Edward I 'Longshanks'

Biography

Tall, ferocious, and relentlessly capable, Edward I was the greatest warrior-king of medieval England — conqueror of Wales, reformer of the law, and expeller of the Jews from England. Turning north, he exploited Scotland's disputed succession to make himself its overlord, and when the Scots resisted he crushed them at Dunbar, carried off the Stone of Scone, and imposed direct rule. He returned again and again to break each new rising — smashing Wallace at Falkirk, hunting Bruce after Methven, executing captured leaders with calculated savagery. Known to the Scots as 'the Hammer of the Scots' (a phrase later carved on his tomb), he was still marching to war at sixty-eight when he died at Burgh by Sands within sight of Scotland in 1307. His obsession bequeathed the war to his far weaker son — and left Bruce the opening he needed.

Key Battles