Divorced, Beheaded, Died: The History of Britain's Kings and Queens in Bite-Sized Chunks by Kevin Flude Read Free Book Online Page B

were remarkably successful and proved a model for future stable successions.
    Edward undertook a massive reform of the legal system, in an effort to stamp out corruption among royal officials, codifying many existing laws in the 1275 Statute of Westminster, and he further developed the parliamentary format set up by Simon de Montfort. However, the motive for most of his reforms was financial. He also began an attack on Jews who had settled in England after the Norman Conquest and the practice of usury (money-lending at high rates of interest). In 1275 he issued a decree restricting Jewish business activities and made Jews wear a yellow badge. In 1279 he arrested all heads of Jewish families and had 300 of them executed. Finally, following riots, he expelled all Jews and confiscated their property in 1290.
    Edward’s main military policy during his reign was to assert his overlordship of the British Isles, turning his attention to Scotland and Wales, as he held only Gascony and the Channel Islands in France. His first target was Wales: Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, refused to pay homage to the new King, and after being defeated and pardoned, he revolted again in 1282. Edward responded with an overwhelming display of power. He ringed Snowdonia with a circle of tremendous fortresses, known as the Ring of Iron, and the native kingdoms were dismembered and integrated into the English system of counties. Edward’s son, the future Edward II, became the first English Prince of Wales, and for the first time in its history Wales was no longer independent of its English neighbour.
    When Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286, Edward asserted his right as overlord to choose his successor, giving his support to John Balliol rather than the more powerful Robert the Bruce in an attempt to subjugate the Scots. Unhappy with this situation, the Scots allied themselves with Philip IV of France, who had by this time seized Gascony. In 1296 Edward led a large army northwards and forced the Scots to surrender, seizing the Stone of Scone, the symbol of the Scottish monarchy. But the Scottish problem was by no means settled, and Edward suffered reverses at the hands of William Wallace and others. Wallace was eventually captured and executed in 1305, but the troubles in Scotland and emerging problems in France darkened Edward’s later years. He died in 1307, en route to do battle with the new King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce.

    E DWARD II
    Reigned 1307–1327
    Edward was born in 1284 at Caernarvon and was the first English Prince of Wales, a title his father bestowed on him in infancy, although the story of his presentation as a newborn to the people of Wales when they demanded a ‘Prince who spoke no English’ is a fabrication. Outwardly, he was the very vision of a king – tall, fair-haired and handsome – but he was not cut out for the responsibility. He was frivolous and flamboyant, shunning military campaigning in preference to the amusements of his court and hard physical labour alongside his peasants. His one foray north ended disastrously when he was beaten at Bannockburn in 1314 by a badly outnumbered Scottish army led by Robert the Bruce, which effectively ended English hopes of controlling Scotland.
    Edward lavished money and power on his favourites at court, making some of the barons not only jealous but hot for revenge. They murdered Piers Gaveston, the King’s great favourite, and gained control of the government. Determined on revenge, Edward regained power with the help of a couple of his supporters, Hugh le Despenser and his son, and executed two dozen nobles and exiled others. Back in charge, Edward and the Despensers ruled with scant regard for law and diplomacy and soon became hated.
    Edward sent his wife, Isabella, known as ‘the she-wolf of France’, on a diplomatic mission back to France, where opponents of the King and the Despensers had gathered. Isabella – perhaps in revenge for Edward’s humiliating