Books : A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain

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The longest-lived of all England's medieval kings, he fathered no fewer than fifteen children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and after her death he erected the Eleanor Crosses - the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch. In this book, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England's destiny - a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward's opponents (including Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Robert Bruce) to resist him, and the very different societies that then existed in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The result is a sweeping story, immaculately researched yet compellingly told, and a vivid picture of medieval Britain at the moment when its future was decided.

From the Inside Flap:
This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king – a man born to rule England, who believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic and important of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale, and leaving a legacy of division between the peoples of Britain that has lasted from his day to our own.

Edward I is familiar to millions as ‘Longshanks’, conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (‘Braveheart’). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king’s astonishingly action-packed life. Earlier Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled across Europe to the Holy Land on crusade; conquered Wales, extinguishing forever its native rulers, and constructing – at Conwy, Harlech, Beaumaris and Caernarfon – the most magnificent chain of castles ever created. He raised the greatest armies of the English Middle Ages, and summoned the largest parliaments; notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom. The longest-lived of all England’s medieval kings, he fathered no fewer than fifteen children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and after her death he erected the Eleanor Crosses – the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch.

In this book, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England’s destiny – a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward’s opponents (including Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Robert Bruce) to resist him, and the very different societies that then existed in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The result is a sweeping story, immaculately researched yet compellingly told, and a vivid picture of medieval Britain at the moment when its future was decided.

About the Author:
Marc Morris is an historian and broadcaster. He studied and taught history at the universities of London and Oxford, and his doctorate on the thirteenth-century earls of Norfolk was published in 2005. In 2003 he presented the highly-acclaimed television series Castle, and wrote its accompanying book.

Average Rating:

Rating: - A Great and Terrible King: Edward 1 and the Forging of Britain
For the person like myself with a sketchy knowledge of medieval Britain and her Kings this excellent book filled a lot of gaps especially the chapters dealing with Wales

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Rating: - Edwards Legacy
As a long term student of Edward 1st, I have to say I found this a superb, and highly readable account, of an era, and a king who continues to exert a profound, and I would go as far to say, malign influence, on the four corners of the U.K. Unlike the previous biography by Michael Prestwich, this is not a biography aimed at an academic audience, more it is aimed at a general audience who have an interest in the subject.

To 21 century sensibilties with our focus on human rights, the casual and bloody brutality, not to mention anti semitism, comes as a shock. One can only imagine the reaction, of the son of Simon de Montfort, arriving late at the battle of Evesham, to see his fathers head being paraded around the battlefield, on ... Read More:

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Rating: - The first ruler of an united Britain - but only for a short time
It is for a long time that I have some difficulties forming an opinion abut a book I have finished. Usually latest after the first 100 pages one does like or dislike a book, but here it was difficult. Till the very end I am not sure what to think and even now while writing I am not sure.

After the recent interest in the life of Edward II, his lover and his Queen this interest was bound to spill over to the reign of his father, Edward I. who seem to have been to contemporaries of Edward II the role model for a king. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that young Edward when heir to the throne was quite at odds with his father and rather festering his own nest than thinking of the monarchy as such. His reign turned out to be a rollercoaster. ... Read More:

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Rating: - A Great and Terrible King

Last year the 700th anniversary of the death of Edward I passed largely unnoticed. His father, Henry III's 800th birthday was marked by a two day conference at King's College, London and services in Westminster Abbey. but at least we have a new biography of Edward.

Marc Morris, who has made his name as a skilled TV presenter with his series, Castle, and as a serious academic scholar with his book on the Bigod Earls of Norfolk, takes up the challenge of a new overview of this astonishing king. It is twenty years since Michael Prestwich's magisterial life of Edward I. Can Marc Morris bring any thing new? Well, he uses much of the new research of the last two decades and finds new insights. He is particularly good on the public ceremony ... Read More: