Edward I (Longshanks) Plantagenet, King of England

Notes:

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England

He was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he briefly sided with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, but escaped after a few months and joined the fight against Simon de Montfort. Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land. The crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster on 19 August.

He spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law. Through an extensive legal inquiry, Edward investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties, while the law was reformed through a series of statutes regulating criminal and property law.

Increasingly, however, Edward's attention was drawn towards military affairs. After suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276-77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282-83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, Edward subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns in the countryside and settled them with English people.

Next, his efforts were directed towards Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a succession dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the kingdom. In the war that followed, the Scots persevered, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. At the same time there were problems at home. In the mid-1290s, extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation, and Edward met with both lay and ecclesiastical opposition. These crises were initially averted, but issues remained unsettled. When the King died in 1307, he left to his son, Edward II, an ongoing war with Scotland and many financial and political problems.

Edward I was a tall man for his era, hence the nickname "Longshanks". He was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man, and he often instilled fear in his contemporaries. Nevertheless, 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 on their assessment of Edward I: while some have praised him for his contribution to the law and administration, others have criticised him for his uncompromising attitude towards his nobility. Currently, Edward I is credited with many accomplishments during his reign, including restoring royal authority after the reign of Henry III, establishing Parliament as a permanent institution and thereby also a functional system for raising taxes, and reforming the law through statutes.

At the same time, he is also often criticised for other actions, such as his brutal conduct towards the Scots, and issuing the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, by which the Jews were expelled from England. The Edict remained in effect for the rest of the Middle Ages, and it was over 350 years until it was formally overturned under Oliver Cromwell in 1656.

Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17-18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Edward is an Anglo-Saxon name, as 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.

There were concerns about Edward's health as a child, and he fell ill in 1246, 1247, and 1251. Nonetheless, he became an imposing man; at 6 feet 2 inches he towered over most of his contemporaries.

In 1254, English fears of a Castilian invasion of the English province of Gascony induced Edward's father to arrange a politically expedient marriage between his fourteen-year-old son and thirteen-year-old Eleanor, the half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile. Eleanor and Edward were married on 1 November 1254 in the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Castile.

Eleanor of Castile had died on 28 November 1290. Uncommon for such marriages of the period, the couple loved each other. Moreover, like his father, Edward was very devoted to his wife and was faithful to her throughout their married lives ? a rarity among monarchs of the time. He was deeply affected by her death. He displayed his grief by erecting twelve so-called Eleanor crosses, one at each place where her funeral cortège stopped for the night.

He and Eleanor had between 14 to 16 children. Of these, five daughters survived into adulthood, but only one son outlived his father, namely King Edward II (1307-1327).

1. John (13 July 1266-3 August 1271), predeceased his father and died at Wallingford while in the custody of his granduncle Richard, Earl of Cornwall, buried at Westminster Abbey.

2. Henry (6 May 1268-14 October 1274), predeceased his father, buried in Westminster Abbey.

3. Alphonso, Earl of Chester (24 November 1273-19 August 1284), predeceased his father, buried in Westminster Abbey.

4. Son (1280/81-1280/81), predeceased his father; little evidence exists for this child.

5. King Edward II (25 April 1284-21 September 1327), eldest surviving son and heir, succeeded his father as king of England. In 1308 he married Isabella of France, with whom he had four children.

6. Daughter (May 1255-29 May 1255), stillborn or died shortly after birth.

7. Katherine (before 17 June 1264-5 September 1264), buried at Westminster Abbey.

8. Joanna (Summer or January 1265-before 7 September 1265), buried in Westminster Abbey.

9. Eleanor (c. 18 June 1269-19 August 1298), in 1293 she married Henry III, Count of Bar, by whom she had two children, buried in Westminster Abbey.

10. Juliana (after May 1271-5 September 1271), born and died while Edward and Eleanor were in Acre.

11. Joan of Acre (1272-23 April 1307), married (1) in 1290 Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford, who died in 1295, and (2) in 1297 Ralph de Monthermer. She had four children by Clare, and three or four by Monthermer.

12. Margaret (c.15 March 1275-after 11 March 1333), married John II of Brabant in 1290, with whom she had one son.

13. Berengaria (May 1276-between 7 June 1277 and 1278), buried in Westminster Abbey.

14. Daughter (December 1277-January 1278), buried in Westminster Abbey.

14. Mary of Woodstock (11/12 March 1279-29 May 1332), a Benedictine nun in Amesbury, Wiltshire, where she was probably buried.

15. Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (c. 7 August 1282-5 May 1316), married (1) in 1297 John I, Count of Holland, (2) in 1302 Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. The first marriage was childless; by Bohun Elizabeth had ten children.

Edward died fighting Robert the Bruce in Scotland. Edward responded with severe brutality against Bruce's allies and supporters. Bruce's sister, Mary, was hung in a cage outside of Roxburgh for four years. Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, who had crowned Bruce, was hung in a cage outside of Berwick Castle for four years. Bruce's younger brother Neil was executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. The story of William Wallace is famous as is his death, thanks to the movie Braveheart set during this time. This brutality, though, rather than helping to subdue the Scots, had the opposite effect, and rallied growing support for Bruce.

Edward was suffering ill health, He developed dysentery, and his condition deteriorated. On 6 July he encamped at Burgh by Sands, just south of the Scottish border. When his servants came the next morning to lift him up so that he could eat, he died in their arms.

Edward I's body was brought south, lying in state at Waltham Abbey, before being buried in Westminster Abbey. His tomb was an unusually plain sarcophagus of Purbeck marble, without the customary royal effigy, possibly the result of the shortage of royal funds after the King's death. Traces of the Latin inscription Edwardus Primus Scottorum Malleus hic est, 1308. Pactum Serva ("Here is Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, 1308. Keep the Vow"), which can still be seen painted on the side of the tomb, referring to his vow to avenge the rebellion of Robert Bruce.

Edward married Eleanor of Castile. Eleanor (daughter of Saint Ferdinand III of Castile and Jeanne (Joan) of Dammartin, Countess of Ponthieu) was born 10 Jan 1240, Burgos, Provincia de Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain; died 28 Nov 1290, Harby, Nottinghamshire, England; was buried , Westminster Abbey, London, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Acre

She was an English princess, a daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile. The name "Acre" derives from her birthplace in the Holy Land while her parents were on a crusade.

She was married twice; her first husband was Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, one of the most powerful nobles in her father's kingdom; her second husband was Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in her household whom she married in secret.

Joan is most notable for the claim that miracles have allegedly taken place at her grave, and for the multiple references to her in literature.

Joan (or Joanna, as she is sometimes called) of Acre was born in the spring of 1272 in the Kingdom of Acre, Outremer, now in modern Israel, while her parents, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, were on crusade. At the time of Joan's birth, her grandfather, Henry III, was still alive and thus her father was not yet king of England. Her parents departed from Acre shortly after her birth, traveling to Sicily and Spain before leaving Joan with Eleanor's mother, Joan, Countess of Ponthieu, in France. Joan lived for several years in France where she spent her time being educated by a bishop and being spoiled by an indulgent grandmother.

As Joan was growing up with her grandmother, her father was back in England, already arranging marriages for his daughter. He hoped to gain both political power and more wealth with his daughter's marriage, so he conducted the arrangement in a very business like style. He finally found a man suitable to marry Joan (aged 5 at the time), Hartman, son of King Rudolph I, of Germany. Unfortunately for King Edward, his daughter?s suitor died before he was able to meet or marry Joan.

He arranged a second marriage almost immediately after the death of Hartman. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who was almost thirty years older than Joan and whose marriage had recently been annulled, was his first choice. The earl resigned his lands to Edward upon agreeing to get them back when he married Joan, as well as agreed on a dower of two thousand silver marks. By the time all of these negotiations were finished, Joan was twelve years old.

Gilbert de Clare became very enamored with Joan, and even though she had to marry him regardless of how she felt, he still tried to woo her. He bought her expensive gifts and clothing to try to win favor with her. The couple were married on 30 April 1290 at Westminster Abbey, and had four children together:

1. Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford
2. Eleanor de Clare
3. Margaret de Clare
4. Elizabeth de Clare

Joan had been a widow for only a little over a year when she caught the eye of Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in Joan?s father?s household. Joan fell in love and convinced her father to have Monthermer knighted. It was unheard of in European royalty for a noble lady to even converse with a man who had not won or acquired importance in the household. However, in January 1297 Joan secretly married Ralph. Joan's father was already planning another marriage for Joan to Amadeus V, Count of Savoy, to occur 16 March 1297. Joan was in a dangerous predicament, as she was already married, unbeknownst to her father.

Joan sent her four young children to their grandfather, in hopes that their sweetness would win Edward's favor, but her plan did not work. The king soon discovered his daughter's intentions, but not yet aware that she had already committed to them, he seized Joan?s lands and continued to arrange her marriage to Amadeus of Savoy.

Soon after the seizure of her lands, Joan told her father that she had married Ralph. The king was enraged and retaliated by immediately imprisoning Monthermer at Bristol Castle. The people of the land had differing opinions on the princess? matter. It has been argued that the ones who were most upset were those who wanted Joan?s hand in marriage.

With regard to the matter, Joan famously said, ?It is not considered ignominious, nor disgraceful for a great earl to take a poor and mean woman to wife; neither, on the other hand, is it worthy of blame, or too difficult a thing for a countess to promote to honor a gallant youth.? Joan's statement in addition to a possibly obvious pregnancy seemed to soften Edward?s attitude towards the situation.

Joan's first child by Monthermer was born in October 1297; by the summer of 1297, when the marriage was revealed to Edward I, Joan's condition would certainly have been apparent, and would have convinced Edward that he had no choice but to recognize his daughter's marriage. Edward I eventually relented for the sake of his daughter and released Monthermer from prison in August 1297. Monthermer paid homage 2 August, and being granted the titles of Earl of Gloucester and Earl of Hertford, he rose to favour with the King during Joan's lifetime.

Monthermer and Joan had four children:

1. Mary de Monthermer, born October 1297. In 1306 her grandfather King Edward I arranged for her to wed Duncan Macduff, 8th Earl of Fife.

2.Joan de Monthermer, born 1299, became a nun at Amesbury.

3.Thomas de Monthermer, 2nd Baron Monthermer, born 1301.

4.Edward de Monthermer, born 1304 and died 1339.

Joan died on 23 April 1307, at the manor of Clare in Suffolk. The cause of her death remains unclear, though one popular theory is that she died during childbirth, a common cause of death at the time. While Joan's age in 1307 (about 35) and the chronology of her earlier pregnancies with Ralph de Monthermer suggest that this could well be the case, historians have not confirmed the cause of her death.

Less than four months after her death, Joan?s father died. Joan's widower, Ralph de Monthermer, lost the title of Earl of Gloucester soon after the deaths of his wife and father-in-law. The earldom of Gloucester was given to Joan?s son from her first marriage, Gilbert, who was its rightful holder. Monthermer continued to hold a nominal earldom in Scotland, which had been conferred on him by Edward I, until his death.

Joan?s burial place has been the cause of some interest and debate. She is interred in the Augustinian priory at Clare, which had been founded by her first husband's ancestors and where many of them were also buried. Allegedly, in 1357, Joan?s daughter, Elizabeth De Burgh, claimed to have ?inspected her mother's body and found the corpse to be intact,?, which in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church is an indication of sanctity.

This claim was only recorded in a fifteenth-century chronicle, however, and its details are uncertain, especially the statement that her corpse was in such a state of preservation that "when her paps [breasts] were pressed with hands, they rose up again." Some sources further claim that miracles took place at Joan's tomb, but no cause for her beatification or canonization has ever been introduced.



Buried:
Grave location, portrait, and biography:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12535626

The remains of an altar recess on the ruins of the south wall of the abbey are thought to be Joan's tomb.

Joan married Gilbert (The Red) de la Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford and 3rd Earl of Gloucester. Gilbert (son of Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester, 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, 8th Lord of Clare and Maude de Lacy, Countess of Hertford and Gloucester) was born 02 Sep 1243, Christchurch, Hampshire, England; died 07 Dec 1295, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales; was buried , Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_de_Clare

She was a powerful English noblewoman who married Hugh le Despenser, 1st Baron Despenser and was the granddaughter of Edward I of England. With her sisters, Elizabeth de Clare and Margaret de Clare, she inherited her father's estates after the death of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, 7th Earl of Hereford at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. She was born in 1292 at Caerphilly Castle in Glamorgan, Wales and was the eldest daughter Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, 5th Lord of Glamorgan and HRH Princess Joan of Acre.

As a co-heiress with her sisters Elizabeth de Clare (wife of Roger Damory), and Margaret de Clare (wife of Hugh Audley), in 1314 she inherited the de Clare estates including the huge feudal barony of Gloucester, following the death of her brother, Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Gloucester at the Battle of Bannockburn. The partition was not fully settled until 1317.

During this period the family seat of Caerphilly Castle was held by the king under the stewardship of Payn de Turberville of Coity Castle. In protest against Turberville's mistreatment, the Welsh nobleman Llywelyn Bren and his supporters launched a surprise attack on 28 January 1316, and besieged Caerphilly Castle, which successfully held out under the command of "The lady of Clare" (almost certainly Eleanor) and a small garrison until relieved by Sir William Montacute on 12 March 1316. [Another ancestor]

In May 1306 at Westminster, Eleanor married Hugh le Despenser the Younger, the son of Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester by his wife Isabella de Beauchamp, daughter of William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick. Despenser thereby became Lord of Glamorgan. Her grandfather, King Edward I, granted Eleanor a dowry of 2,000 pounds sterling.

Eleanor's husband rose to prominence as the new favourite of her uncle, King Edward II of England. The king strongly favored Hugh and Eleanor, visiting them often and granting them many gifts. One foreign chronicler even alleged that Edward was involved in a ménage à trois with his niece and her husband. Eleanor's fortunes changed drastically after the invasion of Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer, following which her husband Hugh le Despenser was executed.

Eleanor and Hugh had nine children to survive infancy:

1. Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308-1349), 2nd Baron Le Despencer, who was restored to his grandfather's title of Baron le Despencer in 1338. He had no surviving children.

2. Gilbert le Despencer

3. Edward le Despenser, (1310-1342), soldier, killed at the siege of Vannes; father of Edward II le Despenser, Knight of the Garter, who became Baron Le Despencer in a new creation of 1357.

4. Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Arundel (1312-1356), married Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel.

5. John le Despenser, (1311-June 1366).

6.Eleanor le Despenser, (c. 1315-1351), nun at Sempringham Priory

7. Joan le Despenser, (c. 1317-1384), nun at Shaftesbury Abbey

8.Margaret le Despenser, (c. 1319-1337), nun at Whatton Priory

Elizabeth le Despenser, born 1325, died 13 July 1389, married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley.

In November 1326, Eleanor was confined to the Tower of London. The Despenser family's fortunes also suffered with the executions of Eleanor's husband and father-in-law. Eleanor and Hugh's eldest son Hugh le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer (1308-1349), who held Caerphilly Castle against the queen's forces until the spring of 1327, was spared his life when he surrendered the castle, but he remained a prisoner until July 1331, after which he was eventually restored to royal favor. Three of Eleanor's daughters were forcibly veiled as nuns. Only the eldest daughter, Isabel, and the youngest daughter, Elizabeth, escaped the nunnery, Isabel because she was already married and Elizabeth on account of her infancy. In February 1328 Eleanor was freed from imprisonment. In April 1328, she was restored to possession of her own lands, for which she did homage.

In January 1329 Eleanor was abducted from Hanley Castle by William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche of Mortimer, who had been one of her first husband's captors and who had led the siege of Caerphilly Castle. The abduction may in fact have been an elopement; in any case, Eleanor's lands were seized by King Edward III, and the couple's arrest was ordered.

At the same time, Eleanor was accused of stealing jewels from the Tower of London. Sometime after February 1329, she was imprisoned a second time in the Tower, and was later moved to Devizes Castle. In January 1330 she was released and pardoned after agreeing to sign away the most valuable part of her share of the lucrative Clare inheritance to the crown. She could recover her lands only on payment of the enormous sum of 50,000 pounds in a single day.

Within the year, however, the young future King Edward III (Eleanor's first cousin) overthrew Queen Isabella's paramour, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and had him executed. Eleanor was among those who benefited from the fall of Mortimer and Isabella.

She petitioned Edward III for the restoration of her lands, claiming that she had signed them away after being threatened by Roger Mortimer that she would never be freed if she did not. In 1331 Edward III granted her petition "to ease the king's conscience" and allowed her to recover the lands on the condition that she should pay a fine of 10,000 pounds, later reduced to 5,000 pounds, in installments. Eleanor made part-payments of the fine, but the bulk of it was outstanding at her death.

Eleanor's troubles were by no means over, however. After Eleanor's marriage to Zouche, John de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Rotherfield claimed that he had married her first. In 1333 Grey was still attempting to claim marriage to Eleanor; the case was appealed to the Pope several times. Ultimately, Zouche won the dispute and Eleanor remained with him until his death in February 1337, only a few months before Eleanor's own death. By Zouche Eleanor had progeny as follows:

William de la Zouche, born 1330, died after 1360, a monk at Glastonbury Abbey and Joyce Zouche, born 1331, died after 4 May 1372, married John de Botetourt, 2nd Lord Botetourt.

Hugh le Despenser the younger and Eleanor are generally credited with having begun the renovations to Tewkesbury Abbey, a foundation of her ancestors, which transformed it into one of the finest example of the decorated style of architecture surviving today.

The famous fourteenth-century stained-glass windows in the choir, which include the armor-clad figures of Eleanor's ancestors, brother and two husbands, were most likely Eleanor's own contribution, although she probably did not live to see them put in place. The naked kneeling woman watching the Last Judgment in the choir's east window may represent Eleanor.



Buried:
Grave location, biography, and stained glass window portrait:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16441442

Eleanor married Hugh le Despenser, The Younger. Hugh (son of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester and Isabella de Beauchamp, Baroness Despenser) was born 1286, Gloucestershire, England; died 24 Nov 1326, Hereford Herefordshire, England; was buried , Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_le_Despenser,_Countess_of_Arundel

She was the eldest daughter of Hugh Despenser the Younger and Eleanor de Clare. She was descended from Edward I of England through her mother, while her father is famous for being the favorite of Edward II of England.

Though he had stood against Edward II in the past, Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel had loyally supported him since the 1320s. Thus it must have seemed to be politically prudent to Edmund to marry his heir Richard to the eldest daughter of the King's closest friend and adviser Hugh le Despenser. For Hugh's part, a large incentive for him must have been that he could expect his daughter Isabel would one day become Countess of Arundel.

On 9 February 1321 at the royal manor Havering-atte-Bower, Isabel was duly married to Richard FitzAlan, the heir to the earldom of Arundel. Isabel was only eight at the time, while Richard was fifteen (not seven as has been claimed). Their respective ages would come up later when Richard would try to seek an annulment.

Richard and Isabel had one son, Edmund Fitzalan, born in 1327, and in 1331 Isabel's husband became earl of Arundel. However, in December 1344 Richard Fitzalan had their marriage annulled on the grounds that he had never freely consented to marry Isabel and that they both had renounced their vows at puberty but had been "forced by blows to cohabit, so that a son was born". Isabel retired to several manors in Essex that were given to her by her ex-husband. After receiving a papal dispensation, Richard married Isabel's first cousin Eleanor of Lancaster, with whom he had apparently been having an affair.

Richard and Isabel's only child, Edmund Fitzalan, was rendered illegitimate by this annulment and so was unable to inherit his father's earldom. When his father died in 1376 Edmund quarreled with his half-siblings, the children of his father's second marriage, over inheritance rights. Edmund was imprisoned in the Tower of London until he was released in 1377 by request of his brothers-in-law.

After their father was executed for treason in 1326, Isabel and her youngest sister Elizabeth were the only daughters of Hugh the Younger to escape being confined in nunneries, Isabel because she was already married and Elizabeth because of her youth.

Buried:
Grave location, portrait and abbey photo:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62397103

There is an inscription on the chapel where she rests. It runs along the outside and inside walls as follows:
"Mementote dne Isabelle le Despenser Comitisse de Warrewick Que hanc capellam fundavit in honore bte Marie Magdalene Et obiit Londiniis apud Minres A° Dni MCCCCXXXIX Die Scti Jhis Evngste Et sepulta e i choro i dextra patris sui cuj. Ame parcet Deus. Amen."

Translation:
"Remember the Lady Isabelle le Despencer, Countess of Warwick, who founded this chapel to the honour of the blessed Mary Magdalene, and died in London in the Minories AD 1439 on the day of Saint John the Evangelist [27th December], and was buried in the Choir on the right hand of her father, on whose soul may God have pity. Amen."

Isabel married Richard (Cropped Hat) Fitz Alan, 10th Earl of Arundel and 8th Earl of Surrey 09 Feb 1321, Havering-atte-Bower, London Borough of Havering, England. Richard (son of Edmund FITZALAN, Lord of Arundel and Alice DE WARREN) was born 1306, Arundel, Sussex, England; died 24 Jan 1376, Sussex, England; was buried , Chichester Cathedral, Chichester, West Sussex, England. [Group Sheet]