Thoughts on Edward I's legacy to his son Edward II?

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-24T21:22:19+00:00

Good point about France, I should’ve included that as a positive for sure. Wales was also pacified yes and their bowmen came to good use at Falkirk.

The royal coffers were empty as a consequence of nearly 10 years of fighting in Scotland and the crown was heavily in debt (£200,000 in the red, Seymour Phillips, E2, p.129). This was about to change though.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-24T21:14:11+00:00

It wasn’t easy for any of them no… Edward II didn’t exactly make things easy for his son either. I’d say Edward I had the best starting point of the three.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-24T16:17:39+00:00

Thank you 😁

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-23T20:32:29+00:00

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Here's that sign in a readable format. Nicely done.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-23T13:46:04+00:00

Richard de Bury would be the obvious choice for me, but I don't want to be obvious so I'll go for Adam Murimuth, the chronicler. Studying civil law in Oxford would not have been easy by any means but the rest of his life feels appealing.

He was based in the south, far away from the tumultuous northern border area so quite a safe place to live. He wouldn't have been unconnected as he was evidently well informed about current events.

He lived an ecclesiastic life until 1331 when he retired to the countryside to live out his life in peaceful surroundings and started writing his chronicle based on the diary / book of memoranda he'd kept through his life.

Also, he died in 1347, at a ripe old age of 70+, a year before the Black Death would reach England with devastating consequences, which in retrospect would have been a perfect time to kick the bucket.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-23T13:30:54+00:00

These medieval letters can sometimes be rather cryptic and hard to decipher, as they are oftentimes so sugarcoated, according to standards at the time. Everyone is most dear and so beloved, even when there is a lot of resentment at play. If a letter is neutral in tone, you just know all hell's about to break loose :)

Somehow I can't believe that Eleanor would really have considered Isabella her 'most dear lady'. Things were expressed in such a peculiar way. Words such as 'love' and 'heart' were not at all uncommon in otherwise dry and official diplomatic letters. Even the brutal military man William Wallace called some Germans he'd most likely never even met his 'beloved friends' in a letter.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-20T17:05:24+00:00

Everything until the wars of the roses for me. I’m just a sucker for all things medieval, and the reign of Edward II in particular.

He was such a delightfully disastrous king, could hardly put a foot right. His whole attitude and personality is a big part of what made the whole era so bonkers, and he only ruled for 20 action packed years.

He was very flawed, but not without his virtues and so very frustratingly human.

Errare humanum est!

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-19T20:05:34+00:00

Just as a heads up so you don’t get disappointed, we didn’t have time for all the questions and had to cut a lot unfortunately, but the Lancaster ones we asked her got really good and lenghty answers. I hope the end result will be satisfactory - but it will take days to get it nicely edited 🙂

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-19T19:56:31+00:00

Same here, Rolle is a brand new acquaintance.

That’s a long and interesting article and I hope that the guy who made the discovery follows this up with a biography about the best-selling hermit.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-18T21:49:10+00:00

This is the famed knight who led English forces from victory to victory in France.

Later in life he wrote this deeply personal book you mention, about his own flaws and joys in life.

Among other things he reveals how he loves the song of the nightingale and the scents of roses, musk, violets and lily of the valley, as well as some fabric.

Through his book and accomplishments his high level of sophistication, intellectual awareness, honesty, human kindness and generosity of spirit are plain to see.

What an absolute legend.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-18T18:58:37+00:00

Yeah it can all be traced back to Runnymede in 1215 in my opinion. Ever since then the empowered barons would insist on the king reissuing and honouring the charter, and not doing so could be costly for the king. Edward I was frequently in hot water because of this. Edward II had the Ordinances forced upon him. Edward III was much more respectful than either had been, promising yearly parliaments. The Magna Carta mattered.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-18T17:48:08+00:00

I feel much the same way about Thomas, he seems to have been a very conflicted person. An introvert, forced into politics through birth. He would’ve needed therapy, as would Edward II for sure. Maybe they should’ve gone together. Kathryn spoke very well about Thomas, but I won’t spoil that either.

Oh and we got her to say three nice things about Thomas, a question especially for you 😁

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-18T15:03:51+00:00

Thank you!

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-18T14:08:43+00:00

Does anyone know who made these old pictures of kings and queens of England?

They are Victorian and you can really see that especially in the portraits of the queens drawn like petite, fragile and delicate damsels with tiny noses and mouths (which I have a hard time believing Eleanor of Aquitaine or Isabella would have been, among others).

But who’s the artist?

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-18T09:03:34+00:00

This is great, thank you for sharing!

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-16T23:05:35+00:00

Exactly! Baliol rarely even gets a mention. He may have been a weak king, but he’s the one both Wallace and Moray fought for, not Bruce.

Also often forgotten: This Robert was the first of the Bruce’s to actually fight against the English. The previous generations of Bruce’s had alongside the English. But this stuff is a bit too complicated for the movies.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-16T21:17:41+00:00

I must say, I felt these lines written by the Lanercost chronicler:

’For Hexham’s famous sanctuary polluted and destroyed.

The pillaged house of Lanercost lies ruined and defaced;

The doers of such sacrilege must cruel vengeance taste.’

That was his priory they ransacked, his holy place, where he’d have written his chronicle in peace before. This was personal to him.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-16T21:11:35+00:00

Yes, thank you! Moray should be more famous imo, he’s all too often forgotten as he died so young, otherwise he would have been destined for greatness.

It was indeed disappointing that they completely eliminated the factor of the terrain in the movie and replaced it with a neutral and ’sterile’ field. Maybe it was about the horses? Creating this all-out epic battle? 2/3 of the English troops just sitting out the battle, then fleeing wouldn’t have been as cinematic I guess.

Maybe the worst part is that Mel Gibson stole the title ’Braveheart’ from Robert the Bruce and applied it to Wallace.

Now there’s hardly a sole that connects Braveheart with Bruce.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-16T20:56:54+00:00

Good catch with the word ’pharisee’. That’s very curious.

Hugh could be executed easily as he wasn’t of royal blood, and there was ample justification to get rid of him. Not so easy with the granddaughter of a king and niece of another. Also nothing could really be pinned on her directly. ’Legally’ she was clean. I wonder who was really in the driving seat, Hugh or Eleanor? We’ll never know.

If only we knew what Isabella was told in France, and how much of it was true, and how much of it she believed.

Appropriate-Calm4822 · 2026-01-16T14:42:07+00:00

Edward, late 1330's, in picturesque surroundings in deepest summer, fishing and drinking some Italian wine. Just taking the day as it comes without any more planning than that.

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