When Edward came to power there was much hope. Ruling from 1272 to 1308 he was the first king to have some English blood since the arrival of the Normans 200 years before. He was very able in reforming government and the law, and aspired to have a strong, dynamic, united country free from internal conflict. But in the last years of his life he crudely and violently crushed all opposition in Wales and Scotland and expelled all Jews in 1298. His affectionate name was ‘Longshanks’ due to his height, but he also became known as ‘the Hammer of the Scots’ for what he did in Scotland.

 

The Scottish aristocracy consulted him as to who should be their king when there was no clear heir to their throne and he appointed Balliol who was regarded as a wise choice. But then he demanded humiliating and excessive rights over Scotland as a feudal overlord - as he had demanded of the Welsh. The appointed Balliol in effect had no power; he became a kind of wraith to Edward.

 

In the Anglo-Scottish Border, killing and devastation were already being wrought on both sides and in 1296 Longshanks mustered an army in Newcastle (which by this time had a Gate that would later become known as the Black Gate) to attack Scotland. In the conquering eastern Mongol world of 13th century, cities that resisted a siege were extremely violently destroyed, but Edward's destruction of his own border town of Berwick was such that it became one of those turning points in the history of the separate identity of the Scots.

 

He then marched up into Scotland, and was the first to use explosive powder in Britain, at Brechin then Stirling Castle - just as Saruman used explosives for the first time at Helm's Deep.

 

In 1304 he publically encaged Isabelle Countess of Buchan for her support of Robert the Bruce – an act that has references to Eowyn who just before the battle of Pelennor Fields  said she feared ‘a cage’.

 

His ultimate legacy in the Borders was 300 years of hatred and instability and the culture of the Border Reivers who terrorised the region and seemingly betrayed King James 4th of Scotland only to serve in the army of his grandson James 6^th of Scotland/ James 1^st of England. 

 

Asides

Ells: Sam in the ‘Two Towers’ refers to the length of his rope as six ells. Edward 1st standardized the Ell which was a real unit of measurement in Longshanks’ time.  Each country had its own measurement but Longshanks demanded every town in his kingdom to have its own publically displayed rod of the length of one ell. It was called an ‘ellwand’. The Scots mocked Edward by saying that even the sky had to have its own standard ellwand and named Orion’s Belt (referred to as ‘The Hunter’) "the King's Ellwand”.

 

Hobbler: Edward 1^st used Irish light cavalry in his wars, and the horses they used were called ‘Hobblers’ or ‘Hobbies’. Reivers began to use them and were always associated with them. They were small, active and could travel great distances over the most difficult and boggy country. They were very expensive, £40.00 in the late 16th century. After the Reivers were crushed in 1606 no-one was allowed to own a hobbler due to its Reiver associations.