, he made a leisurely journey northwards. This was partly due to his health still being poor, but also due to a lack of urgency.^[57] The political situation in England was stable after the mid-century upheavals, and Edward was proclaimed king at his father's death, rather than at his own coronation, as had up until then been customary.^[58] The new king embarked on an overland journey through Italy and France, where among other things he visited the pope in Rome and suppressed a rebellion in Gascony.^[59] Only on 2 August 1274 did he return to England, and was crowned on 19 August.^[60]

[edit] Administration and the law

Groat of Edward I (4 pence)

Upon returning home, Edward immediately embarked on the administrative business of the nation, and his major concern was restoring order and re-establishing royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father.^[61] In order to accomplish this he immediately ordered an extensive change of administrative personnel. The most important of these was the appointment of Robert Burnell as chancellor; a man who would remain in the post until 1292, as one of the king's closest associates.^[62] Edward then proceeded to replace most local officials, such as the escheators and sheriffs.^[63] This last measure was done in preparation for an extensive inquest covering all of England, that would hear complaints about abuse of power by royal officers. The inquest produced the so-called Hundred Rolls, from the administrative sub-division of the hundred.^[64]

The second purpose of the inquest was to establish what land and rights the crown had lost during the reign of Henry III.^[65] The Hundred Rolls formed the basis for the later legal inquiries called the Quo warranto proceedings. The purpose of these inquiries was to establish by what warrant (Latin: Quo warranto) various liberties were held.^[66] If the defendant could not produce a royal licence to prove the grant of the liberty, then it was the crown's opinion – based on the writings of Bracton – that the liberty should revert to the king. This caused great consternation among the aristocracy, who insisted that long use in itself constituted license.^[67] A compromise was eventually reached in 1290, whereby a liberty was considered legitimate as long as it could be shown to have been exercised since the coronation of King Richard I, in 1189.^[68] Royal gains from the Quo warranto proceedings were insignificant; few liberties were returned to the king.^[69] Edward had nevertheless won a significant victory, in clearly establishing the principle that all liberties essentially emanated from the crown.^[70]

The 1290 Statute of Quo warranto was only one part of a wider legislative effort, which was one of the most important contributions of Edward I's reign.^[6] This era of legislative action had started already at the time of the baronial reform movement; the Statute of Marlborough (1267) contained elements both of the Provisions of Oxford and the Dictum of Kenilworth.^[71] The compilation of the Hundred Rolls was followed shortly after by the issue of Westminster I (1275), which asserted the royal prerogative and outlined restrictions on liberties.^[72] In Mortmain (1279), the issue was grants of land to the church.^[73] The first clause of Westminster II (1285), known as De donis conditionalibus, dealt with family settlement of land, and entails.^[74] Merchants (1285) established firm rules for the recovery of debts,^[75] while Winchester (1285) dealt with peacekeeping on a local level.^[76] Quia emptores (1290) – issued along with Quo warranto – set out to remedy land ownership disputes resulting from alienation of land by subinfeudation.^[77] The age of the great statutes largely ended with the death of Robert Burnell in 1292.^[78]

[edit] Welsh wars

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd enjoyed an advantageous situation in the aftermath of the Barons' War. Through the 1267 Treaty of Montgomery he officially obtained land he had conquered in the Four Cantrefs of Perfeddwlad, and was recognised in his title of Prince of Wales.^[79][80] Armed conflicts nevertheless continued, in particular with certain dissatisfied Marcher Lords, such as the earl of Gloucester, Roger Mortimer and Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford.^[81] Problems were exacerbated when his younger brother Dafydd and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys, after a failed assassination attempt against Llywelyn, defected to the English in 1274.^[82] Citing ongoing hostilities and the English king harbouring his enemies, Llywelyn refused to do homage to Edward.^[83] For Edward, a further provocation came in the form of Llywelyn's planned marriage to Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Montfort.^[84] In November 1276 war was declared.^[85] Initial operations were launched under the captaincy of Mortimer, Lancaster (Edward's brother Edmund) and William de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.^[86] Support for Llywelyn was weak among his own countrymen.^[87] In July 1277 Edward invaded with a force of 15,500 – of whom 9,000 were Welshmen.^[88] The campaign never came to a major battle, and Llywelyn soon realised he had no choice but to surrender.^[88] By the Treaty of Aberconwy in November 1277, he was left only with the land of Gwynedd, though he was allowed to retain the title of Prince of Wales.^[89]

When war broke out again in 1282, it was an entirely different undertaking. For the Welsh this was a war of national independence with wide support, provoked particularly by attempts to impose English law on Welsh subjects.^[90] For Edward it became a war of conquest rather than simply a punitive expedition, like the former campaign.^[91] The war started with a rebellion by Dafydd, who was discontented with the reward he had received from Edward in 1277.^[92] Llywelyn and other Welsh chieftains soon joined in, and initially the Welsh experienced military success. In June, Gloucester was defeated at the Battle of Llandeilo Fawr.^[93] On 6 November, while John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, was conducting peace negotiations, Edward's commander of Anglesey, Luke de Tany, decided to carry out a surprise attack. A pontoon bridge had been built to the mainland, but shortly after Tany and his men crossed over, they were ambushed by the Welsh, and suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Moel-y-don.^[94] The Welsh advances ended on December 11, however, when Llywelyn was lured into a trap and killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge.^[95] The submission of Wales was complete with the capture in June 1283 of Dafydd, who was taken to Shrewsbury and executed as a traitor the following autumn.^[96]

Caernarfon Castle, one of the most imposing of Edward's Welsh castles.

Further rebellions occurred in 1287-8 and – more seriously – in 1294-5 under Madog ap Llywelyn. This last conflict demanded the king's own attention, but in both cases the rebellions were put down.^[6] By the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan, the Principality of Wales was incorporated into England, and Wales was given an administrative system like the English, with counties policed by sheriffs.^[97] English law was introduced in criminal cases, though the Welsh were allowed to maintain their own customary laws in some cases of property disputes.^[98] After 1277, and increasingly after 1283, Edward embarked on a full-scale project of English settlement of Wales, creating new towns like Flint, Aberystwyth, and Rhuddlan.^[99] An extensive project of castle-building was also initiated. The assignment was given to Master James of Saint George, a prestigious architect whom Edward had met in Savoy on his return from crusade. Among the major buildings were the castles of Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech.^[100] In 1284, King Edward's son Edward – the later Edward II – was born at Caernarfon Castle, and it was also here, in 1301, that the young Edward was the first English prince to be invested with the title of Prince of Wales.^[101]

[edit] Diplomacy and war on the Continent

Edward never again went on crusade after his return to England in 1274, but he maintained an intention to do so, and took the cross again in 1287.^[102] This intention guided much of his foreign policy, until at least 1291. To stage a European-wide crusade, it was essential to prevent conflict between the greater princes on the Continent. A major obstacle to this was represented by the conflict between the kingdom of Aragon in Spain and the French Angevin dynasty ruling southern Italy. In 1282, the citizens of Palermo rose up against Charles of Anjou, and turned for help to Peter of Aragon, in what has become known as the Sicilian Vespers. In the war that followed, Charles of Anjou's son Charles of Salerno was taken prisoner by the Aragonese.^[103] The French began planning an attack on Aragon, raising the prospect of a large-scale European war. To Edward it was imperative that such a war be avoided, and in Paris in 1286, he brokered a truce between France and Aragon that helped secure Charles's release.^[104] As far as the crusades were concerned, however, Edward's efforts proved ineffective. A devastating blow to his plans came in 1291, when the Mamluks captured Acre, the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land.^[105]

Homage of Edward I (kneeling) to Philip IV (seated). As Duke of Aquitaine, Edward was a vassal of the French king.

After the fall of Acre, Edward's international role changed from that of a diplomat to an antagonist. He had long been deeply involved in the affairs of his own Duchy of Gascony. In 1278 he assigned an investigating commission to his trusted associates Otto de Grandson and the chancellor Robert Burnell, which caused the replacement of the seneschal Luke de Tany.^[106] In 1286 he visited the region himself, and stayed for almost three years.^[107] The perennial problem, however, was the status of Gascony within the kingdom of France, and Edward's role as the French king's vassal. On his diplomatic mission in 1286, Edward had paid homage to the new king, Philip IV, but in 1294 Philip declared Gascony forfeit when Edward refused to appear before him in Paris to discuss the recent conflict between English, Gascon, and French sailors (that had resulted in several French ships being captured, along with the sacking of the French port of La Rochelle)^[108]

In the war that followed, Edward planned for a two-pronged attack. While the English forces focused on Gascony, alliances were made with the princes of the Low Countries, Germany, and Burgundy, who would attack France from the north.^[6] The alliances proved volatile, however, and Edward was facing trouble at home at the time, both in Wales and Scotland. It was not until August 1297 that he was finally able to sail for Flanders, at which times his allies there had already suffered defeat.^[109] The support from Germany never materialised, and Edward was forced to seek peace. His marriage to the French princess Margaret in 1299 put an end to the war, but the whole affair had proven both costly and fruitless for the English.^[110]

[edit] The Great Cause

The relationship between the nations of England and Scotland by the 1280s was one of relatively harmonious coexistence.^[111] The issue of homage did not reach the same level of controversy as it did in Wales; in 1278 King Alexander III of Scotland paid homage to Edward I, but apparently only for the lands he held of Edward in England.^[112] Problems arose only with the Scottish succession crisis of the early 1290s. In the years from 1281 to 1284, Alexander's two sons and one daughter died in quick succession. Then, in 1286, King Alexander died himself, leaving as heir to the throne of Scotland 3 year old Margaret, the Maid of Norway, born in 1283 to Alexander's daughter Margaret and King Eric II of Norway.^[113] By the Treaty of Birgham it was agreed that Margaret should marry King Edward's then 1 year old son Edward of Carnarvon, though Scotland would remain free of English overlordship.^[114][115]

19th-century drawing of the Stone of Destiny. The Scottish coronation stone remained at Westminster until it was returned to Scotland in 1996.

Margaret, now 7 years of age, sailed from Norway for Scotland in the autumn of 1290, but fell ill on the way and died in Orkney.^[116][117] This left the country without an obvious heir, and led to the succession dispute known to history as the Great Cause.^[118] Even though as many as fourteen claimants put forward their claims to the title, the real contest was between John Balliol and Robert Bruce.^[119] The Scottish magnates made a request to Edward to arbitrate in the dispute.^[120] At Birgham, with the prospect of a personal union between the two realms, the question of suzerainty had not been of great importance to Edward. Now he insisted that, if he were to settle the contest, he had to be fully recognised as Scotland's feudal overlord.^[121] The Scots were reluctant to make such a concession, and replied that since the country had no king, no one had the authority to make this decision.^[122] This problem was circumvented when the competitors agreed that the realm would be handed over to Edward until a rightful heir had been found.^[123] After a lengthy hearing, a decision was made in favour of John Balliol on 17 November 1292.^[124]

Even after Balliol's accession, Edward still continued to assert his authority over Scotland. Against the objections of the Scots, he agreed to hear appeals on cases ruled on by the court of guardians that had governed Scotland during the interregnum.^[125] A further provocation came in a case brought by Macduff, son of Malcolm, Earl of Fife, where Edward demanded Balliol appear in person before the English Parliament to answer the charges.^[126] This the Scottish king did, but the final straw was Edward's demand that the Scottish magnates provide military service in the war against France.^[127] This was unacceptable; the Scots instead formed an alliance with France, and launched an unsuccessful attack on Carlisle.^[128] Edward responded by invading Scotland in 1296, and taking the town of Berwick in a particularly bloody attack.^[129] At the Battle of Dunbar, Scottish resistance was effectively crushed.^[130] Edward confiscated the Stone of Destiny  – the Scottish coronation stone – and brought it to Westminster, deposed Balliol and placed him in the Tower of London, and installed Englishmen to govern the country.^[6] The campaign had been a great success, but the English triumph would eventually prove deceptive.^[131]

[edit] Finances, Parliament and the Persecution of Jews

Edward I's frequent military campaigns put a great financial strain on the nation.^[132] There were several ways through which the king could raise money for war, including customs duties, money lending and lay subsidies. In 1275 Edward I negotiated a agreement with the domestic merchant community that secured a permanent duty on wool. In 1303 a similar agreement was reached with foreign merchants, in return for certain rights and privileges.^[133] The revenues from the customs duty were handled by the Riccardi; a group of bankers from Lucca in Italy.^[134] This was in return for their service as money lenders to the crown, which helped finance the Welsh Wars. When the war with France broke out, the French king confiscated the Riccardi's assets, and the bank went bankrupt.^[135] After this, the Frescobaldi of Florence took over the role as money lenders to the English crown.^[136]

16th-century illustration of Edward I presiding over Parliament. The scene shows Alexander III of Scotland and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd of Wales on either side of Edward; a episode that never actually occurred.^[137]

Another source of crown income was represented by England's Jews. The Jews were the king's personal property, and he was free to tax them at will.^[138] By the 1280 the Jews had been exploited to a level where they were no longer of much financial use to the crown, but they could still be used in political bargaining.^[139] Their usury business – a practice forbidden to Christians – had made many people indebted to them, and caused general popular resentment.^[140] In 1275, Edward had issued the Statute of the Jewry, which outlawed usury and encouraged the Jews to take up other professions^[141]; in 1280 he ordered all Jews to attend special sermons, preached by Dominican friars, with the hope of persuading them to convert, but neither of these exhortations were followed.^[142] In 1279, in the context of a crack-down on coin-clippers, he arrested all the heads of Jewish households in England and had around 300 of them executed.^[143] The final attack on the Jews in England came in the form of the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, whereby Edward formally expelled all Jews from England.^[144] This not only generated revenues through royal appropriation of Jewish loans and property, but it also gave Edward the political capital to negotiate a substantial lay subsidy in the 1290 Parliament.^[145] The expulsion, which was not reversed until 1656,^[146] followed a precedence set by other European territorial princes; the king of France had expelled all Jews from his own lands in 1182; the duke of Brittany drove them out of his duchy in 1239; and in the late 1240s Louis IX had expelled the Jews from the royal demesne prior to his first passage to the East.^[147]

One of the main achievements of the reign of Edward I was the reforms of the institution of the English Parliament, and its transformation into a source for generating revenues.^[6] Edward held Parliament at a more or less regular basis throughout his reign.^[148] In 1295, however, a significant change occurred. For this Parliament, in addition to the secular and ecclesiastical lords, two knights from each county and two representatives from each borough were summoned.^[149] The representation of commons in Parliament was nothing new; what was new was the authority under which these representatives were summoned. Whereas previously the commons had been expected simply to assent to decisions already made by the magnates, it was now proclaimed that they should meet with the full authority (plena potestas) of their communities, to give assent to decisions made in Parliament.^[150] The king now had full backing for collecting lay subsidies from the entire population. Lay subsidies were taxes collected at a certain fraction of the moveable property of all laymen.^[151] Whereas Henry III had only collected four of these in his reign, Edward I collected nine.^[152] This format eventually became the standard for later Parliaments, and historians have named the assembly the "Model Parliament".^[153]

[edit] Constitutional crisis

The incessant warfare of the 1290s put a great financial demand on Edward's subjects. Whereas the king had only levied three lay subsidies up until 1294, four such taxes were granted in the years 1294–97, raising over £200,000.^[154] In addition to this came the burden of prises (appropriation of food), seizure of wool and hides, and the unpopular additional duty on wool, dubbed the maltolt.^[155] The fiscal demands on the king's subjects caused resentment, and this resentment eventually led to serious political opposition. The initial resistance was not caused by the lay taxes, however, but by clerical subsidies. In 1294, Edward made a demand of a grant of one half of all clerical revenues. There was some resistance, but the king responded by threatening with outlawry, and the grant was eventually made.^[156] At the time, the archbishopric of Canterbury was vacant, since Robert Winchelsey was in Italy to receive consecration.^[157] Winchelsey returned in January 1295, and had to consent to another grant in November of that year. In 1296, however, his position changed when he received the papal bull Clericis laicos. This bull prohibited the clergy from paying taxes to a lay authorities without explicit consent from the Pope.^[158] When the clergy, with reference to the bull, refused to pay, Edward responded with outlawry.^[159] Winchelsea was presented with a dilemma, between loyalty to the king and upholding the papal bull, and responded by leaving it to every individual clergyman to pay as he saw fit.^[160] By the end of the year a solution was offered by the new papal bull Etsi de statu, which allowed clerical taxation in cases of pressing urgency.^[161]

Opposition from the laity took longer to surface. This resistance focused on two things: the king's right to demand military service, and his right to levy taxes. At the Salisbury parliament of February 1297, Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, in his capacity as Marshal of England, objected to a royal summons of military service. Bigod argued that the military obligation only extended to service alongside the king; if the king intended to sail to Flanders, he could not send his subjects to Gascony.^[163] In July, Bigod and Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Constable of England, drew up a series of complaints known as the Remonstrances, where objections to the extortionate level of taxation were voiced.^[164] Undeterred, Edward requested another lay subsidy. This one was particularly provocative, because the king had sought consent only from a small group of magnates, rather than from representatives from the communities in parliament.^[165] While Edward was in Winchelsea, preparing for the campaign in Flanders, Bigod and Bohun turned up at the Exchequer to prevent the collection of the tax.^[166] As the king left the country with a highly reduced force, the kingdom seemed to be on the verge of civil war.^[167][168] What resolved the situation was the English defeat to the Scots at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The renewed threat to the homeland gave king and magnates common cause.^[169] Edward signed the Confirmatio cartarum – a confirmation of Magna Carta – and the nobility agreed to serve with the king on a campaign in Scotland.^[170]

[edit] Scottish wars

Opposition sprang up (see Wars of Scottish Independence), and under the leadership of William Wallace, the Scots won a major victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. Wallace was captured and executed on 23 August, 1305, after a defeat at the Battle of Falkirk (1298). Although he won the battle, Edward lost many men in the battle and was forced to retreat back to England.

The capitulation of the Scottish political community in 1304 must have seemed to Edward to settle the Scottish question in his favour. Edward began to make arrangements for the governance of the newly-defeated realm. However, all of his efforts were soon invalidated.

On 10th February 1306 Robert Bruce slew at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries his rival to the Scottish crown, John 'the Red' Comyn of Badenoch.^[171] Less than seven weeks later on March 25, Bruce was crowned as King Robert I of Scotland.

Edward appears to have been greatly angered by the latest Scottish rebellion and ordered rebels to be shown no quarter. Many of Bruce's closest supporters and family were hanged, drawn and quartered when they were captured by Edward's men. Although Bruce was initially forced to flee, probably to Rathlin Island and then to the Hebrides, in early 1307 he landed a small force in Carrick.^[172] Edward, apparently frustrated by his men's inability to crush Bruce, made arrangements to lead a campaign personally against the rebel-king. Edward was too old and too weak to undertake such a task and died before he could reach Scotland.

[edit] Later reign and death

Reconstruction of Edward I apartments at the Tower of London

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 ultimately failed. In 1307 he died 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 a later chronicler tradition, Edward asked to have his bones carried on future military campaigns in Scotland. More credible and contemporary writers reported that the king's last request was to have his heart taken to the Holy Land. All that is certain is that Edward was buried in Westminster Abbey in a plain black marble tomb, which in later years was painted with the words Edwardus Primus Scottorum malleus hic est, pactum serva, (Here is Edward I, Hammer of the Scots. Keep Troth).^[173].

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) hence the nickname "Longshanks" meaning long legs.^[174]

[edit] 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" and "Robert the Bruce: The Price of the King's Peace". London: Hodder & Stoughton. 1969-1971. ISBN 0-3403-7186-2;
• Robyn Young - The Brethren trilogy;
  • A fictional account of Edward and his involvement with a secret organization within the Knights Templar.

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 cruel, hard-hearted tyrant in the 1995 film Braveheart. He was played by Brian Blessed, in the 1996 film The Bruce, as an idealist seeking to unite Norman and Saxon in his kingdom. Edward was played by Michael Rennie in the 1950 film The Black Rose, based on the novel by Thomas B. Costain, and by Donald Sumpter in Heist (2008).

[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms

Edward I's full style in Latin was Edwardus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hibernie et Dux Aquitanie.

[edit] Arms

Until his accession to the throne in 1272, Edward bore the arms of the kingdom, differentiated by a label azure of three points. With the throne, he inherited the arms of the kingdom, being gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or armed and langued azure^[175]

Shield as heir-apparent

Shield as King

[edit] Issue

Eleanor of Castile died on 28 November 1290. Edward was very devoted to his queen, and was deeply affected by her death. He displayed his grief by erecting twelve so-called Eleanor crosses, one at each place where her funeral cortège stopped for the night.^[176] As part of the peace accord between England and France in 1294, it was agreed that Edward should marry the French princess Marguerite. The marriage took place in 1299.^[177]

Edward and Eleanor had at least fourteen children, perhaps as many as sixteen. Of these, five daughters survived into adulthood, but only one boy outlived Edward – the future King Edward II. For Prince Edward the title of Prince of Wales was restored in 1301; a title that has since been associated with the heir to the English and British crown.^[178] Edward I was reportedly concerned with his son's failure to live up the expectations of an heir to the crown, and at one point decided to exile the prince's favourite Piers Gaveston.^[179] By Marguerite Edward had two sons, both of whom lived into adulthood, and a daughter who died as a child.^[180]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Barrow, G. W. S. (1965). Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. 
• Brown, A.L. (1989). The Governance of Late Medieval England 1272–1461. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0804717303. 
• Carpenter, David (2003). The Struggle for Mastery: Britain, 1066-1284. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195220005. 
• Davies, R. R. (2000). The Age of Conquest: Wales, 1063-1415. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198208782. 
• Harriss, G.L. (1975). King, Parliament and Public Finance in Medieval England to 1369. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198224354. 
• Maddicott, John (1994). Simon de Montfort. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521374936. 
• Morris, Marc (2008). A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain (updated ed.). London: Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091796846. 
• Plucknett, T. F. T. (1949). Legislation of Edward I. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 
• Powicke, F. M. (1947). King Henry III and the Lord Edward: The Community of the Realm in the Thirteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
• Powicke, F. M. (1962). The Thirteenth Century: 1216-1307 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
• Prestwich, Michael (1972). War, Politics and Finance under Edward I. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571090427. 
• Prestwich, Michael (1997). Edward I (updated ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300072090. 
• Prestwich, Michael (2004). "Edward I (1239–1307)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8517. 
• Prestwich, Michael (2007). Plantagenet England: 1225-1360 (new ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198228449. 
• Raban, Sandra (2000). England under Edward I and Edward II. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0631203575. 
• Jonathan, Riley-Smith (2005). The Crusades: A History. London: Continuum. ISBN 0826472699. 
• Sadler, John (2008). The Second Barons' War: Simon de Motfort and the Battles of Lewes and Evesham. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 1844158314. 
• Stubbs, William (ed.) (1882–1883). Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II. London: Longman. 
• Sutherland, Donald (1963). Quo Warranto Proceedings in the Reign of Edward I, 1278-1294. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
• Watson, Fiona J. (1998). Under the Hammer: Edward I and the Throne of Scotland, 1286-1307. East Linton: Tuckwell Press. ISBN 1862320314. 

[edit] External links

• Edward I of England at royal.gov.uk
• Images of the castles of Edward I in Wales
• King Edward I Monument

v • d • e House of Plantagenet Titles Count of Gâtinais (origin) · Count of Anjou · Count of Maine · King of Jerusalem (claim) · Duke of Aquitaine · Duke of Normandy · King of England · Lord of Ireland · Duke of Brittany · Lord of Cyprus · Prince of Wales · King of the Romans (claim) · King of France (claim) · King of Sicily (claim) · King of Castile (claim) Armorial of Plantagenet Branches House of Lancaster · House of York · House of Beaufort Monarchs, their queens and issue Henry II of England Queen consort: Eleanor of Aquitaine William IX, Count of Poitiers · Henry the Young King · Richard I of England · Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany · Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony · Leonora, Queen of Castile · Joan, Queen of Sicily · John of England Illegitimates: William de Longespée, Earl of Salisbury · Geoffrey, Archbishop of York Henry the Young King Queen consort: Marguerite of France William (died in infancy) Richard I of England Queen consort: Berengaria of Navarre Illegitimates: Philip of Cognac John of England Queen consort: Isabella of Angoulême Henry III of England · Richard, Earl of Cornwall · Joan, Queen of Scots · Isabella, Holy Roman Empress · Eleanor Illegitimates: Joan, Lady of Wales · Richard FitzRoy · Oliver FitzRoy · Geoffrey FitzRoy · John FitzRoy · Henry FitzRoy · Osbert Gifford · Eudes FitzRoy · Bartholomew FitzRoy · Maud FitzRoy · Isabel FitzRoy · Philip FitzRoy · William de Forz Henry III of England Queen consort: Eleanor of Provence Edward I of England · Margaret, Queen of Scots · Beatrice, Duchess of Brittany · Edmund, Earl of Lancaster · Katherine Edward I of England Queen consorts:Eleanor of Castile · Marguerite of France Eleanor, Countess of Bar · Joan, Countess of Hertford and Gloucester · Alphonso, Earl of Chester · Margaret, Duchess of Brabant · Mary Plantagenet · Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford · Edward II of England · Thomas, Earl of Norfolk · Edmund, Earl of Kent Edward II of England Queen consort: Isabella of France Edward III of England · John, Earl of Cornwall · Eleanor, Countess of Guelders · Joan, Queen of Scots Edward III of England Queen consort: Philippa of Hainault Edward, Prince of Wales · Isabella · Joan · Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence · John, Duke of Lancaster · Edmund, Duke of York · Mary, Duchess of Brittany · Margaret, Countess of Pembroke · Thomas, Duke of Gloucester Richard II of England Queen consort: Anne of Bohemia · Isabella of Valois Henry IV of England Queen consort: Mary de Bohun · Joanna of Navarre Henry V of England · Thomas, Duke of Clarence · John, Duke of Bedford · Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester · Blanche, Electorial Princess Palatine · Philippa, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden Henry V of England Queen consort: Catherine of Valois Henry VI of England Henry VI of England Queen consort: Margaret of Anjou Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales Edward IV of England Queen consort: Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth, Queen of England · Mary of York · Cecily, Viscountess Welles · Edward V of England · Richard, Duke of York · Anne, Countess of Surrey · Catherine, Countess of Devon · Bridget of York Edward V of England no consort or issue Richard III of England Queen consort: Anne Neville Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales Illegitimates: John of Gloucester · Katherine Plantagenet · Richard of Eastwell History Matilda, Lady of the English · Geoffrey V of Anjou · Treaty of Wallingford · Angevin Empire · Revolt of 1173–1174 · Third Crusade · Magna Carta · First Barons' War · Provisions of Oxford · Second Barons' War · Gothic architecture · University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · Parliament of England · Competitors for the Crown of Scotland · Treaty of Northampton · House of Capet · Hundred Years' War · Order of the Garter · College of Arms · Wars of the Roses Category · Royalty Portal

v • d • e   English monarchs   Kingdom of the English 886–1066 Alfred the Great · Edward the Elder · Ælfweard · Athelstan the Glorious1 · Edmund the Magnificent1 · Eadred1 · Eadwig the Fair1 · Edgar the Peaceable1 · Edward the Martyr · Æthelred the Unready · Sweyn Forkbeard · Edmund Ironside · Cnut1 · Harold Harefoot · Harthacnut · Edward the Confessor · Harold Godwinson · Edgar the Ætheling Kingdom of England 1066–1649 William I · William II · Henry I · Stephen · Matilda · Henry II2 · Henry the Young King · Richard I · John2 · Henry III2 · Edward I2 · Edward II2 · Edward III2 · Richard II2 · Henry IV2 · Henry V2 · Henry VI2 · Edward IV2 · Edward V2 · Richard III2 · Henry VII2 · Henry VIII2 · Edward VI2 · Jane2 · Mary I2 with Philip2 · Elizabeth I2 · James I3 · Charles I3 Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland 1653–1659 Oliver Cromwell3 · Richard Cromwell3 Kingdom of England 1660–1707 Charles II  · James II  · William III and Mary II  · Anne 1Overlord of Britain. 2Also ruler of Ireland. 3Lord Protector. Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.

v • d • e Dukes of Normandy Norman Dukes Rollo · William I · Richard I · Richard II · Richard III · Robert I · William II · Robert II · Henry I · William III · Matilda · Stephen · Geoffrey · Henry II · Richard IV · John I French Dukes John II · Charles I · Charles II · Louis (Claimant) English Dukes Henry III · Edward I · Edward II · Edward III · Richard V · Henry IV  · Edward IV · Edward V · Richard VI · Henry VII · Henry VIII · Edward VI · Jane · Mary I · Elizabeth I · James I · Charles III · Charles IV · James II · William IV with Mary II · William IV British Dukes Anne · George I · George II · George III · George IV · William V · Victoria · Edward VII · George V · Edward VIII · George VI · Elizabeth II