EDWARD I

born June 17, 1239, Westminster, Middlesex, Eng. died July 7, 1307, Burgh by Sands, near Carlisle, Cumberland Edward I byname Edward Longshanks son of Henry III and king of England in 12721307, during a period of rising national consciousness. He strengthened the crown and Parliament against the old feudal nobility. He subdued Wales, destroying its autonomy; and he sought (unsuccessfully) the conquest of Scotland. His reign is particularly noted for administrative efficiency and legal reform. He introduced a series of statutes that did much to strengthen the crown in the feudal hierarchy. His definition and emendation of English common law has earned him the name of the English Justinian. Additional reading E.M. Barron, The Scottish War of Independence, 2nd ed. (1934), although not wholly objective, is a clear and readable account of the wars. J.E. Morris, The Welsh Wars of Edward I (1901, reprinted 1968), makes clear the impact of these wars on Edward's military organization and technique as well as on constitutional development in England. Michael Prestwich, Three Edwards: War and State in England, 12721377 (1980), is a recent history of the period. D. Pasquet, Essai sur les origines de la Chambre des Communes (1914; An Essay on the Origins of the House of Commons, 1925), takes the view that the English Parliament owes more to the initiative and needs of the King than to any sense of community among his subjects. T.F.T. Plucknett, Legislation of Edward I (1949), is an analysis of Edward I's statutes, showing that, far from being antifeudal, Edward's measures were intended to support his own position within the feudal hierarchy. F.M. Powicke's two works on the 13th century, King Henry III and the Lord Edward, 2 vol. (1947), and The Thirteenth Century, 12161307 (1953), present the reign in terms of social forces at work in politics, particularly those springing from the baronage. G. Templeman, Edward I and the Historians, in the Cambridge Historical Journal, 10:1635 (1950), summarizes the changing views of Edward I from Polydore Vergil to Powicke and Plucknett. T.F. Tout, Chapters in the Administrative History of Mediaeval England, vol. 2 (1920, reprinted 1967), demonstrates Edward's aims with regard to administrative efficiency and royal control. Tout's Edward the First (1893) is still the best biography of the King.