Edward I/Citable Version

Edward I, 1272-1307, also known as Edward 'the Longshanks' for his distinguishable tallness and Edward 'hammer of the Scots' as a result of his dealings with Scotland, was named after the legendary Anlo-Saxon King, Edward the Confessor, one of the last of the Anglo-Saxon Kings by his father Henry III. Edward is often regarded as one of Englands finest medieval Kings, but has in recent years received heavy criticism from certain historians and from Hollywood in the epic film Braveheart.

Early Life

Edward was born in June 1239 at Westminster. He received a good education, due to the devotion of his parents to the arts (notably Eleanor of Provence) with emphasis on Latin and French. In 1254 he ptravelled to Spain to marry Eleanor of Castille and at around the same time he recieved Gascony from his father, a land he would share a lot of love for in the future and which would influence his foreign policy quite profoundly.

Civil War

Henry III was a weak King who constantly struggled with his barons, who erupted into a Civil War in which Edward was forced to defend his father when he was only a young man. In this he managed to continue the legacy of the great warrior princes such as Richard I with the notable difference being that while Richard rebelled against his own father, Henry II in Aquitaine on a regular basis, Edward I fought on the side of his father leading the royalist troops to victory at Evesham on 4 August, 1265.

Edward the Crusader

Edward went on Crusade with King Louis IX in August 1270 after recieving a grant of one twentieth of every citizens wealth in a parliament held in April, 1270. Edward and Louis were the last medieval rulers and rulers-in-waiting to go on Crusade to retake the Holy Land - subsequent Popes had used Crusades as a political tool at this stage of the Medieval Era. Louis IX was legendary for his holiness, and both men were acclaimed from throughout their realms for their zeal.

Louis died from plague when he reached Tunis but Edward vowed to keep going towards Acre despite the abandonment by the French, saying:

'by the blood of God, though all my fellow soldiers and countrymen desert me, I will enter Acre ... and I will keep my word and my oath to the death'

Edward arrived in Acre in May 1271 with one thousand Knights, but the crusade turned out to be an anticlimax. With his limited force divided by petty nationalisms and other problems, he could achieve little more than launching a few raids against the enemy forces and finally signed a peace deal with the Baibars. In June 1272 he survived an assassination attempt by a Shi'ite Muslim, and having then left for Sicily that year, he was never to return on Crusade.

Coronation and early reign

Henry III died on 16 November, 1272, but Edward took a leisurely journey back to England from Sicily, stopping off to continental relations and possessions before finally arriving in London in August, 1274. He was thirty five and was already in possession of some of the key characteristics that made a good Medieval king - He was an excellent warrior, regarded as 'the best lance in all the world' by some contemporaries - was an brilliant general, rivaling even his gran uncle Richard I, a legendary Crusader who had captured the hearts and minds of generations of Englishmen. He also had a strong sense of community, law and order and a good grasp of diplomacy. In short, he was intelligent, brave and cunning, sinister even at times. Edward's early reign was dominated by the Welsh issue, as he looked to install English dominance over the last great Welsh principality - Gwynedd, led by Llewelyn the Last.

War with Wales

When Edward returned to England following his Crusade, Welsh affairs began to dominate his free time. The Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had taken advantage of the political troubles in England in the 1260s; he failed to appreciate how the situation had changed by the 1270s. He refused to do homage to Edward I, invaded English territory, began building a threatening new castle at Dolforwyn, and planned to marry Simon de Montfort's daughter Eleanor De Montfort. His own brother Dafydd, and the powerful Welsh magnate Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn, disliked his ambitions, and took refuge at the English court. War became unavoidable, and in the autumn of 1276 Edward I decided to act. In the summer of the following year an English army of 15,000 men advanced from Chester along the coast of north Wales to Deganwy. Naval support was essential, and ships were used to take English troops to Anglesey, where they reaped the grain harvest, so reducing Llywelyn's capacity to resist. No major fighting took place; Llywelyn appreciated the overwhelming strength of Edward's army, and came to terms in the treaty of Aberconwy. The Four Cantrefs, originally granted to Edward in 1254 but regained by the Welsh in 1267, were handed over to the English. Llywelyn's political authority was severely curtailed; he was in future to receive homage only from the lords of Snowdonia, not of all Wales. A massive war indemnity of £50,000 was imposed, though not in practice collected.

War broke out again in 1282. The imposition of English jurisdiction caused much discontent in Wales, and most notably the Welsh had trouble abiding by the English common law rather than their traditional justice systems. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had been involved in a complex and humiliating legal dispute over the cantref of Arwystli with his former enemy Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn. Llywelyn's appeal to Welsh law stressed the threat that Edward I presented to the very identity of the Welsh people. Llywelyn's brother Dafydd, ill rewarded by Edward for his part in the first Welsh war, made the first move in 1282, attacking Hawarden Castle on 21 April. Concerted attacks soon came on other English castles. Edward was quick to respond, making plans at a council at Devizes in April. The overall strategy was similar to that of the first Welsh war, with a major royal campaign in the north, and operations on a smaller scale by other commanders in the marches and the south. Logistical planning was on an impressive scale; the king even called on his overseas dominions of Ireland, Gascony, and Ponthieu for aid, and arrangements were made to link Anglesey to the Welsh mainland by a great pontoon bridge. By the autumn of 1282 Llywelyn's heartland of Snowdonia was threatened on all sides, notably by the royal army, which had advanced from Chester, and by a force under Luke de Tany, which had established itself in Anglesey. At this stage Archbishop John Pecham attempted to negotiate a settlement. Luke de Tany, disobeying orders, tried to take advantage of the peace negotiations by advancing across the bridge from Anglesey to the mainland. He was ambushed and killed; his force suffered heavy losses. The setback was no more than that. Edward's determination was hardened, and Llywelyn attempted to break out of the stranglehold in which he had been placed. A bold move into mid-Wales led to disaster. He was lured into a trap at Irfon Bridge, and was killed in battle. The war was continued by his brother Dafydd, but to little real effect. Castell y Bere, the last Welsh stronghold, surrendered in April 1283, and in June Dafydd himself was captured by men of his own nationality and handed over to the English for execution at Shrewsbury as a traitor.

The victory of 1283 was followed by a full-scale English colonization. The Statute of Wales of 1284 extended the English system of administration, and new counties of Flint, Anglesey, Merioneth, and Caernarfon were created with the full institutional complexity of sheriffs, county courts, and coroners, though at the local level of the commote it proved impossible to reconstruct local government on a purely English pattern. Welsh land law was not eradicated, but English criminal law was instituted for all major felonies. The settlement was limited to those areas of Wales under direct royal control, and did not extend to the marcher lordships. It was not therefore comprehensive, but it was statesmanlike. Disinheritance was on a huge scale for the nobility on the other hand. Llywelyn's dynasty was destroyed, and other Welsh princely families lost their lands. New lordships were created for Edward's followers, such as Bromfield and Yale for John, Earl Warenne, and Denbigh for the earl of Lincoln.

External Links

History of the Monarchy

Oxford DNB

Work in progress, references and full bibliography on the way