EDWARD I, king of England: b. West minster 17 or 18 June 1239; d. Burgh-on-Sands, near Carlisle, England, 7 July 1307. He was a son of Henry III (his mother being Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry), and the contests between his father and the barons called him early into active life. In 1252 he became Lord of Gascony, and after his marriage to Eleanor of Castile in 1254, his father made him ruler of Ireland and Wales, and the towns of Bristol, Stanford and Grantham. The officials whom he appointed in Wales were resented by the inhabit ants who revolted with the Scotch. Further discontent was manifested by the barons who were likewise indignant at the favors granted to foreigners. King Henry and Edward were finally forced to consent to the Provisions of Oxford which limited the royal power in regard to such appointments and war was declared in 1263. Edward finally quelled all resistance to the royal authority by the decisive defeat of Leicester, at the battle of Evesham, in 1265. In 1268 he joined the Crusade to Palestine, where he inspired so much terror that an as sassin was employed to despatch him, from whom he received a wound in the arm. In 1271 he set out toward England, stopping at France to acknowledge his homage to Philip III for his French possessions. He was crowned King of England with Eleanor on 19 Aug. 1274. On assuming the he acted with great vigor in the repression of the lawlessness of the nobles and the corruption in the administration of justice; but often evinced an arbitrary and grasping disposition. In 1274, and again in 1276, he summoned Llewellyn, prince of Wales, to do him homage, and upon his refusal, except on certain conditions, began the war which ended in the annexation of that principality to the English crown in 1283. Edward then spent some time abroad in mediating a peace between the crowns of France and Aragon, and on his return commenced his attempts to destroy the independence of Scotland. After his return from the Scottish expedition in 1296, which terminated in the capture of Baliol, he became involved in a quarrel with his clergy, who, sup ported by the Pope, refused to submit to a tax which he had imposed upon them. Edward
forced their compliance by placing them out of the protection of the law. His frequent expe clients to raise money at length produced great discontent among the nobles and people also, which obliged him to confirm the great charter and charter of forests, and also to give other securities in favor of public liberty. He then made a campaign in Flanders against France, which terminated with the recovery of Guienne and his second marriage with Margaret, the sister of King Philip. Meantime new commo tions took place in Scotland under the guidance of the celebrated William Wallace. These transactions recalled Edward from Flanders, who hastened to the border with an army of 100,000 men. The ignominious execution of the brave Wallace, in 1305, as a traitor, forms a blot in the history of Edward. Neither did it avail, since Robert Bruce was able, in 1306, to place himself at the head of a new confederacy. Indignant at this determined spirit of resistance Edward vowed revenge against the whole Scot tish nation, and, assembling another army, was on the point of passing the border when he was arrested by sickness and death. Few princes have exhibited more vigor in action, or policy in council, than Edward I. His enterprises were directed to permanent advantages rather than to mere personal ambition and temporary splendor. or was he less intent upon the in ternal improvement of his kingdom than its external importance. The laws of the realm obtained so much additional order and precision during his reign that he has been called the "English Justinian?" He passed an act of mort main, protected and encouraged commerce, and in his reign first originated the society of mer chant adventurers. The manners of this able sovereign were courteous, and his person ma jestic, although the disproportionate length of his legs gave him the popular surname of He left a son and three daugh ters by his first wife, Eleanor, who died in 1290, and two sons by his second wife, Margaret of France. Consult Stubbs, 'The Early Plan tagenets' (1877) ; Tout, 'Edward P (1893) ; Jenks, 'Edward Plantagenet' (New York 1902).