With Edward having finally been crowned king of England nearly 2 years after the death of Henry III, it was time for the 35 year old to settle down to the business of kingship. Around Easter of 1275, Edward presided over his first parliament in which he passed new laws and changed old laws that had proved ineffective. Unsurprisingly, given the state of England's finances during the reign of Henry III and the expenses Edward had accrued during the 9th Crusade, the new king found himself short of money and so, in October of 1275, Edward turned to Parliament for financial assistance. During that same Parliament, Edward passed a law clamping down on Jewish moneylenders who had been profiting from their activities, much to the annoyance of Christians who struggled to pay the money back due to high interest rates. This would not be the last Anti-Jewish move of Edward's reign.
In 1277, Edward sent an army to the Welsh marches to deal with the rebellious Welsh Prince Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd. Edward's campaign proved to be successful. In order to stamp his authority over Wales, Edward began an extensive castle building programme, enlisting the help of Master James of St George, an expert architect. James first helped to oversee the building of castles at Flint and Rhuddlan before, in the 1280s, he constructed castles at Conwy, Harlech and Caernarfon, the latter of which was the birthplace of Edward's son and successor, the future Edward II, in 1284. The success of the campaign seemed to be confirmed when Llywelyn accompanied Edward on his return to London where the Welsh Prince paid homage to the English. The following year, Edward hears rumours that Llywelyn has gone into revolt again but these rumours proved to be false and homage was once again paid to the king by the Welsh. Llywelyn would then marry Eleanor, daughter of Simon De Montfort, with Edward's approval. A few months later, Edward sailed to France to lay claim to Ponthieu. The trip goes according to plan.
Edward enjoyed a period of stability but an old problem once again reared it's head in 1282. That problem was Llywelyn, his brother Dafydd and the Welsh who were once again up in arms and attempting to throw off the suffocating grip of English oppression. This time the trouble was even more serious than it had been previously with the Welsh capturing the castles at Flint and Rhuddlan and causing untold damage elsewhere. At Harwarden, there was terrible indiscriminate slaughter as not only soldiers but innocent men, women and children were caught up in the violence. Edward, perhaps having become a touch complacent, is deeply shocked when he hears the news. The king managed to subdue parts of Wales but Llywelyn senses an opportunity and attempted to make further gains but is killed in battle. His brother Dafydd is captured the following year and he suffers a truly terrible fate. Dafydd becomes the first person, at least on record, to be hung, drawn and quartered. The brutality of this execution must have caused some considerable shock, even in an age where violence was not exactly unheard of. Whilst Edward's castles sent a message that he intended to keep firm control of Wales and its people, the example Edward had made out of Dafydd was a pretty clear indicator to the enemies of the English king what they could expect if they betrayed his trust one too many times.
As mentioned previously, Edward's son and heir, Edward ii, was born at Caernarfon Castle in 1284. Edward's queen, Eleanor of Castile, had been a loyal companion to the king, remaining by his side during his Welsh campaigns, as evidenced by the place of birth of Edward's successor. Edward and Eleanor were a couple who clearly thought a lot of each other and stories are told of the king playing tricks on Eleanor's ladies in waiting so that he could see his wife. In turn, Eleanor would send musicians to Edward to entertain him during times of melancholy. When Eleanor died in 1290, Edward was deeply upset and erected the Eleanor Crosses in her memory. However, Eleanor was not universally popular. Some people accused her of benefiting from the unpopular Jewish moneylenders which may explain Edward's laws passed against the moneylenders as he sought to take some of the heat off his queen. As we've seen examples of already, Edward could be a brutal man and some accused Eleanor of actively encouraging these traits in her husband which is wholly unfair.
Shortly before Eleanor died, Edward passed the Edict of Expulsion which demanded that all Jews living in England leave the country before 1st November 1290 in one of the most shameful acts of Edward's reign. From the king's point of view, it would have made perfect sense. On the one hand, he could dress it up as though he was protecting the interests of Christians when in reality it was a cynical move to seize Jewish goods and property. Debts that were owed to Jews conveniently transferred to the Crown. Even more tragically, as they heeded the edict, many Jews fell victim to Piracy in the English channel as they lost both the property they had been able to take with them and, in many cases, their lives as well. Jews who remained in England were threatened with execution although some may have converted. Earlier in the reign, Jews had been scapegoated for a crisis which saw English coins being worthless by excessive clipping. As a result, scores of Jews were executed. Whilst Edward is undoubtedly a fine king, overlooking his clearly antisemitic nature would be absolute folly.
Moving into the 1290s, Edward's attention began to move towards Scotland. In fact, it had been whilst travelling northwards to Scotland that Queen Eleanor had died. The English king, having subdued the Welsh, was now fully determined to establish his overlordship of England's neighbours to the North. These campaigns would bring out about their own challenges as two of Scotland's greatest National heroes, William Wallace and Robert Bruce, emerged to defy not only Edward I but also Edward II. The 1290s would also see a rivalry with the French king Philip emerge. More on that in part 3.
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