The Final Days of Edward I

 

In the summer of 1307, Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, turned 68, an old man in the medieval period. He was, by this point, also stricken with dysentery, that disease that so often cut down great warriors in the Middle Ages. Despite this, Edward was not a man who would be broken easily. In Scotland, a few weeks before Edward celebrated his 68th and final birthday, Robert The Bruce irked him by defeating an English army at Loudoun Hill. As soon as he heard of this, Edward ordered all the great men of England to meet him in the North in preparation for yet another Scottish campaign.

But, in reality, Edward was in no fit condition to make even a short, leisurely journey, never mind leading an army into Scotland against a capable enemy. So ill had the king become that only his closest advisers were allowed to communicate with him. Inevitably, rumours began to circulate that Edward was, in fact, dead. For the time being, the rumours were false but Edward knew he had little time left. Rather than conserving his energy, Edward, on hearing that an increasing number of people thought he was dead, was spurred on and hastened the preparations for war. 

Having travelled to Carlisle as planned, Edward left the city on Monday 3rd July 1307. But, predictably given the king’s health, travel was slow. He was only able to travel a distance of two miles at a time over the course of that Monday and a further two miles the following day. Even that exhausted the old king and, on Wednesday, the king was forced to rest, no doubt to his great frustration. On Thursday 6th, Edward reached Burgh on Sands and it seems that it was here that he realised that his condition was rapidly worsening. He made plans for another rest day for the next day but Edward knew now that he would not reach Scotland.

On Friday 7th July, Edward’s servants went to wake him. It was usual for the king to sleep in until around 9am. But when the servants entered his camp so he could eat some breakfast, it was quite apparent that the king was on his deathbed. Not long after, the king died in his servant’s arms. 

It was decided upon that the death of Edward should be kept a secret until his son, now Edward II, should arrive along with the nobility. However, some couldn’t keep a secret and word soon got out that the king was dead. Those who had been responsible for this were imprisoned as punishment. When Edward II finally arrived, he decided that his father’s body should be escorted back to London by the king’s treasurer Walter Langton who was also the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. Edward’s body lay in state in Waltham Abbey in Essex, a town where, in all likelihood, the body of Harold II lies.

The Chronicler Peter Langtoft wrote this of Edward I:

King Edward was the flower of Christendom

He was so powerful and great, so powerful in arms

That of him may one speak as long as the world lasts

For he had no equal as a knight in armour

For vigour and valour, neither present nor future

This is only a short extract from Peter’s lengthy appraisal of Edward and, mostly, it speaks glowingly of the Hammer of the Scots. One line towards the end does make reference to the sins that Edward committed in his life. And there was no doubt Edward had committed a few of those in his time. He was, it can be argued, the most feared of all England’s medieval kings. For Robert The Bruce, the death of the man who had once forced him into hiding in a wet and lonely cave in Scotland’s Western Isles, could only be good news. Although Edward is known as the Hammer of the Scots, his subjugation of Wales equally as forceful. His castles across Wales still stand testament to that to this day. And, it must be said, there would have been a few in England who might not have been too sorry to see the back of the old king.