From Prince to King
Edward was born in 1239, the eldest son of Henry III. As a young man he took part in the civil war between his father and the barons led by Simon de Montfort. He was captured at Lewes in 1264, escaped, and helped defeat de Montfort at Evesham in 1265. The conflict taught him lessons about how to deal with powerful nobles and what happens when a king loses their trust.
He then went on crusade, setting out around 1270 and staying in the Holy Land for a time. While he was away, his father died in 1272, and Edward returned to England and was crowned in 1274. He was in his mid-thirties, tall for his time, and experienced in both politics and war. The nickname Longshanks is often applied to him, though it is mostly found in later sources.
The Conquest of Wales
Wales at this time was divided between lands held by Anglo-Norman lords in the marches and a native principality in the north and west led by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, who had been recognized by Henry III as Prince of Wales. He was a grandson of Llywelyn the Great, who had built up Welsh power earlier in the century. Llywelyn refused to pay homage to Edward and objected to English officials’ encroachment, and by 1277 Edward invaded with a large army. The campaign forced Llywelyn to accept a settlement that sharply reduced his power.
The peace did not last. In 1282, a revolt began under Llywelyn’s brother Dafydd, and Llywelyn joined it. Edward again led a major campaign. Llywelyn was killed in December 1282 in a skirmish, and Dafydd was captured and executed the next year. The Statute of Wales (or Rhuddlan) in 1284 set up an English-style system of counties and law in much of the north and west. Edward’s eldest surviving son was later given the title Prince of Wales. Another revolt, led by Madog ap Llywelyn, broke out in 1294 and was put down.
Castles as Instruments of Rule
To hold Wales, Edward built a ring of royal castles and walled towns, among them Flint, Rhuddlan, Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech and Beaumaris. They were large, planned structures with strong gatehouses and concentric defenses, placed so that they could be supplied by sea. The scale of the project required masons, carpenters and laborers from across England. A master mason from Savoy, known as James of St George, is associated with several of them. The Edwardian castles were not only strongholds but also symbols of the new order, and they still dominate the landscape. A separate article treats the castles in more detail.
Law, Parliament and Administration
Edward’s reign is also known for legal activity. He ordered inquiries into the rights and abuses of local lords and officials, which became a major survey of landholding, and he introduced important statutes. The Statute of Westminster (1275) restated rules on courts and procedure. The Statute of Mortmain (1279) limited gifts of land to the church, which would withdraw land permanently from the feudal system. The Statute of Quia Emptores (1290) addressed the way land could be transferred, protecting lords’ rights. The Quo Warranto inquiries asked lords to prove by what warrant they held their franchises, which caused resentment, and in the end a compromise was reached.
Edward summoned Parliament regularly, partly to obtain taxes. The 1295 assembly, which included representatives from the shires and towns as well as lords and clergy, is often called the Model Parliament. Historians point out that it was not so much a new model as a convenient example of a practice that was developing. In 1290 he also ordered the expulsion from England of the Jews, after heavy taxation had reduced their finances; the decision was a financial and religious one, and it lasted for centuries.
The Scottish Wars
In 1286 the Scottish king Alexander III died, opening what is known as the Scottish succession crisis. In 1290 his heir, a young girl called Margaret, Maid of Norway, died on her way to Scotland. Thirteen claimants emerged. The Scots asked Edward to arbitrate, and he agreed on condition that they recognize him as overlord. In 1292 he decided in favor of John Balliol, who took the throne as a vassal.
Relations soured when Edward treated Scotland as a subordinate, accepting appeals from Scottish courts and demanding military service for his French war. The Scots made an alliance with France in 1295. In 1296 Edward invaded, defeated the Scots at Dunbar and removed Balliol, and he carried off the Stone of Scone to Westminster. This did not settle matters. In 1297 William Wallace and Andrew Murray defeated an English army at Stirling Bridge. Edward returned in 1298 and beat Wallace at Falkirk, mainly through the effective use of archers and cavalry. Wallace was captured and executed in 1305.
The war flared up again in 1306, when Robert the Bruce had himself crowned king of Scots. Edward, ill and aged, set out once more for the north, but he died at Burgh by Sands near Carlisle in July 1307. His son Edward II lacked his father’s drive, and Scottish resistance won a decisive victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
An Overall View
Edward I was an effective administrator, a determined soldier and a king with a strong sense of royal rights. He succeeded in Wales, where a conquered land stayed under English rule, but he failed to impose his will on Scotland, where his heavy-handed approach hardened resistance. His reign is often seen as a high point of medieval English kingship, though the debts and tensions he left behind troubled his successor.