The Life and Reign of Edward I.

The volume entitled “The Greatest of the Plantagenets,” was correctly described in its title‐page, as “an Historical Sketch.” Nothing more than this was contemplated by the writ...

Young Edward begins now to be spoken of as a youth of fine stature, often described as “Edward with the flaxen hair.” The king showed great fondness for him, and evidently felt...

The feast was a right royal one. We shall find, throughout Edward’s reign, that none ever practised a truer or a wiser economy. His habits were simple and plain, his household w...

“And because elections ought to be free, the king commandeth, upon great forfeiture (_i.e._, penalties), that no man by force of arms, nor by malice nor menacing, shall disturb...

But we see various tokens of the uneasiness caused by the extortions of these people. In October, 1274, only two months after his coronation, we find Edward issuing an order con...

Some historians have been too ready to assume or assert, on all occasions, that our free constitution has been won by the repeated struggles of the people, who succeeded in wres...

Not until the summer of that year was he able to take his departure. On the 24th of June, 1286, he embarked, accompanied by his queen, and attended by a splendid train of bishop...

The autumn of the year 1290 was a solemn epoch in this great king’s life. In this autumn died his beloved Eleanor; in this autumn died, also, “the maiden of Norway,” the young q...

[36] The “Chronicle of Lanercost” gives us this anecdote of the manners of that day: “Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester, paid a visit to Robert Grosstête, bishop of Lincoln,...

Was it to be expected, either, that he could overlook the circumstances attending the present appeal? What meant the application made by the Scotch to him while in Gascony, or t...

[52] Wyntoun and Fordun, the earliest Scottish historians, writing at the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries, bring in a fiction at this part of the...

On the contrary, it was an essential point of his prerogatives as lord paramount, and it was known to be so, by all parties from the beginning. For nearly seven years past the S...

Edward lost no time in following up his advantage. He sat down before the castle of Roxburgh, which was surrendered to him by James, the steward of Scotland; Dumbarton castle wa...

We know not much of the other proceedings of that parliament. The king was evidently in a position of great difficulty. Opposed by a large body of the clergy, and now opposed al...

But let us turn from the mere legend‐writer and panegyrist, and endeavour to ascertain, as far as we are able, the real truth of Wallace’s acts and of his character. And probabl...

The king, however, found it impossible to leave the Flemish coast so soon as he had intended. He learned, too, that the Scottish invasion was over, and that Wallace and his foll...

What was the drift and meaning, then, of these contentions between the two earls and the king, which extended over three or four years, and which perplexed and harassed Edward d...

The parliament of Lincoln, A.D. 1301, deserves a high place among the notable events of English history. In it we find the parliamentary system firmly established, in all its di...

So long as the two earls had merely asked for a confirmation of the charters, or for inquiry into the misdoings of the officers of the forests, the king had listened patiently;...

And so we part with Winchelsey, who disappears from this history; not returning to England until the weak and troubled reign of Edward II. gave him re‐entrance, and supplied him...

We have already dwelt at some length upon Edward’s character as a legislator; and his high rank as a commander requires no proof from us. But England, at this important crisis i...

This was the last attempt at opposition in the open field. From Perth the king proceeded to Dundee, and Brechin, and Aberdeen. The castle of Brechin delayed him three weeks. It...

Treason, however, or mere rebellion, would never have brought Wallace from Scotland to Westminster Hall. Comyn, Fraser, and scores of other distinguished men in Scotland, had be...

“To our faithful and loyal Robert de Brus, earl of Carrick, and to all other our good people who are in his company, greeting:—We have heard that it is agreed between you and Jo...

The new king then began a progress through such parts of Scotland as were likely to favour his pretensions; seizing the royal castles, driving away the English officers, and ass...

But now drew near that great event for which, there can be no doubt, Bruce had long been eagerly looking, and which entirely changed the whole position of affairs. The king, as...

“This king was called by the writers of the next generation ‘Edward the Good,’ and it has been to our shame as a nation that we have been so careless of a royal reputation, and...

So that the treasurer, on this account, would appear to have been in advance. But there was, doubtless, money daily coming in, and he probably had some bills not yet discharged.