General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> King Of England
Name Suffix:<NSFX> (King Of England), Longshanks, The Lawgiver
1278 - Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castille visit Glaston
bury Abbey to officially reinter the remains of Arthur an
d Guinevere in the new abbey church. King Arthur's cross i
s placed on top of the black marble tomb. Edward proclaim
s his son, Edward of Caernarvon, Prince of Wales, and posit
ions himself as the legitimate successor of Arthur.   Edwar
d kings of England. Edward I, 1239-1307 (r.1272-1307), wa
s the son and successor of HENRY III. He gained new claim
s to France through his marriage (1254) to Eleanor of Casti
le and was responsible for his father's victory in the BARO
NS' WAR. As king, his conquest of Wales (1277-82) was follo
wed by a long, futile campaign against Scotland (1290-1307)
. Edward's legal reforms, notably the statutes of WESTMINST
ER, earned him the title English Justinian. He restricted p
rivate and church courts and controlled land grants to th
e church. His Model Parliament (1295) marked greater partic
ipation by the barons, merchants, and clergy whose resistan
ce to war taxation had forced him to confirm previous chart
ers (e.g., MAGNA CARTA). His son, Edward II, 1284-1327 (r.1
307-27), was a weak king, dissipated and self-indulgent. Hi
s reign was noted for internal dissension and the loss of S
cotland. His insistence on having his favorite, Piers Gaves
ton, at court caused rebellion among the barons, who eventu
ally had Gaveston killed. Edward's later favorites, Hugh l
e Despenser and his son, virtually ruled England (1322-26)
. They made a truce with ROBERT I and recognized him as kin
g of Scotland. Edward's wife, Queen ISABELLA, refused to re
turn from France while the Despensers ruled. She entered in
to an adulterous alliance with Roger de MORTIMER and invade
d England. The Despensers were executed and Edward forced t
o abdicate. He was imprisoned and almost certainly murdere
d by henchmen of Isabella and Mortimer. His son, Edward III
, 1312-77 (r.1327-77), was dominated by Isabella and Mortim
er until he seized power in a coup in 1330, putting Mortime
r to death and forcing his mother into retirement. He suppo
rted Edward de BALIOL against the young Scottish king DAVI
D II, but despite his victory at Halidon Hill in 1333, th
e Scottish question remained unsettled. In 1337 the HUNDRE
D YEARS WAR began; it would dominate Edward's reign. He an
d his son EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE took an active part in th
e war, the first phase of which ended with the treaty of Lo
ndon in 1359. The war was renewed after various treaties an
d truces, but, like the Scottish wars, was inconclusive i
n Edward's reign. There were many constitutional developmen
ts in Edward's long reign. The most important of these wa
s the emergence of Commons as a distinct and powerful grou
p in PARLIAMENT. The king's constant need for money for hi
s wars enabled Commons to assert its power to consent to al
l lay taxation. The Black Death (see PLAGUE) decimated th
e population, producing a labor shortage that enabled the l
ower classes to demand higher wages and social advancement
. Edward quarreled with the church, and the resulting relig
ious unrest found a spokesman in John WYCLIF. There was riv
alry between a court party headed by Edward's son JOHN OF G
AUNT and the parliamentary party, headed by the Black Princ
e. Edward was succeeded by RICHARD II. Edward IV, 1442-83
, son of Richard, duke of York, became king (1461-70, 1471-
83) as leader of the York party (see ROSES, WARS OF THE) af
ter his defeat of the Lancastrians and capture of HENRY VI
. Edward's marriage to Elizabeth WOODVILLE (1464) and his f
avoritism to her family angered his cousin Richard Neville
, earl of Warwick, who rebelled and fled to France, where h
e formed an alliance with MARGARET OF ANJOU, wife of the de
posed Henry VI. They returned to England with troops and pl
aced Henry on the throne. T