Edward was involved from an early age in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included briefly siding with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford, in 1259. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, but escaped after a few months and defeated the baronial leader Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Within two years the rebellion was extinguished and, with England pacified, Edward joined the Ninth Crusade to the Holy Land. He was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
Edward’s Seals before he became King, when he was simply described as “Henry’s son”, his Arms show England with a Label of five Points – presumably blue, as shown in Glover’s Roll – as his son Alfonso would show. When he became King, Edward dropped the Label and showed the three gold Lions passant on red of his father. This is supported by his Great Seal which shows, not only his Arms on his Shield but also, for the first time, on the Caparison (or ornamental covering) on his horse.
Edward spent much of his reign reforming royal administration and common law. He investigated the tenure of various feudal liberties, and reformed criminal and property law. Increasingly, however, Edward's attention was drawn towards military affairs. After suppressing a minor rebellion in Wales in 1276–77, Edward responded to a second rebellion in 1282–83 with a full-scale war of conquest. After a successful campaign, he subjected Wales to English rule, built a series of castles and towns and settled them with English people. Next, his efforts were directed towards the Scotland. Initially invited to arbitrate a succession dispute, Edward claimed feudal suzerainty over the Kingdom. The war that followed continued after Edward's death, even though the English seemed victorious at several points. Simultaneously, Edward found himself at war with France (a Scottish ally) after King Philip IV of France had confiscated the Duchy of Gascony, which until then had been held in personal union with the Kingdom of England. Although Edward recovered his Duchy, this conflict relieved English military pressure against Scotland. By the mid-1290s extensive military campaigns required high levels of taxation and Edward met with both lay and ecclesiastical opposition. When the King died of dysentery in 1307, he left to his son Edward II an ongoing war with Scotland and many financial and political problems. Edward I’s wish was for his body to be carried at the head of the army into battle with the Scots, but, although possibly prepared for, this wish was not carried out.
Edward I was temperamental, and this, along with his height, made him an intimidating man. Nevertheless, he held the respect for the way he embodied the medieval ideal of kingship, as a soldier, an administrator and a man of faith.
Eleanor of Castile
The marriage was known to be particularly close and Eleanor travelled extensively with her husband. She was with him on the Ninth Crusade, when he was wounded at Acre, but the popular story of her saving his life by sucking out the poison has long been discredited. When she died, at Harby near Lincoln, her grieving husband famously ordered a stone cross to be erected at each stopping-place on the journey to London, ending at Charing Cross - Charing being traditionally thought to be a corruption of the French "Chère Reine" meaning "Dear Queen". Her name is also, traditionally, held to be the origin of the area "Elephant and Castle" in London (a corruption of "Eleanor of Castile"). Both of these legends have recently been called in to question, though.
Eleanor was better educated than most medieval queens, her father and half-brother, Alfonso X, encouraging extensive education of royal children, and exerted a strong cultural influence on the nation. She was a keen patron of literature, and encouraged the use of tapestries, carpets and tableware in the Spanish style, as well as innovative garden designs. She was also a successful businesswoman, endowed with her own fortune as Countess of Ponthieu.
Eleanor's father's Arms of Castile and Leon represent the uniting of the two Kingdoms in his person and provide one of the earliest examples of two Coats regularly quartered onto one Shield. The practice of ladies, even queens, impaling their family Arms with those of their husbands was yet to evolve, so the Arms above can only be held as attributed. Eleanor's Seal portrays the Arms of England on one side and the Charges (Castles and Lions) from her father's Arms as individual figures in the background on the other side.
Alphonso, Earl of Chester
At the age of ten, Alphonso was engaged to Margaret, daughter of Floris V, Count of Holland but he fell ill and died a few months before the wedding was to take place. After the deaths of John, Henry and now Alphonso, Edward and Eleanor were left with the four-month-old Edward as their only son, although five daughters survived into adulthood
Alphonso's Arms are shown as England with a five-pointed Label in blue. This would usually be reserved for the grandchild of the Armigerer as we would know heraldry nowadays. However, Alphonso's grandfather had already died a year before he was born, let alone when Alphonso was 10. We can therefore only conclude that the number of Points to a Label did not have the significance then that it does now.
Margaret of France
Although Edward was filled with grief upon the death of Eleanor, he found it politically expedient to arrange another marriage, not only for himself but for his young son, Edward of Caernarfon, Prince of Wales. He may also have been eager for more children, especially a ‘spare’ to young Edward. Negotiations got under way including Margaret and her sister Blanche and Philip IV’s daughter Isabella. Also included, in the dowry, was Gascony which Philip had recently taken over and which Edward I was eager to regain. However, Edward found out that Blanche was to be betrothed to Rudolph of Germany and so declared war on Philip. After five years, a truce was agreed upon under the influence of Pope Boniface VIII and a series of treaties in the first half of 1299 provided terms for a double marriage: King Edward with Margaret and the Prince Edward with Isabella. Even though the King was 40 years older than Margaret, they found domestic bliss.
Although never crowned due to financial restraints, Margaret acted fully as queen and was especially adept at calming the King’s temper and acting as a diplomat and mediator, especially between the King and his eldest surviving son, and the young Edward’s friends.
Margaret had three children by Edward: Thomas (named after Thomas Beckett to whom she had prayed during pregnancy), Edmund (named after Edward’s brother) and Eleanor (named after Edward’s first wife). Unfortunately, the little Eleanor did not survive young childhood.
In 1307, Marguerite accompanied Edward on campaign to Scotland, but Edward died on July 7 at Burgh by Sands. Marguerite was overcome with grief and, while only in her late twenties, never married again, allegedly stating: “…when Edward died, all men died for me”. She retired her body was dressed in a Franciscan habit and taken for burial at Christ Church Greyfriars in London, the foundation of which she had generously endowed.
In the instance of the casket, the illustration actually shows the bride's Arms as Princess of Wales with a common Label across the whole of the Shield. The opposite side (not shown) shows Margaret's dimidiated Arms which at that stage were essentially the same as her step-daughter-in-law/half-niece but without the Label. When Edward II became King and Isabelle Queen, they were essentially the same! Isabella probably changed to marshalling to tell the difference from her mother-in-law and that may be where the changeover from dimidiating came from.
can go one better, though, with St Katharine's by the Tower or the Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine by the Tower, a medieval church and hospital next to the Tower of London. It survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537 by virtue of royal protection, having been from its foundation to the present day under the patronage of the Queens (Regnant, Consort or Dowager) of England. The site was requisitioned in 1825 for the St Katherine's Docks, but fixtures and fittings were moved from the Thames-side site to the new Chapel near regent's Park. These include the Arms of all Queens (whether Regnant or Consort) from Matilda up until Queen Mary, the Queen Consort of King George V). Their Shields are 'supported' by an angel and are arranged in a frieze around the Chapel. HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, however, has her Arms in a stained glass window in an Ante-chapel, dated 2 years after her death, and the present Queen is not represented yet. The only exception otherwise appears to be Eleanor of Aquitaine, the first wife of Edward I. As can be seen, Margaret's Arms are again shown dimidiated, but so are Isabella's... |
Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk
Thomas (1st June 1300 – 4th August 1338) was the fifth and second surviving son of King Edward I and the eldest child by his second wife, Margaret of France. Thomas’s delivery was difficult and he was born while his mother was on her way to Yorkshire. As was the custom at the time, Margaret prayed to Thomas Becket and thus Thomas named after the Saint. In 1312 Thomas was created Earl of Norfolk by his half-brother Edward II and on 10th February 1316 he was created Earl Marshal. The previous Earl of Norfolk and Earl Marshal (with a couple of Earls Marshal in between) had been childless. So as to disinherit his brother, he had surrendered his title and had it re-created to him with succession limited to his own decendants. Thus the titles became vacant on his death. (It is suggested that Margaret had expected the Earldom of Cornwall but her stepson gave that title to his favourite, Piers Gaveston. |
Thomas died on 4th August 1338, and was buried in the choir of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. As he had no surviving sons, Thomas was succeeded by his daughter, Margaret, as Countess of Norfolk. She was later created Duchess of Norfolk for life in 1397.
Instead of blue, Thomas chose the colour white for the Label on his Arms. This is the first known use of a white Label but at that stage the colour was of no other significance than that of distinction. The next use was by the Black Prince at a stage when heraldry was becoming more regulated and only then became the regular Label for the heir apparent.
Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent
Edmund (5th August 1301 – 19th March 1330) was the sixth and youngest son of King Edward I and the second by his second wife Margaret of France. Edward I had intended to make substantial grants of land to Edmund, but when the old King died in 1307, Edward II refused to respect his father's intentions, mainly due to his own favouritism towards Piers Gaveston. Edmund remained loyal to his brother, though, and in 1321 he was created Earl of Kent. He played an important part in Edward's administration and helped suppress a rebellion. Discontent against the King grew and eventually affected Edmund. The discontent was largely caused by Edward's preference for his new favourites, Hugh Despenser the Younger and his father. In 1326, Edmund also joined the rebellion led by Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer, whereby King Edward II was deposed. Edmund did not enjoy a great reputation during his life, and afterwards, due to his unreliable political dealings. He failed to get along with the new administration, however, and in 1330 he was caught planning a new rebellion and executed. |
The younger Edmund was succeeded by his brother John and he, in turn, was succeeded by his elder sister Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent, who went on to marry the Black Prince. The Kents placed a white Bordure around the Arms of England for difference and this Shield was inherited down the Kent line, even used by Joan.