General Notes

Alias:<ALIA> Hammer of the Scots /Longshanks/
REFN: 5783AN
Alias:<ALIA> /Longshanks/
King Edward I of England (June 17, 1239 – July 7, 1307), popularly kno
wn as "Longshanks" because of his 6 foot 2 inch frame and the "Hammer of t
he Scots" (his tombstone, in Latin, read, Hic est Edwardvs Primus Scottor
um Malleus, "Here lies Edward I, Hammer of the Scots"), achieved fame as t
he monarch who conquered Wales and who kept Scotland under English dominat
ion. He reigned from 1272 to 1307, ascending the throne of England on Nove
mber 21, 1272 after the death of his father, King Henry III of England. H
is mother was Queen consort Eleanor of Provence.
Biography
Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on June 17 or 18, 1239. He ma
rried twice; his first marriage, in October 1254, was to Eleanor of Casti
le which produced sixteen children, and her death in 1290 affected Edwa
rd deeply. He displayed his grief by erecting the Eleanor crosses, o
ne at each place where her funeral cortege stopped for the night. His seco
nd marriage, in September 1299, to Marguerite of France (known as the "Pea
rl of France" by her English subjects), the daughter of King Philippe I
II of France (Phillip the Bold) and Maria of Brabant, produced three child
ren.
Edward's character greatly contrasted that of his father, who reigned in E
ngland throughout Edward's childhood and consistently tended to favour com
promise with his opponents. Edward had already shown himself as an ambitio
us and impatient man, displaying considerable military prowess in defeati
ng Simon De Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. He gained a reputat
ion for treating rebels and other foes with great savagery. He relentless
ly pursued the surviving members of the De Montfort family, his cousins.
Military campaigns
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Crusades
In 1269 Cardinal Ottobono, the Papal Legate, arrived in England and appeal
ed to Prince Edward and his brother Edmund to participate in the Eighth Cr
usaDe alongsiDe Louis IX of France. In order to fund the crusade, Edward h
ad to borrow heavily from Louis IX and the Jews of England. It is estimat
ed by scholars such as P.R. Coss that Edward raised and spent close to ha
lf a million livres. The number of knights and retainers that accompani
ed Edward on the crusaDe was quite small, possibly around 230 knights. Ma
ny of the members of Edward's expedition were close friends and family inc
luding his wife Eleanor of Castile, his brother Edmund, and his first cous
in Henry De Alamain. The original goal of the crusaDe was to relieve the b
eleagured Christian stronghold of Acre, but Louis had been diverted to Tun
is. By the time that Edward arrived at Tunis, Louis had died of disease. T
he majority of the French forces at Tunis returned home, but a small numb
er of them joined Edward who continued onward to Acre to participate in t
he Ninth Crusade. After a short stop in Cyprus, Edward arrived in Acre wi
th thirteen ships. While in Acre, Edward engaged in diplomacy with the Mon
gols hoping to form an alliance against Sultan Baibars of Egypt. This d
id not come to fruition. In 1271 Hugh III of Cyprus arrived with a conting
ent of knights. The arrival of the additional forces emboldened Edward, w
ho engaged in a raid on the town of Ququn. Soon afterward Edward sign
ed a ten year peace treaty with Baibars. Around the same time, Edward w
as nearly assassinated but warded off his attacker, according to Matthew P
aris, by bludgeoning his would be assassin with a metal tripod. Edward le
ft the Holy Land and returned to England in 1272.
Overall, Edward's crusaDe was insignificant and only gave the city of Ac
re a reprieve of ten years. However, Edward's reputation was greatly enhan
ced by his participation in the crusaDe and was hailed by some contempora
ry commentators as a new Richard the Lionheart. Furthermore, some historia
ns believe Edward was inspired by the design of the castles he saw whi
le on c