The nickname and the man
Edward I is often called Longshanks, a nickname that refers to his long legs. Medieval accounts describe him as unusually tall, and a measurement of his skeleton in the eighteenth century, when his tomb was opened, is usually reported as a little over six feet. That figure should be treated cautiously, since the record of that measurement is secondhand, but the picture of a tall, physically imposing man matches what chroniclers said. The name itself is later than his lifetime, and the other epithet applied to him, “Hammer of the Scots,” was added to his tomb inscription at some point after his death.
Contemporaries also described him as energetic, fond of hunting and tournaments, and quick to anger. These traits appear in anecdotes, not always reliable, but the general impression is of a forceful and demanding person. He was also known for keeping his word, a reputation he cared about, and for being deeply suspicious of anyone who he felt had broken theirs.
Born into a divided kingdom
Edward was born in 1239 in London, the first child of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. His father was generous toward foreign relatives, and this irritated English barons. Edward grew up amid those disputes and, as a teenager, was granted lands and then married to Eleanor of Castile in 1254, when he was about fifteen. The marriage was arranged for political reasons, to settle a dispute over Gascony, but it appears to have become a close partnership.
In the 1260s the quarrel between the king and the barons turned into war under Simon de Montfort. Edward was involved at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, where the royal side was defeated, and he was held as a hostage. He escaped in 1265 and helped to defeat de Montfort at Evesham, where de Montfort was killed. The wars taught him lessons that many historians see as formative. He appeared to take away a strong sense that kings must keep their promises, since he thought broken promises had been at the root of the trouble, and also that a king must keep control of his barons. His later behavior is consistent with both lessons, though inferring a young man’s attitudes from later actions is always a little speculative.
The crusade
In 1270 Edward joined a crusade, partly following the example of Louis IX of France, whose expedition was heading for Tunis. By the time Edward arrived, Louis had died there, and Edward carried on to Acre, in the Holy Land. His force was small, and he achieved little militarily, but he did negotiate a truce with the local Muslim ruler. A well-known story says he survived an assassination attempt by a man with a poisoned dagger. The attack seems likely to have happened, but the colorful tale that Eleanor sucked the poison from the wound is probably a later legend.
On his way home, in Sicily, he learned in 1272 that his father had died. He did not hurry. He traveled slowly through Italy and France, even dealing with a conflict in Gascony and winning a tournament-style fight with a count in Burgundy that became known as the “Little Battle of Chalon,” before landing in England in 1274. He was crowned that August.
Family life
Edward and Eleanor had many children, perhaps as many as fifteen or sixteen, though numbers vary in the sources and a good number died in infancy. Several daughters survived to be married into European houses, and one son, Edward, survived to adulthood and became Edward II. Eleanor often accompanied him, including on the crusade and on campaign in Wales, and she gave birth to the future Edward II at Caernarfon in 1284.
When Eleanor died in November 1290, near Lincoln, Edward was deeply affected. He had her body carried to Westminster Abbey, and at each place where the funeral procession stopped overnight, he later had a stone cross erected. Three of these monuments survive, though the original number is generally given as twelve. Their construction suggests real grief, but they also had a clear function as memorials, which is characteristic of the king’s attention to public display. He married again in 1299, to Margaret of France, with whom he had further children.
Character and the final years
Edward’s reputation for rigor often shows in his dealings with enemies. His relations with his son were also complicated; he is reported to have quarreled bitterly with the future Edward II and to have been angered by his closeness to Piers Gaveston, though the details of reported rages come from chroniclers, and need care.
By 1307 Edward was in his late sixties, ill, and still committed to subduing Scotland. He set out on yet another northern campaign and died at Burgh by Sands on the Solway in July. A story says he asked that his bones be carried at the head of the army, but this appears only in later sources and probably did not happen. He was buried at Westminster Abbey. His life suggests a man of disciplined energy and fixed ideas, and the personal record helps to explain his public one, as long as the stories are read with care.