General Notes

He was tall  of stature, higher than ordinary men by head and shoulders, and thereof called Lonshank: of a swarthy complexion, strong of body, but lean; of a comely faor; his eyes in his anger, sparkling like fire; the hair of his head black and curled.
(more is wrien) By Sir Richard Baker  "A Chronicle of the Kings of Enland"

King Edward I

1644. Edward I Longshanks King of25 England (Henry III King26, John (Lackland) King27, Henry II King of28, Geoffrey V29 Plantagenet, Foulques V Le30 Anjou, Foulques IV Count31) was born in Westminster, London, England June 17, 1239. Edward died July 7, 1307 in Burgh On The San, Cumberland, England, at age 68. His body was interred October 28, 1307 in Westminster Abbe, London, England.

He married twice. He married Leonor Princess of Castile after August 1254 in Burgos, Burgos, Spain. Leonor was born 1244 in Burgos, Burgos, Spain. Leonor was the daughter of Ferdinand III King Castile and Joana De Dammartin Countess. Leonor died November 29, 1290 in Herdeby, Lincolnshire, England, at age 46. Her body was interred December 16, 1290 in Westminster Abbe, Westminster, Middlesex, Eng. He married Marguerite Princess of France September 8, 1299 in Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England. Marguerite was born 1279 in Paris, Seine, France. Marguerite died February 14, 1317 in Marlborough Cast, Wiltshire, England, at age 37. Her body was interred in Grey Friars, London, Middlesex, England.

He was christened June 22, 1239 in Westminster, Middlesex, England. He possessed the characteristic rages, and the drooping left eyelid, inherited from his father and grandfather. He has been described as a fine warrior king, and was known as the "Hammer of the Scots."


Reigned 1272-1307

In the Barons war 1264-67 he defeated the Barons at Evesham (1265) as King
he is noted for encouraging Parliamentary institutions at the expense of
feudalism and for subduing Wales on which he imposed the English system of
administration. He later tried to assert his authority over Scotland and died
while on his way to fight Robert Bruce.

Edward I 1272-1307. Son of Henry III. Came to the throne at age 33, and had a long, successful reign, conquering Wales and adopting the longbow as the English national weapon..

                                                                 
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 Syria before he became king. In 1277 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 subdued before his death, by the 1277 treaty of Conway. In 1284, the Statute of Wales brought Wales under Edward's rule. In 1301, he created his eldest surviving son, Edward, the first English Prince of Wales.
Wanting to unite the country behind him and to raise money for his campaigns in Wales and Scotland (including another war in France in 1293), in 1295 the king called what became known as the 'Model Parliament'. To this he summoned not only the aristocracy, bishops and abbots, but also the knights of the shires, burgesses from the towns and junior clergy. (Although resembling Parliament in approximately its modern form, for most of the middle ages a parliament meant primarily the king and the lords, with the commons meeting separately. Under pressures of war, and the subsequent need for extraordinary taxation, parliament became a regular feature of royal rule, and this system of representation subsequently became more usual.)

In 1296 Edward invaded Scotland, successfully seizing the Stone of Scone; the king John Balliol abdicated and surrendered to Edward. However, a guerrilla war broke out and William Wallace, the Scottish leader, defeated the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297. Wallace was finally captured and executed in 1305. Edward died in 1307, when he was about to start another campaign against the Scots and their leader, Robert Bruce.

NOTES: Reign: 1272-1307; Of the Plantagenets, House of Anjou. In 1270 Edward left England to join the Seventh Crusade. The first years of Edward's reign were a period of the consolidation of his power. He suppressed corruption in the administration of justice, restricted the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts to church affairs, and eliminated the papacy's overlordship over England. In 1290 Edward expelled all Jews from England. In 1296, after invading and conquering Scotland, he declared himself king of that realm. 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 1307 Edward set out for the third time (at age 68) to subdue the Scots, but he died en route near Carlisle on 7 Jul 1307.