dward I (1239-1307), king of England, was
born in Westminster. In 1270 he joined the last of the Crusades,
undertaken by Louis IX of France. The early part of Edward’s
reign was devoted to legal and administrative reforms. By the
First Statute of Westminster (1275) he secured the rights of the
church and the people; in 1279 the Statute of Mortmain checked
the acquisition of land by the church. The Statutes of Merchants
(1283) and of Rhuddlan or Wales (1284) facilitated the recovery
of debts, and simplified the work of the judges; and in 1285 the
famous Statute of Westminster (the Second) and of Winchester were
passed. In 1290 the Third Statute of Westminster (Quia Emplores),
dealt with alienation of land in general, and checked the growth
of new manors. In 1290 the Jews were expelled from England for
extortionate usury.
Edward I’s first military expedition was directed against
Wales. He forced the Welsh leaders to terms of peace (1277);
crushed a fresh outbreak (1282-3); and issued the statute
incorporating Wales with England (1284). During the second half
of his reign, from 1290 to 1307, Edward was largely engaged in
Scottish affairs. The King then turned his attention to France;
but the clergy, headed by Archbishop Winchelsea, refused fresh
subsidies, and were supported by the bull Clericus Laicos of Pope
Boniface VIII. The king retaliated by placing the clergy of the
kingdom in outlawry. At the Salisbury parliament (1297) the great
barons also refused to take part in foreign war, while the
hostility of the merchants was aroused because their wool had
been seized. A compromise was effected with the clergy, and a
temporary illegal grant was procured from the nobles and commons.
Edward then sailed for Flanders, and while at Ghent confirmed
Magna Carta with such supplementary clauses as were demanded by
his refractory nobles, thus finally establishing the right of the
people themselves to determine taxation.
Edward was recalled to Scotland by a fresh uprising led by
William Wallace and there won the Battle of Falkirk in 1298.
Having made peace with Philip of France (1299), he again invaded
Scotland (1301). Wallace was captured and executed in 1305; but
the next year Robert Bruce headed a revolt; and Edward died at
Burgh-on-Sands, near Carlisle, while leading an army against him.
[World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935]
Earl of Chester. [GADD.GED]
Edward I, called Longshanks (1239-1307), king of
England (1272-1307), of the house of Plantagenet. He was born in
Westminster on June 17, 1239, the eldest son of King Henry III,
and at 15 married Eleanor of Castile. In the struggles of the
barons against the crown for constitutional and ecclesiastical
reforms, Edward took a vacillating course. When warfare broke out
between the crown and the nobility, Edward fought on the side of
the king, winning the decisive battle of Evesham in 1265. Five
years later he left England to join the Seventh Crusade.
Following his father's death in 1272, and while he was still
abroad, Edward was recognized as king by the English barons; in
1273, on his return to England, he was crowned.
The first years of Edward's reign were a period of the
consolidation of his power. He suppressed corruption in the
administration of justice and passed legislation allowing feudal
barons and the crown to collect revenues from properties willed
to the church.
On the refusal of Llewelyn ab Gruffydd, ruler of Wales, to
submit to the English crown, Edward began the military conflict
that resulted, in 1284, in the annexation of Llewelyn's
principality to the English crown. In 1290 Edward expelled all
Jews from England. War between England and France broke out in
1293 as a result of the efforts of France to curb Edward's power
in Gascony. Edward lost Gascony in 1293 and did not again come
into possession of the duchy until 1303. About the same year in
which he lost Gascony, the Welsh rose in rebellion.
Greater than either of these problems was the disaffection of
the people of Scotland. In agreeing to arbitrate among the
claimants to the Scottish throne, Edward, in 1291, had exacted as
a prior condition the recognition by all concerned of his
overlordship of Scotland. The Scots later repudiated him and made
an alliance with France against England. To meet the critical
situations in Wales and Scotland, Edward summoned a parliament,
called the Model Parliament by historians because it was a
representative body and in that respect was the forerunner of all
future parliaments. Assured by Parliament of support at home,
Edward took the field and suppressed the Welsh insurrection. In
1296, after invading and conquering Scotland, he declared himself
king of that realm. In 1298 he again invaded Scotland to suppress
the revolt led by Sir William Wallace. In winning the Battle of
Falkirk in 1298, Edward achieved the greatest military triumph of
his career, but he failed to crush Scottish opposition.
The conquest of Scotland became the ruling passion of his life.
He was, however, compelled by the nobles, clergy, and commons to
desist in his attempts to raise by arbitrary taxes the funds he
needed for campaigns. In 1299 Edward made peace with France and
married Margaret, sister of King Philip III of France. Thus freed
of war, he again undertook the conquest of Scotland in 1303.
Wallace was captured and executed in 1305. No sooner had Edward
established his government in Scotland, however, than a new
revolt broke out and culminated in the coronation of Robert Bruce
as king of Scotland. In 1307 Edward set out for the third time to
subdue the Scots, but he died en route near Carlisle on July 7,
1307. [Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia]
Additional information: Britannia.com
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