Edward, King of England, surnamed the Confessor, was the son of Ethelred II, and was born at Islip, in Oxfordshire, about 1004. On the death of his maternal brother, Hardicanute the Dane, in 1041, he was called to the throne, and thus renewed the Saxon line. Edward was a weak and superstitious, but well-intentioned prince, who acquired the love of his subjects by his monkish sanctity and care in the administration of justice. His queen was the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Kent. He died in 1066, and was succeeded by Harold, the son of Godwin.
Edward caused a body of laws to be compiled from those of Ethelbert, Ina, and Alfred, to which the nation was long fondly attached. He was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1161.
Edward, Prince of Wales, surnamed the Black Prince, born 15th June, 1330, the eldest son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. In 1346 he commanded part of the forces at the battle of Crécy, and earned the praise of his warlike father. It was on this occasion that he adopted the motto Ich dien (I serve), used by all succeeding Princes of Wales. In 1355 he commanded the army which invaded France from Gascony, and distinguished himself the following year at the great battle of Poitiers. By the Peace of Brétigny the provinces of Poictou, Saintonge, Périgord, and Limousin were annexed to Guienne and formed into a sovereignty for the prince under the title of the Principality of Aquitaine. A campaign in Castile, on behalf of Pedro the Cruel, and the heavy taxes laid on Aquitaine to meet the expenses, caused a rebellion, and ultimately involved him in a war with the French king. His own health did not allow him to take the field, and having seen his generals defeated he withdrew into England, and after lingering some time died (1376), leaving an only son, afterwards Richard II.
Edward I (of the Norman line), King of England, son of Henry III, was born at Winchester in 1239, died 7th July, 1307. The contests between his father and the barons called him early into active life, and he finally quelled all resistance to the royal authority by the decisive defeat of Leicester at the battle of Evesham, in 1265. He then proceeded to Palestine, where he showed signal proofs of valour, although no conquest of any importance was achieved. His father's death in 1272 gave him the crown. On his return home he showed great vigour as well as a degree of severity in his administration. He commenced a war with Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, which ended in the annexation of that Principality to the English Crown in 1283. Edward's ambition was to gain possession of Scotland, but the death of Margaret, the Maid of Norway, who was to have been married to Edward's son, for a time frustrated the king's designs. But on 26th Dec., 1292, John Baliol was induced to do homage for his crown to Edward at Newcastle. Baliol was forced by the indignation of the Scottish people into war with England. Edward entered Scotland in 1296, devastated it with fire and sword, and placed the administration of the country in the hands of officers of his own. Next summer a new rising took place under William Wallace. Wallace's successes recalled Edward to Scotland with an army of 100,000 men. Wallace was at length betrayed into his hands and executed as a traitor. All Edward's efforts, however, to reduce the country to obedience were unavailing, and with the flight of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, to Scotland, the banner of Scottish independence was again unfurled. Edward assembled another army and marched against Bruce, but only lived to reach Burgh-on-Sands, a village near Carlisle, where he died. Edward I was wise in council and vigorous in action. During his reign great progress was made in the establishment of law and order throughout the land.
Edward II, King of England, born at Carnarvon Castle in 1284, and the first English Prince of Wales, succeeded his father, Edward I, in 1307. He was of an agreeable figure and mild disposition, but indolent and fond of pleasure. After marching as far as Cumnock, in Ayrshire, with the army collected by his father, he returned, dismissed his troops, and abandoned himself entirely to amusements. His weakness for a clever but dissolute young Gascon, Piers Gaveston, on whom he heaped honours without limit, roused the nobles to rebellion. Gaveston was captured in Scarborough Castle, and executed as a public enemy on 19th June, 1312. Two years after this, Edward assembled an immense army to check the progress of Robert Bruce, but was completely defeated at Bannockburn. In 1322 he made another expedition against Scotland, but without achieving anything important. The king's fondness for another favourite, Hugh le Despenser, had made a number of malcontents, and Queen Isabella, making a visit to France, entered into a correspondence with the exiles there, and formed an association of all hostile to the king. Aided by a force from the Count of Hainault, she landed in Suffolk in 1326. Her army was completely successful. The Despensers, father and son, were captured and executed, and the king was taken prisoner and confined in Kenilworth, and ultimately in Berkeley Castle, where he was murdered 21st Sept., 1327.
Edward III, King of England, son of Edward II by Isabella of France, was born in 1312, died 21st June, 1377. On his father's deposition in 1327 he was proclaimed king under a council of regency, while his mother's lover, Mortimer, really possessed the principal power in the State. The pride and oppression of Mortimer led to a general confederacy against him, and to his seizure and execution (10th Oct., 1330). Edward now turned his attention to Scotland, and, having levied a well-appointed army, defeated the regent, Douglas, at Halidon Hill, in July, 1333. This victory produced the restoration of Edward Baliol, who was, however, again expelled, and again restored, until the ambition of the English king was diverted by the prospect of succeeding to the throne of France. Collecting an army and accompanied by the Black Prince, he crossed
over to France. The memorable battle of Crécy followed, 25th Aug., 1346, which was succeeded by the siege of Calais. In the meantime David II, having recovered the throne of Scotland, invaded England with a large army, but was defeated and taken prisoner by a much inferior force under Lord Percy. In 1348 a truce was concluded with France; but on the death of King Philip, in 1350, Edward again invaded France, plundering and devastating. Recalled home by a Scottish inroad, he retaliated by carrying fire and sword from Berwick to Edinburgh. In the meantime the Black Prince had penetrated from Guienne to the heart of France, fought the famous battle of Poitiers, and taken King John prisoner. A truce was then made, at the expiration of which (1359) Edward again crossed over to France and laid waste the provinces of Picardy and Champagne, but at length consented to a peace. This confirmed him in the possession of several provinces and districts of France which were entrusted to the Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), but gradually all the English possessions in France, with the exception of Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Calais, were lost.
Edward IV, King of England, was born in 1442, died in April, 1483. His father, Richard, Duke of York, was grandson of Edmund, Earl of Cambridge and Duke of York, fourth son of Edward III, while the rival line of Lancaster descended from John of Gaunt, the third son. The York line had intermarried with the female descendants of Lionel, the second son, which gave it the preferable right to the Crown. Edward, on the defeat and death of his father at the battle of Wakefield, assumed his title, and, having entered London after his splendid victory over the troops of Henry VI and Queen Margaret at Mortimer's Cross, in Feb. 1461, was declared king by acclamation. The victory of Towton, soon after his accession, confirmed his title, and three years after this, on 4th May, 1464, the battle of Hexham completely overthrew the party of Henry VI. The king now made an imprudent marriage with Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Grey, at the very time when he had dispatched the Earl of Warwick to negotiate a marriage for him with the sister of the French king. He thus alienated powerful friends, and Warwick, passing over to the Lancastrian cause, gathered a large army, and compelled Edward to fly (in Sept. 1470). Henry's title was once more recognized by Parliament. But in 1471 Edward, at the head of a small force given him by the Duke of Burgundy, landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, and his army, being quickly increased by partisans, marched swiftly on London and took the unfortunate Henry prisoner. Warwick now advanced with an army to Barnet, where a battle was fought, 4th April, 1471, which ended in the death of Warwick and a decisive victory for Edward. Shortly afterwards Edward also met and defeated a Lancastrian army, headed by Queen Margaret and her son Edward, at Tewkesbury. The prince was murdered, and the queen was thrown into the Tower, where Henry VI soon after died. Edward was preparing for an expedition against France when he died.
Edward V, King of England, the eldest son of Edward IV, was in his thirteenth year when he succeeded his father in 1483. His uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, soon made himself king as Richard III, and caused the young king and his brother to be sent to the Tower, where he had them smothered by ruffians.
Edward VI, King of England, son of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour, was born in 1537, died in July, 1553. At his father's death he was only nine years of age. His education was entrusted to men of the first character for learning, under whose training he made great progress, and grew up with a rooted zeal for the doctrines of the Reformation. His reign was, on the whole, tumultuous and unsettled. In Oct., 1551, the Protector Somerset, who had hitherto governed the kingdom with energy and ability, was deposed by the intrigues of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who became all-powerful. He induced the dying Edward to set aside the succession of his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and settle the crown upon Lady Jane Grey, to whom he had married his son Lord Guildford Dudley. Edward VI restored many of the grammar schools suppressed by Henry VIII, and these schools are still known as King Edward's schools.