| Notes |
- Acceded:19 Aug 1274 Westminster Abbey, London
EDWARD I (1239-1307) became king of England in 1272. As king, he conquered Wales and tried to gain control of Scotland. Edward belonged to the Plantagenet family of English rulers.
Edward I was born in Westminster (now part of London). He succeeded his father, Henry III, as king. Edward fought two wars against the Welsh, one in 1277 and another in 1282 and 1283. He conquered Wales in the second war. In 1301, Edward gave the title Prince of Wales to his son, who later became Edward II. Since then, it has become customary for English monarchs to give the title to their oldest son.
In 1292, Edward chose John de Balliol as ruler of Scotland from among several men who claimed the Scottish throne. Edward demanded that Balliol pay homage to him. But this demand humiliated the Scottish people, causing them to revolt. In 1296, Balliol joined the rebel forces, but Edward forced him to surrender. Edward then took to England the Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish kings had been given royal power for hundreds of years. He placed the stone in Westminster Abbey, where English monarchs were crowned.
But the Scots continued to fight England. They were led first by William Wallace and then by Robert Bruce. Bruce was crowned king of Scotland in 1306. Edward died while on his way to subdue the new king.
Edward's Scottish policy resulted in hostile relations between the English and the Scots for the next 250 years. It also led to an alliance between Scotland and France. As a result, England had to fight both countries at the same time. Edward's need for money to supply his army and government led him to call Parliaments more often than had any previous king. These Parliaments consisted of representatives of the nobility, of the church, and of the common people. In return for grants of money from Parliament, Edward agreed that taxes could be levied only with Parliament's consent. He also sponsored laws on a wider variety of topics than any previous king.
Edward I was not the first English king named Edward. People in England give numbers to their kings and queens with the same name only if the monarchs ruled after the Norman Conquest of 1066. There were three Anglo-Saxon kings named Edward who ruled England before 1066: Edward the Elder (870?-924), Edward the Martyr (963?-978?), and Edward the Confessor (1002?-1066). See EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. (p.921)
House of Angevins. 17 Nov 1272 > 7 Jul 1307 = reign of Edward I of England
He was a good soldier. He fought to try to get control of Wales and Scotland.
He also had to fight to protect lands in Gascony (France) against Philip 1V of France. These wars cost a lot of money and he called Parliament regularly to agree to extra taxes. These meetings consisted of the King, Lords, Barons and Bishops and also two knights from each shire and two citizens from each city.
This was the beginning of Parliament as we know it. He died on his way to fight the Scots.
Removed the symbolic "Stone of Destiny" from Scone, in 1296.. This was returned to Scotland 700 years later in November 1996!!!
Update: from Queen's Official Web Site 8/10/97.
Edward I
Edward I (1272-1307), who succeeded his father, was an able administrator and law maker. He re-established royal power, investigating many of the abuses resulting from weak royal government and issuing new laws. Edward was an effective soldier, gaining experience from going on crusade to Egypt and Syria before he became king. In 1276
Edward invaded Wales where Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, had built up considerable power. In a series of campaigns Edward gained control of Wales, building strong castles to secure his conquests. Llewelyn was killed
and in 1284, the Statute of Wales brought Wales under Edward's rule. In 1301, he created his eldest son, Edward, the first English Prince of Wales.
Wanting to unite the country behind him and to raise money for all these campaigns, in 1295 the king called what became known as the 'Model Parliament'. To this he summoned not only the aristocracy and the prelates, but also the knights of the shires, burgesses from the towns and junior clergy, thus creating a Parliament in approximately
its modern form. From this date onwards, this system of representation became the norm.
In 1296 Edward invaded Scotland, successfully seizing the king of Scots and the Stone of Scone.However, a guerrilla war broke out and William Wallace, the Scottish leader, defeated the English at Stirling Bridge. Wallace was finally captured and executed in 1305. Edward died in 1307, when he was about to start another campaign against the Scots. In 1314 Robert the Bruce, who had become king of Scots in 1306, defeated the English at the Battle of Bannockburn.
Additonal Information:
Edward was the oldest surviving son of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Edward married Eleanor of Castille in 1254 to whom he had sixteen children, seven of which survived to adulthood, before her death. As part of a peace settlement, Edward married Margaret, sister of Philip IV of France, with whom he had another three children.
Edward expanded the Parliament to include both Lords and Commons. Discovering that revenues from feudal claims were inadequate, Edward found that calling a national Parliament was a good form of revenue gaining. Edward expanded the courts including the King's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, and the Chancery Court, and established Conservators of the Peace.
Unification of the Island was Edward's main goal. He made steps toward this with a campaign against Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of Wales. Llwelyn died in 1282, and in 1301, Edward's eldest son, Edward II was named Prince of Wales, the title held by all male heirs to the throne to this day. When Margaret, Maid of Norway, died in 1290, there was no clear successor to the crown of Scotland. Edward was asked to arbitrate between thirteen different claims to the throne.
His first choice, John Baliol, was unpopular; his second, William Wallace rebelled against England until his capture and execution in 1305. Robert Bruce seized the Scottish throne in 1306 and remained a thorn in the side of Edward II. Edward I died on his way to another Scottish campaign in 1307.
Edward is buried in a plain stone tomb in Westminster Abbey. He wished to be buried without a lid on his coffin so that his troops could still see him as they left for battle.
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Caernarfon Castle is one of the most impressive of all the castles built by Edward I and is one of Europe's great medieval fortresses. Set on a peninsula bounded by the Menai Strait and at the heart of North Wales, Caernarfon became the English administrative centre.
Robinson and Thomas (qv) say that "... King Edward seems to have gone to considerable lengths to give substance to the tradition linking Caernarfon with imperial Rome. The king must have known that the Roman fort of Segontium, lying just above the modern town, was inseperably associated in legend with Magnus Maximus, the usurper emperor. Maximus appears as the Macsen Wledig of the Mabinogion, and it is Segontium which provides the background to his dream of journeying from Rome into a land of high mountains facing an island. There he saw a great city with towers of many colours and eagles fashioned out of gold.
Thus it was that at Caernarfon, the walls were given a prominent patterning with bands of different coloured stone. Moreover, the towers were constructed in an angular fashion rather than the usual rounded form of, for example, Conwy or Beaumaris. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that Edward was drawing upon symbolism, and turned for inspiration to the great city of Constantinople. There, in the eastern successor to Rome and one of the wonders of the ancient world, the fifth century walls bear a striking resemblance to this late thirteenth century castle."
Bothwell Castle South Lanarkshire
The castle was one of the most important Scottish strongholds. It is dominated by the great 13th century round tower. This was part of an ambitious scheme that was never fully completed.
The great tower was built in the 1270s. It is 80 feet high and has walls 15 feet thick. Curtain walls and a strong gatehouse were added later. Bothwell Castle played an important part in Scotland's bid for independence.
In 1301 Edward I commissioned an immense siege tower to be taken overland in sections from Glasgow to attack the castle. The siege tower was taller than the castle walls and allowed Edward's forces to storm the fortress. The castle fell to the attackers in just a few days. However, the castle was in such a strategic position in the struggle for Scottish independence that it was attacked and changed hands on numerous occasions during the 13th and 14th centuries. Many repairs and alterations were carried out over the years.
Today, apart from the 13th century great tower, the present buildings of the enclosure date from the 14th and 15th centuries. Although derelict, the towers still standing give an idea of the castle's strong presence and importance.
GIVEN_NAMES: Also shown as Edward "Longshanks"
BIRTH: Also shown as Born Westminster Palace London England.
DEATH: Also shown as Died Burgh-by-Sands.
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1239 - 1307
