The Life and Reign of Edward I.

by Robert Benton Seeley

“This great monarch, whose commanding spirit, defining and organizing power, and thorough honesty of character, place him in strong contrast not merely with his father, but with all the rest of our long line of kings, was not likely to surrender, without a struggle, the position which he had inherited. For more than twenty years he reigned as Henry II. had done, showing proper respect for constitutional forms, but exercising the reality of despotic power. He loved his people, and therefore did not oppress them; they knew and loved him, and endured the pressure of taxation, which would not have been imposed if it had not been necessary. He admits them to a share, a large share, in the process of government; he developes and defines the constitution in a way which Simon de Montfort had never contemplated. The organization of parliament is completed until it seems as perfect as it is at the present day; and the legislation is so full that the laws of the next three centuries are little more than a necessary expansion of it.” He adds, of the king himself, that “His own personal character was high, pure, and true.” Finally, in closing his investigation, he says: “We stop at Edward I. because the machinery is now completed; the people are now at full growth. And the attaining this point is to be attributed to the defining genius, the political wisdom, and the honesty of this great king.”[178]

We turn to a fourth writer of the same class;—to the Regius professor of Modern History at Belfast, Mr. Yonge. He concludes his review of this reign with these words:—

“Among the rulers of mankind who have won for themselves a conspicuous and honourable place in the history of their country, Edward has no superior, and scarcely an equal. Personal prowess, which in other heroes makes up the greater part of their renown, was in him so over‐shadowed by more valuable qualities as to be scarcely entitled to notice; and the invincible knight is lost in the consummate general, the wise lawgiver, the far‐sighted statesman.” “It was no personal or vulgar ambition that prompted his attacks on Wales and Scotland, but a judicious perception of the advantages to be derived, not by England alone, but by the invaded countries, from their union into one kingdom. He was ambitious, not so much of being the conqueror, as the benefactor, of the whole island.” “Kings are subjected to a more rigid tribunal than ordinary men, from the fact of their conspicuous position; and we have no right to expect that faultlessness in a sovereign which we know it to be vain to look for in others. But as long as the equitable rule prevails of balancing men’s virtues against their faults, and looking at the general results of their conduct, so long will the splendid and universal abilities of Edward I., and the great and lasting benefits which his country has derived from them, secure him a leading, if not the very first, place among those monarchs who have left an example to be revered by their countrymen and imitated by their successors.”[179]

Sir E. Creasy expresses a similar opinion, but with more brevity, closing his review of Edward’s reign with one decisive sentence:—

“If we take a comprehensive and unprejudiced view of his whole career, we shall rest satisfied that few greater men have ever reigned; and that there has been hardly any man, royal or subject, to whom Englishmen ought to look with more gratitude than Edward, as the promoter of our power, and the ordainer of our laws and our constitution.”[180]

A sixth writer, of our own day, who has carefully investigated these questions, is Mr. C. H. Pearson. There is not a trace of partiality in the portrait which he draws; yet a sincere and warm admiration draws from him such expressions as these:—

“Brave almost to insanity, the king was also a consummate general, able to discipline raw levies, and to carry out engineering works with singular audacity and resource.” He was also “large‐minded towards mere personal enemies, but never pardoning baseness or broken faith.”

Mr. Pearson notices also “a strong love of justice,” “a slowness to shed blood,” and “a greatness of nature which carried him through every difficulty.” “His people knew that he did everything for England; and he inspired trust, for he never broke his word.” He was “our first truly English king;” he was “the greatest of his race;” and, finally, “among those of our kings whom we really know, there is, perhaps, no greater name than that of Edward I.”

And, just as this sheet is passing through the press, a seventh testimony of no small value is given by Mr. E. A. Freeman.[181] He discusses, in one of his Essays, the whole merits of the Scottish controversy of 1290–1307, and he declares, that “if any man’s conduct ever was marked by thorough justice and disinterestedness, that of king Edward was so marked throughout the whole business.” “His conduct was throughout honest and above‐board.” Of Wallace he says, “It is impossible to deny the fiendish brutalities practised by him in England,—brutalities which fully explain the intense hatred with which every English writer speaks of him”:—And of Bruce, that “he treacherously and sacrilegiously murdered John Comyn, the heir of the Scottish crown.” He adds, “that all who were concerned in this murder met with their merited punishment, who can wonder?—it is certain that Edward punished no man who would not be held liable to punishment at the present moment.” As to Edward himself, Mr. Freeman’s opinion is briefly summed up in a very few words: He was “the greatest and noblest king that England has seen for eight hundred years.”