brother David effectively ended attempts at Welsh independence. Under the
Statute of Wales of 1284, Wales was brought into the English legal
framework and the shire system was extended. In the same year, a son was
born in Wales to Edward and Queen Eleanor (also named Edward, this future
king was proclaimed the first English Prince of Wales in 1301). The Welsh
campaign had produced one of the largest armies ever assembled by an
English king - some 15,000 infantry (including 9,000 Welsh and a Gascon
contingent); the army was a formidable combination of heavy Anglo-Norman
cavalry and Welsh archers, whose longbow skills laid the foundations of
later military victories in France such as that at Agincourt. As symbols of
his military strength and political authority, Edward spent some Ј80,000 on
a network of castles and lesser strongholds in North Wales, employing a
work-force of up to 3,500 men drawn from all over England. (Some castles,
such as Conway and Caernarvon, remain in their ruined layouts today, as
examples of fortresses integrated with fortified towns.) Edward's campaign
in Wales was based on his determination to ensure peace and extend royal
authority, and it had broad support in England. Edward saw the need to
widen support among lesser landowners and the merchants and traders of the
towns. The campaigns in Wales, France and Scotland left Edward deeply in
debt, and the taxation required to meet those debts meant enrolling
national support for his policies. To raise money, Edward summoned
Parliament - up to 1286 he summoned Parliaments twice a year. (The word
'Parliament' came from the 'parley' or talks which the King had with larger
groups of advisers.) In 1295, when money was needed to wage war against
Philip of France (who had confiscated the duchy of Gascony), Edward
summoned the most comprehensive assembly ever summoned in England. This
became known as the Model Parliament, for it represented various estates:
barons, clergy, and knights and townspeople. By the end of Edward's reign,
Parliament usually contained representatives of all these estates. Edward
used his royal authority to establish the rights of the Crown at the
expense of traditional feudal privileges, to promote the uniform
administration of justice, to raise income to meet the costs of war and
government, and to codify the legal system. In doing so, his methods
emphasised the role of Parliament and the common law. With the able help of
his Chancellor, Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Edward introduced
much new legislation. He began by commissioning a thorough survey of local
government (with the results entered into documents known as the Hundred
Rolls), which not only defined royal rights and possessions but also
revealed administrative abuses. The First Statute of Westminster (1275)
codified 51 existing laws - many originating from Magna Carta - covering
areas ranging from extortion by royal officers, lawyers and bailiffs,
methods of procedure in civil and criminal cases to freedom of elections.
Edward's first Parliament also enacted legislation on wool, England's most
important export at the time. At the request of the merchants, Edward was
given a customs grant on wool and hides which amounted to nearly Ј10,000 a
year. Edward also obtained income from the licence fees imposed by the
Statute of Mortmain (1279), under which gifts of land to the Church (often
made to evade death duties) had to have a royal licence. The Statutes of
Gloucester (1278) and Quo Warranto (1290) attempted to define and regulate
feudal jurisdictions, which were an obstacle to royal authority and to a
uniform system of justice for all; the Statute of Winchester (1285)
codified the policing system for preserving public order. Other statutes
had a long-term effect on land law and on the feudal framework in England.
The Second Statute of Westminster (1285) restricted the alienation of land
and kept entailed estates within families: tenants were only tenants for
life and not able to sell the property to others. The Third Statute of
Westminster or Quia Emptores (1290) stopped subinfeudation (in which
tenants of land belonging to the King or to barons subcontracted their
properties and related feudal services). Edward's assertion that the King
of Scotland owed feudal allegiance to him, and the embittered Anglo-
Scottish relations leading to war which followed, were to overshadow the
rest of Edward's reign in what was to become known as the 'Great Cause'.
Under a treaty of 1174, William the Lion of Scotland had become the vassal
to Henry II, but in 1189 Richard I had absolved William from his
allegiance. Intermarriage between the English and Scottish royal houses
promoted peace between the two countries until the premature death of
Alexander III in 1286. In 1290, his granddaughter and heiress, Margaret the
'Maid of Norway' (daughter of the King of Norway, she was pledged to be
married to Edward's then only surviving son, Edward of Caernarvon), also
died. For Edward, this dynastic blow was made worse by the death in the
same year of his much-loved wife Eleanor (her body was ceremonially carried
from Lincoln to Westminster for burial, and a memorial cross erected at
every one of the twelve resting places, including what became known as
Charing Cross in London). In the absence of an obvious heir to the
Scottish throne, the disunited Scottish magnates invited Edward to
determine the dispute. In order to gain acceptance of his authority in
reaching a verdict, Edward sought and obtained recognition from the rival
claimants that he had the 'sovereign lordship of Scotland and the right to
determine our several pretensions'. In November 1292, Edward and his 104
assessors gave the whole kingdom to John Balliol or Baliol as the claimant
closest to the royal line; Balliol duly swore loyalty to Edward and was
crowned at Scone. John Balliol's position proved difficult. Edward
insisted that Scotland was not independent and he, as sovereign lord, had
the right to hear in England appeals against Balliol's judgements in
Scotland. In 1294, Balliol lost authority amongst Scottish magnates by
going to Westminster after receiving a summons from Edward; the magnates
decided to seek allies in France and concluded the 'Auld Alliance' with
France (then at war with England over the duchy of Gascony) - an alliance
which was to influence Scottish history for the next 300 years. In March
1296, having failed to negotiate a settlement, the English led by Edward
sacked the city of Berwick near the River Tweed. Balliol formally renounced
his homage to Edward in April 1296, speaking of 'grievous and intolerable
injuries ... for instance by summoning us outside our realm ... as your own
whim dictated ... and so ... we renounce the fealty and homage which we
have done to you'. Pausing to design and start the rebuilding of Berwick as
the financial capital of the country, Edward's forces overran remaining
Scottish resistance. Scots leaders were taken hostage, and Edinburgh
Castle, amongst others, was seized. Balliol surrendered his realm and spent
the rest of his life in exile in England and Normandy. Having humiliated
Balliol, Edward's insensitive policies in Scotland continued: he appointed
a trio of Englishmen to run the country. Edward had the Stone of Scone -
also known as the Stone of Destiny - on which Scottish sovereigns had been
crowned removed to London and subsequently placed in the Coronation Chair
in Westminster Abbey (where it remained until it was returned to Scotland
in 1996). Edward never built stone castles on strategic sites in Scotland,
as he had done so successfully in Wales - possibly because he did not have
the funds for another ambitious castle-building programme. By 1297, Edward
was facing the biggest crisis in his reign, and his commitments outweighed
his resources. Chronic debts were being incurred by wars against France, in
Flanders, Gascony and Wales as well as Scotland; the clergy were refusing
to pay their share of the costs, with the Archbishop of Canterbury
threatening excommunication; Parliament was reluctant to contribute to
Edward's expensive and unsuccessful military policies; the Earls of
Hereford and Norfolk refused to serve in Gascony, and the barons presented
a formal statement of their grievances. In the end, Edward was forced to
reconfirm the Charters (including Magna Carta) to obtain the money he
required; the Archbishop was eventually suspended in 1306 by the new Gascon
Pope Clement V; a truce was declared with France in 1297, followed by a
peace treaty in 1303 under which the French king restored the duchy of
Gascony to Edward. In Scotland, Edward pursued a series of campaigns from
1298 onwards. William Wallace had risen in Balliol's name and recovered
most of Scotland, before being defeated by Edward at the battle of Falkirk
in 1298. (Wallace escaped, only to be captured in 1305, allegedly by the
treachery of a fellow Scot and taken to London, where he was executed.) In
1304, Edward summoned a full Parliament (which elected Scottish
representatives also attended), in which arrangements for the settlement of
Scotland were made. The new government in Scotland featured a Council,
which included Robert the Bruce. Bruce unexpectedly rebelled in 1306 by
killing a fellow counsellor and was crowned king of Scotland at Scone.
Despite his failing health, Edward was carried north to pursue another
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