A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain

Edward I (1239-1307, reigned from 1272) was a remarkable ruler, both good and bad. He was first and foremost a warrior but in the early years of his reign he displayed an interest in good government -- and it helped that his interests coincided with those of his subjects who had suffered from civil strife during the years of Edward's predessor and father, the wretched Henry III. Of necessity, and since Edward was 33 when he succeeded his father, the reader has to endure a complicated tale of Henry's failures and the idiotic policies he pursued which led to civil war and years of intrigue, betrayal, the breaking of holy vows, and erratic kingship. This can be tedious for the casual reader. Morris, however, manages to untangle all of these strings in a clear and concise narrative.While waiting to assume the throne, Edward led an interesting life. He came under the spell of Simon de Montfort and for a time he was in conflict with Henry III. Later, he returned to his loyalty to his father and this section, too, Morris untangles (and it IS complicated). Of interest to many is Morris' narrative of Edward's adventures during the Crusades (and almost losing his life in the process). He was on his way home when he learned that he was now king of Englad after Henry III finally obliged many by dying. It is here that Edward comes into his own.Morris deals with all of Edward's wars, first against Wales and then later against Scotland. The propriety or impropriety of these wars is left to the reader to decide. This is a very good military history of the times: marches, counter marches, more victories than not, betrayals and all the rest. Running like threads throughout this part of the book some are interesting problems that Edward faced while fighting his wars. First, Edward was impecunious throughout most of his reign. This brought him into continual conflict with his many parliaments, where he often faced off against Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, and Roger Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, when Edward applied to the laity and clergy to pay for all of his wars. Second, Edward's lordship of Gascony was a constant trouble, as its inhabitants were unruly and a series of French kings kept a predatory eye on his territory, one of the last remnants of Henry II's Angevin empire. Third, Edward's dubious claims to Scottish lordship troubled the rest of his reign. Here he faced the unremitting antipathy of Roger Wishart, bishop of Glasgow, William Wallace, and various obstreperous Scottish lords. Dealing was these people was fairly straightforward compared to what Edward had to endure from the ultra-slippery Bruce family, especially Robert the younger. Edward was facing yet another Scottish rebellion when he died at Burgh by Sands in Cumbria, bringing to a close one of the most eventful lives experienced by any monarch.What this biography is not is a look at life at Edward's court. Such a peripatetic King had little time for the usual stories of activities that fill biographies of, say, the Tudor house. This is a male-dominated narrative. Edward's first queen, Eleanor of Castile, provides what little there is of female perspectives. We learn little about his daughters and very little about his second wife, Margaret of France, sister to Philip IV. Of all of Edward's children we learn most about his son Alfonso and, towards the end of the book, and inevitably, his eventual heir who became Edward II. Morris tries to steer clear of lurid premonitions about Edward II, who later was also in the running for worst king of England. Still, there is no getting around the epic character flaws of Edward I's heir, but Morris is both frank and tactful about this aspect of Edward I's troubles.Readers will also have to look elsewhere for more information about William Wallace, the Welsh princes, and other legendary characters. In sum, however, this book is highly readable and, as mentioned before, Morris never loses control of his narrative. It is consistently clear, closely reasoned, and speculation is kept to an utter minimum. It appears that Morris will publish a biography of Edward I's grandfather, King John of ill fame, and I hope that Marc Morris will continue to publish more excellent biographies of British monarchs.

Mel Gibson make Edward I famous in America. Braveheart, a lot-of-fun movie, is about Edward and his hapless son, as well as William Wallace and his fight for Scottish independence. The scope here is considerably larger and Wallace does not get all that much page space.Edward was tough, not always fair, sometimes seemingly bloodthirsty, stunningly selfish --but a very effective monarch in terms of creating a kingdom, suppressing rivals and building international alliances. He unified Wales and kept Scotland within English rule,mostly. He was very good at depleting the treasury too, suggesting that nation building is not an inexpensive enterprise. While 'Braveheart' indelibly made Edward ("Longshanks"} look like Patrick McGoohan in my imagination, the scope of A Great and Terrible King is much more, as well as more thorough and remains consistently interesting. It was inspiring enough to make me look around for other authors covering the same time period with less success than I hoped. . Those were busy times, when "nation hood' sort of became a thing, and when an English king could, very reasonably, assume that a substantial swath of France belonged to him as well. The inability of Edward II (son and heir) to keep it together supports the Great Man theory of evaluating history (a view I don't entirely hold). I read this book perhaps 6-8 months ago and am certainly failing to note some important moments, but for me to still remember so much of the man and his wars and wives is an endorsement of the effectiveness of the author. An interesting and engaging read throughout.

I've been reading a lot of medieval history over the last couple of years. I'm not a professional historian or even a student of history. Merely an interested member of the public.I didn't know much about Edward I as most of my reading has been about the transition between the Plantagents and the Tudors. Going further back to the post conquest kings was an adventure. Edward had a busy reign with many successes and failures. It would be tedious to summarise his reign here and really you should read the book. But, there's really never a dull moment and Marc Morris manages the compleixities and characters really well. The book is a skillful blend of history and narrative. It reminded me of the book about William Marshal (The Greatest Knight, Thomas Asbridge). This makes the book useful for fans of history and very readable. The footnotes leave you in no doubt of the intensive research behind the book. There are a couple of trends I've noticed from this course of self-study. There are narrative histories that can be mostly narrative and not much history or there are histories with no narrative. If you do want to learn more about the complex world of the thirteenth century then there is no better way to do it. And yes, I'd vote for Edward I as being the second English king called "great"

I loved this book it seems to completely capture Edwards entire life. The hammer of the Scots. I think all these kings were thugs basically, but some did have good ideas and ways of running there kingdoms. Edward was a smart king and knew how to get things done, sometimes he went to far but being a King there was nobody to stop him. This book is very nice for a paperback and the pictures are very nice all on glossy paper, text is good and easy to read. These Plantagenet kings made England. Great read lots of information. Definitely recommend this.

Edward I nelle sue imprese anche in Galles, Irlanda, Francia e Terra Santa. Un re guerriero e coraggioso ma con qualche grande macchia.

Only half way through but am thoroughly enjoying it.

I usually don't have enough concentration to get through non-fiction/biographies, but this was very hard to put down.

La biographie historique, sérieuse s'entend, constitue à bien des égards un genre en voie de disparition et l'on est particulièrement heureux que Marc Morris ait brillamment oeuvré, avec son 'Edward I', à la sauvegarde de l'epèce.Que nous offre-t-on en effet, d'ordinaire, sous des apparences de 'biographie' (la popularité du genre expliquant la contrefaçon éditoriale)?Soit des ouvrages plutôt savants dont le caractère biographique est noyé dans un flux et reflux de chapitres thématiques qui seraient mieux à leur place, disjoints, dans des revues académiques spécialisées. La prolifération de minuties archivistiques d'intérêt souvent fort relatif brouille irrémédiablement la chronologie et donc l'enchaînement des faits, la cohérence d'une tranche d'histoire: ce n'est point l'arbre, c'est le brin d'herbe qui cache la forêt ouvrant la voie à l'affleurement de dérives idéologiques.Soit de fausses biographies où c'est d'une époque en général qu'il est question plus que d'un personnage aux prises avec cette époque.Rien de tel avec ce livre. Nous suivons pas à pas Edward I de sa naissance à sa mort dans son contexte temporel et spatial. Ne cherchez pas de détails croustillants: la vie conjugale de ce roi fut en tous points irréprochable contrairement à d'autres monarques, au premier rang desquels son faible successeur, sans parler des chefs d'Etat ou de gouvernement de nos républiques. La vie publique d'Edward est à peu près exclusivement prise en compte, il s'agit de 'grande histoire', la seule qui importe à l'échelle des temps, mais une grande histoire qui intègre comme il se doit tous les facteurs explicatifs d'un devenir politique, l'aspect économique des choses n'étant pas négligé mais cantonné à sa juste place. Et Marc Morris nous offre de surcroît un apport personnel aussi significatif que passionnant dans sa mise en relief des aspects idéologiques du règne, précieux témoignage que la propagande institutionnalisée ne date pas d'hier.