Edward 1st  1272-1307 (33 when crowned)

Edward was both a just ruler and supporter of law and order and a superb and energetic military man making him a perfect Medieval king. He was well supported by a vivacious Spanish wife who produced him 16 children giving him little time for women on the side, almost a norm for Kings in those days. He had only one bastard son.

He set out to improve the economy which was based on wool, (from sheep) defend the remaining French territories and expand west into Wales, north into Scotland and consolidate his position in Ireland.

He was succeeded by his overtly homosexual and useless son Edward (2nd) who undid much of the good work of his father.

In Edwards time the English language was used more and more but Chaucer was not to be bourn until 1342. By comparison Dante the father of the Italian language (rather than Latin) lived at the same time as Edward. (Dante born Florence 1265) 

Banking, Jews and Italians

Edward should also be remembered for expelling all Jews from England during his reign. Edward had no wish to so do because Jews at the time were the sole money lenders to the crown, needed particularly to fund wars. Jews had this position because the Pope had forbidden all Christians to lend money for a profit and hence Jews were the only group left who could be bankers. Getting rich without physically working annoyed Christians and they invented all sorts of lies about Jews such as their custom of sacrificing Christian babies. Such stories were easily believed all over Europe and hence Kings were forced to expel all Jews.

Banking services were then supplied by some rich  Italian traders, Milan, Genoa and later Florence. They got over the Popes ban on money lending by effectively bribing the Pope. For example no bribe and they would go to hell, a suitable cash sum would guarantee on death a passage to heaven! This had a very beneficial side effect in that bankers could for example finance the painting of a church ceiling. This funded the commencement of Renaissance art.   

Edward’s territorial campaigns

Wales

1277  Territorial campaigns in the first part of  Edwards reign were centred on Wales where the king of all Wales, Llewellyn refused to align himself with Edward having been a friend of Simon de Montfort. Edward had no difficulty in beating Llewellyn’s armies and he was allowed to retain only the island of Anglesey and the barren area around mount Snowdon.

1284 Llewellyn’s brother David tried to avenge his brothers defeat but was also defeated by Edward. The statute of Wales enacted this year annexed Wales to England to be ruled by the same laws.

Edward made his young son (to become Edward 2nd) the first “Prince of Wales” a title given to the eldest son of the king even to this day. 

Scotland

1291 Scotland had been relatively stable for some 250 years under the Dunkeld dynasty (also called the Canmore Dynasty after Malcolm Canmore 1058-1093)) which had commenced in the bloody Duncan/Macbeth era  described in the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. (In England the ruler at the time was Edward the Confessor.) Unfortunately this stable line came to an end in 1286 with the death on horseback of Scottish King Alexander 3rd. His nearest heir was his 3 year old granddaughter Margaret, the “Maid of Norway” and daughter of the King of Norway. Note the Norwegians (or Vikings) still ruled the extreme north west of Scotland, including the Western and Orkney Islands. King Edward of England saw this as an opportunity to stake his claim into Scotland and proposed that his 2 year old son Edward be betrothed to the 3 year old princess. Unfortunately the poor 3 year old died in the Orkneys on her way to take the Scottish throne which scuppered Edward plans and brought 3 Scotsmen forward with roughly equal rights to the throne.

Edward as Overlord was asked by the Scottish council to choose between the 3;

John Balliol, Robert Bruce and John Hastings. Edward chose John Balliol.

Note the King of England had been “Overlord” of Scotland (but regularly disputed) since the reign of the son of King Alfred the Great, Edward the Elder around AD 900.

This arrangement did not last. Balliol thought Edward was too intrusive and when Edward attacked France Balliol saw the opportunity to attack the north of England and he covered himself with the added insurance of doing a deal with France. Edwards’s response was immediate and comprehensive. He captured Berwick then the largest and most important town in Scotland, rich from their wool trade with Flanders, captured Balliol and imprison him in England.

Scotland ceased to be an independent kingdom. The Scottish crown jewels and  the sacred stone of Scone were taken to Westminster Abbey where they remain to this day.  

Wallace, Comyn and Bruce

1297-1306 During this period these three Scots commencing with Wallace and finishing with Bruce attacked the north of England and three times Edward marched north to defeat them. Edward succeeded with the first two campaigns but died on his way north at the age of 68  for the last. Bruce lived to fight another day.   

Constitutional changes under Edward.

Demonstrating the slow but steady progress towards a Parliamentary Democracy which had commenced with Magna Carta and King John and continued under Henry 3rd and Simon de Montfort.

There were 8 main ones during his reign. Here we look at the most important ones. 

The development of a Common Law towards what we have now

• Edward reorganised the Courts of Law into three divisions which had up to this time come under one man the Justiciar: The Kings Bench, The court of Common Pleas and the Court of the Exchequer.

The development of a representative Parliament.

• Edward still needed to be controlled by the Barons or rather the Parliament. For example he had raised  the duty on wool to six times from the figure before his reign. So he was forced to agree that “no aids or tallage should be levied but by common consent of the realm.” IE Parliament. (Once again in the vein of Thomas of Becket, the Clergy under Archbishop Winchelsea refused to make any grant to the King, so Edward seized their lands.)

• Edward called the first complete Parliament(1295) representing the 3 Estates of the Realm; The Lords (Barons), the elected Commons and the Clergy. The so called “Model Parliament”.

Also

• Edward also confirmed and enhanced the work of Henry 2nd as follows; 1) Each class of person should provide a specified set of weapons and men to support international wars. 2) The gates of all walled towns should be closed at sunset. 3) that all strangers (travellers) should present themselves to the local magistrate. 4) Every district should be responsible for the crimes within its boundaries. 5) All main roads should have clear land for 200 feet on either side to minimise attack by highwaymen. 6) That officers should be appointed to enforce these statutes. (Afterwards called Justices of the Peace.)

Exactly as Henry 2nd Edward had to ensure that the church did not become too powerful.

• The Statute of Mortmain was passed which forbid people from giving land to the church. This was to avoid sinners buying forgiveness and an automatic passage to heaven by giving gifts to the church. The Church had been getting rich by selling such a concept to be called “indulgencies”.

Expulsion of Jews 1290 and the change to Christian Banking

William the Conqueror had introduced Jews to England to raise funds for his activities in England and 200 years later Edward 1st got rid of all of them. Why?

Money-lending for profit had been forbidden as a Christian activity from about AD 1000  and so in a Christian world all “banking” was organised by Jews.

From about Edwards time however Christians in Italy recommenced this service partly as a service to the Vatican in the transfer of the huge amounts of money which the church was collecting from its parishioners in say England to the vaults in Rome.

Making money from this service was seen as illegal or sinful in the sight of God and the Italian Bankers were always looking for ways of paying off their sins so they would go to heaven!

Two solutions to the problem were developed.

• Firstly making money from the conversion of money from one currency to another.

• Secondly from providing the service at a profit whereby sellers of goods in one country could receive money from their customer in another country in their own currency. The Medici family bank in Florence became to most successful in this area.

Medici bankers we always trying to find methods of paying for this sin and the results are there even now for everybody to enjoy in the form of the Renaissance art and sculptures seen in every square and every church in modern day Florence all financed from illegal banking profits. Artists include the likes of Donatello and Michelangelo.  

England features strongly in Medici history as much of their money was made financing the sale of English wool to Flemish and Florence cloth makers. And much Medici money was lost when English Kings defaulted on their loans. 
 

Edward 1st one of the best ever English Kings died in 1307 aged 68 having reigned for 35 years. There is no record of his physical appearance at all. He was succeeded by his son Edward.

Edward should also be noted for introducing the most hideous of punishments for acts against the crown (treason), that of Hanging Drawing and Quartering. This entailed;

1. Hanging until the man was nearly dead.

2. Cutting open his stomach and drawing out his intestines.

3. Cutting him with an axe into four pieces.

It is said he invented this public punishment in an effort to subdue the Welsh and the Scots. Women who committed treason were spared this ordeal and just burnt alive at the stake!