EDWARD I. (1239-1307). King of England from 1272 to 1307. He was the eldest son of Henry III. by his wife Eleanor of Provence, and was born at Westminster, June 17-18. 1239. In 1252 his father bestowed upon him the lord ship of Gascony, and in 1254, on his marriage to Eleanor of Castile, he received, as an additional gift from his father. Ireland and Wales, and the towns of Bristol, Stamford, and Grantham. In his early years he was surrounded by foreigners. and was guilty of many injudicious and cruel actions. The misgovernment of Wales by his officials led to a revolt in which the Welsh allied themselves with the Scotch. A dangerous war followed. which brought to a head the gen eral discontent which prevailed in England over the bestowal of great offices of State upon for eigners, and the King's subserviency to the see of Home. The Provisions of Oxford (q.v.), greatly limiting the power of the Crown. were drawn up by Parliament, and both Edward and his father were compelled to swear to observe them. Edward, however, used the opportunity afforded by the divisions among the nobility to place himself at the head of the party of the lesser nobles. who were opposed to the great barons. War broke out in 1263. There were many indecisive engagements. until Edward was taken prisoner after the battle of ( 1201). Ile escaped in May. 1265, and on August 4th won a complete victory over his opponents at Eyeshot!). " The resistance of the barons, never theless• dragged on until duly, 1267. The de feated were treated with great moderation. and Edward showed by prudence and wisdom that he had outgrown the faults of his youth. In 1268 lie assumed the Crusader's cross, and in 1270 set out to join Louis IX. of France on his cru sade. Louis died ?ai the coast of Africa, and the French Crusaders made peace with the 1\ lo hal111111 : 1.11i Edward persisted in the enter prise, and landed at Aere in 1271. Nothing. of any consequ•nee was nehieved, and in the following year he set out on his return to England. In Sicily he heard of his father's death (1272). but (lid not hurry home. In 127:3 he proceeded to France, and did homage to Philip 111. for his French possessions. Ile arrived in England, August 2, 1274, and. with his Queen, Eleanor. was crowned at Westminster on August 19th. Ills first military expedition after his ac cession to the throne directed against the Welsh. After an intermittent contest of nearly ten years—in the course of which the famous Prince Llewllyn (q.v.) was slain at Radnor, De cember 10, 1282—Wales was finally subdued and incorporated with England.
Edward's great ambition was to gain posses sion of Scotland. The death, in 1290, of Mar garet, the Maid of Norway, granddaughter of Alexander III., who was to have been married to Edward's son, seemed for a time to have frus trated his design; but the selfishness of the competitors for the Scottish crown induced them to acknowledge Edward as Lord Paramount of Scotland. each hoping that he would thereby se cure the English monarch's support. John Baliol and Robert Bruce were also foolish enough to make hint umpire between them; or perhaps it would be more correct to say they were not pow erful enough to refuse his arbitration. At Ber wi•k, November 17, 1292, Edward decided in favor of John Baliol, who immediately took the oath of fealty to him, and on December 26th did homage to the English King for his crown at Newcastle. The patriotism and pride of the Scottish nation took fire at such humiliation, and in a short time Baliol was hurried by his subjects into a war with England. In 1296 Edward entered
Scotland, devastating it with fire and sword. Ile penetrated as far north as Elgin, compelled Baliol to resign the throne, and governed the country by means of a board of regency. It was during this expedition that he carried off from the Cathedral of Scone the celebrated stone on which the kings of Scotland used to be crowned, and which is now in Westminster Abbey. A second rising took place in Scotland in the fol lowing summer. The leader on this occasion was William Wallace. He completely successful for a time. chiefly. it is supposed, on account of the absenee of Edward. In the spring of 1298, however, that sovereign again made his appear ance in and gave battle to Wallace at Falkirk, on July 22(1. Partly through treach ery, and partly. no doubt, through the superior generalship of Edward. who is considered to have been the first military commander of his time in Europe, the Scottish forces were entirely de feated. The next five years were spent by the Eng lish in reducing the country to obedienee—with very imperfect however. In the sum mer of 1303 Edward led a third army into Scot land. and owe more spread havoc and ruin to the shores of the Moray Firth. The- last castle that held out against him was Stirling, which did not yield until July 24, 1304. Some time after this Wallace either fell into his hands or was betrayed, and on August 23. 1303. was cuted. In the beginning of 1306 Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, grand-on of the chief rival of suddenly left the English Court, unfurled once more the banner of Scottish independence. :Ind on Mareh 27th of that year way crowned at Scone. An English army under the Earl of Pem broke was immediately dispatched to Scotland, and at the close of the year the King himself set out to chastise Bruce. But Edward only lived to reach Itargic.m-Sands. a be yond Carlisle, where he expired July 7, 13107„ "in sight says Lord llailes, he had devilled to destruction." As a rider Edward is entitled to the highest praise. Immense progress was made during his reign in the establishment ;Ind improvement of law and order the land, in the refor mation of civil abuses. and in the restriction of the ecclesiastical power. Ile has been called the English Justinian. and both llale and Blackstone affirm that "the very scheme and model of the administration of common justice man and man was entirely settled by this King." Ireland and Wales participated in the benefits of English law. It was during Edward's reign, too, that the representation of the Commons of England first became regular; but probably the greatest advantage obtained by the nation was the declaration that the right of levying taxes resided in Parliament. In general, it may he said that Edward ruled in harmony with the ideas and desires of the best heads among his nobles and burgesses: and though touchy on the question of his prerogative, like every Plan tagenet, and cruel in his treatment of the Jews, he must be regarded, on the whole, as one of the most enlightened and sagacious monarchs of his age. Consult: Stubbs, Constitutional His tory of England, vol. ii. (Oxford• 1S74) id., The Early Plantagem is (London and New York. 1877) : Prothero, Simon de Montfort (London, 1877) ; Tont, Edward 1. (Loudon and New York, 1593). See ENGLAND ; SCOTLAND ; BALIOL ; BRUCE ; :MONTFORT, SIMON De; WALLACE.