XI:SUⱭ:DITQUEXDI Great Seal of Edward I. EDWARD I. EDWARD, the eldest son of Henry III. and Eleanor of Provence, was born at Westminster, June 18, 1239, and was baptized four days after in the conventual church. As early as 1252 the government of Gascony was nominally bestowed on him, and his marriage in 1254 with Eleanor of Castile, sister of Alphonso IV., was attended by the resignation of the pretensions of that monarch to the province". Edward took a very active part in the transactions of the latter years of his father's reign, and having replaced him on the throne after the death of De Montfort, he afterwards went on the crusade in concert with Louis IX. of France, but his force was too small to effect anything of consequence, for before his arrival in the east the French had abandoned the enterprise, on the death of Louis. The prince's reputation was such that fealty was sworn to him in his absence, and he did not return to his kingdom till nearly two years after his father's death, employing the interval in reducing the Gascons to obedience, and settling some commercial disputes between his subjects and the Flemings. Llewelyn, prince of Wales, had been an active ally of De Montfort, and he . These claims were founded on an alleged grant | daughter Eleanor, and they were favoured by the by Henry II. to Alphonso III. who married his Gascons, who greatly disliked their English rulers. When Alexander III. of Scotland died (1286) his crown fell to his granddaughter, a child of three years old, named Margaret, the Maid of Norway, and a marriage treaty, intended to unite the two kingdoms, was concluded between her and Prince Edward (Nov. 6, 1289), but this arrangement failed through her premature death. Numerous competitors arose for the crown, and to avert the danger of civil war the states of Scotland unwisely referred the decision of their claims to Edward. He had recently arbitrated between the kings of France and Arragon con had been included in the peace made before Edward's departure for the crusade. He was now summoned to attend the English parliament, but refused, alleging doubts as to his safety; his refusal was punished by the invasion of his country, and he was speedily reduced to subjection. The unbearable oppressions of the marchers compelled him to resume his arms, in the year 1282, but this step was soon followed by his own death in the field, and the execution as a traitor of his brother David, when the land was filled with English strongholds, and the title of Prince of Wales was after-cerning the isle of Sicily, but here wards bestowed on the heir-apparent of the English crown. he was too deeply interested to be just. Having assembled a large army on Edward thus destroyed the Welsh the border, his first step was to assert princes for disputing his feudal supe- that he came to decide the dispute in riority, but he resisted a similar claim his quality of sovereign lord, a demand on himself from the king of France. | which, as he had not long before been A piratical war having broken out be- understood to acknowledge that he tween the Normans and the Cinque had no such right ", excited much surPorts men, Edward was summoned prise and remonstrance; but the states to Paris to answer for the conduct of and the competitors, being powerless his subjects; he refused, and his fiefs before his superior strength, were ultiwere declared forfeited. Gascony was, mately obliged to agree to it, as also in consequence, overrun by the French, to place in his hands the royal castles. and Prince Edmund died in an at- A decision was at length given in favour tempt to recover it; but Edward, who of John Balliol, who did homage for had allied himself with the Flemings, his kingdom. But though acquiesced carried on a fierce war with his and in for a while, this state of vassalage their liege lord, and eventually_ob- was odious to the great body of his peotained peace on his own terms, Gas- ple: they, rather than the nobles, many cony being restored to him, and the of whom had lands in England, took up sister of the French king becoming | arms, formed an alliance with France, his wife. and superseded Balliol. Edward adThe success of his iniquitous enter-vanced against them, mercilessly_raprise against Wales probably inspired Edward with the hope of uniting the whole island of Britain under his sway. This he at first attempted by peaceable means, and afterwards by violence, but in neither was he suc cessful. It has been alleged that he had become a vassal of Edward by accepting the nominal earldom of Derby forfeited by Ferrers in the Barons' War; but the statement does not appear to be borne out by any existing record. This was a very common state of things under the feudal system, when one sovereign was the vassal of another for certain lands; but Edward was probably the only king who, though guilty of it himself, punished such breaches of fealty in another prince with death. In the treaty concluded at Salisbury, July 18, 1290, the expression occurs, "The kingdom of Scotland (in the event of the contemplated marriage of Edward and Margaret] shall remain separate and divided from England, free in itself, and without subjection, according to its rights, boundaries and members as heretofore;" but there was added the | vaged their country from one end to the other, and formally annexed it to his dominions; he also captured and executed Wallace, who almost alone kept the field. Very shortly after this, Robert Bruce, the grandson of one of the competitors, and who had proviso, "saving always the right of the king of England and of any others, in the marches or elsewhere, or which ought to belong to him or them." This was the very phrase that Edward himself had employed many years before (see A.D. 1273) in doing homage to the king of France; and the Scots at least attached no practical importance to it, any more than the king of France had done. From documents in the Public Record Office it appears that Edward's claim, as the "Over Lord" of Scotland, was based, among other things, on the fanciful assertion, that Brutus the Trojan, when dividing his dominions among his three sons, Locrin, Albanact, and Camber, had made Locrin the superior lord of the whole island, and Edward had succeeded to his rights; consequently, Albanact's kingdom of Scotland, and Camber's dominion of Wales, were now feudal dependencies of England. His first wife, Eleanor of Castile, accompanied him to the Crusade, bore him four sons and nine daughters, Arms of Eleanor of Castile. and died at Hardby, near Lincoln, Nov. 29, 1290. He in 1299 married Margaret, sister of Philip IV. of France, who bore him two sons and a daughter, and survived him, dying in 1317. Of his children by Eleanor, EDWARD OF CAERNARVON became king. Arms of Edward of Caernarvon. John, Henry, Alphonso, Berengaria, Alice, Beatrice and Blanche died young. f Several elegant crosses, known by her name, yet mark places where her corpse rested on its way to Westminster. These, however, are not Eleanor of Castile, from her Monument in Westminster Abbey. The children of Margaret were, (1.) Thomas of Brotherton, born June 1, 1300; he was created earl of Norfolk in 1313, and had the office of Marshal of England bestowed on him in 1315. He died in 1338, and was interred at Bury St. Edmund's. (2.) Edmund of Woodstock, born Aug. 5, 1301, created earl of Kent in 1321. He was beheaded at Winchester, March 19, 1330, on a charge of conspiracy against his nephew Edward III.; his daughter Joan became the wife of Edward the Black Prince. Eleanors, born 1264, married Henry III., duke of Bar, in 1293, and died in 1298. Joan of Acre, born in Palestine in 1272, first married Gilbert, earl of Clare and Gloucester, and afterwards Ralph Monthermer, a private gentleman of her retinue. She died in 1307. Margaret, born 1275, married John II. duke of Brabant, and died in 1318. Mary, born 1278, became a nun at Amesbury in 1285, and died there, probably in the year 1332. Elizabeth, born August, 1282, married first John, count of Holland, and afterwards Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, who was killed at Boroughbridge, in 1322. She died in May, 1316. Edward I. bore the same arms as tokens of the affection of her husband, as usually stated, but were erected by the queen's executors in compliance with directions in her will. 8 A second Eleanor, the daughter of Margaret of France, died young. his father and grandfather, but the badge ascribed to him is a rose or, stalked proper. The statute law of England assumed much of its present shape in this king's reign, but his own proceedings were usually of as arbitrary a character as those of any of his predecessors. His frequent wars led him to resort to the most violent means for raising money, and he was obliged solemnly to confirm Magna Charta, to allay the discontents thus occasioned; but he obtained papal absolution for disregarding its provisions, and he is accused by the archbishop of Canterbury (Robert Winchelsey) of imprisoning freemen unconvicted of any offence for the mere purpose of extorting heavy ransoms for them. The character of Edward I. presented a strong contrast to that of his Arms of Edward I. father, being resolute, unbending, and cruel; and his conduct in general was oppressive to his subjects, and unjust to neighbouring states. His talents, however, were great, both for war and government; he favoured commerce and municipal institutions, and remedied many abuses of the law; he withstood the exactions and demands of the pope, and thus secured the in See, in particular, A.D. 1294, 1297, 1300. A modern apologist, who styles Edward "the greatest of the Plantagenets," maintains that the good to be expected from the union of the three states of Britain is a sufficient justification of his conduct to the Welsh and the Scots. The argument, if sound, would justify the seizure of Gascony by the French king, which the same writer vehemently condemns, and which Edward successfully withstood. He founded several towns in Gascony and some in Wales, which proved of great importance in prolonging the English rule in the former country. Some interesting particulars concerning the Gascon towns will be found in "The Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages," vol. ii. pp. 169-173. The years of his reign are computed from this day. A.D. 1274. Edward settles some commercial disputes with the countess of Flan ders (Margaret II.) He then returns to England, lands at Dover Aug. 2, and is crowned, with his consort Eleanor, Aug. 19. Edward repairs to Chester, in September, when Llewelyn declines to meet him. He is in consequence summoned to attend the next parlia ment at Westminster P. Robert Burnell (afterwards bishop of Bath and Wells) is appointed chancellor A.D. 1275. A parliament held at Westminster near the end of April, when several reformatory statutes are issued; especially one to restrain the usurious m He was the founder of Merton College, Oxford, afterwards became bishop of Rochester, and died in 1277 He used the ambiguous terms, "My lord and king, I do you homage for all the territories which I ought to hold of you," which was considered as an assertion of his claim to Normandy and Poitou. • Gaston de Bearn, one of the chief malcontents (see A.D. 1254), escaped to France. He was, however, sent back to Edward, by whom he was long imprisoned, but in 1283 he was in the service of the king of Castile, and in 1284 John de Havering, the seneschal of Gascony, was ordered to make amends for injuries done to him. P He was required to do homage, and also to answer some complaints which his brother David had made to the king as his liege lord. 9 He held the office until his death, at Berwick Oct. 27, 1292. practices of the Jews'. Llewelyn does c. 1,] for the better administration of justice, enacted, Aug. 2. not appear. Eleanor de Montfort and her brother Almeric (formerly treasurer of York) are captured at sea, near Bristol, by one of the king's ships'. A.D. 1244. Eleanor was affianced to Llewelyn, and on her way to marry him. The record of their proceedings has been printed, under the title of "Rotuli Hundredorum." He was to hold these by the annual payment of 1000 marks, and he also agreed to pay £50,000 for the expenses of the war, but this was remitted, (probably it was impossible for him to raise it). His bride was delivered to him, and they were married Oct. 13, 1278. Almeric de Montfort was kept in prison until April, 1282, when his release was granted at the request of the pope (Martin IV.), Alexander III. of Scotland does homage in the parliament at Westminster, Sept. 29. The Jews throughout England seized on one day (Nov. 12), being accused of clipping the coin; 280 are hanged shortly after in London alone, and “a very great multitude" in other places. the rich citizens of London," charged A number of Christians, "principally as their confederates, are allowed to ransom themselves. The French expelled from Sicily, which they had seized in virtue of a grant from the pope. whose chaplain he was, on condition of leaving the king's dominions. y He restored the charters of privilege to the church of Westminster, as also some of its jewels, which he had seized, "because," as he said, "he had therein received the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and consecration.” After a time (May 7, 1279) the same grace was allowed also to a number of the Jews who were then in the king's prisons. The peace was concluded at Amiens May 23, 1279, and the king returned to Dover, June 19. 6 Matthew of Westminster complains that the makers of this statute "did not understand that the army of Amalek was overthrown rather by the prayers of Moses than by the swords of the children of Israel.” In order to avoid the burden of military service it was not unusual to make feigned gifts of land to the Church; this practice is forbidden in Magna Charta, but it prevailed long after, as is shewn by numerous statutes directed against it. Sicily had been granted by Pope Alexander IV. to Henry III., and on his failing to undertake |