Edward I of England
King of England from 1272 to 1307 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Edward I[lower-alpha 1] (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 to 1306 he ruled Gascony as Duke of Aquitaine in his capacity as a vassal of the French king. Before his accession to the throne, he was commonly referred to as the Lord Edward. The eldest son of Henry III, Edward was involved from an early age in the political intrigues of his father's reign. In 1259, he briefly sided with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford. After reconciliation with his father, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was held hostage by the rebellious barons, but escaped after a few months and defeated the baronial leader Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Within two years, the rebellion was extinguished and, with England pacified, Edward left to join the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land in 1270. He was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed of his father's death. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
Edward I | |
---|---|
King of England | |
Reign | 20 November 1272 – 7 July 1307 |
Coronation | 19 August 1274 |
Predecessor | Henry III |
Successor | Edward II |
Born | 17/18 June 1239 Palace of Westminster, London, England |
Died | 7 July 1307 (aged 68) Burgh by Sands, Cumberland, England |
Burial | 27 October 1307 Westminster Abbey, London |
Spouses | |
Issue Detail | |
House | Plantagenet |
Father | Henry III, King of England |
Mother | Eleanor of Provence |
Edward spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law. Through an extensive legal inquiry, he investigated the tenure of several feudal liberties. The law was reformed through a series of statutes regulating criminal and property law, but the King's attention was increasingly drawn towards military affairs. After suppressing a minor conflict in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second one in 1282–83 by conquering Wales. He then established English rule, built castles and towns in the countryside and settled them with English people. After the death of the heir to the Scottish throne, Edward was invited to arbitrate a succession dispute. He claimed feudal suzerainty over Scotland and invaded the country, and the ensuing First Scottish War of Independence continued after his death. Simultaneously, Edward found himself at war with France (a Scottish ally) after King Philip IV confiscated the Duchy of Gascony. The duchy was eventually recovered but the conflict relieved English military pressure against Scotland. By the mid-1290s, extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation and this met with both lay and ecclesiastical opposition. When the King died in 1307, he left to his son Edward II a war with Scotland and other financial and political burdens.
Edward's temperamental nature and height (6'2") made him an intimidating figure. He often instilled fear in his contemporaries, although he held the respect of his subjects for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith. Modern historians are divided in their assessment of Edward; some have praised him for his contribution to the law and administration, but others have criticised his uncompromising attitude towards his nobility. Edward is credited with many accomplishments, including restoring royal authority after the reign of Henry III and establishing Parliament as a permanent institution, which allowed for a functional system for raising taxes and reforming the law through statutes. At the same time, he is also often condemned for his wars against Scotland and for expelling the Jews from England in 1290.
Childhood and marriage
Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence.[4][5] Edward, an Anglo-Saxon name, was not commonly given among the aristocracy of England after the Norman conquest, but Henry was devoted to the veneration of Edward the Confessor and decided to name his firstborn son after the saint.[6] Edward's birth was widely celebrated at the royal court and throughout England, and he was baptised three days later at Westminster Abbey.[5][7] He was commonly referred to as the Lord Edward until his accession to the throne in 1272.[8] Among his childhood friends was his cousin Henry of Almain, son of King Henry's brother Richard of Cornwall.[9] Henry of Almain remained a close companion of the prince for the rest of his life.[10] Edward was placed in the care of Hugh Giffard – father of the future Chancellor Godfrey Giffard – until Bartholomew Pecche took over at Giffard's death in 1246.[5][11] Edward received an education typical of an aristocratic boy his age, including in military studies,[5] although the details of his upbringing are unknown.[12]
There were concerns about Edward's health as a child, and he fell ill in 1246, 1247, and 1251.[9] Nonetheless, he grew up to become a strong, athletic, and imposing man.[5] At 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) he towered over most of his contemporaries,[13][14] hence his epithet "Longshanks", meaning "long legs" or "long shins". The historian Michael Prestwich states that his "long arms gave him an advantage as a swordsman, long thighs one as a horseman. In youth, his curly hair was blond; in maturity it darkened, and in old age it turned white. The regularity of his features was marred by a drooping left eyelid ... His speech, despite a lisp, was said to be persuasive."[15]
In 1254, English fears of a Castilian invasion of the English-held province of Gascony induced King Henry to arrange a politically expedient marriage between fifteen-year-old Edward and thirteen-year-old Eleanor, the half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile.[16] They were married on 1 November 1254 in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Castile.[17] As part of the marriage agreement, Alfonso X gave up his claims to Gascony, and Edward received grants of land worth 15,000 marks a year.[18][lower-alpha 2] The marriage eventually led to the English acquisition of Ponthieu in 1279 upon Eleanor's inheritance of the county.[20] Henry made sizeable endowments to Edward in 1254, including Gascony;[5] most of Ireland, which was granted to Edward with the stipulation that it would never be separated from the English crown;[21] and much land in Wales and England,[22] including the Earldom of Chester. They offered Edward little independence for Henry retained much control over the land in question, particularly in Ireland, and benefited from most of the income from those lands.[23] Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester had been appointed as royal lieutenant of Gascony the year before and drew its income, so in practice Edward derived neither authority nor revenue from this province.[24] Around the end of November, Edward and Eleanor left Castile and entered Gascony, where they were warmly received by the populace. Here, Edward styled himself as "ruling Gascony as prince and lord", a move that the historian J. S. Hamilton states was a show of his blooming political independence.[25]
From 1254 to 1257, Edward was under the influence of his mother's relatives, known as the Savoyards,[25][26] the most notable of whom was Peter II of Savoy, the Queen's uncle.[27] After 1257, Edward became increasingly close to the Lusignan faction – the half-brothers of his father Henry III – led by such men as William de Valence.[28][lower-alpha 3] This association was significant because the two groups of privileged foreigners were resented by the established English aristocracy, who would be at the centre of the ensuing years' baronial reform movement.[30] Edward's ties to his Lusignan kinsmen were viewed unfavourably by contemporaries,[25] including the chronicler Matthew Paris, who circulated tales of unruly and violent conduct by Edward's inner circle, which raised questions about his personal qualities.[31]
Early ambitions
Edward showed independence in political matters as early as 1255, when he sided with the Soler family in Gascony in their conflict with the Colomb family.[25] This ran contrary to his father's policy of mediation between the local factions.[32] In May 1258, a group of magnates drew up a document for reform of the King's government – the so-called Provisions of Oxford – largely directed against the Lusignans. Edward stood by his political allies and strongly opposed the Provisions.[33] The reform movement succeeded in limiting the Lusignan influence, and Edward's attitude gradually changed. In March 1259, he entered into a formal alliance with one of the main reformers, Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester and on 15 October announced that he supported the barons' goals, and their leader, the Earl of Leicester.[34]
The motive behind Edward's change of heart could have been purely pragmatic: the Earl of Leicester was in a good position to support his cause in Gascony.[35] When the King left for France in November, Edward's behaviour turned into pure insubordination. He made several appointments to advance the cause of the reformers, and his father believed that Edward was considering a coup d'état.[36] When Henry returned from France, he initially refused to see his son, but through the mediation of Richard of Cornwall and Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, the two were eventually reconciled.[37] Edward was sent abroad to France, and in November 1260 he again united with the Lusignans, who had been exiled there.[38]
Back in England, early in 1262, Edward fell out with some of his former Lusignan allies over financial matters. The next year, King Henry sent him on a campaign in Wales against the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, but Edward's forces were besieged in northern Wales and achieved only limited results.[39] Around the same time, Leicester, who had been out of the country since 1261, returned to England and reignited the baronial reform movement.[40] As the King seemed ready to give in to the barons' demands, Edward began to take control of the situation. From his previously unpredictable and equivocating attitude, he changed to one of firm devotion to protection of his father's royal rights.[41] He reunited with some of the men he had alienated the year before – including Henry of Almain and John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey – and retook Windsor Castle from the rebels.[42] Through the arbitration of King Louis IX of France an agreement was made between the two parties. This Mise of Amiens was largely favourable to the royalist side and would cause further conflict.[43]
Second Barons' War
The years 1264–1267 saw the conflict known as the Second Barons' War, in which baronial forces led by the Earl of Leicester fought against those who remained loyal to the King. Edward initiated the armed conflict by capturing the rebel-held city of Gloucester. When Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby, came to the assistance of the baronial forces, Edward negotiated a truce with the Earl. Edward later broke the terms of the agreement.[44] He then captured Northampton from Simon de Montfort the Younger before embarking on a retaliatory campaign against Derby's lands.[45] The baronial and royalist forces met at the Battle of Lewes, on 14 May 1264. Edward, commanding the right wing, performed well, and soon defeated the London contingent of the Earl of Leicester's forces. Unwisely, he pursued the scattered enemy, and on his return found the rest of the royal army defeated.[46] By the Mise of Lewes, Edward and his cousin Henry of Almain were given up as hostages to Leicester.[47]
Edward remained in captivity until March 1265, and even after his release he was kept under strict surveillance.[48] In Hereford, he escaped on 28 May while out riding and joined up with Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, who had recently defected to the King's side.[49] The Earl of Leicester's support was now dwindling, and Edward retook Worcester and Gloucester with little effort.[50] Meanwhile, Leicester had made an alliance with Llywelyn and started moving east to join forces with his son Simon. Edward made a surprise attack at Kenilworth Castle, where the younger Montfort was quartered, before moving on to cut off the Earl of Leicester.[51] The two forces then met at the Battle of Evesham, on 4 August 1265.[52] The Earl of Leicester stood little chance against the superior royal forces, and after his defeat he was killed and mutilated on the field.[53]
Through such episodes as the deception of Derby at Gloucester, Edward acquired a reputation as untrustworthy. During the summer campaign he began to learn from his mistakes and gained the respect and admiration of contemporaries through actions such as showing clemency towards his enemies.[54] The war did not end with the Earl of Leicester's death, and Edward participated in the continued campaigning. At Christmas, he came to terms with Simon the Younger and his associates at the Isle of Axholme in Lincolnshire, and in March he led a successful assault on the Cinque Ports.[55] A contingent of rebels held out in the virtually impregnable Kenilworth Castle and did not surrender until the drafting of the conciliatory Dictum of Kenilworth in October 1266.[56][lower-alpha 4] In April it seemed as if the Earl of Gloucester would take up the cause of the reform movement, and civil war would resume, but after a renegotiation of the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth, the parties came to an agreement.[57][lower-alpha 5] Around this time, Edward was made steward of England and began to exercise influence in the government.[58] He was also appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1265.[59] Despite this, he was little involved in the settlement negotiations following the wars. His main focus was on planning his forthcoming crusade.[60]
Crusade and accession
Edward pledged himself to undertake a crusade in an elaborate ceremony on 24 June 1268, with his brother Edmund Crouchback and cousin Henry of Almain. Some of Edward's former adversaries, such as John de Vescy and the 7th Earl of Gloucester, similarly committed themselves, although some, like Gloucester, did not ultimately participate.[61] With the country pacified, the greatest impediment to the project was acquiring sufficient finances.[62] King Louis IX of France, who was the leader of the crusade, provided a loan of about £17,500.[63] This was not enough, and the rest had to be raised through a direct tax on the laity, which had not been levied since 1237.[63] In May 1270, Parliament granted a tax of one-twentieth of all movable property; in exchange the King agreed to reconfirm the Magna Carta, and to impose restrictions on Jewish money lending.[64][lower-alpha 6] On 20 August Edward sailed from Dover for France.[66] Historians have not determined the size of his accompanying force with any certainty, but it was probably fewer than 1000 men, including around 225 knights.[62]
Originally, the Crusaders intended to relieve the beleaguered Christian stronghold of Acre in Palestine, but King Louis and his brother Charles of Anjou, the king of Sicily, decided to attack the emirate of Tunis to establish a stronghold in North Africa.[67] The plans failed when the French forces were struck by an epidemic which, on 25 August, killed Louis himself.[lower-alpha 7] By the time Edward arrived at Tunis, Charles had already signed a treaty with the Emir, and there was little to do but return to Sicily.[69] Further military action was postponed until the following spring, but a devastating storm off the coast of Sicily dissuaded both Charles and Philip III, Louis's successor, from any further campaigning.[70] Edward decided to continue alone, and on 9 May 1271 he finally landed at Acre.[71]
The Christian situation in the Holy Land was precarious. Jerusalem had been reconquered by the Muslims in 1244, and Acre was now the centre of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[72] The Muslim states were on the offensive under the Mamluk leadership of Baibars, and were threatening Acre. Though Edward's men were an important addition to the garrison, they stood little chance against Baibars's superior forces, and an initial raid at nearby St Georges-de-Lebeyne in June was largely futile.[73] An embassy to the Ilkhan Abaqa of the Mongols helped bring about an attack on Aleppo in the north, which distracted Baibars's forces.[74] The Mongol invasion ultimately failed. In November, Edward led a raid on Qaqun, which could have served as a bridgehead to Jerusalem, but this was unsuccessful. The situation in Acre grew desperate, and in May 1272 Hugh III of Cyprus, who was the nominal king of Jerusalem, signed a ten-year truce with Baibars.[75] Edward was initially defiant, but in June 1272 he was the victim of an assassination attempt by a member of the Syrian Order of Assassins, supposedly ordered by Baibars. Although he managed to kill the assassin, he was struck in the arm by a dagger feared to be poisoned, and was severely weakened over the following months. This finally persuaded Edward to abandon the campaign.[69][76][lower-alpha 8]
It was not until 24 September 1272 that Edward left Acre. Shortly after arriving in Sicily, he was met with the news that his father had died on 16 November.[78] Edward was deeply saddened by this news,[79] but rather than hurrying home at once, he made a leisurely journey northwards.[80] This was due partly to his still-poor health, but also to a lack of urgency.[81] The political situation in England was stable after the mid-century upheavals, and Edward was proclaimed king after his father's death, rather than at his own coronation, as had until then been customary.[82][lower-alpha 9] In Edward's absence, the country was governed by a royal council, led by Robert Burnell.[83] Edward passed through Italy and France, visiting Pope Gregory X and paying homage to Philip III in Paris for his French domains.[84][80] Edward travelled by way of Savoy to receive homage from his uncle Count Philip I for castles in the Alps held by a treaty of 1246.[80]
Edward then journeyed to Gascony to order its affairs and put down a revolt headed by Gaston de Béarn.[83][85] While there, he launched an investigation into his feudal possessions, which, as Hamilton puts it, reflects "Edward's keen interest in administrative efficiency ... [and] reinforced Edward's position as lord in Aquitaine and strengthened the bonds of loyalty between the king-duke and his subjects".[85] Around the same time, the King organised political alliances with the kingdoms in Iberia. His four-year-old daughter Eleanor was promised in marriage to Alfonso, the heir to the Crown of Aragon, and Edward's heir Henry was betrothed to Joan, heiress to the Kingdom of Navarre.[86] Neither union would come to fruition. Only on 2 August 1274 did Edward return to England, landing at Dover.[86][87] The thirty-five-year-old king held his coronation on 19 August at Westminster Abbey, alongside Queen Eleanor.[13][88] Immediately after being anointed and crowned by Robert Kilwardby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward removed his crown, saying that he did not intend to wear it again until he had recovered all the crown lands that his father had surrendered during his reign.[89]
Conquest of Wales
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd enjoyed an advantageous situation in the aftermath of the Barons' War. The 1267 Treaty of Montgomery recognised his ownership of land he had conquered in the Four Cantrefs of Perfeddwlad and his title of Prince of Wales.[90] Armed conflicts nevertheless continued, in particular with certain dissatisfied Marcher Lords, such as the Earl of Gloucester, Roger Mortimer and Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford.[91] Problems were exacerbated when Llywelyn's younger brother Dafydd and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys, after failing in an assassination attempt against Llywelyn, defected to the English in 1274.[92] Citing ongoing hostilities and Edward's harbouring of his enemies, Llywelyn refused to do homage to the King.[93] For Edward, a further provocation came from Llywelyn's planned marriage to Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Montfort the Elder.[94]
In November 1276, Edward declared war.[95][96] Initial operations were launched under the captaincy of Mortimer, Edward's brother Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, and William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick.[95][lower-alpha 10] Support for Llywelyn was weak among his own countrymen.[97] In July 1277 Edward invaded with a force of 15,500, of whom 9,000 were Welshmen.[98] The campaign never came to a major battle, and Llywelyn soon realised he had no choice but to surrender.[98] By the Treaty of Aberconwy in November 1277, he was left only with the land of Gwynedd, though he was allowed to retain the title of Prince of Wales.[99]
When war broke out again in 1282, it was an entirely different undertaking. For the Welsh, this war was over national identity, enjoying wide support, provoked particularly by attempts to impose English law on Welsh subjects.[100] For Edward, it became a war of conquest rather than simply a punitive expedition, like the former campaign.[101] The war started with a rebellion by Dafydd, who was discontented with the reward he had received from Edward in 1277.[102] Llywelyn and other Welsh chieftains soon joined in, and initially the Welsh experienced military success. In June, Gloucester was defeated at the Battle of Llandeilo Fawr.[103] On 6 November, while John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, was conducting peace negotiations, Edward's commander of Anglesey, Luke de Tany, decided to carry out a surprise attack. A pontoon bridge had been built to the mainland, but shortly after Tany and his men crossed over, they were ambushed by the Welsh and suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Moel-y-don.[104] The Welsh advances ended on 11 December, when Llywelyn was lured into a trap and killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge.[105] The conquest of Gwynedd was complete with the capture in June 1283 of Dafydd, who was taken to Shrewsbury and executed as a traitor the following autumn;[106] Edward ordered Dafydd's head to be publicly exhibited on London Bridge.[107] Further rebellions occurred in 1287–88 and, more seriously, in 1294, under the leadership of Madog ap Llywelyn, a distant relative of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.[108] This last conflict demanded the King's own attention, but in both cases the rebellions were put down.[109]
By the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan, the principality of Wales was incorporated into England and was given an administrative system like the English, with counties policed by sheriffs.[110] English law was introduced in criminal cases, though the Welsh were allowed to maintain their own customary laws in some cases of property disputes.[111] After 1277, and increasingly after 1283, Edward embarked on a project of English settlement of Wales, creating new towns like Flint, Aberystwyth and Rhuddlan.[112] Their new residents were English migrants, the local Welsh being banned from living inside them, and many were protected by extensive walls.[113][lower-alpha 11]
An extensive project of castle-building was also initiated, under the direction of James of Saint George,[115] a prestigious architect whom Edward had met in Savoy on his return from the crusade.[116] These included the Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech castles, intended to act both as fortresses and royal palaces for the King.[117] His programme of castle building in Wales heralded the introduction of the widespread use of arrowslits in castle walls across Europe, drawing on Eastern architectural influences.[118] Also a product of the Crusades was the introduction of the concentric castle, and four of the eight castles Edward founded in Wales followed this design.[119] The castles drew on imagery associated with the Byzantine Empire and King Arthur in an attempt to build legitimacy for his new regime, and they made a clear statement about Edward's intention to rule Wales permanently.[120]
In 1284, King Edward had his son Edward (later Edward II) born at Caernarfon Castle, probably to make a deliberate statement about the new political order in Wales.[121] [lower-alpha 12] In 1301 at Lincoln, the young Edward became the first English prince to be invested with the title of Prince of Wales, when the King granted him the Earldom of Chester and lands across North Wales. The King seems to have hoped that this would help in the pacification of the region, and that it would give his son more financial independence.[123][lower-alpha 13]
Diplomacy and war on the Continent
Edward never again went on crusade after his return to England in 1274, but he maintained an intention to do so, and in 1287 took a vow to go on another Crusade.[69][125] This intention guided much of his foreign policy, until at least 1291. To stage a European-wide crusade, it was essential to prevent conflict between the sovereigns on the Continent.[126] A major obstacle to this was represented by the conflict between the French Capetian House of Anjou ruling southern Italy and the Crown of Aragon in Spain.[126] In 1282, the citizens of Palermo rose up against Charles of Anjou and turned for help to Peter III of Aragon, in what has become known as the Sicilian Vespers.[127] In the war that followed, Charles of Anjou's son, Charles of Salerno, was taken prisoner by the Aragonese.[128] The French began planning an attack on Aragon, raising the prospect of a large-scale European war. To Edward, it was imperative that such a war be avoided, and in Paris in 1286 he brokered a truce between France and Aragon that helped secure Charles's release.[129] As far as the crusades were concerned, Edward's efforts proved ineffective. A devastating blow to his plans came in 1291, when the Mamluks captured Acre, the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land.[130]
Edward had long been deeply involved in the affairs of his own Duchy of Gascony.[131] In 1278 he assigned an investigating commission to his trusted associates Otto de Grandson and the chancellor Robert Burnell, which caused the replacement of the seneschal Luke de Tany.[132] In 1286, Edward visited the region himself and stayed for almost three years.[133] On Easter Sunday 1287, Edward was standing in a tower when the floor collapsed. He fell 80 feet, broke his collarbone, and was confined to bed for several months. Several others died.[134] Soon after he regained his health, he ordered the local Jews expelled from Gascony,[135] seemingly as a "thank-offering" for his recovery.[136][lower-alpha 14]
The perennial problem was the status of Gascony within the Kingdom of France, and Edward's role as the French king's vassal. On his diplomatic mission in 1286, Edward had paid homage to the new king, Philip IV, but in 1294 Philip declared Gascony forfeit when Edward refused to appear before him in Paris to discuss the recent conflict between English, Gascon, and French sailors that had resulted in several French ships being captured, along with the sacking of the French port of La Rochelle.[138]
Correspondence between Edward and the Mongol court of the east continued during this time.[139] Diplomatic channels between the two had begun during Edward's time on crusade, regarding a possible alliance to retake the Holy Land for Europe. Edward received Mongol envoys at his court in Gascony while there in 1287, and one of their leaders, Rabban Bar Sauma, recorded an extant account of the interaction.[139] Other embassies arrived in Europe in 1289 and 1290, the former relaying Ilkhan Abaqa's offer to join forces with the crusaders and supply them with horses.[140] Edward responded favourably, declaring his intent to embark on a journey to the east once he obtained papal approval. Although this would not materialise, the King's decision to send Geoffrey of Langley as his ambassador to the Mongols revealed that he was seriously considering the prospective Mongol alliance.[141]
Eleanor of Castile died on 28 November 1290.[142] The couple loved each other, and like his father, Edward was very devoted to his wife and was faithful to her throughout their marriage.[143] He was deeply affected by her death,[144] and displayed his grief by erecting twelve so-called Eleanor crosses,[145] one at each place where her funeral cortège stopped for the night.[146] As part of the peace accord between England and France in 1294, it was agreed that Edward should marry Philip IV's half-sister Margaret, but the marriage was delayed by the outbreak of war.[147] Edward made alliances with the German king, the counts of Flanders and Guelders, and the Burgundians, who would attack France from the north.[148] The alliances proved volatile and Edward was facing trouble at home at the time, both in Wales and Scotland. It was not until August 1297 that he was finally able to sail for Flanders, at which time his allies there had already suffered defeat.[149] The support from Germany never materialised, and Edward was forced to seek peace. His marriage to Margaret in 1299 ended the war, but the whole affair had proven both costly and fruitless for the English.[150][151][lower-alpha 15] French possession of Gascony would not end until 1303, at which point it was partially returned to the English crown.[152]
Great Cause
The relationship between England and Scotland by the 1280s was one of relatively harmonious coexistence.[154] The issue of homage did not reach the same level of controversy as it did in Wales; in 1278 King Alexander III of Scotland paid homage to Edward, who was his brother-in-law, but apparently only for the lands he held in England.[155] Problems arose only with the Scottish succession crisis of the early 1290s. When Alexander died in 1286, he left as heir to the Scottish throne Margaret, his three-year-old granddaughter and sole surviving descendant.[156] By the Treaty of Birgham, it was agreed that Margaret should marry King Edward's six-year-old son Edward of Caernarfon, though Scotland would remain free of English overlordship.[157][158] Margaret, by now seven years of age, sailed from Norway for Scotland in the autumn of 1290, but fell ill on the way and died in Orkney.[159][160] This left the country without an obvious heir, and led to the succession dispute known to history as the Great Cause.[161][lower-alpha 16]
Even though as many as fourteen claimants put forward their claims to the title, the foremost competitors were John Balliol and Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale.[162] The Scottish magnates made a request to Edward to conduct the proceedings and administer the outcome, but not to arbitrate in the dispute. The actual decision would be made by 104 auditors – 40 appointed by Balliol, 40 by Brus and the remaining 24 selected by Edward from senior members of the Scottish political community.[163] At Birgham, with the prospect of a personal union between the two realms, the question of suzerainty had not been of great importance to Edward. Now he insisted that, if he were to settle the contest, he had to be fully recognised as Scotland's feudal overlord.[164] The Scots were reluctant to make such a concession, and replied that since the country had no king, no one had the authority to make this decision.[165] This problem was circumvented when the competitors agreed that the realm would be handed over to Edward until a rightful heir had been found.[166] After a lengthy hearing, a decision was made in favour of John Balliol on 17 November 1292.[167][lower-alpha 17]
Even after Balliol's accession, Edward still continued to assert his authority over Scotland. Against the objections of the Scots, he agreed to hear appeals on cases ruled on by the court of guardians that had governed Scotland during the interregnum.[168] A further provocation came in a case brought by Macduff, son of Malcolm II, Earl of Fife, in which Edward demanded that Balliol appear in person before the English Parliament to answer the charges.[169] This the Scottish King did, but the final straw was Edward's demand that the Scottish magnates provide military service in the war against France.[170] This was unacceptable; the Scots instead formed an alliance with France and launched an unsuccessful attack on Carlisle.[171] Edward responded by invading Scotland in 1296 and taking the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in a particularly bloody attack.[172] At the Battle of Dunbar, Scottish resistance was effectively crushed.[173] Edward confiscated the Stone of Destiny – the Scottish coronation stone – and brought it to Westminster, placing it in what became known as King Edward's Chair; he deposed Balliol and placed him in the Tower of London, and installed Englishmen to govern the country.[174] The campaign had been very successful, but the English triumph would be only temporary.[175]