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The Plantagenets 1274 - 1330

Unlike his father, Henry the Third, Edward the First was astute enough to work with the barons through Parliament. Working with the barons, however, did not stop Edward from imposing his will. He was a cunning, violent and ruthless monarch, who only really showed weakness on the death of his beloved wife Eleanor. She died in Nottinghamshire, and Edward built twelve memorials to Eleanor all along the route her body took to its final resting place in Westminster Abbey. Only three of the Eleanor Crosses remain, in Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham Cross. The last cross was built at Charing, then a small village near Westminster, and gave Charing Cross its name. The Eleanor Cross outside Charing Cross station today is a Victorian copy. A chapel which Edward had built solely for the purpose of having a daily mass sung for Eleanor survives at Leeds Castle in Kent.

Soon after Edward succeeded to the throne in 1272 he invaded Wales, when one of its more powerful leaders Llewellyn ap Grwffyd failed to show sufficient humility. By 1277 a huge army English army had been mobilised. Edward's army included 9000 Welshmen who had been offended by Llewellyn's pretensions of being a national Welsh king. Following the 1277 campaign Edward appeared to agree a peace which allowed Wales a measure of continued independence. It soon became clear, however, that Wales would be slowly annexed by England. In 1282 the Welsh launched attacks of their own, which brought a predictably violent response. Edward understood the power of symbolism, so after defeating the Welsh he demolished the Welsh equivalent of Westminster Abbey, the monastery of Aberconwy, and built a huge castle on the site, now known as Conwy Castle. He also took the title of Prince of Wales, traditionally used by the leaders of Wales, and bestowed it on his son Edward. This tradition of the title of Prince of Wales for heirs to the throne continues today.

The legacy of Edward's war against Wales can be seen at the castles of Harlech, Caernarvon, Criccieth, Bere as well as Conwy. All are in the north Wales heartland of Gwynedd and were used as strongholds from which Wales could be subdued.

After defeating Wales Edward turned his attention to Scotland. Scotland was in the midst of a succession crisis after the unexpected death of Alexander the Third. John Balliol was appointed king by a committee, where Edward acted as arbitrator. John was immediately treated as an inferior. Initially John tried to be his own man but this resolve quickly disappeared when he had to face a ferocious Edward at Westminster. After his grovelling submission in London John was judged as useless by the Scottish nobles who stripped John of his powers and decided to take on Edward. This was a brave, or foolhardy, act. Edward responded with typical aggression, massacring the entire population of Berwick as an example of what continued resistance would bring. Showing his usual talent for symbolism Berwick was made part of England, the border between England and Scotland decreed to always run north of the city, which is still the case today. King John was then ritually humiliated at Kincardine castle, his royal insignia torn from his chest, before being taken to the Tower of London. In 1296 The Stone of Destiny, Scotland's greatest symbol of state was taken to Westminster and a special coronation chair built to hold it. English monarchs have symbolically been sitting on Scotland ever since.

Understandably, given the ferocious reputation of Edward, most Scots gave up the fight. But a young man called William Wallace, goaded, it is said by an English soldier in Lanark, found himself leading a growing resistance. Wallace was not the man of the hills portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart - the real Wallace grew up in a comfortable manor house in Strathclyde. He led an effective resistance until he was betrayed and executed in 1304. Then just as it seemed the war was over it burst into life again, this time with Robert the Bruce leading it. Robert, a Scottish noble, first had to deal with opposition to his power in Scotland. This he did ruthlessly, killing his rival John Comyn at the alter of Greyfriars Abbey in Dumfries. The killing divided Scots. Many sided with the English against Bruce who was forced to flee, probably to the Hebrides. It was during this period that he was supposed to have hid in King's Cave on the Isle of Arran and learnt patience from watching a spider trying to climb up a wall - although this story was actually made up hundreds of years later by the nineteenth century novelist Walter Scott. Eventually circumstances were right to conduct a guerilla war against Edward. This war went well for the Scots, and when Edward died in 1307 he did so on his way to yet another campaign against the the elusive Bruce.

It was left to Edward's son Edward the Second to continue the war. The younger Edward was not his father. He disappointed his father in many ways, not least by being rather too interested in young men. Edward nearly threw one of his son's boyfriends off the battlements of a royal castle, before furiously tearing out great chucks of young Edward's hair. Edward knew his son would be ineffective in battle, and as the old king approached the end of his life he asked that his bones be taken on campaigns into Scotland, so that his spirit could continue the war against the Scots. Formidable as this spirit had been, it could not help Edward the Second, who was defeated by Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in June 1314.

The Trip To Jerusalem inn, Nottingham. Edward the Third entered a tunnel here leading to Nottingham Castle, where Roger Mortimer was arrested.

Edward went on to a corrupt, autocratic reign, during which he refused to work with the barons of the council. Edward was deposed and murdered in 1327 by his estranged wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. This unpricipled pair were no improvement on Edward, and when Edward the Third succeeded in 1330 he sent his mother into internal exile in Castle Rising, north Norfolk, and beheaded Mortimer after capturing him at Nottingham Castle. It was during Edward the Third's reign that a partnership between king and country through Parliament was to reemerge.