Relationship to me:	Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather	Gen -23
Born:	17 Jun 1239
Died:	7 Jul 1307
Age	68
Father:	King Henry III	1207 - 1272
Mother:	Eleanor
Brothers:
Sisters:
Married:	(1) Eleanor of Castile	1241 - 1290
	(2) Margaret of France	c.1279 - 1318
Children:	(1) King Edward II	1284 - 1327
	Elizabeth (Isabel), Princess	1282 - 1316
	(2) Thomas de Brotherston	1300 - 1338

See http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon30.html for further information on King Edward I.

According to information passed on to me by Ian Caldwell, in Dec 2001: "Edward I King of England 1272-1307, born Palace of Westminster 17/6/1239, son of Henry III and Eleanor, died Burgh-on-Sands, near Carlisle, 7th June 1307, aged 68, buried Westminster Abbey.

Married (1) Eleanor of Castile (1241-90) in October 1254, at Huelgas, Castile, daughter of Ferdinand, King of Castile, 16 children.
(2) Margaret of France (c.1279-1318) on 10/9/1299 at Canterbury Cathedral, daughter of Phillipe III king of France, 3 children.
Nicknames: "The Lawgiver", "The Hammer of the Scots", "The Father of the Mother of Parliaments", "The English Justinian", and "Longshanks". The latter because he was a tall man (6 ft 2 inches) who was healthy, strong and immensely powerful, a born soldier.

He married Eleanor when he was only 15 and she barely 13 and she was known as the infanta of Castile - which was corrupted to "The Elephant and Castle" by some English ears. Edward was invested as Duke of Gascony by the French King in 1254, at the time of his marriage, and at the same time was given lands in Wales and Ireland by his father. Two years later he met his first rebellion when the Welsh rose under Llywelyn ap Gruffydd against the imposed system of county administration. However a peace was rapidly sought as Henry III was facing his own internal problems. As we have seen, it was Edward who rescued his father from de Montfort and the barons, using his military skill and he brought peace to England by 1269.

In 1272, when he was 30, he set out on a Crusade to the Holy Land, accompanied by Eleanor. He succeeded in relieving Acre from a siege by the Egyptians and won a victory at Jaffa. When he returned to Acre a messenger from the Emir of Jaffa came to him with a letter, then treacherously stabbed him with a poisoned dagger. Edward immediately slew the assassin and it is said that his life was saved by Eleanor who sucked the poison from the wound. Edward was in Palestine when his father died but he did not learn of his death until he was in Sicily, on his way home, in November 1272, but he did not feel the need to rush back. Instead he travelled triumphantly through Italy as a Crusader hero and new King, and in France he paid homage to the French King, Philippe III. He did not return to England until 2nd August 1274 and his coronation was held 17 days later.

Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, who had previously rebelled, failed to attend the coronation. Edward twice commanded him to attend his court, even travelling to Chester in 1276 to make it easier for Llywelyn, but when he didn¹t appear Edward took action. He declared Llywelyn rebel and anyone supporting him would be a traitor. He marched in to Powys and any opposition crumbled. He marched into Gwynedd and forced Llywelyn to submit. The Treaty of Aberconway allowed Llywelyn to keep his title but was forced to share rule with his brother. However after further rebellions in Wales Llywelyn was killed in a skirmish, his brother was arrested and executed for treason, and in 1284 the Statute of Wales was enacted bringing it under direct control from England. In June 1284 he celebrated by holding an Arthurian Round Table court at Nefyn, but the festivities were so well attended that the floor gave way under the strain. However it was not until February 1301 that he invested his son, Edward, as Prince of Wales.

Edward I was the most influential ruler in the development of the English central courts and the common law since Henry II. During his reign, feudalism was being replaced by parliamentary rule and the importance of the feudal baron was in decline. Associated with this was the beginning of a national paid army.

When Eleanor died in Hareby, Lincolnshire, in 1290 Edward was distressed and wrote, "We loved her tenderly in her lifetime and we do not cease to love her in death." At the time of her death Edward of Carnavon, the heir apparent, was only six. She had had four sons and several daughters, but three of her sons died young. Her body was brought by solemn procession to London and at every place where it rested for the night Edward had a cross erected, the "Eleanor Crosses". The finest of these is at Waltham in Herefordshire and the last one is at Charing Cross, then the village of Charing. The Queen was buried with much ceremony at Westminster.

In 1290 Edward seems to have hardened his heart, for it was then that he expelled over 16,000 Jews from England for usury. It was also in 1290 when Margaret, the infant Queen of Scotland died, leaving Scotland without a clear heir and the Scottish magnates appealed to Edward to adjudicate over a successor. Edward chose the weaker John Balliol over Robert the Bruce. At first John Balliol obeyed the summonses and demands of Edward but eventually he was incited to rebel in 1295.

In 1296 Edward marched with his army to viciously overthrow the rebellious Balliol and teach the Scots who was master. When he took Berwick on Tweed his army slaughtered all the 17,000 inhabitants, men, women and children, leaving their bodies to rot as a lesson against rebellion. The Scots in other towns he took were treated with equal cruelty and contempt, something the Scots would not forget for many generations. Edward marched on Scone, taking as his prize, the Stone of Destiny and, when he returned to England, he specially commissioned a chair, the Coronation Chair, to hold this stone which he had taken, along with the regalia of the Kings of Scotland. By taking the stone Edward believed he had won a psychological victory against the Scots. This ancient throne was made by Walter of Durham in 1299, a man who had been Sergeant Painter to King Edward I since 1270.

But the Scots were not to be subdued that easily and rebelled again under William Wallace. Edward was forced to lead another army on to Scotland and defeated Wallace at Falkirk on 22nd July 1298. The campaigning carried on and although he captured and executed Wallace in August 1305 a further rebellion erupted this time led by Robert Bruce. Once again he set out to march on Scotland but developed dysentery and, as he lay dying in 1307, he demanded that his dead body be carried into Scotland at the head of his army, and his tomb stone should bear the epitaph "Malleus Scotorum", Hammer of the Scots".