More information from Wikepedia, and I've added the "#23" as my way of keeping track of how many greats of these grandparents they were. I also will place bold type on any of my direct ancestors. (I started covering information on Edward I (#23) in yesterday's blog
HERE.)
Edward I (#23)was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III #24 and Eleanor of Provence #24.[3][a] Edward is an Anglo-Saxon name, and was not commonly given among the aristocracy of England after the Norman conquest, but Henry was devoted to the veneration of Edward the Confessor, and decided to name his firstborn son after the saint.[4][b] Among his childhood friends was his cousin Henry of Almain, son of King Henry's brother Richard of Cornwall.[6] Henry of Almain would remain a close companion of the prince, both through the civil war that followed, and later during the crusade.[7] 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.[8]
There were concerns about Edward's health as a child, and he fell ill in 1246, 1247, and 1251.[6] Nonetheless, he became an imposing man; at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) he towered over most of his contemporaries, and hence perhaps his epithet "Longshanks", meaning "long legs" or "long shins". The historian Michael Prestwich states that his "long arms gave him an advantage as a swordsman, long thighs one as a horseman. In youth, his curly hair was blond; in maturity it darkened, and in old age it turned white. [His features were marred by a drooping left eyelid.] His speech, despite a lisp, was said to be persuasive."[9]
In 1254, English fears of a Castilian invasion of the English province of Gascony induced Edward's father to arrange a politically expedient marriage between his fifteen-year-old son and thirteen-year-old Eleanor #23, the half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile.[10] Eleanor and Edward were married on 1 November 1254 in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Castile.[11]
The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he briefly sided with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, but escaped after a few months and joined the fight against Simon de Montfort. Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land. The crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster on 19 August.
He spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law.
Increasingly, however, Edward's attention was drawn towards military affairs. After suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282–83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, Edward subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns in the countryside and settled them with English people. Next, his efforts were directed towards Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a succession dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the kingdom. The war that followed continued after Edward's death, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. Simultaneously, Edward I found himself at war with France (a Scottish ally) after the French king Philip IV had confiscated the duchy of Aquitaine, which until then had been held in personal union with the Kingdom of England.
From 1254 to 1257, Edward was under the influence of his mother's relatives, known as the Savoyards,[15] the most notable of whom was Peter of Savoy, the queen's uncle.[16] After 1257, Edward increasingly fell in with the Poitevin or Lusignanfaction – the half-brothers of his father Henry III – led by such men as William de Valence.[17][c] This association was significant, because the two groups of privileged foreigners were resented by the established English aristocracy, and they would be at the centre of the ensuing years' baronial reform movement
The years 1264–1267 saw the conflict known as the Second Barons' War, in which baronial forces led by Simon de Montfort fought against those who remained loyal to the King
Edward took the crusader's cross in an elaborate ceremony on 24 June 1268, with his brother Edmund and cousin Henry of Almain. King Louis IX of France, who was the leader of the crusade, provided a loan of about £17,500.[47] This, however, was not enough; the rest had to be raised through a tax on the laity, which had not been levied since 1237
By then, the situation in the Holy Land was a precarious one. Jerusalem had fallen in 1244, and Acre was now the centre of the Christian state.[54] 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.[55] An embassy to the Ilkhan Abaqa[56] (1234–1282) of the Mongols helped bring about an attack on Aleppo in the north, which helped to distract Baibars' forces.[57] 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.[58] Edward was initially defiant, but an attack by a Muslim assassin in June forced him to abandon any further campaigning. Although he managed to kill the assassin, he was struck in the arm by a dagger feared to be poisoned, and became severely weakened over the following months.[59][h]
It was not until 24 September that Edward left Acre. Arriving in Sicily, he was met with the news that his father had died on 16 November 1272.[61] Edward was deeply saddened by this news, but rather than hurrying home at once, he made a leisurely journey northwards. This was due partly to his still-poor health, but also to a lack of urgency.[62] The political situation in England was stable after the mid-century upheavals, and Edward was proclaimed king after his father's death, rather than at his own coronation, as had until then been customary.[63][i] In Edward's absence, the country was governed by a royal council, led by Robert Burnell.[64] The new king embarked on an overland journey through Italy and France, where among other things he visited Pope Gregory X.[j] Only on 2 August 1274 did he return to England, and he was crowned on 19 August.[65]
Note: Joan of Acre #22, his daughter, was born there in April of 1272...so his wife, Eleanor of Castile #23 had come with him on this crusade.
He spent the next two decades fighting the Welsh and taking control of it for England.
By the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan, the Principality of Wales was incorporated into England and was given an administrative system like the English, with counties policed by sheriffs.[84] English law was introduced in criminal cases, though the Welsh were allowed to maintain their own customary laws in some cases of property disputes.[85] 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.[86] Their new residents were English migrants, with the local Welsh banned from living inside them, and many were protected by extensive walls.[87]
An extensive project of castle-building was also initiated, These included the castles of Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech, intended to act both as fortresses and royal palaces for the King.
In 1284, King Edward had his son Edward (later Edward II) born at Caernarfon Castle, probably to make a deliberate statement about the new political order in Wales In 1301 at Lincoln, the young Edward became the first English prince to be invested with the title of Prince of Wales, when King Edward granted him the Earldom of Chester and lands across North Wales.[95] The King seems to have hoped that this would help in the pacification of the region, and that it would give his son more financial independence.[95][l]
Eleanor of Castile had died on 28 November 1290. Uncommon for such marriages of the period, the couple loved each other. Moreover, like his father, Edward was very devoted to his wife and was faithful to her throughout their married lives — a rarity among monarchs of the time. He 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.[104] As part of the peace accord between England and France in 1294, it was agreed that Edward should marry Philip IV's half-sister Margaret, but the marriage was delayed by the outbreak of war.[105]
Edward made alliances with the German king, the Counts of Flanders and Guelders, and the Burgundians, who would attack France from the north.[106] 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 time his allies there had already suffered defeat.[107] The support from Germany never materialised, and Edward was forced to seek peace. His marriage to Margaret in 1299 ended the war, but the whole affair had proven both costly and fruitless for the English.[
The relationship between the nations of England and Scotland by the 1280s was one of relatively harmonious coexistence. (see The Great Cause about the succession following the death of Alexander III of Scotland on Wikepedia.) ...the Scots instead formed an alliance with France and launched an unsuccessful attack on Carlisle.[126] Edward responded by invading Scotland in 1296 and taking the town of Berwick in a particularly bloody attack.[127] At the Battle of Dunbar, Scottish resistance was effectively crushed.[128] Edward confiscated the Stone of Destiny – the Scottish coronation stone – and brought it to Westminster placing it in what became known as King Edward's Chair; he deposed Balliol and placed him in the Tower of London, and installed Englishmen to govern the country.[129] The campaign had been very successful, but the English triumph would only be temporary.[130]
Edward took a keen interest in the stories of King Arthur, which were highly popular in Europe during his reign.[137] In 1278 he visited Glastonbury Abbey to open what was then believed to be the tomb of Arthur and Guinevere, recovering "Arthur's crown" from Llywelyn after the conquest of North Wales, while, as noted above, his new castles drew upon the Arthurian myths in their design and location.[138] He held "Round Table" events in 1284 and 1302, involving tournaments and feasting, and chroniclers compared him and the events at his court to Arthur.[139] In some cases Edward appears to have used his interest in the Arthurian myths to serve his own political interests, including legitimising his rule in Wales and discrediting the Welsh belief that Arthur might return as their political saviour.[140]
Soon after assuming the throne, Edward set about restoring order and re-establishing royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father.[141] 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.[142]Edward then replaced most local officials, such as the escheators and sheriffs.[143]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 set of so-called Hundred Rolls, from the administrative subdivision of the hundred.[p]
The second purpose of the inquest was to establish what land and rights the crown had lost during the reign of Henry III
Another source of crown income was represented by England's Jews The final attack on the Jews in England came in the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, whereby Edward formally expelled all Jews from England.[171] 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.[172]
Edward held Parliament on a reasonably regular basis throughout his reign.[174] 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.[175] 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.[176] 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
The situation in Scotland had seemed resolved when Edward left the country in 1296, but resistance soon emerged under the leadership of William Wallace. On 11 September 1297, a large English force under the leadership of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and Hugh de Cressingham was routed by a much smaller Scottish army led by Wallace and Andrew Morayat Stirling Bridge.[201] The defeat sent shockwaves into England, and preparations for a retaliatory campaign started immediately. Soon after Edward returned from Flanders, he headed north.[202] On 22 July 1298, in the only major battle he had fought since Evesham in 1265, Edward defeated Wallace's forces at the Battle of Falkirk.[203] Edward, however, was not able to take advantage of the momentum, and the next year the Scots managed to recapture Stirling Castle.[204] Even though Edward campaigned in Scotland both in 1300, when he successfully besieged Caerlaverock Castle and in 1301, the Scots refused to engage in open battle again, preferring instead to raid the English countryside in smaller groups.
In 1303, a peace agreement was reached between England and France, effectively breaking up the Franco-Scottish alliance.[206] Robert the Bruce, the grandson of the claimant to the crown in 1291, had sided with the English in the winter of 1301–02.[207] By 1304, most of the other nobles of the country had also pledged their allegiance to Edward, and this year the English also managed to re-take Stirling Castle.[208] A great propaganda victory was achieved in 1305 when Wallace was betrayed by Sir John de Menteith and turned over to the English, who had him taken to London where he was publicly executed.[209] With Scotland largely under English control, Edward installed Englishmen and collaborating Scots to govern the country.[210]
The situation changed again on 10 February 1306, when Robert the Bruce murdered his rival John Comyn and a few weeks later, on 25 March, had himself crowned King of Scotland by Isobel, sister of the Earl of Buchan.[211] Bruce now embarked on a campaign to restore Scottish independence, and this campaign took the English by surprise.[212] Edward was suffering ill health by this time, and instead of leading an expedition himself, he gave different military commands to Aymer de Valenceand Henry Percy, while the main royal army was led by the Prince of Wales.[213] The English initially met with success; on 19 June, Aymer de Valence routed Bruce at the Battle of Methven.[214] Bruce was forced into hiding, while the English forces recaptured their lost territory and castles.[215]
Edward responded with severe brutality against Bruce's allies and supporters. Bruce's sister, Mary, was suspended in a cage outside of Roxburgh for four years. Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, who had crowned Bruce, was suspended in a cage outside of Berwick Castle for four years. Bruce's younger brother Neil was executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered; he had been captured after he and his garrison held off Edward's forces who had been seeking Bruce's wife (Elizabeth), daughter Marjorie, sisters Mary and Christina, and Isabella.[216][217]
It was clear that Edward now regarded the struggle not as a war between two nations, but as the suppression of a rebellion of disloyal subjects.[218] This brutality, though, rather than helping to subdue the Scots, had the opposite effect, and rallied growing support for Bruce.[219]
In February 1307, Bruce reappeared and started gathering men, and in May he defeated Aymer de Valence at the Battle of Loudoun Hill.[220] Edward, who had rallied somewhat, now moved north himself. On the way, however, he developed dysentery, and his condition deteriorated. On 6 July he encamped at Burgh by Sands, just south of the Scottish border. When his servants came the next morning to lift him up so that he could eat, he died in their arms.[221]
The new king, Edward II, remained in the north until August, but then abandoned the campaign and headed south.[224] He was crowned king on 25 February 1308.[225
Edward I's body was brought south, lying in state at Waltham Abbey, before being buried in Westminster Abbey on 27 October.[226] There are few records of the funeral, which cost £473.[226] Edward's tomb was an unusually plain sarcophagus of Purbeck marble, without the customary royal effigy, possibly the result of the shortage of royal funds after the King's death.,,The Society of Antiquaries opened the tomb in 1774, finding that the body had been well preserved over the preceding 467 years, and took the opportunity to determine the King's original height.
By his first wife Eleanor of Castile, Edward had at least fourteen children, perhaps as many as sixteen. Of these, five daughters survived into adulthood, but only one son outlived his father, King Edward II (1307–1327). He was reportedly concerned with his son's failure to live up to the expectations of an heir to the crown, and at one point decided to exile the prince's favourite Piers Gaveston. Edward's children with Eleanor were:
- Daughter (May 1255 – 29 May 1255), stillborn or died shortly after birth.
- Katherine (before 17 June 1264 – 5 September 1264), buried at Westminster Abbey.
- Joanna (Summer or January 1265 – before 7 September 1265), buried in Westminster Abbey.
- John (13 July 1266 – 3 August 1271), predeceased his father and died at Wallingford while in the custody of his granduncle Richard, Earl of Cornwall, buried at Westminster Abbey.
- Henry (6 May 1268 – 14 October 1274), predeceased his father, buried in Westminster Abbey.
- Eleanor (c. 18 June 1269 – 19 August 1298), in 1293 she married Henry III, Count of Bar, by whom she had two children, buried in Westminster Abbey.
- Juliana (after May 1271 – 5 September 1271), born and died while Edward and Eleanor were in Acre.
- Joan of Acre #22 (1272 – 23 April 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford #22, who died in 1295, and (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer. She had four children by Clare, and three or four by Monthermer.
- Alphonso, Earl of Chester (24 November 1273 – 19 August 1284), predeceased his father, buried in Westminster Abbey.
- Margaret (c.15 March 1275 – after 11 March 1333), married John II of Brabant in 1290, with whom she had one son.
- Berengaria (May 1276 – between 7 June 1277 and 1278), buried in Westminster Abbey.
- Daughter (December 1277 – January 1278), buried in Westminster Abbey.
- Mary of Woodstock (11/12 March 1279 – 29 May 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire, where she was probably buried.
- Son (1280/81 – 1280/81), predeceased his father; little evidence exists for this child.
- Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (c. 7 August 1282 – 5 May 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. The first marriage was childless; by Bohun Elizabeth had ten children.
- Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), eldest surviving son and heir, succeeded his father as king of England. In 1308 he married Isabella of France, with whom he had four children.
By Margaret of France Edward had two sons, both of whom lived into adulthood, and a daughter who died as a child.[255] The Hailes Abbey chronicle indicates that John Botetourt may have been Edward's illegitimate son; however, the claim is unsubstantiated.[256] His progeny by Margaret of France were:
