Edward I - Longshanks, Hammer of the Scots Biography Documentary

[Music] [Music] [Music] the man known to history as King Edward the first of England or Edward the Longshanks as he's also known was born on the 17th of June 12:39 in the Palace of Westminster London his parents were King Henry the 3rd of England and Elinor prevents who married in 1236 and named their son after the anglo-saxon King of England Edward the Confessor during his early childhood Edward was a weak and sickly boy which led to fears that he would not live to see adulthood but by the time he was a teenager he had shaken off his ill health and became unusually tool by medieval standards eventually reaching a colossal 6-4 - which is the reason for his nickname Longshanks meaning long legs as was customary from Eddie Wu nobility and royalty edward was educated by scholars and clergyman and he also stayed with friendly noble families who helped to raise and qu2 him during his early years when he was 15 a marriage was arranged between Edward and Elinor the daughter of Ferdinand the 3rd of Castile which then went ahead on the 1st of November 12:54 when he was 15 and Elinor was 13 in time the two became a devoted couple and their marriage is unusual for an arranged marriage and that it seems to have been a union based on love rather than mere political convenience as he grew older edward was granted lands and titles such as in castile as well as in Gascony and ireland but he initially had little influence over these lands as control over them lay in the hands of powerful Nobles such as Simon de Montfort who was married to King Henry the 3rd sister King Henry the 3rd is remembered as being one of the more pious or religious kings of England as he was far more interested in attending mass or in the construction of churches than in kingly duties this is borne out by him spending most of his reign overseeing the reconstruction of Westminster Abbey in London which today is still the site of royal coronations Henry did however undertake various military campaigns on the continent all of which ended in failure and led to discontent as each adventure was paid for by loans and taxes which were all wasted due to his defeats these failures combined with Henry's lavish spending on religious projects greatly weakened his authority over time and eventually led to powerful Nobles throughout the kingdom attempting to undermine the Kings power indeed the growing influence of the nobility and the English Parliament at this time came about as a direct result of the kings of England demanding money to undertake military campaigns and it was excessive taxation which has led to the nobility to force Henry the Third's father King John to sign the Magna Carta and give them a greater say in government but this in turn led to growing tension between the monarch and England's leading Nobles especially over the issue of representation of the Barons in government as Henry the 3rd was still largely able to act in many instances without consulting his subordinates leading to many English barons becoming discontented it should be noted also that the English Nobles saw themselves as loyal subjects of the King as they thought those advising him were responsible for influencing him in making bad decisions there was also personal animosity between Henry and Simon de Montfort as he had married the King's sister Eleanor without his permission and had amassed considerable debts which he had named Henry the third guarantor of without consent these are good examples not only of de Montford arrogance but also of Henry the thirds weakness as many other English kings including Edward the first himself would never have stood for any of their Nobles acting in such a disrespectful manner this animosity between Simon de Montfort the Barons and Henry the third then eventually boiled over in 1258 when the King was forced to sign the provisions of Oxford and later the provisions of Westminster which stated that Henry would have to seek the counsel of his barons in the governance of the kingdom but the king then overthrew the provisions in 1261 with the support of the Pope resulting in the Barons raising their own independent parliament which was then dissolved as concerns rose over potential civil war de Montford initially fled the country after this but then returned in 1263 and with the support of influential barons race an army an attack London which rose up in Revolt in support of him and King Henry and the young Prince Edward were then taken prisoner the King's advisors would then replace with rebel barons who along with De Montfort assumed control of the government in the King's name but his increasing authority and unprecedented actions led to a weakening of his support resulting in the king and Prince Edward's release shortly afterwards the king then appealed to Louis the 9th of France to arbitrate in the dispute between him and his Nobles and after hearing from both sides the French Kings sided with Henry and condemned the Barons for their actions De Montfort and his followers did not accept the ruling however and after returning to England both sides started to ready their forces the ruling classes of the kingdom were now divided in two with many Barons either siding with De Montfort or King Henry making civil war in England inevitable and hostilities then broke out when the Kings army faced off against the rebel barons at the Battle of Lewes on the 14th of May 1264 during the battle Prince Edward led a successful cavalry charge on the royalist right flank but lost control of his men leading to them chasing the opponents from the field then when Edward returned to the fray he discovered that his father had been beaten and the rebel barons were victorious leading afterwards to King Henry and Prince Edward once again being taken prisoner de montfort now effectively ruled England as a kind of Regent for the next fifteen months and this period is important in English history as he called a new Parliament in early 1265 which for the first time allowed commoners or Knights of the shire and Burgesses from towns to attend this group of commoners in Parliament would later come to be known as the Commons and eventually the House of Commons which would over the next 500 years subsea both the House of Lords and the monarchy itself the humiliation of being captured and held prisoner in many ways is one of the crucial turning points in Prince Edward's life as he had no doubt by this time had learned from his mistakes as well as those of his father and was evidently determined to reclaim his family's birthright and also take revenge on de Montfort for his treachery he then escaped his captors in May of 1265 after which he rallied royalist supporters to his calls amassing a sizeable army to confront de Montfort whose own support was now to interlink Prince Edward then claimed revenge on his enemy at the Battle of Evesham on the 4th of August 1265 in which the outnumbered rebel army was decimated and the majority of its leaders were killed indeed de Montfort himself was killed by having his neck run through with a lance and his body was then brutally mutilated by Edwards soldiers in which they hacked off his testicles and hung them over his nose this was against the conventional conduct of warfare of the time as Nobles lives were often spared after being captured in battles after which they were ransomed back to their own side but in Edwards eyes de Montfort was a traitor who deserved a brutal death and he seems to have been determined to reasserts oriT II as well as the authority of the monarchy itself by showing potential rebels that he was a man who was not to be messed with Edward had also proven himself to be an extremely capable leader despite his young age as well as a promising future king because without his actions it is probable that de Montfort's rule would have lasted for much longer as peace was now finally restored in England Edward with his father's support started preparations to join the French King Louie the ninth crusade in North Africa around Tunisia against the Muslims the only sticking point was money as the raising of an army was expensive in the extreme meaning that the Parliament would have to be called to approve the required taxation an agreement was then reached with Parliament for the money to be granted on the condition that King Henry reinstate the Magna Carta and Prince Edward then left England in 1268 along with his wife Eleanor and a small force for around 1200 men-at-arms and knights they then travelled through France and across the Mediterranean to North Africa but on arrival were given the news that King Louie had died of dysentery the combined French and English Crusader force then withdrew to Sicily but after a heavy storm the French decided to return home instead of continuing Edward could have turned back himself but instead decided to carry on to the Holy Land where the final remnants of the Crusader States were struggling to contain the Mamluks the Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land have been in existence for 200 years but were by this time on the verge of defeat as the flow of men-at-arms and Knights from Europe had steadily decreased over the years weakening the Christians ability to resist their numerically superior enemies Edward then arrived in the Holy Land at acre in 1271 but his time in the Middle East would ultimately prove to be fruitless as the Crusader states were pale shadows of their former selves by this stage meaning that the region was now dominated by the local super powers such as the Mamluks under the 4th Sultan of Egypt by bars and the Mongol Empire to the east Edward could not hope to face his enemies in open battle and was largely constrained to only small operations but simply did not have the strength in numbers challenged that tens of thousands of troops Baibars had under his command he was however able to help in the negotiation of a truce with the Egyptian Sultan before leaving the Holy Land which was supposed to last for ten years and he then remained in the region in order to see if the treaty would be honored probably the most notable incident during Edwards time in the Middle East occurred one night in his bedchamber when he was attacked and almost killed by an assassin it is unclear who ordered his death as some accounts state who was Baibars whereas others say it was ordered by a mysterious old man of the mountains who was a leader of a fanatical Islamic sect whoever did organise the attempt on his life Edward was able to fend off and kill his assailant but was stamped with a poison knife during the struggle his wife Eleanor according to accounts then sucked the poison from the wound possibly saving her husband's life in the process and the two then left the Holy Land in September of 12 72 as it was evident that their lives were in danger and also that little more could be done to further the Christian calls the couple along with their followers then arrived in Sicily some weeks later but were then given the news that Edwards father Henry the third had died meaning that he was now the King of England instead of rushing home Edward chose to take his time as he knew that his power base in England was secure leading to him along with Eleanor visiting the Pope in Rome as well as the French King in order to strengthen diplomatic ties after returning to England Edward aged 35 was crowned King Edward the first of England on the 19th of August 12 74 in the Westminster Abbey which his father had been laid to rest shortly before 1 account of the coronation stays that after the crown was placed on his head Edward immediately took it off stating that he would only wear it again when all of England's territories that had been lost during his father's reign were retaken it is also clear that from the start Edward demanded total obedience from his subjects and immediately set about restoring the authority of the crown in order to prevent the civil strife which have played the country in previous decades one of the first pressing concerns was the growing disobedience as Edward saw it of the Prince of Wales Fluellen a preferred who had been given the title by Edward the First's father Henry the 3rd in return for agreeing to pay homage to the English crown however Llewellyn's rise to power which included the conquest of other rival Welsh kingdoms had gained him powerful enemies within his own country and he was also unpopular in England as he had been an ally of Simon de Montfort indeed there was even division within his own family as his brother David had tried to have Fluellen assassinated but had fled Wales after the attempts failure this resentment against Fluellen from both within his own family and country would prove to be his downfall as by the time Edward had invaded Wales with tens of thousands of troops there was no unified Welsh force capable of stopping them Fluellen also made matters worse by continually refusing to pay homage to Edward as his new feudal overlord which eventually resulted in the English king declaring war and undertaking an invasion of South Wales the reason for attacking via the South was this area had formerly been ruled by opponents of Fluellen who then joyed Edwards campaign swelling his numbers in the process the English King was also joined by flu Allen's brother davit who had fled the country after his failed assassination attempt who no doubt now hoped to replace his brother as the Prince of Wales this initial invasion then ended in 1277 with Edwards armies claiming large swaths of southern and central Wales and a treaty was then signed in which flew Ellen's territories were reduced to northwest of the country but he was allowed to keep his title as Prince his brother Dafydd was also rewarded with a small parcel of land which he was far from happy with as he felt his support of King Edward in his invasion when that he deserved a greater share of the Spoils this led to him starting a revolt in 1282 which was then joined by his brother through Allen as it had no doubt become evident to both men that the independence of Wales was now at stake and their infighting had done nothing would make their country's defeat more likely Edward then initiated his second invasion of Wales in a three-pronged assault in the south east and north culminating in the death of frou Ellen in December of 1280 - and the capture and execution for treason or his brother David shortly afterwards the English King then acted to consolidate his rule over Wales by the construction of dozens of castles many of which can still be seen today the most impressive of these is the immense fortress achenar Bern where Edwards son and heir the future Edward ii was born in 1284 Edward also gave his son the title Prince of Wales and ever since the heir to the English throne has been given the title in a ceremony at Caen arvin castle the king then planned to potentially undertake another crusade against the Mamluks but this was soon ruled out by growing tensions between the European powers which made a formation of a multinational Crusader force all but impossible Edward instead sought to secure his lands on the continent by travelling across the channel in 1286 in order to pay homage for his lands in Gascony to the new French King Philip the fourth who had come to the throne the year before this was essential as Edwards conquest of Wales had proved the payment of homage to a feudal overlord for a territory was crucial in the avoidance of conflict and despite the rivalry between Edward and the king of France he swallowed his pride in order to maintain the peace however during his time in France Edwards wife Eleanor started to fall ill indeed the Queen had had to endure over 16 pregnancies during her lifetime which no doubt took a considerable toll on her health and there are numerous records of her being given medicines for her ailments the king and queen then returned to England and began to prepare for Eleanor's death by touring her properties throughout the kingdom in order to settle Affairs in the Queen's estates but the combination of travelling and the winter weather proved to be too much for her and she died on the 28th of November 1292 48 in the village of Harvey in Northampton Shearer Edward was distraught at his wife's demise as he seems to have genuinely loved her and he then accompanied her body from Lincoln to London or during the construction of Memorial crosses at every other night stop along the way until she was finally laid to rest in Westminster Abbey the building of these memorials is unprecedented in English history and surely is a testament to how much Edward loved Eleanor and how heartbroken he was at her death indeed some of these crosses can still be seen today such as the Northampton cross and the Charing Cross in London which takes its name from the original memorial which was destroyed in the 1600s accounts also state that this may have been another turning point in Edwards reign as King as his demeanour seems to have hardened after Eleanor's passing resulting in him becoming bad-tempered and cold in nature there are even stories which give us some idea of what an imposing or even terrifying man Edward could be one of which states to the Dean of st. Paul's once collapsed and died in front of the king out of sheer terror but the king was not gifted much time to come to terms with his loss as shortly after his wife's death the King of France flipped the 4th claimed Edwards lands in Gascony and to avoid conflict the English King entered negotiations to marry his son to Philips half-sister Blanche however Edward then heard that Blanche was particularly beautiful and decided to marry her himself and in turn marry his son to Blanche his sister Margaret instead but when he sent for blanche to be brought to England it was discovered that the French King had agreed that she was to marry the son of Albert the first of Germany instead and had thusly gone back on the deal this led to him declaring war on France but the conflict was short-lived as the English King had other concerns in Scotland resulting in a peace treaty eventually being agreed in which Edward married Margaret instead although Edward the first is often portrayed as a warlike King which is certainly accurate his constant campaigning did result in certain lasting reforms such as the growing influence of England's Parliament this was because he was determined that the division Civil War he had experienced during his father's reign was not to be repeated and sought to bring this around like giving Parliament and through it the country as a whole a greater say in governance he did this by continuing the representation of the lower classes in Parliament such as the previously mentioned Knights of the shire along with the burgesses could petition Parliament with any grievances or complaints from their representative counties this was an important step as the representation of the lower classes which Simon de Montfort had instigated now became the norm from this point in English history in contrast to this a particularly dark chapter in Edwards reign was his persecution and eventual expulsion from the country of its Jewish population this was nothing new as Simon de Montfort himself had been responsible for several massacres of Jews such as in Worcester and a clampdown of Jewish communities had occurred across Europe before the main reason for the Jewish persecution in England around this time was that Edward had partially funded his campaigns with Jewish money in the shape of loans this was because Christians were forbidden in the Bible to lend money therefore one of the few sources of capital the king and the population could obtain was from the Jewish lenders this is one of the root causes of anti-semitism in Europe as many Christians in England and throughout the continent were indebted to Jews which made them increasingly unpopular and is the root cause of the perception that Jewish people are good with money Edward then in 1275 and Jews from selling expensive or high interest loans to the population which were known as usury and then four years later had hundreds of Jews executed after they were accused of debasing or to face the coinage by cutting off the edges from gold and silver coins which was known as coin clipping all of this then culminated in 1290 when Edward expelled Jews from England all together and then seized their property in assets which he then used to further fund his military campaigns this money was needed as another crisis then loomed as Edwards near constant campaigning and heavy taxation eventually drove the English nobility and population to near revolt the growing unrest and resentment occurred between 1297 and the time of his death as Edwards was engaged in conflict of both against Scotland and on the continent around this time which required more and more taxes grants and levies to sustain however the discontentment throughout the country was curtailed after the English defeat to the Scots at Stirling Bridge as fears of Scottish invasion brought some unity within the nobility and population as a whole indeed the final years of Edwards reign would come to be dominated by his struggle to gain control over Scotland as he attempted to bring the country under his rule in much the same manner as he had done in Wales the root cause of the trouble north of the English border occurred in 1286 when Alexander the third King of Scots died without an heir as all of his children had also died before him he did however have one last descendant as his daughter Margaret will also be married to King Eric ii of norway had given birth to a daughter also named margaret in 1283 but had died herself during labour edward was then appointed arbiter for margaret to travel to Scotland to claim the throne which then resulted in him reaching an agreement with the Scottish nobility to accept Margaret as Queen of Scots and also that she was to marry his son Edward Prince of Wales this would have meant the Prince of Wales would have been married to the Queen of Scots and therefore resulted in their first child potentially being monarch to both countries Edward was also related to the young Princess Margaret as she was the great-granddaughter of his own father Henry the third making him her great-uncle however the union between Margaret and Prince Edward was not to be as she died on her way to Scotland aged just seven years old which throw from the Scottish succession once again the next claimants in the line to the Scottish throne were John Balliol and Robert Bruce the fifth Lord of Annandale the grandfather of the most famous Robert Bruce who would later become King of Scots then over 100 auditors were appointed from the followers of both claimants who would vote to decide the succession and King Edward also appointed a small number of his own auditors which essentially had the final say over the matter as the auditors of both men would inevitably vote for their respective candidates in the end John Balliol was chosen to be the next king of Scots but Edward as king of England was overruled of Scotland meaning the Bailee all would have to pay homage to him from then on and provide him with troops and money when demanded this was nothing new as kings of Scotland had paid homage to the King of England for some time but the Scots had always resisted English interference if they felt it went too far this was borne out as King John and the Scottish Nobles gradually grew more and more tired of Edwards demands and then in 1295 sent emissaries to King Philip the fourth of France and formed an alliance of mutual assistance against England which is now known as the old alliance John Balliol and the Scottish Nobles then led an army south in 1296 and attacked the city of Carlisle and this along with Scotland's alliance and France then spurred Edward into action he then invaded Scotland itself brutally sacking the border city of barrack after which the English army advanced further north until John Bailey or himself was forced to surrender he then abdicated the Scottish throne in 1297 and was after being held in the Tower of London allowed to go into exile in France until his death 17 years later Edward clipping forgiven for thinking that Scotland was now his but events in the country soon change once again as unrest had been growing due to the English occupation which eventually resulted in a widespread revolt led amongst others by a minor nobleman named William Wallace who quickly assembled a small army and began causing havoc throughout the country Edward was at this time in France and had left his forces in the north under the command of the Earl of Surrey who then advanced into Scotland to deal with Wallace's forces the English and Scottish armies then met at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on the 11th of September 1297 in which the English were conclusively beaten this defeat was an international humiliation for the English and forced Edward to return from France after he concluded a peace treaty and he then gathered an army with which he marched north in 1298 to take back control of Scotland once and for all he then eventually met Wallace's forces at the Battle of Falkirk on the 22nd of July 1298 in which the English managed to defeat the Scots and effectively end any immediate hopes they had of Independence Edward could have been forgiven for thinking that he had effectively won his war to subdue Scotland in the early 1300s as virtually the entire country including strategically vital castles like Stirling came under English control and in 1305 William Wallace was finally captured brought to London and her drawn and quartered Edward also had the backing of the majority of the Scottish nobility which had initially sworn loyalty to him but this will change when Robert the Bruce assassinated his rival John Comyn in Greyfriars Church at Dumfries in 1306 after which he had himself crowned King of Scots Bruce was then defeated in the Battle of methan and afterwards fled the lowlands for the Western Isles to avoid capture but returned to Scotland in early 1307 and started conducting hit-and-run raids on English forces in the south of the country prompting the English King - once again react Edward despite his failing health still was determined to lead his armies but would never have the opportunity of bringing the rebellious Bruce to heel he then set out from England but whilst travelling north he contracted dysentery and on the morning of the 7th of July 1307 just south of the Scottish border was being fed by his servants lost consciousness and died there were various tales or legends regarding what Edward said on his deathbed one rather gruesome account states that he left instructions that the flesh was to be bald from his bones and carried at the head of the English armies against the Scots other accounts however stay that he merely commanded his bands to look after his son Edward ii and is sure that piers Gaveston who was the Prince of Wales troublesome companion and rumored lover was not to be allowed to return to the country the King's body was then taken back to London and laid to rest in an usually plain tomb in Westminster Abbey which can still be seen to this very day one of Edwards nicknames which we still use today is the hammer of the Scots in reference to his invasion of Scotland however there is little evidence that he was known as this during his reign as the inscription hammer of the Scots was painted onto his tomb in the 1500s by an abbot named John Feckenham another interesting event regarding Edward's tomb occurred in 1774 when it was opened by the Society of Antiquities who reported that his body was in a remarkable state of preservation and this sketch was made of his body before the tomb was sealed once again King Edward the first is today considered as one of the most effective capable a notorious English monarchs of the Middle Ages this is because during the Middle Ages the most important attribute monarchs had to possess was strength in order to keep their subordinates in line and it must be said that when we think of Edward today the words authority and strength certainly comes to mind in this respect Edward was certainly initially successful as he commanded near total respect and loyalty from the English nobility and population early on in his reign but his campaigns and Wars both in Wales Scotland and the continent eventually taxed England's population to near breaking point but on the other hand gave Parliament greater influence by the standards of the time Edward the first was the very epitome of a warrior king whose reign shaped and indeed still shapes the geographical and political landscapes of the British Isles today although he is perhaps most famous for his conquest of Scotland after his death everything he had fought for including the Plantagenet dynasty itself was jeopardized by the mismanagement and incompetence of his son and heir edward ii who himself was later deposed his king indeed it must be said that Edward the first should take the blame for some of edward ii failings as after all he was his father and in many ways the number one goal of any monarch was producing a competent heir this is perhaps being super critical as in many ways Edwards reign as King of England was one of the most successful that any medieval English King enjoyed sadly edward has recently been portrayed merely as a tyrant in modern adaptations of his life when in reality the truth is far more complicated as in regards to his conquest of Scotland edward clearly thought his actions were justified by the standards of the time in short he was one of the strongest and most imposing monarchs ever to sit on the English throne but the argument remains as to whether he was too strong or too warlike whatever the truth about Edward the first or whatever your opinions are on his actions there is no denying that he is still one of the most famous controversial important Kings ever to sit on the throne of England [Music] thank you so much for watching this video you can now gain early access to the next documentary right now on our 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Views: 908,708

Rating: 4.8116808 out of 5

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel

Id: uBd3-GI2jaQ

Length: 35min 1sec (2101 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 30 2018