• General Notes

  Edward I, called Longshanks (1239-1307), king of England (1272-1307), of the house of Plantagenet. He was born in Westminster on June 17, 1239, the eldest son of King Henry III, and at 15 married Eleanor of Castile. In the struggles of the barons against the crown for constitutional and ecclesiastical reforms, Edward took a vacillating course. When warfare broke out between the crown and the nobility, Edward fought on the side of the king, winning the decisive battle of Evesham in 1265. Five years later he left England to join the Seventh Crusade. Following his father's death in 1272, and while he was still abroad, Edward was recognized as king by the English barons; in 1273, on his return to England, he was crowned.
  
  The first years of Edward's reign were a period of the consolidation of his power. He suppressed corruption in the administration of justice and passed legislation allowing feudal barons and the crown to collect revenues from properties willed to the church.
  
  On the refusal of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, ruler of Wales, to submit to the English crown, Edward began the military conflict that resulted, in 1284, in the annexation of Llewelyn's principality to the English crown. In 1290 Edward expelled all Jews from England. War between England and France broke out in 1293 as a result of the efforts of France to curb Edward's power in Gascony. Edward lost Gascony in 1293 and did not again come into possession of the duchy until 1303. About the same year in which he lost Gascony, the Welsh rose in rebellion.
  
  Greater than either of these problems was the disaffection of the people of Scotland. In agreeing to arbitrate among the claimants to the Scottish throne, Edward, in 1291, had exacted as a prior condition the recognition by all concerned of his overlordship of Scotland. The Scots later repudiated him and made an alliance with France against England. To meet the critical situations in Wales and Scotland, Edward summoned a parliament, called the Model Parliament by historians because it was a representative body and in that respect was the forerunner of all future parliaments. Assured by Parliament of support at home, Edward took the field and suppressed the Welsh insurrection. In 1296, after invading and conquering Scotland, he declared himself king of that realm. In 1298 he again invaded Scotland to suppress the revolt led by Sir William Wallace. In winning the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, Edward achieved the greatest military triumph of his career, but he failed to crush Scottish opposition.
  
  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 1299 Edward made peace with France and married Margaret, sister of King Philip III of France. Thus freed of war, he again undertook the conquest of Scotland in 1303. Wallace was captured and executed in 1305. No sooner had Edward established his government in Scotland, however, than a new revolt broke out and culminated in the coronation of Robert Bruce as king of Scotland. In 1307 Edward set out for the third time to subdue the Scots, but he died en route near Carlisle on July 7, 1307.
  
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  Earl of Chester
  Edward I Plantagenet nicknamed "Longshanks" due to his great height and stature,was perhaps the most successful of the medieval monarchs. The first twenty years of his reign marked a high point of cooperation between crown and community. In these years, Edward made great strides in reforming government, consolidating territory, and defining foreign policy. He possessed the strength his father lacked and reasserted royal prerogative. Edward fathered many children as well : sixteen by Eleanor of Castille before her death in 1290, and three more by Margaret. Edward concentrated on an aggressive foreign policy. A major campaign to control Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of Wales began in 1277 and lasted until Llywelyn's death in 1282. Wales was divide d in to shires, English civil law was introduced, and the region was administered by appointed justices. In the manner of earlier monarchs, Edward constructed many new castles to ensure his conquest. In 1301, the king's eldest son was named Prince of Wales. Edward found limited success in extending English influence into Ireland: he introduced a Parliament in Dublin and increased commerce in a few coastal towns, but most of the country was controlled by independent barons or Celtic tribal chieftains .He retained English holdings in France through diplomacy, but was drawn into war by the incursions of Philip IV in Gascony. He negotiated a peace with France in 1303 and retained those areas England held before the war. Edward's involvement in Scotland had far reaching effects. The country had developed a feudal kingdom similar to England in the Lowlands the Celtic tribal culture dispersed to the Highlands. After the death of the Scottish king, Alexander III, Edward negotiated a treaty whereby Margaret, Maid of Norway and legitimate heir to the Scottish crown,would be brought to England to marry his oldest son, the future Edward II.Margaret, however, died in 1290 enroute to England, leaving a disputed succession in Scotland; Edward claimed the right to intercede as feudal lord of the Scottish kings through their Anglo-Normanroots. Edward arbitrated between thirteen different claimants and chose John Baliol. Baliol did homage to Edward as his lord , but the Scots resisted Edward's demands for military service. In 1296, Edward invaded Scotland and soundly defeated the Scots under Baliol. Baliol was forced to abdicate and the Scottish bar ons did homage to Edward as their king.William Wallace incited a rebellion in 1297, defeated the English army at Stirling, and harassed England's northern counties. The next year,Edward defeated Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk but encountered continued resistance until Wallace's capture and execution in 1304. Robert Bruce, the grandson of a claimant to the throne in 1290, instigated another revolt in 1306 and would ultimately defeat the army of Edward II at Bannockburn. Edward's campaigns in Scotland were ruthless and aroused in the Scots a hatred of England that would endure for generations.
  (Wikipedia)
  
  Will:
  In the name, &c. We, Edward, eldest son of the noble King of England, make our Will the Saturday next after Pentecost, in the year of our Lord 1272. First, we bequeath our soul to God, to our Lady, and to all the Saints; and our body to be buried where our executors, that is to say, Sir John de Bretagne, Sir William de Valence, Sir Roger de Clifford, Sir Payse de Chautros, Sir Robert de Tiletot, Sir Otes de Graundison, Robert Burnett, and Anthony Bek, shall appoint; who are also to hold the profits of all our lands in England, Ireland, and Gascony, until our children become of age. And if it should so happen (which God forbid!) that our Lord the King, our father, die whilst our children be under age, we will that the realm of England, and all other lands which should descend to our children, remain in the hands of our executors before named, and also in those of our dear father the Archbishop of York, and Sir Rog. and other great men of the kingdom, until they become of full age. And for the dowry of our dear wife Eleanor, &c. In testimony of which we have placed our seal to this Will, having requested John Archbishop of Sur, and Vicar of the Holy Church of Jerusalem, and the honorable fathers, Frere Hugh Revel, Master of the Hospital, and Frere Thomas Brerard, Master of the Temple, likewise to place their seals in witness hereof. Dated at Acre, the Saturday before named, the 18th June, in the year of the reign of the King our Father the 55th.
  (Abstracts of Wills, Plantagenet Era)
  

Details of Longshanks' family with Princess Eleanor of Castile

Details of Longshanks' family with Margaret of France