King Edward I of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

Portrait at Westminster Abbey done sometime during reign of Edward I, thought to be an image of the king; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward I of England, the firstborn child of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, was born on June 17, 1239, at the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was the first time the Anglo-Saxon name Edward (Anglo-Saxon Ēadweard, ead: wealth, fortune; prosperous and weard: guardian, protector) was used for a child of the monarch since the Norman Conquest. Henry III was devoted to St. Edward the Confessor, King of England and named the infant after the monarch/saint.

Edward had four siblings:

Henry III (top) and his children, (l to r) Edward, Margaret, Beatrice, Edmund, and Katherine; Credit – Wikipedia

Edward was raised under the care of Hugh Giffard of Boyton, a royal justice, and his wife Sibyl, daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Cormeilles. After Giffard’s death in 1346, Sir Bartholomew Pecche became Edward’s tutor. Edward spoke Norman French as did his ancestors, but he mastered English fairly well. His closest childhood friend was his first cousin Henry of Almain, the son of his paternal uncle Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, who remained a close companion of Edward.

In 1254, a possible invasion of the English territory Gascony (in France) by Castile, caused King Henry III to make a marriage alliance with King Alfonso X of Castile. 15-year-old Edward was to marry 13-year-old Eleanor of Castile, the half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile. Eleanor was the daughter of (Saint) King Ferdinand III of Castile and his second wife Jeanne de Dammartin, Countess of Ponthieu in her own right. The young couple was married on November 1, 1254, in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain.

Edward and Eleanor (sculptures on the facade of Lincoln Cathedral); Credit – Wikipedia

Edward and Eleanor had a loving marriage and were inseparable throughout their married life.  Edward is one of the few English kings of the period to apparently be faithful to his wife.  Eleanor accompanied her husband on Crusade and other military campaigns.

The couple had 14-16 children, but only six survived childhood.

  • Daughter (stillborn in May 1255)
  • Katherine of England (before 1264 – 1264)
  • Joan of England (born and died 1265)
  • John of England (1266 – 1271)
  • Henry of England (1268 – 1274)
  • Eleanor of England (1269 – 1298), married Count Henry III of Bar, had issue
  • Daughter (born and died 1271)
  • Joan of Acre (1272 – 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, had issue  (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer, had issue
  • Alfonso, Earl of Chester (1273 – 1284)
  • Margaret of England (1275 – after 1333), married John II of Brabant, had issue
  • Berengaria (1276 – 1278)
  • Daughter (born and died 1278)
  • Mary of Woodstock (1279 – 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire
  • Son (born in 1280 or 1281, died very shortly after birth)
  • Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1282 – 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, no issue (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, 3rd Earl of Essex, had issue
  • King Edward II of England (1284 – 1327), married Isabella of France, had issue

Edward’s father King Henry III was a weak king. His wife’s family and his half-brothers from his mother’s second marriage were rewarded with large estates, largely at the expense of the English barons. From 1236 to 1258, the weak king fluctuated repeatedly between various advisers including his brother Richard of Cornwall and his Lusignan half-brothers, greatly displeasing the English barons. In addition, the English barons were displeased with Henry III’s demands for extra funds, Henry’s methods of government, and widespread famine.

The displeasure of the English nobility with the king ultimately resulted in a civil war, the Second Barons’ War (1264–1267). The leader of the forces against Henry III was led by his brother-in-law Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, who was married to Henry’s sister Eleanor. de Montfort wanted to reassert the Magna Carta and force the king to surrender more power to the baron’s council. Edward loyally supported his father during the Barons’ War.

In 1264 at the Battle of Lewes, Henry III and his son Edward I were defeated and captured. Henry was forced to summon a parliament and promise to rule with the advice of a council of barons. Henry was reduced to a figurehead king, and de Montfort broadened parliamentary representation to include groups beyond the nobility, members from each English county and many important towns. Fifteen months later, Edward led the royalists into battle again, defeating and killing de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Ultimately, authority was restored to King Henry III and severe retribution was exacted on the rebellious barons. In 1266, the Dictum of Kenilworth worked out a reconciliation between the king and the rebels. In the years that followed his death, Simon de Montfort’s grave was frequently visited by pilgrims. Today, de Montfort is considered one of the fathers of representative government.

King Henry III was increasingly ill and infirm during his final years. Edward became the Steward of England and began to play a more prominent role in government. King Henry III died at the age of 69 on November 16, 1272, at the Palace of Westminster and Edward became king. in 1270, Edward had gone off on the Crusades accompanied by his wife Eleanor, and at the time of his father’s death, he was in Sicily making his slow way back to England. The new king thought England was safe under his mother’s regency and a royal council led by Robert Burnell,  so he did not hurry back to England. On his way back to England, King Edward I visited Pope Gregory X in Rome and King Philip III of France in Paris and suppressed a rebellion in Gascony. He finally arrived back in his kingdom on August 2, 1274. On August 19, 1274, King Edward I and his wife Eleanor were crowned in Westminster Abbey.

Edward I’s relentless, but unsuccessful campaign to assert his overlordship over Scotland was resisted by William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, (later King Robert I of Scotland) but it gave him one of his nicknames, “Hammer of the Scots,” which was inscribed on his tomb. In 1296, Edward I captured the Stone of Scone, an oblong block of red sandstone used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland. Edward had the Stone of Scone taken to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair, known as King Edward’s Chair, on which most subsequent English monarchs have been crowned. In 1996, 700 years after it was taken, the Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland. It is kept at Edinburgh Castle in the Crown Room alongside the crown jewels of Scotland (the Honours of Scotland) when not used at coronations.

Coronation Chair with Stone of Scone in Westminster Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

King Edward I’s campaign in Wales was much more successful, resulting in Wales being completely taken over by England. It ended with the deaths of the last two native Princes of Wales: Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. who was ambushed and killed in 1282 and his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd, who was the first prominent person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1283. Edward I ensured that Wales remained under English control by building the castle fortresses at Rhuddlan, Conwy, Denbigh, Harlech, and Caernarfon, and all the castles still stand today. The tradition of conferring the title “Prince of Wales” on the heir apparent of the monarch is usually considered to have begun in 1301 when King Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon (later King Edward II) with the title at a Parliament held in Lincoln. Since then, the title has been granted (with a few exceptions) to the heir apparent of the English or British monarch.

Early 14th-century depiction of Edward I (left) declaring his son Edward (right) the Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

In the autumn of 1290, while traveling north to meet her husband who had been attending a session of Parliament in Nottinghamshire, Eleanor, Edward’s beloved wife, fell ill. As she reached the village of Harby in Nottinghamshire, 22 miles from Lincoln, she could go no further, so she sought lodging at the house of Richard de Weston in Harby.  Eleanor’s condition worsened and messengers were sent to summon the king to her bedside.  King Edward arrived in Harby before Eleanor died on the evening of November 28, 1290.  Eleanor was 49 years old, had been married to Edward for 36 years, and had given birth to 14-16 children.

King Edward I was devastated when Eleanor died.  Eleanor’s body was taken to the Gilbertine Priory of St. Catherine in Lincoln, where she was embalmed. Her viscera were buried at Lincoln Cathedral and her body was then taken to London, where Eleanor was to be interred at Westminster Abbey.  It took 12 days to reach Westminster Abbey and twelve crosses, known as Eleanor Crosses, were erected at the places where her funeral procession stopped overnight.  Charing Cross in London is perhaps the most famous, but the cross there is a reconstruction.  Only three original crosses survive although they have had some reconstruction: Geddington Cross, Hardingstone Cross, and Waltham Cross.

Original Eleanor Cross, in Geddington, England;  Credit – Wikipedia

Statue of Eleanor of Castile, part of the Eleanor Cross at Waltham, Hertfordshire, England; Victoria and Albert Museum in London; Photo – Susan Flantzer

When Eleanor died, only six children, five daughters and one son, were still living. The son was the youngest child and only six years old. Edward I had to be worried about the succession, and a second marriage with sons would ensure the succession.  On September 10, 1299, in Canterbury, 60-year-old King Edward I and 17-year-old Margaret of France were married. This was followed by four days of wedding festivities. Margaret was never crowned, making her the first queen since the Norman Conquest in 1066 not to be crowned.

Edward and Margaret had three children:

Edward I of England and Margaret of France; Credit – Wikipedia

As King Edward I’s first wife did, Margaret accompanied him on military campaigns. Margaret got along well with her stepson Edward, Prince of Wales, who was two years younger than her, and Margaret often reconciled the prince with his father when the two disagreed. In the summer of 1307, Margaret accompanied Edward I on a military campaign in Scotland. On the way to Scotland, the 68-year-old king died on July 7, 1307, at Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, England.  King Edward I was buried in Westminster Abbey near his father and his first wife Eleanor of Castile, adjacent to the tomb of his namesake Edward the Confessor, which can be seen in the background on the left in the photo below.

Tomb of Edward I at Westminster Abbey; Photo Credit – https://www.westminster-abbey.org

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

England: House of Plantagenet Resources at Unofficial Royalty