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 travelled 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.
External Links
Work in progress, references and full bibliography on the way