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 wasnow 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 houseagainst 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 desiredto 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 12 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).....this article is extensive with a full description of his reign as king. click on link to view in its entirety....
....His malady returned with increased severity, and that day he only journeyed two miles. Still his spirit was undaunted; he again set out the next day, and again could not ride further than the same distance. On Wednesday he rested, and the next day arrived at Burgh-on-Sands (Trivet, p. 413, n. 3). There he took leave of the Prince of Wales; he bade him send his heart to the Holy Land with a hundred knights, who were to serve there for a year; not to bury his body until he had utterly subdued the Scots;and to carry his bones from place to place wherever he should march against them, that so he might still lead the army to victory, and never to recall Gaveston without the common consent of the nation. He died with, it is said, words of faith in God uponhis lips, on Friday, 7 July, at the age of sixty-eight (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 108)
His son disobeyed his dying commands, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey on 27 Oct, By his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, he had four sons: John and Henry, who died in infancy; Alfonso, who lived to the age of twelve; and Edward, who succeeded him; and nine daughters, four of whom died young. The others were: Eleanor, born in 1266, betrothed to Alfonso of Aragon (Fœdera, ii. 214), married Henry III, count of Bar, in 1293, and died in 1298; Joanna, born at Acre in 1272, betrothed in 1278 to Hartmann, son of the Emperor Rudolf (ib. 1067), who was drowned in 1281, married first, Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, in 1289, and secondly, in 1296, against the will of her father, a simple knight, Ralph of Monthermer, who thus obtained the earldom of Gloucester (Hemingburgh, ii. 70, records how she defended her conduct in making this marriage), she died in 1307; Margaret, born in 1275.), married John, afterwards duke of Brabant, in 1290, and died in 1318; Mary, born in 1279, took the veil at Amesbury in 1284 somewhat against the wish of her father, who yielded in this matter to the urgent request of the queen-mother; she was alive in 1328 (Trivet, p. 310; Monanticon, ii. 237-40); Elizabeth, born at Rhuddlan in 1282, and so called the 'Welshwoman' ('Walkiniana,' Cotton, p. 163), married first, John, count of Holland, in 1296, and secondly, Humphrey Bohun, fourth earl of Hereford, in 1302, and died in 1316. By his second wife, Margaret, who survived him, Edward had two sons, Thomas [q. v.], earl of Norfolk, born at Brotherton in 1300, and Edmund [q. v.], earl of Kent, born in 1301, and a daughter who died in infancy. |
EDWARD I King of England Lord of Ireland and Duke of Aquitaine HP01 WC01 EA01