| Notes |
- EDWARD I (1239-1307), king, eldest son of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, was born at Westminster, 17-18 June 1239. His birth was hailed with special joy, for it was feared that the queen was barren(Paris, iii. 518). There was much rejoicing in London, and many presents were made to the king, who insisted that they should be of great value, so that it was said, 'God gave us this infant, but our lord the king sells him to us.' Four days ufter his birth the child was baptised by the cardinal-legate, Otho, though he was not a priest, and was called Edward, after Edward the Confessor, whose memory was highly honoured by the king (Trivet, p. 225). Among his sponsors was Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester. His name points to a newly awakened pride that was now felt by the English people in their nationality, and men were pleased to trace the descent of their king's son from Alfred (Cont. Flor. Wig.') An oath of fealty to the child was taken in every part of the kingdom (Ann. Teck. p. 114). He was brought up at Windsor, under the care of Hugh Giffard (Paris, iv. 553). His mother took him with her to Beaulieu in June 1240 to the dedication of the conventual church, and while he was there he fell sick, so the queen stayed for three weeks in a Cistercian house against the rules of the order, that she might nurse him (Ann. War. 337). The next year the king sent an embassy to Henry, duke of Brabant, to propose a marriage between Edward and one of the duke's daughters (Mary P), but the scheme waa not successful. On 9 Aug. the lad was with his parents at Dunstable, and on 20 Sept. he lay very ill at London, and the king asked the prayers of all persons of religion in and around the city for his recovery (Ann. Dunst. p. 173; Paris, iv. 639). In 1252 Henry gave him Gascony, and in an assembly of Gascons in London declared him their new ruler, saving that he reserved the chief lordship. The Gascons, who received the announcement joyfully, did him homage, and Edward did homage to the king, and gave them rich gifts. A strong affection existed between Edward and his father, and when the king sailed for Gascony in August 1253, Edward, who came to Portsmouth to see him off, stood upon the shore and watched the vessel depart with many sobs. Ha was left under the guardianship of his mother and his uncle Richard, earl of Cornwall. In order to prevent the rebellious Gascons from obtaining help from Castile, Henry proposed a marriage between Edward and Eleanor, the sister of Alfonso X, and sent for his son, for Alfonso desired to see him. He gave him the earldom of Chester, and promised to give him Ireland and other possessions. Edward sailed from Portsmouth 29 May 1254, accompanied by his mother, and under the care of the queen's uncle, Boniface of Savoy [q. v.], archbishop of Canterbury, reached Bordeaux l2 June, and Burgos 5 Aug. He was married to Eleanor at the end of October in the monastery of Las Huelgas, received knighthood from King Alfonso, and then returned to Bordeaux. Henry gave the newly married pair Gascony, Ireland, Wales, Bristol, Stamford, and Grantham, so that he seemed nothing better than a mutilated king (Paris, v. 450), and entered into an agreement that if Edward's income from these sources did not amount to fifteen thousand marks he would make it up to that sum (Fædera,i.528). Edward remained in Gascony for about a year after his father had left it. His wife came to England 13 Oct. 1255, and he followed her on 29 Nov.; he was received by the Londoners with rejoicing, and conductnd by them to the palace at Westminster (Liber de Ant. Leg, p. 23).
Soon after his return to England the Gascon wine merchants appealed to him to protect them against the extortions of the king's officers, He declared that he would not suffer them to be oppressed. The king was much grieved when he heard of his words, saying that the times of Henry II had come over again,for his son had turned against him. Many expected that a serious quarrel would take place. Henry, however, gave way, and ordered that the grievances of the merchants should be redressed. Nevertheless Edward deemed it advisable to increase his household, and now rode with two hundred horses (Paris, v. 538). On 4 Juno 1256 he was at a tournament at Blythe, which he attended in light armour, for he went there to be further instructed in the laws of chivalry (ib. p. 557), and in August he was with the king at London, where great feasts were held in honour of the king and queen of the Scots. His devotion to the chivalrous exercises and pleasures that became his age and station led him to neglect the admimstration of the vast estates and jurisdictions placed under his control He trusted too much to his officers, who were violent and exacting, and he was blamed for their evil doings. Nor was he by any means blameless even as regards his own acts. His followers were mostly foreigners, and he did not restrain them from acts of lawlessness and oppression. At Wallingford, for example, they made havoc of the goods of the priory, and illtreated the monks (ib, p. 593). And he set them a bad example, for Matthew Paris records as a specimen of his misdeeds how, apparently out of mere wanton cruelty, he horribly mutilated a young man whom he chanced to meet, an act which moved Englishmen greatly, and made them look forward with dread to the time when he should become king (ib, p. 598). With a father who was a Frenchman in tastes and habits, with a Provençal mother, and surrounded by foreign relations and followers, Edward in these his younger days is scarcely to be looked on as an Englishman, and his conduct is to be judged simply by the standard of what was held to become a young French noble. In one part of his possessions it was specially dangerous to excite discontent. Among the grants made him by his father in 1254 was the lordship of the Four Cantreds of Wales, the country that lay between the Conway and the Dee. Wales had long been a source of trouble to England, and her princes took advantage of every embarrassment that befell the English crown to add to its difficulties. As long as the country preserved its native laws and system of government it was impossible to reduce it to anything more than a state of nominal dependence, or to put an end to its power to do mischief. Moreover, as long as it remained virtually unconquered, the position of the lords marchers was almost that of petty sovereigns, and greatly weakened the authority of the crown. It is probable that Edward, young as he was, saw this, for he refused to recognise the native customs, and approved of an attempt made by one of his officers to enforce the introduction of English law. Unfortunately he did not see that this could only be carried oat after a military conquest which the maladministration of Henry rendered impossible, and he chose as his lieutenant Geoffrey Langley, a greedy and violent man, who believed that he could treat the Welsh as a thoroughly conquered people, imposed a poll-tax of 15d a head upon them, and tried to divide the land into counties and hundreds, or, in other words, to force the English system of administration upon them (Ann, Tewk. p. 158; Liber de Ant. Leg, p. 29). Llewelyn, the son of Gruffydd, took advantage of the discontent occasioned by these proceedings, and on 1 Nov. invaded the marches, and especially the lands of Edward's men. Edward borrowed four thousand marks of his uncle Richard to enable him to meet the Welsh,though as the winter was wet he was not able to do anything against them. The next year the Welsh invaded the marches with two large armies, and Edward applied to his father for help. 'What have I to do with it?' the king answered; 'I have given you the land,' and he told him to exert himself and strike terror into his enemies, for he was busy about other matters (Paris, v. 614). He made an expedition in company with his son, and stayed a while at Gannoch Castle, but no good was done. Edward, in spite of his large income, was pressed for money to carry on the war, and in 1258 pledged some of his estates to William de Valence, his uncle, a step which was held to promise badly for his future reign, for William was the richest of the host of foreigners who preyed on the country. He also endeavoured to alienate the Isle of Oléron to Guy of Lusignan, but this was forbidden by tho king, and he was forced a few days later to revoke his deed (F?dera, i. 663, 670). The Welsh made an alliance with the Scottish barons, and the war, which was shamefully mismanaged, assumed serious proportions, and added to the general discontent excited by the extravagance of the court and the general maladministration of the government.
This discontent was forcibly expressed in the demand made by the parliament which met at Westminster in April, that the work of reform should be committed to twenty-four barons, and on the 30th Edward joined his father in swearing to submit to their decisions (Ann, Tewk, p. 164). A scheme of reform, which virtually put the government of the kingdom into the hands of a baronial council, was drawn up by the parliament of Oxford. Edward upheld his uncles in their refusal to surrender their castles; he appears to have been constrained to accompany the barons to Winchester, where his uncles were besieged in the castle, and did not swear to observe the provisions of Oxford until after they and the other aliens who held it had been forced to surrender. Four counsellors were appointed for him who were to carry out a reform of his household (Ann, Burt, p. 445). Some disagreement arose between Edward and his father at Winchester, and a reconciliation was effected in the chapter-house of St. Swithun's (Ann. Winton, p. 97). During 1259 a reaction took place; men found that the provisional government did not bring them all they hoped for, and a split arose in the baronial party between Simon, earl of Leicester, who was believed to be in favour of popular reforms, and the Earl of Gloucester, the head of the oligarchical section. Edward appears to have acted with Earl Simon at this period, for on 13 Oct., while the parliament was sitting at Westminster, a petition was presented to him by the 'community of the bachelorhood of England,' that is by the knights, or the class of landholders immediately below the baronage, pointing out that the barons had done nothing of all they had promised, and had merely worked 'for their own good and the hurt of the king.' Edward replied that, though he had taken the oath unwillingly, he would abide by it, and that he was ready to die for the commonalty and the common weal, and he warned the barons that if they did not fulfil their oaths he would take part against them (Ann. Burt. p. 471). The result of this movement was the publication of the provisions of Westminster. One of these renews a clause in the provisions of Oxford, in virtue of which four knights were to be appointed in each shire to remedy any injustice committed by the sheriff (ib. p. 477; Const. Hist. ii. 81). Thus Edward skilfully used the lesser tenants in chief to check the baronage in their attempt to control the executive, and began a policy founded on the mutual jealousy of his opponents, which he was afterwards able to pursue with great effect. In return for the check he had received Gloucester appears to have persuaded Henry, who was in France early in 1260, that his son was plotting with Earl Simon to dethrone him. The king of the Romans (Richard of Cornwall) held a meeting of barons in London, and a letter was sent to the king denying the rumour, and urging his return(Wikes,p.124; Ann. Dunst. p. 214), He came back on 23 April, and shut himself up in London, refusing to see his son, who lodged in company with Simon between the city and Westminster (Liber de Ant. Leg. p. 45). At the same time his love for him was unabated. 'Do not let my son Edward appear before me,' he said, 'for if I see him I shall not be able to refrain myself from kissing him' (Ann. Dunst. p. 215). At the end of a fortnight they were reconciled, and the queen was generally held to have caused their disagreement. The foremost part that Edward was thus taking put him, we are told, to vast expense. He now went off to France to a great tournament, where he met with ill success(ib.p.217). Although from this time he seems to have ceased to act in concert with Earl Simon, he kept up his quarrel with Gloucester until the earl's death in 1262. In that year he was again in France and Burgundy, in company with two of Leicester's sons, his cousins, was victorious in several tournaments, and badly beaten and wounded in one (ib. p. 219).
Early in February 1263 Edward, who was then in Paris, received a letter from his father urging him to return to England, for Llewelyn had taken advantage of the unsettled state of the country to renew his ravages. Edward hired a fine body of troops in France, and brought them over with him. Stopping only to put a garrison into Windsor, he advanced to Oxford, where the gates were shut against him. He then marched to Gloucester, and attacked the town, but though aided by a force from the castle was beaten off; he made his way into the castle by the river, using a ship belonging to the abbot of Tewkesbury. Some fighting took place, and on the approach of Earl Ferrers, Edward, finding himself overmatched, offered terms, and agreed to the barons' demands. On the retirement of their army he pillaged the town. (The order of events from this point almost down to the battle of Lewes is uncertain, and that adopted here must only be taken as an attempt to form a consecutive narrative.) Hoping to use Bristol as a basis of operations against the Welsh, and as a means of checking the new Earl of Gloucester, Gilbert of Clare, who was wholly on Leicester's side, he marched thither, and began to victual the castle. The townsmen came to blows with his foreign soldiers; he was forced to retreat into the castle, and was in some danger. Accordingly at the end of March he called Walter of Cantelupe [q. v.], bishop of Worcester, one of the baronial party, to help him, and the bishop undertook to bring him safely to London. On the way Edward, without giving him any warning, entered Windsor Castle on the plea of providing for the safety of his wife. He came up to London to the parliament held on 20 May. There Leicester and his party declared that he would be perjured if he did not abide by the provisions of Oxford, for they were indignant at his having brought a foreign force into the kingdom. He took up his quarters at the hospital at Clerkenwell, and, as he and his party were sorely in need of money, broke into the treasury of the Temple on 29 June, and took thence 1,000l. He made an attempt to relieve Windsor, which was threatened by Leicester, but the earl met him and, though he offered terms, detained him for a while by the advice of the Bishop of Worcester who remembered the trick that had been played upon him. Windsor surrendered on 26 July, and on 18 Aug. Edward agreed to terms that had been arranged by the king of the Romans. From 19 Sept. to 7 Oct. he was with his father at Boulogne. On the failure of the attempt at arbitration that was made there he returned to England, and at the parliament held on 14 Oct. he refused to agree to the barons' terms, complained that Earl Ferrers had seized three of his castles, and again took up his quarters at Windsor. He succeeded in winning over several barons to the royal side; he was now fully recognised as head of the party, and he made a strict alliance with the lords marchers (Wikes). In company with several of his new allies he joined the king in summoning the surrender of Dover Castle on 4 Dec. The castellan refused, and the royal forces retired. On the 10th he was party to the agreement to refer the question of the validity of the provisions to Lewis XI. Immediately after Christmas he set sail for France with his father. They had a stormy passage, and Edward made many vows for his safety. On 23 Jan. 1264 Lewis pronounced against the provisions.
The barons were dissatisfied with the result of the appeal, and Edward again made war in the marches; he joined his father at Oxford, and on 5 April, in company with the king and his uncle Richard, attacked Northampton. Simon de Montfort the younger, who defended the town, was taken prisoner, and would have been slain had not Edward forbidden it. After wasting the lands of Earl Ferrers and levelling his castle of Tutbury, Edward marched towards London, for some of the citizens offered to deliver the city to him. Leicester prevented this, and the king's army encamped in great force before Lewes. On 13 May Edward joined with the king of the Romans in sending a defiance to Leicester and Gloucester, who had now advanced with the baronial army to within a few miles of the town. In the battle of the next day, Wednesday, 14th, Edward occupied the right of the army, and early in the morning charged the Londoners, who, under the command of Hastings, were passing by the castle where he was Quartered, in order to gain the town. They fled in confusion, and Edward, who was determined to take vengeance on them for the insults they had put on his mother the year before, pursued them, it is said, for four miles, and cut down a large number of them (Rishanger, p. 32; Wikes, p. 151). As he returned from the pursuit he fell upon the enemy's baggage, and spent much time in taking it. When, as late, it is said, as 2 p.m. ('usque ad octavam horam,' Chron. Mailros, p. 195), he brought his men back to Lewes, he found that the battle was lost, that his father had taken refuge in the priory, and that his uncle was a prisoner. His men fled, and he and those who still followed him forced their way into the church of the Franciscans (Ann, Wav. p. 357). By the capitulation that followed, he and his cousin, Henry of Almaine, were made hostages for their fathers' conduct. They were taken to Dover and were put under the care of Henry de Montfort, who treated them as captives, and 'less honourably than was fitting' (Wikes, p. 153). Before long they were moved to Wallingford for greater safety. While Edward was there an unsuccessful attempt was made to rescue him (Rob. of Gloucester). He was afterwards lodged in Leicester's castle at Kenilworth, where he was during the following Christmas. While there he appears to have been treated honourably, for the countess was his aunt, and he was allowed to receive visitors, though he was closely watched. The subject of his release was debated in the parliament held in London in January 1265, and on 8 March terms were finally agreed upon which, while putting an end to his period of confinement, still left him helpless in Leicester's hands, and handed over to the earl the county of Chester and several of his most important possessions to be exchanged for other lands. A quarrel broke out between Leicester and Gilbert of Gloucester, and on 26 April Leicester made Edward march along with him to the town of Gloucester, for he thought it necessary to take some measures to check Earl Gilbert, who was now in alliance with the Mortimers and other marchers. Edward was next taken to Hereford. He kept up an understanding with the marchers through his chamberlain, Thomas of Clare, the earl's younger brother, and on 28 May effected his escape. He rode the horses of several of his attendants, one after another, as though to try their speed, and when he had tired them, mounted his own and rode away with Thomas, another knight, and four squires to the spot where Roger Mortimer was waiting for him, and was conducted in safety to Mortimer's castle at Wigmore. He entered into an alliance with Gloucester at Ludlow, swearing that if he was victorious he would cause 'the ancient, good, and approved laws to be obeyed,' that he would put away the evil customs that had of late obtained in the kingdom, and would persuade his father to remove aliens both from his realm and council, and not allow them to have the custody of castles or any part in the government. In other words, the direct control that had been exercised over the king by the Earl of Leicester was to be done away with, the ancient powers of the crown were to be restored, and the king was on his side to govern England by Englishmen. Besides the marchers, several great nobles, Earl Warenne, William of Valence, Hugh Bigod, and others, now joined Edward, and his army was recruited from every quarter. Meanwhile, on 8 June, the bishops were ordered to excommunicate him and his adherents. Worcester was surrendered to him, he was master of the neighbouring towns and castles, and on 29 June he took Gloucester, after a stout resistance, allowing the garrison to depart with their arms and horses, and merely exacting a promise that they would not serve against him for a month. He broke down the bridges across the Severn and took away the boats, hemming Leicester in behind the line of the river, and cutting him off from his son, the younger Simon, who was raising troops in and about London. Hearing that the earl had sent to Bristol for transports to convey him from Newport to that town, he went on board three galleys belonging to the Earl of Gloucester, and in his company dispersed the Bristol ships, taking and sinking several of them, and then landed and drove Leicester's force across the Usk into Newport, where they saved themselves by breaking down the bridge (Wikes, p. 167; Rishanger, p. 43). Towards the end of July the younger Simon arrived at Kenilworth, and Leicester now hoped that he would be able to shut Edward and Gloucester in between his own force and that of his son (Ann. Wav;. p. 364). Edward, who was stationed at Worcester, sent the young lord notice that 'he would visit him,' and being informed by spies(Wikes, p. l70; one of these spies, according to Hemingburgh, i. 322, was a woman named Margot, who dressed in man's clothes) that the troops at Kenilworth kept no strict watch, set out on the night of the 31st, and at dawn the next day surprised them in their quarters round the castle before they were out of their beds, and made so many prisoners that 'the larger half of the baronial army was annihilated (Prothero, p. 356). On 3 Aug., hearing that the earl was making for Kenilworth, he left Worcester, and after advancing about three miles northwards, in order to deceive the enemy, turned to the east, crossed the Avon at Cleeve, and pressed on towards Evesham to intercept Leicester's army (ib. pp. 358-40). Mindful of the mistake he had made at Lewes, he now ordered his army with prudence (Wikes,p.l72),and detached a force under Gloucester to act in conjunction with that which he himself commanded, and with which early on the 4th he began the battle. His victory was complete, and the Earl of Leicester, his eldest son, Henry, and many nobles of their party were slain.
The sweeping sentence of forfeiture pronounced against the rebels drove them to further resistance. Edward, who received the goods of the rebel citizens of London, captured Dover Castle probably in October, and in November marched with a considerable force against the younger Simon, who with other disinherited lords had occupied the island of Axholme in Lincolnshire, and was ravaging the surrounding country. The position of the rebels was strong, and the attacking force had to make wooden bridges to enable them to reach the island, which was not surrendered until 28 Dec. Edward brought Simon to the council which his father was holding at Northampton, where he was sentenced to banishment. He then took him with him to London, and kept him at his court until he escaped, on 10 Feb. 1266, and went to Winchelsea, where the men of the Cinque ports who adhered to his family were expecting him. The king sent Edward to compel the submission of the ports. He defeated the Winchelsea men in a battle fought in their town on 7 March, and was persuaded to spare the life of their leader in the hope that he would persuade his fellow-rebels to return to their allegiance. This merciful policy was successful, and he received the submission of the ports On the 25th (Ann. Wav. p. 369; Liber de Ant Leg. p. 82). In the middle of May he was engaged in an expedition against a disinherited knight named Adam Gurdon, one of the most mischievous of the many freebooters who infested the country. He came upon him in Whitsun week near Alton in Hampshire. Gurdon, who was a man of great strength, had his band with him, and Edward at the moment that he lighted on him was alone; for he was separated from his men by a ditch. Nevertheless, he at once engaged him single-handed, wounded him severely, and afterwards took him off to Windsor (Wikes, p. 189; Trivet's story, p. 269, that Edward, delighted with Gurdon's valour, caused him to be reinstated in his lands and made him one of his friends and followers, seems mere romance). In the July of this year Eleanor, who had returned to England the previous October, bore Edward his first-born son, named John. All this time the disinherited lords in Kenilworth were still holding the castle against the king; for hitherto the royal forces had been so much employed elsewhere that no great effort had been made to take it. At midsummer, however, Edward joined his father in laying siege to the castle. It was defended with extraordinary courage. All efforts to take it proved vain, and the king and his son, who had already been learning a lesson of moderation from the difficulties they had had to encounter, offered terms embodied in the 'Ban of Kenilworth' published on 31 Oct., which, though hard, were nevertheless a relaxation of the sentence of complete forfeiture. The castle was surrenderea on 20 Dec. (Wikes, p. 195).
Many of the baronial party were dissatisfied with the Kenilworth articles, and early in 1267 Edward was called on to put down a rising in the north. John de Vescy, one of the rebel lords, had expelled the garrison from Alnwick Castle, which had once belonged to him, and had now been taken from him, had occupied it and his other old possessions, and had gathered round him a considerable number of northern magnates, each bound to help the rest to regain their lands. Edward at once gathered a large force, marched against him, and pressed him so hard that he made an unconditional submission. Edward pardoned him, and the rest of the allied barons gave up their undertaking. It seems likely that he paid the visit to his sister Margaret, the queen of Scotland, spoken of in the 'Chronicle of Lanercost' under 1266, when he was in the north in the early part of this year. He met the queen at Haddington, the object of his visit being to bid her farewell; for he was then contemplating a crusade. But it seems difficult to assign the date of the visit with any certainty. He joined his father at Cambridge, and marched with him to London; for the Earl of Gloucester, who since the publication of the Kenilworth articles had taken the side of the rebel lords, had occupied the city, and was besieging the legate Ottoboni in the Tower. After some weeks the earl made his peace with the king. Meanwhile a strong body of the disinherited were occupying the Isle of Ely, and had done much damage in the eastern counties. Henry had been attempting to blockade them when he was called off to London, and the legate had exhorted them to return to obedience to the church by accepting the Kenilworth articles. All attempts to compel or persuade them to surrender had been made in vain, and they had beaten off the ships that had been sent up the Ouse to attack them. Edward now marched from London against them. Their position seemed almost impregnable; for it was impossible to lead an army through the marshes without a thorough knowledge of the country, and it was easy to hold the few approaches to the island. He made his headquarters at Ramsey Abbey, and by promises and rewards prevailed on the people of the neighbourhood to come to his aid and to act as guides. Moreover, he managed to establish an understanding with Nicolas Segrave, who allowed his men 'to pass the outposts which he guarded' (Prothero). He also made causeways of wattles, and as it was a dry summer he was able to bring both horse and foot over them in safety, and to take up a position close to the island. Then he made a proclamation that he would either behead or hang any one who attacked any of his men or hindered him in any way; for he made no doubt of his success. This proclamation dismayed the defenders of the island. They submitted on 11 July, and were allowed the terms drawn up at Kenilworth (Wikes, pp. 207-10; Liber de Ant Leg, p. 95; Cont. Flor.Wig. pp. 199-201). Their surrender brought the struggle to a close. Never, probably, has so long and desperate a resistance to royal authority as that made by the disinherited been put down with the like moderation. And while the self-restraint of the victors must be attributed to some extent to the masterly policy pursued by the Earl of. Gloucester in occupying London, it was also largely due to the wisdom and magnanimity of Edward. By the age of twenty-eight he had not only long outgrown the thoughtlessness of his early youth, but he had taken the chief part in breaking up the powerful combination that had usurped the executive functions of the crown, had saved the royal authority alike by his prudence and his valour, and had succeeded in putting an end to an obstinate rebellion by refraining from acts that would have driven the vanquished to desperation, and by readily admitting them to the terms that had been established by law, no less than by the skill and energy which he displayed as a military leader.
Later in the same year Edward visited Winchester, and went thence to the Isle of Wight, received its submission, and put it in charge of his own officers (Ann. Winton. p. 106). During the autumn, in conjunction with his brother and his cousin, Henry of Almaine, he arranged and engaged in a large number of tournaments, so that though these sports had been forbidden by royal decree (by Henry II, see William of Newburgh, v. c. 4) and by papal edict, there had not been so many held in England as there were that autumn for ten years and more (Wikes, p. 212). At the parliament held at Northampton on 24 June 1268 Edward, in pursuance of a vow he and his father had made, received the cross, together with his brothers and many nobles, from the hands of the legate Ottoboni. In the November parliament he was made steward of England. He had already been appointed warden of the city and Tower of London in the spring, and in the autumn of this year he received the custody of all the royal castles (Ann, Winton, p. 107; Liber de Ant, Leg. p. 108). He held a grant from the king of the customs on all exports and imports, which he let to certain Italians for six thousand marks a year. These Italians levied the customs from the citizens of London, contrary to the privileges of the city. A petition was therefore presented to Edward by the Londoners complaining of these exactions, and in April 1209 he promised that they should cease, and received two hundred marks from the citizens as an acknowledgment. He further gained popularity by strenuously urging a statute, published in the Easter parliament, held at London, that the Jews should be forbidden to acquire the lands of Christians by means of pledges, and that they should deliver up the deeds that they then held. The late war had greatly impoverished the landholding classes, and their Jewish creditors were pressing them severely. The measure was a wise one, because it helped to restore prosperity, and so strengthened the probability of a continuance of peace; and as the property of the Jews belonged to the king, it was a concession made to some extent at the expense of the crown (Wikes, p. 221 ). During this year Edward was busy in preparing for his crusade, and a large part of the subsidy of a twentieth lately imposed was voted to him for this purpose by the magnates and bishops. Some uneasiness was caused by the conduct of the Earl of Gloucester, who refused to attend parliament, alleging that Edward was plotting to seize his person. He is said to have looked with suspicion on the intimacy between Edward and his countess, from whom he was afterwards divorced (Oxenedes, p. 236). Gloucester's grievances were referred to the arbitration of the king of the Romans, and the earl then appears to have come up to the parliament, and to have opposed some proposals that were made as to the expenses of the crusade, probably with reference to the appropriation of the twentieth (Wikes, p. 208; Ann. Winton. p. 108). Meanwhile Edward was invited by Lewis IX of France to attend his parliament, in order to make arrangements for the crusade, which they purposed to make together. He went to Gravesend on 9 Aug., and the next, day had a long interview with the king of tne Romans, who had just landed, on the subject of the crusade. He then went to Dover, where he embarked (Liber de Ant, Leg, p. 110). When Lewis urged him to go with him he replied that England was wasted with war, and that he had but a small revenue. Lewis, it is said, offered him thirty-two thousand livres if he would consent (Opus Chron. p. 26). An agreement was made that the king should lend him seventy thousand livres, to be secured on Edward's continental possessions, twenty-five thousand of that sum being appropriated to the Viscount of Bearn for his expenses in accompanying him, and that Edward should follow and obey the king during the 'pilgrimage' as one of the barons of his realm, and send one of his sons to Paris as a hostage (Liber de Ant. Leg. pp. 111-14). He accordingly sent his son Henry to Lewis, who courteously sent him back at once (Cont. Flor. Wig. p. 204; Flores, ii. 348). He landed at Dover on his return on 8 Sept., and was present at the magnificent ceremony of the translation of King Edward the Confessor at Westminster on 13 Oct. In July 1270, in conjunction with the Archbishop of York and other lords, and at the head of an armed force, he arrested John, earl Warenne, for the murder of Alan la Zouche. On 6 Aug. he went to Winchester, obtained the king's license to depart and took leave of him, and then came into the chapter-house of St. Swithun's and humbly asked the prayers of the convent. He set out thence, intending to embark at Portsmouth; but hearing that the monks of Christ Church had refused to elect his friend and chaplain, Robert Burnell, to the archbishopric, he hastened to Canterbury in the hope that his presence would induce them to give way, but was unsuccessful in his attempt. He then went to Dover, where he embarked on 11 Aug., and sailed to Gascony, whither he had sent his wife on before him. His two sons he left in charge of his uncle. King Richard. Passing through Gascony and some of the mountainous districts of Spain, he arrived at Aigues-Mortes at Michaelmas, and found that Lewis had already sailed for Tunis.
When Edward landed on the African coast he found that Lewis was dead, and that his son Philip and the other chiefs of the crusade had made peace with the unbelievers. He was indignant at their conduct, and refused to be a party to it. ' By the blood of God,' he said, 'though all my fellow-soldiers and countrymen desert me, I will enter Acre with Fowin, the groom of my palfrey, and I will keep my word and my oath to the death' (0pus Chron. p. 29). He and the whole force sailed from Africa on 21 Oct., and on the 28th anchored about a mile outside Trapani, the kings and other chiefs of the expedition being taken ashore in small boat«. Tne next morning a violent storm arose, which did much damage to the fleet. Edward's ships, however , thirteen in number, were none of them injured, and their escape was put down to a miraculous interposition of Providence to reward him for refusing to agree to the proposal of the other kings, that he should, like them, desist from his undertaking (Hemingburgh, i. 331-83;Wikes, p. 329). He spent the winter in Sicily, and in the early spring of 1271 sailed for Syria, parting with his cousin Henry, whom he appointed seneschal of Gascony, and who was shortly afterwards slain at Viterbo by Simon and Guy de Montfort. After touching at Cyprus to take in provisions, he arrived at Acre, which was now closely besieged, in May. His army was small, consisting of not more than about one thousand men. He relieved the town, and about a month later made an expedition to Nazareth, which he took, slew all he found there, and routed a force which tried to cut him off as he returned. At midsummer he won another victory at Haifa, and advanced as far as Castle Pilgrim. These successes brought him considerable reinforcements. He sent to Cyprus for recruits, and a large body came over declaring, it is said, that they were bound to obey his orders, because his ancestors had ruled over them, and that they would ever be faithful to the kings of England (Hemingburgh). a third expedition was made 1-27 Aug. Still his troops were too few to enable him to gain any material success, and these expeditions were little better than raids. In 1272 he received several messages from the emir of Jaffa, proposing terms of peace: they were brought by the same messenger, one of the sect, it is said, of the Assassins, who thus became intimate with Edward's household. In the evening of 17 June, his birthday, Edward was sitting alone upon his bed bareheaded and in his tunic, for the weather was hot, when this messenger, who had now come to the camp for the fifth time, was admitted into his presence. The door of the room was shut, and the messenger, having delivered his master's letters, stood bending low as he answered the question that Edward asked him. Suddenly he put his hand in his belt, as though to produce other letters, pulled out a knife, whicn was believed to have been poisoned, and hit violently at Edward with it. Edward used his arm to shield his body from the blow, and received a deep wound in it; then, as the man tried to strike him again, he gave him a kick that felled him to the ground. He seized the man's hand, wrenched the knife from him with so much force that it wounded him in the forehead, plunged it into the assassin's body, and so slew him. When his attendants, who had withdrawn to some distance, came running in, on hearing the noise of the scuffle, they found the man dead, and Edward's minstrel seized a stool and dashed out his brains with it. Edward reproved him for striking the dead. The master of the Temple at once gave him some precious drugs to dnnk to counteract the effects of the poison, and the next day he made his will (Royal Wills, p. 18). After a few days the wound in his arm began to grow dark, and his surgeons became uneasy. 'What are you whispering about?' he asked; 'can I not be cured?' One of them, an Englishman, said that he could if he would undergo great suffering, and declared that he would stake his life on it. The king then said that he put himself in his hands, and the surgeon having caused the queen, who was crying loudly, to be removed from the room, the next morning cut away the whole of the darkened flesh, telling his lord that within fifteen days he would be able to mount his horse; and his word came true. The story that Eleanor sucked the poison from the wound seems to lack foundation [see under Eleanor of Castile]. When the sultan Bibars, who was suspected of being concerned in this attempt, heard of its miscarriage, he sent three ambassadors to declare that he had no hand in it. As they made repeated salaams to Edward, he said in English, 'You pay me worship, but you have no love for me.' The incident proves that in spite of his French taste and feelings, shown, for example, in his delight in tournaments, Edward constantly spoke English. He found that he could not achieve any material success in Palestine, his men were suffering from sickness, and he knew that his father's health was failing. Accordingly he made a truce for ten years with the sultan, and on 15 Aug. set sail for Sicily. He landed at Trapani alter, it is said, a voyage of seven weeks. He was entertained by King Charles, and while he was in Sicily neard of the deaths of his father on 10 Nov., of his uncle Richard, and of his first-born son, John. On the day of Henry's funeral, 20 Nov., the Earl of Gloucester, in accordance with a promise he had made to the late king, and the barons and bishops of the realm, swore fealty to Edward as their king. The magnates of the kingdom recognised and declared his right to succeed his father, and thus for the first time the reign of a sovereign of England began from the death of his predecessor through the doctrine that the 'king never dies' was not propounded until a later age (Stubbs, Constitutional Hist, ii. 103).
Edward was tall and well made, broad-chested, with the long and nervous arms of a swordsman,and with long thighs that gripped the saddle firmly. His forehead was ample, and his face shapely, and he inherited from his father a peculiar droop of the left eyelid. In youth his hair was so light that it had only a shade of yellow, in manhood it was dark, and in age of snowy whiteness. Although his voice was indistinct, he spoke with fluency and persuasiveness. He excelled in all knightly exercises, and was much given to hunting, especially to stag-hunting, and hawking (Trivet, p. 281 sq.; Hemingburgh, ii. l ). Brave, and indeed rash as regards his own safety, he was now an experienced leader; he was prudent in counsel, ready in devising, and prompt in carrying out whatever measures the exigencies of the moment seemed to demand. His word was always sacred to him, and he was ever faithful to the motto, 'Pactum serva,' that appears upon his tomb. At the same time he did not scruple when in difficulties to make subtle distinctions, and while keeping to the letter he certainly sometimes neglected the spirit of his promises. He was hasty, quick to take offence, and towards the end of his life hard and stern, though he was not wantonly cruel. No one probably ever learnt more from adversity. By his absence from England he enabled men to forget old feelings of bitterness against him; he returned when the country was prepared for the restoration of orderly administration, fully determined to supply its needs. And he did not simply restore, he reorganised. He was 'by instinct a lawgiver.' The age was strongly affected by the study of civil law, and he kept Francesco Accursi, the son of the famous legist of Bologna, in his service. He was skilful in arrangement, in definition, and in finding remedies and expedients in materials already at hand. His laws were for the most part founded on principles previously laid down, which he worked out and applied to the present wants of the nation. It was the same with all his constitutional and administrative reforms. He carried on the work that had been taken in hand by Henry II, developed its character, and organised its methods. Everywhere he freed the state from the action of feudal principles, and encouraged, and may almost be said to have created, national political life. He was the founder of our parliamentary system, yet in this as in most else his work was the completion of a process that had long been going forward. In his hands the assembly of the nation ceased to have a feudal character; the lords are no longer a loose gathering of the greater tenants in chief, but a definite body of hereditary peers summoned by writ, and the clergy and the commons appear by their representatives. Rights and duties were clearly laid down. and in all his reforms there is conspicuous an extraordinary power of adapting 'means to ends.' Yet great as the benefits are which he conferred on the nation, he loved power and struggled for it, generally unsuccessfully, for the means of self-government that he organised and placed in the hands of the nation were turned against him, and were more than once sufficient to thwart his will. These struggles led him to take advantage of quibbles that naturally suggested themselves to his legal mind. At the same time if he had not striven for power he would not have been a strong man, or done so great a work. (On Edward s legislative and constitutional work see Bishop Stubbs's Constitutional History, vol. ii. c. 14, 15; and Early Plantagenets, p. 202 sq.)
The kingdom was in good hands, and Edward did not hasten home. After all that had happened he probably judged wisely in prolonging his absence. From Sicily he passed through Apulia, and went to Home to visit Gregory X, who before his elevation had been with him on the crusade. He was received by the pope at Orvieto on 14 Feb. 1273, obtained a grant of the tenths of the clergy for three years to reimburse him for his crusading expenses, which pressed heavily on him, and stirred up Gregory to proceed against Guy de Montfort for the murder of his cousin. As he passed through Tuscany and Lombardy he was received with much honour by the cities to which he came, and saluted with cries of 'Long live the Emperor Edward!' (Flores, ii. 353). He crossed Mont Cenis 7 June, and forced a robber knight of Burgundy, who owned no lord, to become a vassal of the Count of Savoy. On the 18th he came to S. Georges les Reneins, near Lyons, and about this time engaged in a melee with the Count of Chalons. He received the count's challenge in Italy, and sent for divers earls and barons from England to come to him, so that he was at the head of a thousand picked men. The count singled him out, and strove to drag him from his horse, but was himself unhorsed. Then the fighting became serious, and the Burgundians, though superior in numbers, were defeated. Something more than a mere chivalrous encounter was evidently intended from the first, and the affair was called the 'little battle of Chalons' (Hemingburgh, i. 337-40). Edward reached Paris on the 26th, and did homage to Philip III for the lands he held of him. On 8 Aug. he left Paris for Gascony, where Gaston of Bearn was in revolt, and stayed there nearly a year. During a good part of this time he was engaged in an unsuccessful war with Gaston, losing both men and horses from want of food and other privations in the difficult country in which his enemy sheltered himself, Once he made Gaston prisoner, but he escaped again, and he finally referred the quarrel to his lord the king of France. Gaston was afterwards sent over to England by Philip, made submission, and was for about four years kept in honourable confinement. In July 1274 Edward met the Count of Flanders at Montreuil, and arranged a dispute which had put a stop to the exportation of English wool to Flanders (F?dera ii. 24-32). He landed at Dover 2 Aug., was entertained by Gilbert of Gloucester and John of Warenne in their castles of Tonbridge and Reigate (Flores ii. 363), reached London on the 18th, and on the next day, Sunday, was crowned with Eleanor at Westminster by Archbishop Robert Kilwardby. At the coronation he received the homage of Alexander of Scotland, but Llewelyn of Wales neglected the summons to attend. As many irregularities had been occasioned by the civil war, Edward on 11 Oct. appointed commissioners, with Burnell, bishop of Bath and Wells, whom he made his chancellor, at their head, to inquire into the state of the royal demesne, the rights of the crown, and the conduct of the lords of private franchises. The result of their inquiries is presented in the Hundred Rolls (pref. to Rot, Hundred, i.) At the beginning of November he proceeded to Shrewsbury, where he had summoned Llewelyn to meet him, but the prince did not attend (F?dera, ii. 41). In a great parliament, held at Westminster on 22 April 1276, the king 'by his council,' and by the assent of his lords and 'of all 'the commonalty of the land,' promulgated the 'Statute of Westminster the First,' a body of fifty-one chapters or laws, many of which were founded on the Great Charter (Statutes at Large, i. 74; Select Charters, p. 438). In return he received a grant of the customs on wool, woolfels, and leather, now for the first time made the subject of constitutional legislation, and in the parliament of 18 Nov. demanded a fifteenth from the laity, and asked for a subsidy from the clergy as a matter of grace, for they were already charged with the papal grant of a tenth. He further forbade the Jews to practise usury, and commanded that they should live by merchandise. On 17 April he and the queen went on pilgrimage to Bury St. Edmunds in pursuance of a vow made in Palestine. During the summer he suifered much from the effects of the wounds he had received from the assassin at Acre, and these probably had caused a serious abscess with which ne was troubled in the November previous. He was received at Oxford on 28 July with great pomp by the few clerks that were then there and by the citizens, but would not enter the city for fear of incurring the wrath of St. Frideswide (Wikes,p. 264). He went to Chester on 8 Sept.in order to meet Llewelyn, who refused to attend, was summoned to the forthcoming parliament, and again made default (F?dera, ii. 57; Ann, Wigorn, p. 468).
In the Easter parliament of 1270 Edward ordered that the charters should be observed, and fully pardoned the 'disinherited.' With this policy of pacification is to be connected his presence at the translation of Richard of Chichester on 16 June and his gifts at the shrine, for the bishop had been wronged by his father. He received a message from Llewelyn offering to ransom his affianced bride, Eleanor de Montfort, who had fallen into the king's hand. As, however, he refused to restore the lands he had taken, and to repair the castles he had destroyed, his otter was refused. During the autumn the Welsh were troublesome, and Edward was at Gloucester on 28 Sept. and Evesham on 1 Oct. to take measures against them. On 1 Nov. he sent a body of knights to keep order in the marches, and on the 12th it was agreed by common consent of the bishops, barons, and others 'that the king should make war on the Welsh with the force of the kingdom,' which was ordered to meet him the following midsummer (F?dera, ii. 68). In the October parliament the statutes 'de Bigamis' and of 'Rageman' were passed (Statutes, i. 115; Constitutional History, ii. 110). The king conducted the Welsh war in person, and moved the exchequer and king's bench to Shrewsbury. About 24 June he proceeded to Chester, had the woods cut down between Chester and the Snowdon country, and built the castles of Flint and Rhuddlan. Although many Welsh submitted to him, Llewelyn believed his position to be impregnable. Edward marched from Chester 31 July; Anglesey was taken by the fleet of the Cinque ports, and on 11 Nov. Llewelyn made his submission at Rhuddlan; he ceded the Four Cantreds, received Anglesey back at a rent of one thousand marks, promised to pay fifty thousand marks for peace, and to do homage in England, gave hostages, and was allowed to retain the homages of Snowdonia for his life. The payments were remitted, and the hostages restored (F?dera, ii. 88-92). His brother David, who had fought for Edward, was rewarded with lands and castles, was knighted, and received the daughter of the Earl of Derby in marriage. Llewelyn did homage and spent Christmas with the king at London; and the troubles with Wales, which had lasted more or less from Edward's youth appeared settled at last. Edward's Welsh castles belong to the class named after him 'Edwardian castles' for, though he was not the inventor of the style of forti- fication that marks them, he used it largely. They are built on the concentric principle, having two or three lines of defence, with towers at the angles and on the walls, and so arranged that 'no part is left to its own defences' (Mediæval Military Architecture, i. 157). With this war. in Wales must probably be connected the visit paid by Edward and his queen to Glastonbury on 13 April 1278. The tomb of Arthur was opened on the 19th, and the relics were translated, Edward carrying the bones of Arthur, and Eleanor the bones of Guinevere (Adam Of Domerham, p. 588). The war had been expensive, and on 26 June Edward issued a writ compelling all who had a freehold estate of 20l. to take up knighthood or pay a fine, a measure that did much to blend the lesser tenants-in-chief with the main body of freeholders. A few days later the parliament at Gloucester assented to the Statute of Gloucester, founded on the report in the Hundred Rolls, to amend the working of territorial jurisdictions; and proceeding on this statute and the report, Edward in August issued writs of 'Quo warranto,' which called on the lords to show by what warrant they held their jurisdictions, a measure that occasioned some discontent among them (Statutes, i. 117; Hemingburgh, ii. 5). Llewelyn did not attend the Gloucester parliament, and Edward went to the marches on 1 Aug. and received his homage. On 29 Sept. he received the homage of Alexander of Scotland at Westminster (F?dera, ii. 126; Ann. Wav, p. 370), and with him and the queen and many nobles attended the marriage of Llewelyn and Eleanor de Montfort at Worcester on 13 Oct. In November the king caused all the Jews throughout the kingdom to be arrested, and on 7 Dec. extended this order to the goldsmiths, on the charge of coining and clipping the coin. In April 1279 he had 267 Jews hanged in London, and gave notice of the forthcoming issue of round coins, appointing places where the old coins might be exchanged at a settled rate.
On the resignation of Archbishop Kilwardby in 1278, Edward procured the election of his friend and minister, Robert Burnell, and sent envoys to Rome to beg the pope to confirm the election. His request was refused, and Nicolas III gave the see to John Peckham. The death of the queen's mother, to whom the county of Ponthieu belonged, obliged Edward and the queen to visit Paris on 11 May 1279. Edward did homage to Philip for Ponthieu, and definitely surrendered all claim to Normandy (Ann. Wigorn, p. 477; F?dera, ii 135). While at Amiens he met Peckham on his way to England, and received him graciously (Peckham, Reg. i. 6); he returned on 19 June. Peckham soon offended the king, for in his provincial council at Heading he ordered the clergy to post copies of the Great Charter on the doors of cathedral and collegiate churches, and to ex-communicate all who obtained writs from the king to hinder ecclesiastical suits or neglected to carry out ecclesiastical sentences. Edward naturally took these decrees as an insult, and in the Michaelmas parliament forced Peckham to renounce them. He further replied to the archbishop's challenge by the statute 'De Religiosis' or of 'Mortmain,' passed on 15 Nov. by the parliament at Westminster, a measure which preserved the rights of the superior lords and of the crown, as lord-paramount, against the church, and which was a development of one of the provisions of 1269 (Statutes, i. 133; Ann. Wav. p. 392; Cotton, p. 158; Select Charters, p. 448; Const. Hist. ii. 112). And he also demanded a fifteenth from the spiritualities. In these measures Edward was not acting in a spirit of revenge, for the next year, when he remonstrated with Peckham for holding a visitation of the royal chapel, he accepted the archbishop's assertion of his right. Findings however, that Peckham was about to issue canons in a council held at Lambeth in September 1281 that would have removed causes touching the right of patronage and other spiritual matters from the courts of the crown, he peremptorily interfered, and the archbishop was compelled to give way (Wikes, p. 285; Wilkins, ii. 50). On 9 June 1280 he attended a general chapter of the Dominicans held at Oxford. In the course of the last year he had issued a decree pronouncing that all Jews guilty of irreverence and all apostates to Judaism should be punished with death, and now, at the persuasion of the Dominicans, he ordered that the Jews should be forced to listen reverently to certain sermons that were to be preached for their edification. In September of this year he was at Lanercost, and held a great hunting in Inglewood Forest (Chron. Lanercost, p. 106).
While Edward was keeping Easter at Devizes in 1282, news was brought him that Llewelyn and David, whom he had loaded with favours, had rebelled against him, had taken his castles, slain a multitude of people, and carried off Roger Clifford, the constable of Howarden, as a prisoner. At first he could not believe what he heard, but he soon found that it was true (Tywysogion, p. 373; Ann, Wav, p. 398; Wikes, p. 288). He summoned the barons to meet him at Worcester at Whitsuntide, 6 April, and the bishops and knights to assemble at Rhuddlan on 2 Aug., and again moved the exchequer to Shrewsbury. Moreover he sent to Gascony for help from his subjects there. He made his headquarters at Rhuddlan, and ravaged Llewelyn's lands during August. Roads were made through the woods, the fleet of the Cinque ports again attacked Anglesey, and a bridge was begun across the straits. Edward's army met with some severe reverses, and on 6 Nov., when an attack was treacherously made by some nobles during the progress of negotiations, the Welsh routed the attacked force, and many were drowned in the Menai (Ann, Osen. p. 289). Encouraged by his success Llewelyn left Snowdonia, and was slain in a skirmish on 10 Dec. in Radnor; his head was brought to Edward, who had it sent to London and exposed on the Tower. He spent Christmas at Rhuddlan, and finished his bridge. The war taxed Edward's resources severely, and in March he caused to be seized the money that, in accordance with a decree of the council of Lyons, had been collected for a crusade and stored in the cathedral churches. This provoked an indignant letter from Martin IV. Before its arrival, however, the king had promised that the money should be refunded, and Peckham went off to meet him at Acton Burnell, and prevailed on him to make immediate restitution (Registrum Peckham ii. 635 sq.) At Easter he was at Aberconway, where he built one of his famous castles. Wales was now thoroughly subdued, and the two most precious treasures of the Welsh, the crown of Arthur and a piece of the true cross, were brought to the conqueror. David was delivered up by the Welsh on 22 June, and taken to Edward at Rhuddlan, but the king would not see him. He determined 'that he should be tried before a full representation of the laity' (Const, Hist, ii. 116), and accordingly summoned a parliament to meet at Shrewsbury at Michaelmas, consisting of the baronage, two knights from each county, and representatives from certain cities and boroughs; the clerical estate was not represented, as the business concerned a capital offence. David was tried by a judicial commission before his peers, condemned, and sentenced to be drawn, hanged, beheaded, disembowelled, and quartered, a hitherto unheard-of sentence (Ann, Osen, p. 294). A few days later, at Acton Burnell, Edward put forth an ordinance, called the 'Statute of Acton Burnell' which had been drawn up by him and his council for securing the debts of traders by rendering the profits of land liable for the same. He spent Christmas at Rhuddlan, on 9 Jan. 1284 was at York at the consecration of his clerk, Antony Bek, to the see of Durham, then held a parliament at Lincoln, and was again at Rhuddlan at mid-Lent, when he put forth the laws which are called the 'Statute of Wales,' though they were not the result of parliamentary deliberation (Const. Hist, ii. 117). By this statute the administration of the country was to some extent assimilated to the English pattern; in certain districts sheriffs, coroners, and bailiffs were appointed, though the jurisdiction of the marchers was still preserved in other parts,the English criminal law was to be in force, while in most civil matters the Welsh were allowed to retain their old customs. In the summer Edward celebrated his conquest by holding a 'round table' at Newyn in Carnarvonshire, near the sea; the festivities cost a large sum, and were attended by a crowd of knights, both from England and from abroad (Ann, Wav, p. 402; Ann, Dunst. p. 313). He spent Christmas at Bristol, where he held a 'singular, not a general, parliament,' consisting simply of certain specially summoned nobles (Ann. Osen, p. 300). Thence he went to London, where he was received with great rejoicing, for he had not been there for nearly three years (Ann, Wav, p. 402).
A summons from Philip III to render him such assistance in his war with Peter III of Aragon as was due by reason of his tenure of Gascony put Edward in some difficulty, for he was by no means anxious for the aggrandisement of France. However, he went to Dover as though to embark. While there the illness of his mother gave him an excuse for remaining at home, and he passed Lent in Norfolk and Suffolk (Ann. Osen. p. 300; Trivet, p. 310). This year is marked by the 'culminating point in Edward's legislative activity' (Const. Hist, ii. 118). In the mid-summer parliament, held at Westminster, he published the collection of laws known as the 'Statute of Westminster the Second' (Statutes, i. 163), the first chapter of which, called 'De Donis Conditionalibus,' the foundation of estates tail, restricting the alienation of lands, probably shows the influence of the nobles. Other chapters deal with amendments of the law relating to dower, advowsons, and other matters. The whole forms a code, the importance of which did not escape the notice of contemporary chroniclers (Ann, Osen, p. 304; Statutes, i, 164). It was probably during this parliament, which lasted for the unusually long period of seven weeks, that Edward dealt decisively with the question of ecclesiastical jurisdiction that had been in dispute ever since the reign of Henry II, and his action in this matter should be compared with the policy of that king as expressed in the Constitutions of Clarendon. Undaunted by previous defeats Peckham evidently instigated the bishops of his province to present a petition to the crown against the summary conclusion of ecclesiastical suits by royal prohibition. Edward, however, limited the sphere of clerical jurisdiction to matrimonial and testamentary cases, and afterwards relaxed this by issuing the writ 'Circumspecte agatis,' which clearly defines the cases which were to be entertained by ecclesiastical courts (Statutes i. 242; Ann, Dunst p. 317; Cotton, p. 166; Const. Hist, ii. 119). In the Statute of Winchester, published in the October parliament, the king revived and developed the ancient laws relating to police organisation, and to the obligation of keeping arms for the public service, and applied them to the needs of the time by converting them into a complete system for the protection of persons and property, for the capture of oftenders, and for the establishment of the liability of districts for losses sustained through the failure of their police arrangements (Select Charters p. 459).
In a parliament consisting of ecclesiastical and civil magnates, held on 23 April 1286, Edward announced his intention of going to France. His presence was required in Gascony, though the immediate cause of his departure was to act as mediator in the long quarrel between the French and the Aragonese for the possession of Sicily. Edward had now for some years been looked on as the most fitting arbitrator in this matter. When, in 1282, Charles of Anjou and Peter of Aragon agreed to decide their dispute by a combat, in which each was to be supported by one hundred knights, they fixed the place of meeting at Bordeaux, and selected Edward as judge. On 6 April 1283 Martin IV wrote, forbidding him to allow the encounter, and Edward sent ambassadors with letters to Charles and Peter, declaring that 'if he could gain Aragon and Sicily' by it he would not allow it (F?dera, ii. 226, 240, 241). Finally, while refusing to have anything to do with the matter, he ordered the seneschal of Bordeaux to put the city at the disposal of the Angevin prince. He mediated unsuccessfully in 1284 between Philip III and Peter, and the king of Aragon hoped to engage him on his side. Edward, however, while anxious to prevent the increase of the power of France at the expense of Aragon, which would have endangered his possession of Gascony, would not be drawn into war beyond the sea. The captivity of Charles the Lame and the deaths of Peter and Philip III opened the way for fresh negotiations, and Philip IV, the sons of Charles, and the nobles of Provence all invoked the interference of the king of England (ib. ii. 317, 818). Edward sailed on 23 May, leaving the kingdom in charge of his cousin Edmund, and taking with him the chancellor and many nobles (Ann, Osen, p. 306). He was honourably received by Philip, did homage to him at Amiens, and then went with him to Paris. After obtaining the settlement of several questions connected with his foreign possessions and rights, he left Paris at Whitsuntide and proceeded to Bordeaux, where he repressed some disaffection among the citizens with considerable sharpness (Hemingburgh, ii. 16). He then held a congress at Bordeaux, which was attended by representatives of the kings of Ar [22]
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1239 - 1307 (68 years)
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