Edward I Plantagenet. English crusader prince
Monument to Edward I at Brough-by-Sand
Edward (Edward, in Russian-language sources they often write Edward) I Plantagenet became one of the last high-ranking crusaders in Europe. However, his trip to the Holy Land traditionally remains in the shadow of his future activities. He is much better known as the king who for the first time united England, Wales and Scotland in one state (his other nickname, however, given to him after his death is Malleus Scotorum, “Hammer of the Scots”).
This is how the audience of the 1995 Hollywood film Braveheart saw King Edward I.
And this is what this king looks like in a portrait in Westminster Abbey
Scotland was conquered by Edward's great-grandfather, Henry II, who in 1174 defeated the army of this kingdom in the battle of Alnwick. But already in 1189, his son Richard the Lionheart sold it to the Scottish pretender William for 10 silver marks - the knight-king needed money to participate in the Third Crusade. But on April 000, 27, Edward I Plantagenet defeated the Scottish army at the Battle of Dunbar and captured the king of this country, John Balliol, who entered history as the first prisoner of the Tower of such rank. He was later exiled to France, where he died.
Captured John Balliol before Edward I
Another valuable trophy of Edward was the Coronation Stone of Scotland (Scottish Stone of Destiny, Skone Stone), which since 847 has been located in Skone (Skoon) Abbey and allegedly notified everyone with a cry when a true contender for the throne sat on it. He was forever silenced after he was placed under the foundation of the English throne in Westminster Abbey:
Skone stone. The Scots believed that it was the base of the famous "Jacob's ladder". According to another legend, the stone was brought from Ireland by the first king of the Scots Fergus, according to the third - by Saint Colombo (the baptist of Scotland)
Now this stone is in the Edinburgh Cathedral. Its origin, history, and incredible kidnapping in 1950 were described in the article "Stones of Destiny".
However, the appeasement of Scotland was still far away, and Edward I died during the next campaign against the rebellious northerners - July 7, 1307.
Memorial sign at the place of death of Edward I, Burgh by sands, Cumbria
With the Welsh, Edward I did better: it is thanks to him that all the heirs to the throne of Great Britain bear the title of Prince of Wales. They say that the leaders of Wales conquered by Edward for a long time did not want to take the vassal oath to the English king - until he promised them that he would be the Prince of Wales "a local native who does not know a word of either English or French". Such was his son, who was born the day before in the Welsh castle of Carnarvon: he, of course, did not yet know how to speak.
"First Prince of Wales". Illustration of the book Royal Children of English History
Among other things, Edward I became famous for issuing the Great Statutes, which formed the basis of English law.
Edward I in Parliament
And also the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290 (and before that he ordered them to sew a yellow star on their clothes).
In addition, Edward I is sometimes called "the first English king of England" - before him, since the time of William the Conqueror, England for the monarchs of this country was a secondary outlying territory. The lands belonging to the English kings in the territory of present-day France were much more valued.
The possessions of the English Plantagenets in France
Edward's grandfather, John, brother and rival of Richard the Lionheart, was named Landless by his father because he did not get the mainland possessions already distributed among his eldest sons. At the same time, John received a large amount of land in England, and in 1177 also all of Ireland, but the title of English landowner and lord for a self-respecting Norman was then inexpensive. And it was Edward I who began to pay the most attention to his English possessions. Therefore, in the people's memory, this king remained a wise and just ruler.
Edward I
But today we will talk about Edward I as a crusader.
Early life of Edward I
Edward I Plantagenet was born on June 17, 1239 in the family of King Henry III of England (son of John Landless) and Eleanor of Provence. At the time of marriage, Henry's wife was 12 years old, she gave birth to her first child, Edward, the hero of our article, 5 years later, when she was 17. He received his name in honor of the Anglo-Saxon king of the Wessex dynasty, Edward the Confessor, who was revered by Henry III.
Edward's mother's sisters were Margarita, wife of the French crusader king Louis IX (Saint), Sancha, wife of Richard of Cornwall, who became king of Germany, and Beatrice, wife of Charles I of Anjou, future king of Sicily.
Edward's wife was also named Eleanor, she was the daughter of King Ferdinand III of Castile.
Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. Miniature from a manuscript from the early XNUMXth century. Pay attention to Edward's right eyelid: this is congenital blepharoptosis, which he inherited from his father
Edward and Eleanor seemed to love each other, which is rare in royal families. After the death of his wife in 1290, Edward married only 9 years later - Princess Margaret of France, the youngest daughter of Philip III, son of Saint Louis, who died during the Eighth Crusade - in Tunisia.
Edward is described as a physically strong and at that time very tall (height 188 cm) man, as evidenced by his nickname - "Longshanks" ("Long-legged"). The right eye, as you remember, was half-covered due to congenital ptosis of the upper eyelid. Edward's character was quick-tempered, in the "Songs of Lewis" (1264) the king is compared to a leopard, which in those days was considered an example of an absolutely unpredictable predator. It was said that once, in a fit of anger, he tore a tuft of hair from the head of his son and heir, the future King Edward II. And the dean of the chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1295 died during a conversation with this king.
The notorious curse of Merlin, according to which, in the Plantagenet family, the son had to rebel against his father, and the brother against his brother, still acted, but already weakly. In 1259, Edward participated in the uprising of the English barons, but later reconciled with his father and participated in the fighting on his side.
The situation in the Holy Land: the onslaught of the Mamluks
Things were not going well in the Christian states of Palestine. Jerusalem was lost back in 1244. The Seventh Crusade, led by the French King Louis IX, ended in complete failure. The main threat to the Christian lands of Palestine now came from Egypt, where in 1250 the Mamluks, former Kipchak slaves, came to power, from which the Sultan's guard was formed. In 1260, at the battle of Ain Jalut, the Mamluks even defeated the Mongols. Shortly thereafter, the ruling Sultan Kutuz was killed by his best commander, Baibars, who became famous during the battles with the Crusaders of the Seventh Campaign, when Saint Louis and his brother Alphonse were captured at El Mansur, another brother of the king, Robert d'Artois, died.
Christians still held Arsuf, Atlit, Haifa, Safed, Jaffa, Ascalon and Caesarea, but it was clear to everyone that the fall of these cities was only a matter of time. Nevertheless, another attempt was made to help fellow Palestinians. The French king Louis IX, who had already been captured by the Mamluks, announced on March 25, 1267 that he was again accepting the cross. Together with him, three of his sons gathered on the campaign - the heir Philip (the future father-in-law of the hero of our article), Jean Tristan (born in Damietta besieged by the Mamluks) and Peter, as well as the king's brothers - Alphonse (also a former prisoner of the Mamluks) and Charles I, King of Sicily . The intention to join the new (Eighth) Crusade was announced by King Thibaut II of Navarre and Prince Edward of England. But, as they say, “the fairy tale is soon told, but the deed is not soon done”: Louis IX was able to go on a campaign only in the summer of 1270. Meanwhile, Baybars in 1265 defeated the Armenians of Cilicia, who were allies of the Christian states of Palestine. In 1268, he captured Jaffa and Antioch, cities that the crusaders had owned for 170 years.
From Antioch Baibars sent the following letter to Bohemond VI, Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli:
“The count, the head of the Christians, who will now have to be content with the title of count – may God guide him on the right path, instructing him to follow good and entrusting him with the treasure of good advice – already knows how we moved against Tripoli and ruined the heart of his dominion ...
We took the city by storm at the fourth hour on Sunday, the 4th (number) of the highly revered Ramadan and terrified all whom you chose to protect and defend it ...
You should have seen your knights stretched out under the hooves of horses, your houses, into which marauders burst and devastated by robbers; your ladies, sold four at a time and bought at the price of one dinar of your own money! You should have seen your churches, with torn off crosses, sheets torn from the wrong Gospel, dug up graves of the patriarchs! You should have seen your enemy, a Muslim, trampling the place of worship with his feet, as monks, priests and deacons huddled on the altar; the patriarchs were struck by unexpected misfortune, and the princes of the blood were led into slavery. You should have seen how the fire spread through your palaces, how your dead burned in the fire of this world in front of the Fire of another world, how your palaces became unrecognizable, churches collapsed and destroyed ...
This letter contains good newsthat you are in good health and God has given you a long life, for at this moment you are not in Antioch, but are in another place. Otherwise, you would now be dead, captured, wounded, or mistreated.”
We took the city by storm at the fourth hour on Sunday, the 4th (number) of the highly revered Ramadan and terrified all whom you chose to protect and defend it ...
You should have seen your knights stretched out under the hooves of horses, your houses, into which marauders burst and devastated by robbers; your ladies, sold four at a time and bought at the price of one dinar of your own money! You should have seen your churches, with torn off crosses, sheets torn from the wrong Gospel, dug up graves of the patriarchs! You should have seen your enemy, a Muslim, trampling the place of worship with his feet, as monks, priests and deacons huddled on the altar; the patriarchs were struck by unexpected misfortune, and the princes of the blood were led into slavery. You should have seen how the fire spread through your palaces, how your dead burned in the fire of this world in front of the Fire of another world, how your palaces became unrecognizable, churches collapsed and destroyed ...
This letter contains good newsthat you are in good health and God has given you a long life, for at this moment you are not in Antioch, but are in another place. Otherwise, you would now be dead, captured, wounded, or mistreated.”
Bust of Baybars at the Cairo War Museum
Now the Christian lands of Palestine were a narrow coastal strip from Gaza to northern Syria. In 1271 Baibars planned to expel the Crusaders from the county of Tripoli.
Prince Edward Cross
On June 24, 1268, Edward, his brother Edmund the Humpbacked, Earl of Lancaster (although some argue that the evidence of the deformity of this prince is a 17th-century falsification created on the orders of John of Gaunt), and cousin Henry of Aleman officially announced the decision to go to the Crusade hike. The question was in money, which was sorely lacking for fees. I had to borrow 500 pounds from the French king Louis IX and collect a tax from the British of 5% of their movable property, which they had not been subject to since 1237. For the approval of this tax, Henry III agreed to confirm the Magna Carta.
Some of the barons of still independent Scotland also joined Edward. Among them was Adam de Kilconquar, who would die at Acre, and his widow would marry Robert the Bruce, 6th Lord of Annandale. In this family, the future king of Scotland, also Robert, will be born, who will restore the independence of his country, conquered by Edward I - after the death of this king, during the reign of his son Edward II. But the Scottish barons acted at their own peril and risk, since King Alexander III prudently refused to participate in this campaign.
Edward gathered a small army - about a thousand people, including 225 knights. Edward's wife Eleanor went with Edward, who later gave birth to a daughter in Acre. At the place of birth, the girl received the name Joanna Akko (she is better known as Joan of England).
Edward sailed from Dover with his force on 20 August 1270. At the end of September, he arrived at Aigues-Maur (a French Mediterranean port), where he learned that the crusading army had already sailed for Tunisia (it landed in Carthage on July 17). Having reached the crusader camp, Edward learned that Louis IX and his son Jean Tristan had died of dysentery, and with them many other noblemen. Moreover, Charles I, who arrived in Tunisia on the day of the death of Louis, had already signed a peace treaty with the emir. The crusaders dreamed of only one thing - to quickly get out of Tunisia, and on November 1, the Christian army sailed from its shores. On the way home, about 4 thousand more people died, including King Thibaut II of Navarre, brother of Louis IX Alphonse de Poitiers and his wife Jeanne, wife of Philip III Queen Isabella.
And Edward decided to go to Acre to help Bohemond VI, oppressed by the Mamluks. This expedition of the English prince, which began as part of the Eighth Crusade, is sometimes singled out as a separate campaign, calling it the Ninth.
In the next article, we will continue our story and talk about the crusade of Prince Edward Plantagenet.
Information