The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England

Discontent grew with de Montfort’s leadership, which featured the partisan autocracy he had rejected. In 1265, Edward escaped captivity and formed a coalition that included old allies of de Montfort and promised fair government. In their decisive victory at Evesham, de Montfort, and his leading men were all slain.

Edward was known as the leopard due to his reputation as fierce but changeable. Following Evesham, Henry prioritized revenge, disinheriting defeated parties; revolt continued throughout the land with Kenilworth as the remaining stronghold. Edward led military operations, periodically seeking non-violent terms instead. Advisers like Richard and the papal legate helped negotiate the Dictum of Kenilworth in 1266 and the realm shifted towards conciliation. The Statute of Marlborough (1268) furthered technical statutory reform.

Eager for military glory, Edward spent 1170-1172 crusading, but the changed geopolitics of the region was no longer fertile ground for European Christian militarism. Henry III died in 1272; Edward returned slowly, spending time on the continent. In 1274, he was crowned. He initiated a program to investigate and reform the local royal bureaucracy, the Hundred Rolls inquiries, symbolizing his proactive seriousness in enforcing fair governance and taking the barons’ concerns seriously.

The legend of Arthur had grown in popularity, especially since Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 1130 account. Originally a Welsh king whose return to fight back the English was foretold, Henry III and now Edward subverted this story, relating Arthur to English pre-eminence. In 1277, Edward successfully subdued the Welsh Prince Llywelyn who, like many of his forefathers, had flouted his authority.

Edward used engineering and extensive castle-building to enforce English rule over Wales. Settlers from a growing English population moved to the region. Edward named his son Prince of Wales.

Edward Anglicized the Welsh government and law and parachuted in his personnel. In debt since his crusades, his outgoings were huge. He commenced a vast program of English legislative and financial reform, aiming to enforce centralized law and order at a ground level through a series of statutes (such as The Statute of Winchester, 1285). He sought to repair the coinage through his 1279 reissuing and reformed royal bookkeeping. Good political credit allowed him to levy significant taxes, but by 1289, there was nonetheless a serious deficit in royal finances.

Since John’s reign, persecution of Jews in England and the rest of the continent continued to worsen. Anti-Semitism was rife, particularly among England’s landowners; Edward was a militaristic Christian. He spent time in Gascony, embarking on costly Anglicizing reforms there and expelling the Jewish population. In 1290, he issued an edict forcing Jews to leave England on pain of death. Abandoned Jewish property was seized, and Edward gained political capital, allowing him to levy a tax.

In 1290, Scotland’s mounting constitutional crisis was catalyzed by the death of its one remaining heir. Civil war seemed likely; a complex legal case was launched to choose between the 13 claimants, including Robert Bruce. Edward agreed to arbitrate, seeing this as an opportunity to enforce his overlord-ship. He treated the new appointment (Balliol) as a vassal, a status which was mostly theoretical under his forefathers, angering Scotland.

In the 1290s, the French king Philip IV used an escalating shipping war to try to enforce the same vassal relationship with Edward that he enforced with Scotland. In 1294, Edward’s resources were split between military engagements defending Gascony and Wales, where renewed revolt broke out. A successful though costly victory in Wales was followed by the formation of a new Scottish government ruling in Balliol’s name. Balliol upended the vassal relationship and declared an alliance with the French in 1296.

Edward launched a professional, brutal campaign, winning control of Scotland. Instead of appointing a new Scottish king, he decided to bring Scotland directly under his rule, like Wales. He launched Anglicizing reforms.

Throughout the 1290s, spending was intense as Edward continually tried to take meaningful action on the continent only to be pulled into British crises. Taxes and levies impacted the economy, the barons, ordinary people’s lives, and Edward’s relationship with the Church. Many barons fiercely opposed Edward’s drive for continental military action. In 1297, he pressed ahead leaving chaos in England; his continental coalition failed, and he returned to a Scottish uprising led by William Wallace. In return for assistance, he again reissued the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, including extra clauses. He won an early victory but did not capture the leading figures.

Rebellion in Scotland was never resolved. Edward’s son gradually assumed some responsibilities in the early 1300s, though concern grew that he was ill-suited to leadership and prone to favoritism. In 1306, Robert Bruce crowned himself king of Scotland, provoking renewed war efforts. In 1307, Edward I died. His legacy rebuilt Plantagenet kingship as a powerful force: he achieved significant control of the British Isles and defended the remaining continental lands. However, he was ruthless and left enormous debt.