This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king – a man born to rule England, who believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic and important of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale, and leaving a legacy of division between the peoples of Britain that has lasted from his day to our own.
Edward I is familiar to millions as ‘Longshanks’, conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (‘Braveheart’). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king’s astonishingly action-packed life. Earlier Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled across Europe to the Holy Land on crusade; conquered Wales, extinguishing forever its native rulers, and constructing – at Conwy, Harlech, Beaumaris and Caernarfon – the most magnificent chain of castles ever created. He raised the greatest armies of the English Middle Ages, and summoned the largest parliaments; notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom. The longest-lived of all England’s medieval kings, he fathered no fewer than fifteen children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and after her death he erected the Eleanor Crosses – the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch.
In this book, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward. His relentless character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England’s destiny; a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward’s opponents (including Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Robert Bruce) to resist him, and the very different societies that then existed in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The result is a sweeping story, immaculately researched yet compellingly told, and a vivid picture of medieval Britain at the moment when its future was decided.
My Thoughts:
I've been on a mission the last couple of years to learn more about the 1200's. It just interested me because it seemed like there wasn't much in the way of history or historical fiction about those years and I wondered why. Sharon Penman's Welsh princes trilogy and Jean Plaidy's Plantagenet saga covers the time period but I'd never even heard of Simon de Montfort prior to those books. I'm an American so that is probably not unusual but still....once I started reading about that whole time of him and Henry III, I wondered how on earth there wasn't more written about them. Their stories are fascinating.
So after I'd exhausted all I could find on Henry and Simon, I moved on to Edward, the next King in line. And his life is incredible too. Marc Morris does a great job of telling his story and including all the details of his early life, friction with his parents and relatives, involvement with battles as a young prince, and his reign while conquering Wales and Scotland (basically). It it a well researched, interesting story but at times it did get super detailed on some things I wasn't as interested in. In order to write a thorough biography of a King you have to discuss battles in detail to some degree and cover all aspects of the subject's life. Morris definitely does that. I was glad I'd read Plaidy's more fictional, yet historically accurate account prior to this book so I was more invested and understood what was happening.
Morris's book felt like I was taking a history class with a narrative style. Sometimes I just want the facts, without fictional characters or dialogue, but it has to have a personal touch as well or it becomes too dry. I think he did a great job with this.
I enjoyed this book on a topic that is rarely given the attention it deserves. Morris has clearly done his time covering all the parts of Edward's life. He has other biographies on Kings John and William I that I'm sure are good as well. It is worth your time if you want to know more about this period.
