text: edward i of england edward i ( 17 / 18 june 1239 – 7 july 1307 ) , also known as edward longshanks and the hammer of the scots ( latin : malleus scotorum ) , was king of england from 1272 to 1307 . the first son of henry iii , edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father 's reign , which included an outright rebellion by the english barons . in 1259 , he briefly sided with a baronial reform movement , supporting the provisions of oxford . after reconciliation with his father , however , he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict , known as the second barons ' war . after the battle of lewes , edward was hostage to the rebellious barons , but escaped after a few months and joined the fight against simon de montfort . montfort was defeated at the battle of evesham in 1265 , and within two years the rebellion was extinguished . with england pacified , edward joined the ninth crusade to the holy land . the crusade accomplished little , and edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died . making a slow return , he reached england in 1274 and was crowned at westminster on 19 august . he spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law . through an extensive legal inquiry , edward investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties , while the law was reformed through a series of statutes regulating criminal and property law . increasingly , however , edward 's attention was drawn towards military affairs . after suppressing a minor rebellion in wales in 1276 – 77 , edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282 – 83 with a full - scale war of conquest . after a successful campaign , edward subjected wales to english rule , built a series of castles and towns in the countryside and settled them with english people . next , his efforts were directed towards scotland . initially invited to arbitrate a succession dispute , edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the kingdom . in the war that followed , the scots persevered , even though the english seemed victorious at several points . at the same time there were problems at home . in the mid - 1290s , extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation , and edward met with both lay and ecclesiastical opposition . these crises were initially averted , but issues remained unsettled . when the king died in 1307 , he left to his son , edward ii , an ongoing war with scotland and many financial and political problems . edward i was a tall man for his era , hence the nickname " longshanks " . he was temperamental , and this , along with his height , made him an intimidating man , and he often instilled fear in his contemporaries . nevertheless , he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship , as a soldier , an administrator and a man of faith . modern historians are divided on their assessment of edward i : while some have praised him for his contribution to the law and administration , others have criticised him for his uncompromising attitude towards his nobility . currently , edward i is credited with many accomplishments during his reign , including restoring royal authority after the reign of henry iii , establishing parliament as a permanent institution and thereby also a functional system for raising taxes , and reforming the law through statutes . at the same time , he is also often criticised for other actions , such as his brutal conduct towards the scots , and issuing the edict of expulsion in 1290 , by which the jews were expelled from england . the edict remained in effect for the rest of the middle ages , and it was over 350 years until it was formally overturned under oliver cromwell in 1656 . early years , 1239 – 63 childhood and marriage edward was born at the palace of westminster on the night of 17 – 18 june 1239 , to king henry iii and eleanor of provence . edward is an anglo - saxon name , as was not commonly given among the aristocracy of england after the norman conquest , but henry was devoted to the veneration of edward the confessor , and decided to name his firstborn son after the saint . among his childhood friends was his cousin henry of almain , son of king henry 's brother richard of cornwall . henry of almain would remain a close companion of the prince , both through the civil war that followed , and later during the crusade . edward was in the care of hugh giffard – father of the future chancellor godfrey giffard – until bartholomew took over at giffard 's death in 1246 . there were concerns about edward 's health as a child , and he fell ill in 1246 , 1247 , and 1251 . nonetheless , he became an imposing man ; at 6 feet 2 inches ( 1 . 88 m ) he towered over most of his contemporaries , and hence perhaps his epithet " longshanks " , meaning " long legs " or " long shins " . the historian michael prestwich states that his " long arms gave him an advantage as a swordsman , long thighs one as a horseman . in youth , his curly hair was blond ; in maturity it darkened , and in old age it turned white . [ his features were marred by a drooping left eyelid . ] his speech , despite a lisp , was said to be persuasive . " in 1254 , english fears of a castilian invasion of the english province of gascony induced edward 's father to arrange a politically expedient marriage between his fourteen - year - old son and thirteen - year - old eleanor , the half - sister of king alfonso x of castile . eleanor and edward were married on 1 november 1254 in the abbey of santa maría la real de las huelgas in castile . as part of the marriage agreement , the young prince received grants of land worth 15 , 000 marks a year . although the endowments king henry made were sizeable , they offered edward little independence . he had already received gascony as early as 1249 , but simon de montfort , 6th earl of leicester , had been appointed as royal lieutenant the year before and , consequently , drew its income , so in practice edward derived neither authority nor revenue from this province . the grant he received in 1254 included most of ireland , and much land in wales and england , including the earldom of chester , but the king retained much control over the land in question , particularly in ireland , so edward 's power was limited there as well , and the king derived most of the income from those lands . from 1254 to 1257 , edward was under the influence of his mother 's relatives , known as the savoyards , the most notable of whom was peter of savoy , the queen 's uncle . after 1257 , edward increasingly fell in with the poitevin or lusignan faction – the half - brothers of his father henry iii – led by such men as william de valence . this association was significant , because the two groups of privileged foreigners were resented by the established english aristocracy , and they would be at the centre of the ensuing years ' baronial reform movement . there were tales of unruly and violent conduct by edward and his lusignan kinsmen , which raised questions about the royal heir 's personal qualities . the next years would be formative on edward 's character . early ambitions edward had shown independence in political matters as early as 1255 , when he sided with the soler family in gascony , in the ongoing conflict between the soler and colomb families . this ran contrary to his father 's policy of mediation between the local factions . in may 1258 , a group of magnates drew up a document for reform of the king ’ s government – the so - called provisions of oxford – largely directed against the lusignans . edward stood by his political allies and strongly opposed the provisions . the reform movement succeeded in limiting the lusignan influence , however , and gradually edward 's attitude started to change . in march 1259 , he entered into a formal alliance with one of the main reformers , richard de clare , earl of gloucester . then , on 15 october 1259 , he announced that he supported the barons ' goals , and their leader , simon de montfort . the motive behind edward 's change of heart could have been purely pragmatic ; montfort was in a good position to support his cause in gascony . when the king left for france in november , edward 's behaviour turned into pure insubordination . he made several appointments to advance the cause of the reformers , causing his father to believe that his son was considering a coup d 'état . when the king returned from france , he initially refused to see his son , but through the mediation of the earl of cornwall and the archbishop of canterbury , the two were eventually reconciled . edward was sent abroad , and in november 1260 he again united with the lusignans , who had been exiled to france . back in england , early in 1262 , edward fell out with some of his former lusignan allies over financial matters . the next year , king henry sent him on a campaign in wales against llywelyn ap gruffudd , with only limited results . around the same time , simon de montfort , who had been out of the country since 1261 , returned to england and reignited the baronial reform movement . it was at this pivotal moment , as the king seemed ready to resign to the barons ' demands , that edward began to take control of the situation . whereas he had so far been unpredictable and equivocating , from this point on he remained firmly devoted to protecting his father 's royal rights . he reunited with some of the men he had alienated the year before – among them his childhood friend , henry of almain , and john de warenne , earl of surrey – and retook windsor castle from the rebels . through the arbitration of king louis ix of france , an agreement was made between the two parties . this so - called mise of amiens was largely favourable to the royalist side , and laid the seeds for further conflict . civil war and crusades , 1264 – 73 second barons ' war the years 1264 – 1267 saw the conflict known as the second barons ' war , in which baronial forces led by simon de montfort fought against those who remained loyal to the king . the first scene of battle was the city of gloucester , which edward managed to retake from the enemy . when robert de ferrers , earl of derby , came to the assistance of the rebels , edward negotiated a truce with the earl , the terms of which he later broke . edward then captured northampton from montfort 's son simon , before embarking on a retaliatory campaign against derby 's lands . the baronial and royalist forces finally met at the battle of lewes , on 14 may 1264 . edward , commanding the right wing , performed well , and soon defeated the london contingent of montfort 's forces . unwisely , however , he followed the scattered enemy in pursuit , and on his return found the rest of the royal army defeated . by the agreement known as the mise of lewes , edward and his cousin henry of almain were given up as hostages to montfort . edward remained in captivity until march , and even after his release he was kept under strict surveillance . then , on 28 may , he managed to escape his custodians and joined up with the earl of gloucester , who had recently defected to the king 's side . montfort 's support was now dwindling , and edward retook worcester and gloucester with relatively little effort . meanwhile , montfort had made an alliance with llywelyn and started moving east to join forces with his son simon . edward managed to make a surprise attack at kenilworth castle , where the younger montfort was quartered , before moving on to cut off the earl of leicester . the two forces then met at the second great encounter of the barons ' war , the battle of evesham , on 4 august 1265 . montfort stood little chance against the superior royal forces , and after his defeat he was killed and mutilated on the field . through such episodes as the deception of derby at gloucester , edward acquired a reputation as untrustworthy . during the summer campaign , though , he began to learn from his mistakes , and acted in a way that gained the respect and admiration of his contemporaries . the war did not end with montfort 's death , and edward participated in the continued campaigning . at christmas , he came to terms with the younger simon de montfort and his associates at the isle of axholme in lincolnshire , and in march he led a successful assault on the cinque ports . a contingent of rebels held out in the virtually impregnable kenilworth castle and did not surrender until the drafting of the conciliatory dictum of kenilworth . in april it seemed as if gloucester would take up the cause of the reform movement , and civil war would resume , but after a renegotiation of the terms of the dictum of kenilworth , the parties came to an agreement . edward , however , was little involved in the settlement negotiations following the wars ; at this point his main focus was on planning his forthcoming crusade . crusade and accession edward took the crusader 's cross in an elaborate ceremony on 24 june 1268 , with his brother edmund and cousin henry of almain . among others who committed themselves to the ninth crusade were edward 's former adversaries – like the earl of gloucester , though de clare did not ultimately participate . with the country pacified , the greatest impediment to the project was providing sufficient finances . king louis ix of france , who was the leader of the crusade , provided a loan of about £ 17 , 500 . this , however , was not enough ; the rest had to be raised through a tax on the laity , which had not been levied since 1237 . in may 1270 , parliament granted a tax of a twentieth , in exchange for which the king agreed to reconfirm magna carta , and to impose restrictions on jewish money lending . on 20 august edward sailed from dover for france . historians have not determined the size of the force with any certainty , but edward probably brought with him around 225 knights and altogether less than 1000 men . originally , the crusaders intended to relieve the beleaguered christian stronghold of acre , but louis had been diverted to tunis . the french king and his brother charles of anjou , who had made himself king of sicily , decided to attack the emirate to establish a stronghold in north africa . the plans failed when the french forces were struck by an epidemic which , on 25 august , took the life of king louis himself . by the time edward arrived at tunis , charles had already signed a treaty with the emir , and there was little else to do but return to sicily . the crusade was postponed until next spring , but a devastating storm off the coast of sicily dissuaded charles of anjou and louis 's successor philip iii from any further campaigning . edward decided to continue alone , and on 9 may 1271 he finally landed at acre . by then , the situation in the holy land was a precarious one . jerusalem had fallen in 1244 , and acre was now the centre of the christian state . the muslim states were on the offensive under the mamluk leadership of baibars , and were now threatening acre itself . though edward 's men were an important addition to the garrison , they stood little chance against baibars ' superior forces , and an initial raid at nearby st georges - de - in june was largely futile . an embassy to the ilkhan abaqa ( 1234 – 1282 ) of the mongols helped bring about an attack on aleppo in the north , which helped to distract baibars ' forces . in november , edward led a raid on qaqun , which could have served as a bridgehead to jerusalem , but both the mongol invasion and the attack on qaqun failed . things now seemed increasingly desperate , and in may 1272 hugh iii of cyprus , who was the nominal king of jerusalem , signed a ten - year truce with baibars . edward was initially defiant , but an attack by a muslim assassin in june forced him to abandon any further campaigning . although he managed to kill the assassin , he was struck in the arm by a dagger feared to be poisoned , and became severely weakened over the following months . it was not until 24 september that edward left acre . arriving in sicily , he was met with the news that his father had died on 16 november , 1272 . edward was deeply saddened by this news , but rather than hurrying home at once , he made a leisurely journey northwards . this was partly due to his health still being poor , but also due to a lack of urgency . the political situation in england was stable after the mid - century upheavals , and edward was proclaimed king at his father 's death , rather than at his own coronation , as had until then been customary . in edward 's absence , the country was governed by a royal council , led by robert burnell . the new king embarked on an overland journey through italy and france , where among other things he visited pope gregory x in rome , king philip iii in paris , and suppressed a rebellion in gascony . only on 2 august 1274 did he return to england , and was crowned on 19 august . early reign , 1274 – 96 welsh wars conquest llywelyn ap gruffudd enjoyed an advantageous situation in the aftermath of the barons ' war . through the 1267 treaty of montgomery , he officially obtained land he had conquered in the four of and was recognised in his title of prince of wales . armed conflicts nevertheless continued , in particular with certain dissatisfied marcher lords , such as gilbert de clare , earl of gloucester , roger mortimer and humphrey de bohun , earl of hereford . problems were exacerbated when llywelyn 's younger brother dafydd and gruffydd ap gwenwynwyn of powys , after failing in an assassination attempt against llywelyn , defected to the english in 1274 . citing ongoing hostilities and the english king 's harbouring of his enemies , llywelyn refused to do homage to edward . for edward , a further provocation came from llywelyn 's planned marriage to eleanor , daughter of simon de montfort . in november 1276 , war was declared . initial operations were launched under the captaincy of mortimer , lancaster ( edward 's brother edmund ) and william de beauchamp , earl of warwick . support for llywelyn was weak among his own countrymen . in july 1277 edward invaded with a force of 15 , 500 , of whom 9 , 000 were welshmen . the campaign never came to a major battle , and llywelyn soon realised he had no choice but to surrender . by the treaty of aberconwy in november 1277 , he was left only with the land of gwynedd , though he was allowed to retain the title of prince of wales . when war broke out again in 1282 , it was an entirely different undertaking . for the welsh , this war was over national identity , enjoying wide support , provoked particularly by attempts to impose english law on welsh subjects . for edward , it became a war of conquest rather than simply a punitive expedition , like the former campaign . the war started with a rebellion by dafydd , who was discontented with the reward he had received from edward in 1277 . llywelyn and other welsh chieftains soon joined in , and initially the welsh experienced military success . in june , gloucester was defeated at the battle of llandeilo fawr . on 6 november , while john peckham , archbishop of canterbury , was conducting peace negotiations , edward 's commander of anglesey , luke de tany , decided to carry out a surprise attack . a pontoon bridge had been built to the mainland , but shortly after tany and his men crossed over , they were ambushed by the welsh and suffered heavy losses at the battle of moel - y - don . the welsh advances ended on 11 december , however , when llywelyn was lured into a trap and killed at the battle of bridge . the conquest of gwynedd was complete with the capture in june 1283 of dafydd , who was taken to shrewsbury and executed as a traitor the following autumn . further rebellions occurred in 1287 – 88 and , more seriously , in 1294 , under the leadership of madog ap llywelyn , a distant relative of llywelyn ap gruffudd . this last conflict demanded the king 's own attention , but in both cases the rebellions were put down . colonisation by the 1284 statute of rhuddlan , the principality of wales was incorporated into england and was given an administrative system like the english , with counties policed by sheriffs . english law was introduced in criminal cases , though the welsh were allowed to maintain their own customary laws in some cases of property disputes . after 1277 , and increasingly after 1283 , edward embarked on a full - scale project of english settlement of wales , creating new towns like flint , aberystwyth and rhuddlan . their new residents were english migrants , with the local welsh banned from living inside them , and many were protected by extensive walls . an extensive project of castle - building was also initiated , under the direction of master james of saint george , a prestigious architect whom edward had met in savoy on his return from the crusade . these included the castles of beaumaris , caernarfon , conwy and harlech , intended to act both as fortresses and royal palaces for the king . his programme of castle building in wales heralded the introduction of the widespread use of arrowslits in castle walls across europe , drawing on eastern influences . also a product of the crusades was the introduction of the concentric castle , and four of the eight castles edward founded in wales followed this design . the castles made a clear , imperial statement about edward 's intentions to rule north wales permanently , and drew on imagery associated with the byzantine roman empire and king arthur in an attempt to build legitimacy for his new regime . in 1284 , king edward had his son edward ( later edward ii ) born at caernarfon castle , probably to make a deliberate statement about the new political order in wales . david powel , a 16th - century clergyman , suggested that the baby was offered to the welsh as a prince " that was borne in wales and could speake never a word of english " , but there is no evidence to support this account . in 1301 at lincoln , the young edward became the first english prince to be invested with the title of prince of wales , when king edward granted him the earldom of chester and lands across north wales . the king seems to have hoped that this would help in the pacification of the region , and that it would give his son more financial independence . diplomacy and war on the continent edward never again went on crusade after his return to england in 1274 , but he maintained an intention to do so , and took the cross again in 1287 . this intention guided much of his foreign policy , until at least 1291 . to stage a european - wide crusade , it was essential to prevent conflict between the greater princes on the continent . a major obstacle to this was represented by the conflict between the french house of anjou ruling southern italy , and the kingdom of aragon in spain . in 1282 , the citizens of palermo rose up against charles of anjou and turned for help to peter of aragon , in what has become known as the sicilian vespers . in the war that followed , charles of anjou 's son , charles of salerno , was taken prisoner by the aragonese . the french began planning an attack on aragon , raising the prospect of a large - scale european war . to edward , it was imperative that such a war be avoided , and in paris in 1286 he brokered a truce between france and aragon that helped secure charles ' release . as far as the crusades were concerned , however , edward 's efforts proved ineffective . a devastating blow to his plans came in 1291 , when the mamluks captured acre , the last christian stronghold in the holy land . after the fall of acre , edward 's international role changed from that of a diplomat to an antagonist . he had long been deeply involved in the affairs of his own duchy of gascony . in 1278 he assigned an investigating commission to his trusted associates otto de grandson and the chancellor robert burnell , which caused the replacement of the seneschal luke de tany . in 1286 , edward visited the region himself and stayed for almost three years . the perennial problem , however , was the status of gascony within the kingdom of france , and edward 's role as the french king 's vassal . on his diplomatic mission in 1286 , edward had paid homage to the new king , philip iv , but in 1294 philip declared gascony forfeit when edward refused to appear before him in paris to discuss the recent conflict between english , gascon , and french sailors ( that had resulted in several french ships being captured , along with the sacking of the french port of la rochelle ) . eleanor of castile had died on 28 november 1290 . uncommon for such marriages of the period , the couple loved each other . moreover , like his father , edward was very devoted to his wife and was faithful to her throughout their married lives — a rarity among monarchs of the time . he was deeply affected by her death . he displayed his grief by erecting twelve so - called eleanor crosses , one at each place where her funeral cortège stopped for the night . as part of the peace accord between england and france in 1294 , it was agreed that edward should marry philip iv 's half - sister margaret , but the marriage was delayed by the outbreak of war . edward made alliances with the german king , the counts of flanders and guelders , and the burgundians , who would attack france from the north . the alliances proved volatile , however , and edward was facing trouble at home at the time , both in wales and scotland . it was not until august 1297 that he was finally able to sail for flanders , at which time his allies there had already suffered defeat . the support from germany never materialised , and edward was forced to seek peace . his marriage to margaret in 1299 ended the war , but the whole affair had proven both costly and fruitless for the english . the great cause the relationship between the nations of england and scotland by the 1280s was one of relatively harmonious coexistence . the issue of homage did not reach the same level of controversy as it did in wales ; in 1278 king alexander iii of scotland paid homage to edward i , but apparently only for the lands he held of edward in england . problems arose only with the scottish succession crisis of the early 1290s . in the years from 1281 to 1284 , alexander 's two sons and one daughter died in quick succession . then , in 1286 , king alexander died himself , leaving as heir to the throne of scotland the three - year - old margaret , the maid of norway , who was born in 1283 to alexander 's daughter margaret and king eric ii of norway . by the treaty of birgham , it was agreed that margaret should marry king edward 's then one - year - old son edward of carnarvon , though scotland would remain free of english overlordship . margaret , by now seven years of age , sailed from norway for scotland in the autumn of 1290 , but fell ill on the way and died in orkney . this left the country without an obvious heir , and led to the succession dispute known to history as the great cause . even though as many as fourteen claimants put forward their claims to the title , the real contest was between john balliol and robert de brus . the scottish magnates made a request to edward to conduct the proceedings and administer the outcome , but not to arbitrate in the dispute . the actual decision would be made by 104 auditors - 40 appointed by balliol , 40 by bruce and the remaining 24 selected by edward i from senior members of the scottish political community . at birgham , with the prospect of a personal union between the two realms , the question of suzerainty had not been of great importance to edward . now he insisted that , if he were to settle the contest , he had to be fully recognised as scotland 's feudal overlord . the scots were reluctant to make such a concession , and replied that since the country had no king , no one had the authority to make this decision . this problem was circumvented when the competitors agreed that the realm would be handed over to edward until a rightful heir had been found . after a lengthy hearing , a decision was made in favour of john balliol on 17 november 1292 . even after balliol 's accession , edward still continued to assert his authority over scotland . against the objections of the scots , he agreed to hear appeals on cases ruled on by the court of guardians that had governed scotland during the interregnum . a further provocation came in a case brought by macduff , son of malcolm , earl of fife , in which edward demanded that balliol appear in person before the english parliament to answer the charges . this the scottish king did , but the final straw was edward 's demand that the scottish magnates provide military service in the war against france . this was unacceptable ; the scots instead formed an alliance with france and launched an unsuccessful attack on carlisle . edward responded by invading scotland in 1296 and taking the town of berwick in a particularly bloody attack . at the battle of dunbar , scottish resistance was effectively crushed . edward confiscated the stone of destiny – the scottish coronation stone – and brought it to westminster placing it in what became known as king edward 's chair ; he deposed balliol and placed him in the tower of london , and installed englishmen to govern the country . the campaign had been very successful , but the english triumph would only be temporary . government and law character as king edward had a reputation for a fierce temper , and he could be intimidating ; one story tells of how the dean of st paul 's , wishing to confront edward over the high level of taxation in 1295 , fell down and died once he was in the king 's presence . when edward of caernarfon demanded an earldom for his favourite gaveston , the king erupted in anger and supposedly tore out handfuls of his son 's hair . some of his contemporaries considered edward frightening , particularly in his early days . the song of lewes in 1264 described him as a leopard , an animal regarded as particularly powerful and unpredictable . despite these frightening character traits , however , edward 's contemporaries considered him an able , even an ideal , king . though not loved by his subjects , he was feared and respected . he met contemporary expectations of kingship in his role as an able , determined soldier and in his embodiment of shared chivalric ideals . in religious observance he also fulfilled the expectations of his age : he attended chapel regularly and gave alms generously . edward took a keen interest in the stories of king arthur , which were highly popular in europe during his reign . in 1278 he visited glastonbury abbey to open what was then believed to be the tomb of arthur and guinevere , recovering " arthur 's crown " from llywelyn after the conquest of north wales , while , as noted above , his new castles drew upon the arthurian myths in their design and location . he held " round table " events in 1284 and 1302 , involving tournaments and feasting , and chroniclers compared him and the events at his court to arthur . in some cases edward appears to have used his interest in the arthurian myths to serve his own political interests , including legitimising his rule in wales and discrediting the welsh belief that arthur might return as their political saviour . administration and the law soon after assuming the throne , edward set about restoring order and re - establishing royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father . to accomplish this , he immediately ordered an extensive change of administrative personnel . the most important of these was the appointment of robert burnell as chancellor , a man who would remain in the post until 1292 as one of the king 's closest associates . edward then replaced most local officials , such as the and sheriffs . this last measure was done in preparation for an extensive inquest covering all of england , that would hear complaints about abuse of power by royal officers . the inquest produced the set of so - called hundred rolls , from the administrative subdivision of the hundred . the second purpose of the inquest was to establish what land and rights the crown had lost during the reign of henry iii . the hundred rolls formed the basis for the later legal inquiries called the quo warranto proceedings . the purpose of these inquiries was to establish by what warrant ( latin : quo warranto ) various liberties were held . if the defendant could not produce a royal licence to prove the grant of the liberty , then it was the crown 's opinion – based on the writings of the influential thirteenth - century legal scholar bracton – that the liberty should revert to the king . by enacting the statute of gloucester in 1278 the king challenged baronial rights through a revival of the system of general eyres ( royal justices to go on tour throughout the land ) and through a significant increase in the number of pleas of quo warranto to be heard by such eyres . this caused great consternation among the aristocracy , who insisted that long use in itself constituted licence . a compromise was eventually reached in 1290 , whereby a liberty was considered legitimate as long as it could be shown to have been exercised since the coronation of king richard i , in 1189 . royal gains from the quo warranto proceedings were insignificant ; few liberties were returned to the king . edward had nevertheless won a significant victory , in clearly establishing the principle that all liberties essentially emanated from the crown . the 1290 statute of quo warranto was only one part of a wider legislative effort , which was one of the most important contributions of edward i 's reign . this era of legislative action had started already at the time of the baronial reform movement ; the statute of marlborough ( 1267 ) contained elements both of the provisions of oxford and the dictum of kenilworth . the compilation of the hundred rolls was followed shortly after by the issue of westminster i ( 1275 ) , which asserted the royal prerogative and outlined restrictions on liberties . in the mortmain ( 1279 ) , the issue was grants of land to the church . the first clause of westminster ii ( 1285 ) , known as de donis , dealt with family settlement of land , and entails . merchants ( 1285 ) established firm rules for the recovery of debts , while winchester ( 1285 ) dealt with peacekeeping on a local level . quia ( 1290 ) – issued along with quo warranto – set out to remedy land ownership disputes resulting from alienation of land by . the age of the great statutes largely ended with the death of robert burnell in 1292 . finances , parliament and the expulsion of jews edward i 's frequent military campaigns put a great financial strain on the nation . there were several ways through which the king could raise money for war , including customs duties , money lending and lay subsidies . in 1275 , edward i negotiated an agreement with the domestic merchant community that secured a permanent duty on wool . in 1303 , a similar agreement was reached with foreign merchants , in return for certain rights and privileges . the revenues from the customs duty were handled by the riccardi , a group of bankers from lucca in italy . this was in return for their service as money lenders to the crown , which helped finance the welsh wars . when the war with france broke out , the french king confiscated the riccardi 's assets , and the bank went bankrupt . after this , the frescobaldi of florence took over the role as money lenders to the english crown . another source of crown income was represented by england 's jews . the jews were the king 's personal property , and he was free to tax them at will . by 1280 , the jews had been exploited to a level at which they were no longer of much financial use to the crown , but they could still be used in political bargaining . their usury business – a practice forbidden to christians – had made many people indebted to them and caused general popular resentment . in 1275 , edward had issued the statute of the jewry , which outlawed usury and encouraged the jews to take up other professions ; in 1279 , in the context of a crack - down on coin - clippers , he arrested all the heads of jewish households in england and had around 300 of them executed . in 1280 , he ordered all jews to attend special sermons , preached by dominican friars , with the hope of persuading them to convert , but these exhortations were not followed . the final attack on the jews in england came in the edict of expulsion in 1290 , whereby edward formally expelled all jews from england . this not only generated revenues through royal appropriation of jewish loans and property , but it also gave edward the political capital to negotiate a substantial lay subsidy in the 1290 parliament . the expulsion , which was reversed in 1656 , followed a precedent set by other european territorial princes : philip ii of france had expelled all jews from his own lands in 1182 ; john i , duke of brittany , drove them out of his duchy in 1239 ; and in the late 1240s louis ix of france had expelled the jews from the royal demesne before his first passage to the east . edward held parliament on a reasonably regular basis throughout his reign . in 1295 , however , a significant change occurred . for this parliament , in addition to the secular and ecclesiastical lords , two knights from each county and two representatives from each borough were summoned . the representation of commons in parliament was nothing new ; what was new was the authority under which these representatives were summoned . whereas previously the commons had been expected simply to assent to decisions already made by the magnates , it was now proclaimed that they should meet with the full authority ( potestas ) of their communities , to give assent to decisions made in parliament . the king now had full backing for collecting lay subsidies from the entire population . lay subsidies were taxes collected at a certain fraction of the moveable property of all laymen . whereas henry iii had only collected four of these in his reign , edward i collected nine . this format eventually became the standard for later parliaments , and historians have named the assembly the " model parliament " . later reign , 1297 – 1307 constitutional crisis the incessant warfare of the 1290s put a great financial demand on edward 's subjects . whereas the king had only levied three lay subsidies until 1294 , four such taxes were granted in the years 1294 – 97 , raising over £ 200 , 000 . along with this came the burden of prises ( appropriation of food ) , seizure of wool and hides , and the unpopular additional duty on wool , dubbed the . the fiscal demands on the king 's subjects caused resentment , and this resentment eventually led to serious political opposition . the initial resistance was not caused by the lay taxes , however , but by clerical subsidies . in 1294 , edward made a demand of a grant of one half of all clerical revenues . there was some resistance , but the king responded by threatening with outlawry , and the grant was eventually made . at the time , the archbishopric of canterbury was vacant , since robert winchelsey was in italy to receive consecration . winchelsey returned in january 1295 and had to consent to another grant in november of that year . in 1296 , however , his position changed when he received the papal bull . this bull prohibited the clergy from paying taxes to lay authorities without explicit consent from the pope . when the clergy , with reference to the bull , refused to pay , edward responded with outlawry . winchelsey was presented with a dilemma between loyalty to the king and upholding the papal bull , and he responded by leaving it to every individual clergyman to pay as he saw fit . by the end of the year , a solution was offered by the new papal bull de statu , which allowed clerical taxation in cases of pressing urgency . opposition from the laity took longer to surface . this resistance focused on two things : the king 's right to demand military service , and his right to levy taxes . at the salisbury parliament of february 1297 , roger bigod , earl of norfolk , in his capacity as marshal of england , objected to a royal summons of military service . bigod argued that the military obligation only extended to service alongside the king ; if the king intended to sail to flanders , he could not send his subjects to gascony . in july , bigod and humphrey de bohun , earl of hereford and constable of england , drew up a series of complaints known as the remonstrances , in which objections to the extortionate level of taxation were voiced . undeterred , edward requested another lay subsidy . this one was particularly provocative , because the king had sought consent only from a small group of magnates , rather than from representatives from the communities in parliament . while edward was in winchelsea , preparing for the campaign in flanders , bigod and bohun turned up at the exchequer to prevent the collection of the tax . as the king left the country with a greatly reduced force , the kingdom seemed to be on the verge of civil war . what resolved the situation was the english defeat by the scots at the battle of stirling bridge . the renewed threat to the homeland gave king and magnates common cause . edward signed the confirmatio – a confirmation of magna carta and its accompanying charter of the forest – and the nobility agreed to serve with the king on a campaign in scotland . edward 's problems with the opposition did not end with the falkirk campaign . over the following years he would be held up to the promises he had made , in particular that of upholding the charter of the forest . in the parliament of 1301 , the king was forced to order an assessment of the royal forests , but in 1305 he obtained a papal bull that freed him from this concession . ultimately , it was a failure in personnel that spelt the end of the opposition against edward i. bohun died late in 1298 , after returning from the falkirk campaign . as for bigod , in 1302 he arrived at an agreement with the king that was beneficial for both : bigod , who had no children , made edward his heir , in return for a generous annual grant . edward finally got his revenge on winchelsey in 1305 , when clement v was elected pope . clement was a gascon sympathetic to the king , and on edward 's instigation had winchelsey suspended from office . return to scotland the situation in scotland had seemed resolved when edward left the country in 1296 , but resistance soon emerged under the leadership of william wallace . on 11 september 1297 , a large english force under the leadership of john de warenne , earl of surrey , and hugh de was routed by a much smaller scottish army led by wallace and andrew moray at stirling bridge . the defeat sent shockwaves into england , and preparations for a retaliatory campaign started immediately . soon after edward returned from flanders , he headed north . on 22 july 1298 , in the only major battle he had fought since evesham in 1265 , edward defeated wallace 's forces at the battle of falkirk . edward , however , was not able to take advantage of the momentum , and the next year the scots managed to recapture stirling castle . even though edward campaigned in scotland both in 1300 , when he successfully besieged caerlaverock castle and in 1301 , the scots refused to engage in open battle again , preferring instead to raid the english countryside in smaller groups . the defeated scots , secretly urged on by the french , appealed to the pope to assert a claim of overlordship to scotland in place of the english . his papal bull addressed to king edward in these terms was firmly rejected on edward 's behalf by the barons ' letter of 1301 . the english managed to subdue the country by other means , however . in 1303 , a peace agreement was reached between england and france , effectively breaking up the franco - scottish alliance . robert the bruce , the grandson of the claimant to the crown in 1291 , had sided with the english in the winter of 1301 – 02 . by 1304 , most of the other nobles of the country had also pledged their allegiance to edward , and this year the english also managed to re - take stirling castle . a great propaganda victory was achieved in 1305 when wallace was betrayed by sir john de menteith and turned over to the english , who had him taken to london where he was publicly executed . with scotland largely under english control , edward installed englishmen and collaborating scots to govern the country . the situation changed again on 10 february 1306 , when robert the bruce murdered his rival john comyn and a few weeks later , on 25 march , had himself crowned king of scotland by isobel , sister of the earl of buchan . bruce now embarked on a campaign to restore scottish independence , and this campaign took the english by surprise . edward was suffering ill health by this time , and instead of leading an expedition himself , he gave different military commands to aymer de valence and henry percy , while the main royal army was led by the prince of wales . the english initially met with success ; on 19 june , aymer de valence routed bruce at the battle of methven . bruce was forced into hiding , while the english forces recaptured their lost territory and castles . edward responded with severe brutality against bruce 's allies and supporters . bruce 's sister , mary , was hung in a cage outside of roxburgh for four years . isabella macduff , countess of buchan , who had crowned bruce , was hung in a cage outside of berwick castle for four years . bruce 's younger brother neil was executed by being hanged , drawn , and quartered ; he had been captured after he and his garrison held off edward 's forces who had been seeking bruce 's wife ( elizabeth ) , daughter marjorie , sisters mary and christina , and isabella . it was clear that edward now regarded the struggle not as a war between two nations , but as the suppression of a rebellion of disloyal subjects . this brutality , though , rather than helping to subdue the scots , had the opposite effect , and rallied growing support for bruce . death and legacy death , 1307 in february 1307 , bruce reappeared and started gathering men , and in may he defeated aymer de valence at the battle of loudoun hill . edward , who had rallied somewhat , now moved north himself . on the way , however , he developed dysentery , and his condition deteriorated . on 6 july he encamped at burgh by sands , just south of the scottish border . when his servants came the next morning to lift him up so that he could eat , he died in their arms . various stories emerged about edward ’ s deathbed wishes ; according to one tradition , he requested that his heart be carried to the holy land , along with an army to fight the infidels . a more dubious story tells of how he wished for his bones to be carried along on future expeditions against the scots . another account of his deathbed scene is more credible ; according to one chronicle , edward gathered around him the earls of lincoln and warwick , aymer de valence , and robert clifford , and charged them with looking after his son edward . in particular they should make sure that piers gaveston was not allowed to return to the country . this wish , however , the son ignored , and had his favourite recalled from exile almost immediately . the new king , edward ii , remained in the north until august , but then abandoned the campaign and headed south . he was crowned king on 25 february 1308 . edward i 's body was brought south , lying in state at waltham abbey , before being buried in westminster abbey on 27 october . there are few records of the funeral , which cost £ 473 . edward 's tomb was an unusually plain sarcophagus of purbeck marble , without the customary royal effigy , possibly the result of the shortage of royal funds after the king 's death . the sarcophagus may normally have been covered over with rich cloth , and originally might have been surrounded by carved busts and a devotional religious image , all since lost . the society of antiquaries opened the tomb in 1774 , finding that the body had been well preserved over the preceding 467 years , and took the opportunity to determine the king 's original height . traces of the latin inscription primus scottorum malleus hic est , 1308 . ( " here is edward i , hammer of the scots , 1308 . keep the vow " ) , which can still be seen painted on the side of the tomb , referring to his vow to avenge the rebellion of robert bruce . this resulted in edward being given the epithet the " hammer of the scots " by historians , but is not contemporary in origin , having been added by the abbot john in the 16th century . historiography the first histories of edward in the 16th and 17th centuries drew primarily on the works of the chroniclers , and made little use of the official records of the period . they limited themselves to general comments on edward 's significance as a monarch , and echoed the chroniclers ' praise for his accomplishments . during the 17th century , the lawyer edward coke wrote extensively about edward 's legislation , terming the king the " english justinian " , after the renowned byzantine law - maker , justinian i. later in the century , historians used the available record evidence to address the role of parliament and kingship under edward , drawing comparisons between his reign and the political strife of their own century . 18th - century historians established a picture of edward as an able , if ruthless , monarch , conditioned by the circumstances of his own time . the influential victorian historian william stubbs instead suggested that edward had actively shaped national history , forming english laws and institutions , and helping england to develop parliamentary and constitutional government . his strengths and weaknesses as a ruler were considered to be emblematic of the english people as a whole . stubbs ' student , thomas tout , initially adopted the same perspective , but after extensive research into edward 's royal household , and backed by the research of his contemporaries into the early parliaments of the period , he changed his mind . tout came to view edward as a self - interested , conservative leader , using the parliamentary system as " the shrewd device of an autocrat , anxious to use the mass of the people as a check upon his hereditary foes among the greater baronage . " historians in the 20th and 21st century have conducted extensive research on edward and his reign . most have concluded this was a highly significant period in english medieval history , some going further and describing edward as one of the great medieval kings , although most also agree that his final years were less successful than his early decades in power . three major academic narratives of edward have been produced during this period . frederick powicke 's volumes , published in 1947 and 1953 , forming the standard works on edward for several decades , and were largely positive in praising the achievements of his reign , and in particular his focus on justice and the law . in 1988 , michael prestwich produced an authoritative biography of the king , focusing on his political career , still portraying him in sympathetic terms , but highlighting some of the consequences of his failed policies . marc morris 's biography followed in 2008 , drawing out more of the detail of edward 's personality , and generally taking a harsher view of the king 's weaknesses and less pleasant characteristics . considerable academic debate has taken place around the character of edward 's kingship , his political skills , and in particular his management of his earls , and the degree to which this was collaborative or repressive in nature . there is also a great difference between english and scottish historiography on king edward . g. w. s. barrow , in his biography on robert the bruce , accused edward of ruthlessly exploiting the leaderless state of scotland to obtain a feudal superiority over the kingdom . this view of edward is reflected in the popular perception of the king , as can be seen in the 1995 movie braveheart 's portrayal of the king as a hard - hearted tyrant . family and children edward married twice : first marriage by his first wife eleanor of castile , edward had at least fourteen children , perhaps as many as sixteen . of these , five daughters survived into adulthood , but only one son outlived his father , namely king edward ii ( 1307 – 1327 ) . he was reportedly concerned with his son 's failure to live up to the expectations of an heir to the crown , and at one point decided to exile the prince 's favourite piers gaveston . his children by eleanor of castile were as follows : sons from first marriage john ( 13 july 1266 – 3 august 1271 ) , predeceased his father and died at wallingford while in the custody of his granduncle richard , earl of cornwall , buried at westminster abbey . henry ( 6 may 1268 – 14 october 1274 ) , predeceased his father , buried in westminster abbey . alphonso , earl of chester ( 24 november 1273 – 19 august 1284 ) , predeceased his father , buried in westminster abbey . son ( 1280 / 81 – 1280 / 81 ) , predeceased his father ; little evidence exists for this child . king edward ii ( 25 april 1284 – 21 september 1327 ) , eldest surviving son and heir , succeeded his father as king of england . in 1308 he married isabella of france , with whom he had four children . daughters from first marriage daughter ( may 1255 – 29 may 1255 ) , stillborn or died shortly after birth . katherine ( before 17 june 1264 – 5 september 1264 ) , buried at westminster abbey . joanna ( summer or january 1265 – before 7 september 1265 ) , buried in westminster abbey . eleanor ( c . 18 june 1269 – 19 august 1298 ) , in 1293 she married henry iii , count of bar , by whom she had two children , buried in westminster abbey . juliana ( after may 1271 – 5 september 1271 ) , born and died while edward and eleanor were in acre . joan of acre ( 1272 – 23 april 1307 ) , married ( 1 ) in 1290 gilbert de clare , earl of hertford , who died in 1295 , and ( 2 ) in 1297 ralph de monthermer . she had four children by clare , and three or four by monthermer . margaret ( march 1275 – after 11 march 1333 ) , married john ii of brabant in 1290 , with whom she had one son . berengaria ( may 1276 – between 7 june 1277 and 1278 ) , buried in westminster abbey . daughter ( december 1277 – january 1278 ) , buried in westminster abbey . mary of woodstock ( 11 / 12 march 1279 – 29 may 1332 ) , a benedictine nun in amesbury , wiltshire , where she was probably buried . elizabeth of rhuddlan ( c . 7 august 1282 – 5 may 1316 ) , married ( 1 ) in 1297 john i , count of holland , ( 2 ) in 1302 humphrey de bohun , earl of hereford . the first marriage was childless ; by bohun elizabeth had ten children . second marriage by margaret of france edward had two sons , both of whom lived into adulthood , and a daughter who died as a child . the hailes abbey chronicle indicates that john botetourt may have been edward 's illegitimate son ; however , the claim is unsubstantiated . his progeny by margaret of france was as follows : sons from second marriage thomas of brotherton , 1st earl of norfolk ( 1 june 1300 – 4 august 1338 ) , buried in bury st edmunds abbey . married ( 1 ) alice hales , with issue ; ( 2 ) mary , no issue . edmund of woodstock , 1st earl of kent ( 1 august 1301 – 19 march 1330 ) , married margaret wake with issue . daughter from second marriage eleanor ( 6 may 1306 – 1310 ) ancestry