Summary of Thomas B. Costain's The Three Edwards

By IRB Media

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#1 The crusades were running down, and the English prince Edward took the cross in 1270 to go and help out his fellow Christians in the Holy Land.

#2 The English prince, Edward, was left to defend Jerusalem on his own. He was quickly defeated by the Saracens, and while his wife tried to save him, he had to accept the terms of peace. Another of the long series of crusades had come to an end.

#3 When Edward returned to England in 1274, the people were excited to see him and his wife, Eleanor. They had not taken to Eleanor when she first came to England as a girl bride, but they now welcomed her with open arms.

#4 The coronation of Edward was rushed because he had so many things on his mind. The King’s Bench in Westminster Abbey, where he was proclaimed king, was decorated with marble brought from the Holy Land for the occasion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822563100

IRB Media

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Insights on Thomas B. Costain's The Three Edwards

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The crusades were running down, and the English prince Edward took the cross in 1270 to go and help out his fellow Christians in the Holy Land.

#2

The English prince, Edward, was left to defend Jerusalem on his own. He was quickly defeated by the Saracens, and while his wife tried to save him, he had to accept the terms of peace. Another of the long series of crusades had come to an end.

#3

When Edward returned to England in 1274, the people were excited to see him and his wife, Eleanor. They had not taken to Eleanor when she first came to England as a girl bride, but they now welcomed her with open arms.

#4

The coronation of Edward was rushed because he had so many things on his mind. The King’s Bench in Westminster Abbey, where he was proclaimed king, was decorated with marble brought from the Holy Land for the occasion.

#5

The king had two men with him in 1270 who could assist him in the work of amendment and codification. One was Francesco Accursi, the son of a famous Italian jurist, who learnedly occupied the chair of law at Bologna. The second was a capable and bland young churchman named Robert Burnell.

#6

Henry III, Edward’s father, had tried to increase the power of the crown, but had never ceased his efforts to disregard the limitations set forth in the Great Charter. The king had the best advice available: Henry de Bracton, a clear-thinking and able legal commentator.

#7

The first Parliament that Edward I convened met in 1274 and passed the Statute of Westminster I, which contained many of his recommendations. It would be followed by many other enactments over the years, each directed at some specific reform.

#8

The Statute of Westminster, which was made law by parliamentary sanction the same year as the second from Westminster, moved backward in point of time to restate, define, and amend the old laws relating to popular action. The obligations of the Hundred in regard to enforcement of justice and the defense of the realm were adjusted.

#9

Edward’s queen, Eleanor, was also active. She was finding it difficult to settle down with her family. The White Tower, which contained the royal apartments, was too bleak and grim. It did not have any windows or fireplaces.

#10

The King’s House of Henry I, which was renovated by Edward’s father, was where the queen gave birth to four sons. However, there are disagreements about the number of children the queen gave birth to. Only four of the children were sons.

#11

The first months at home were sad ones. The health of Prince Henry, the only son left after John’s death, grew steadily worse. The king and queen did everything they could to save him. He was wrapped in the skins of newly slaughtered sheep, and wax replicas of his body were sent around to shrines to be burned in oil. Nothing seemed to have any effect, and he died.

#12

To the English, Wales had always been a troublesome neighbor. To the Welsh, England was a constant threat to their liberty. The English decided that the problem of Wales must be settled once and for all.

#13

During the reign of Edward I, the ruler of the Welsh mountain country, Llewelyn ab Gruffydd, had made a most advantageous treaty with Henry III and was believed to be in a pacific mood. However, Edward had anticipated trouble because the ruler of the mountain country, Llewelyn, had fallen in love with an English princess.

#14

The Welsh prince Llewelyn was summoned to meet the king at Worcester in 1282, and was married to the Demoiselle Eleanor de Montfort, who had remained loyal to him through all the trials and delays. They had a daughter named Gwenllian, who was taken to England when she grew old enough.

#15

The turbulent brother, David, was still at large. He was finally trapped, through information supplied by some of his countrymen, in a boggy stretch of land near Snowdon and taken to Rhuddlan with his wife, two sons, and seven daughters. He was tried before a Parliament summoned for the purpose.

#16

Edward began to build a different type of castle, one that was practical from a defense standpoint as well as comfortable to live in. The trend in the world at large was moving in the direction of comfort, and men were no longer willing to live in pig wallows.

#17

The birth of Edward II’s son, Alfonso, in 1284, was not considered of any greater importance than the many other accouchements. The queen had brought many tapestries and wall hangings of gay colors from her native Castile, and