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Edward
was born in the Palace of Westminster on 17th June 1239, the
eldest child of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, and was
baptised in the Abbey. His nickname was "Longshanks", being 6
feet 2 inches tall, and he is chiefly remembered for his
battles against the Welsh and the Scots and for his legal
reforms. In 1296 he brought to the Abbey the Stone of Scone,
on which Scottish kings had once been crowned, and made a
special oak Coronation Chair to enclose it. The Stone was
returned to Scotland in 1996 and is displayed in Edinburgh
Castle.
Marriage
In October 1254 aged just 15, he married Eleanor (Leonor),
daughter of Ferdinand III, King of Castile and Leon, at Las
Huelgas. It was a love match and the couple were inseparable
until her death. They had four sons, including Edward II, and
eleven daughters. Many of these died young of whom John,
Henry, Alphonso, Joan and Berengaria, were buried in the
Abbey. It is thought that John (died 1271 aged 5) and Henry
(died 1274 aged 6) are buried in the tomb now in the south
ambulatory (near St Benedict's chapel) which was originally
free-standing. This has Cosmati work decoration on the top and
was probably moved from St Edward's chapel when the chantry
for Henry V was erected there. John is known to have been
buried in this chapel on 8th August. The Abbey master mason
received payments for the workmen employed on John's tomb in
1273.
Also buried in the Abbey is daughter Eleanor, Countess of Bar
(1264-1298, who was married to Henri III, Count of Bar) but
she has no marker. Joan of Acre (the second Joan in the
family) married Gilbert de Clare in the Abbey in 1290.
Margaret married the Duke of Brabant, Mary became a nun at
Amesbury and Elizabeth married secondly Humphrey de Bohun.
Julian, Alice, Beatrice and Blanche were the other daughters
who died young.
His second wife was Margaret (died 1317), daughter of Philip
III, King of France, and they were married at Canterbury
cathedral in 1299. They had three children - Thomas, Earl of
Norfolk, Edmund, Earl of Kent and Eleanor who died young.
Coronation
Edward was on his way home from a Crusade when he heard of his
father's death in 1272 but he did not hurry back and his
coronation, with Eleanor, in the Abbey did not take place
until 19th August 1274.
Burial
Edward died on 7th July 1307 at Burgh on the Sands in
Cumberland and his embalmed body was taken first to Waltham
Abbey in Essex before being brought to Westminster for burial
in the chapel of St Edward the Confessor on 27th October. His
large grey marble tomb chest, in which his bones lie, has no
effigy or decoration and the, now rather faint, inscription
was not painted on it until the 16th century:
Edwardus Primus Scotorum Malleus. Pactum
Serva
[Edward the First, Hammer of the Scots.
Keep Troth]
In 1774 his tomb was opened and inside a Purbeck marble coffin
his body was found nearly entire, wrapped in a waxed linen
cloth and wearing royal robes of red and gold with a crimson
mantle. He had a gilt crown on his head and carried a sceptre
surmounted by a dove and oak leaves in enamels.
A painted figure, which may represent him, is on the wooden
Sedilia in the Abbey, to the south of the High Altar.
Eleanor of Castile
She was born about 1241 and died at Harby in Nottinghamshire
in November 1290. Her body was embalmed and Edward erected
stone memorial crosses at the places where her funeral
procession rested on its way back to London, from Lincoln to
Charing Cross. Her heart was laid at Blackfriars but the
monument there was destroyed at the Dissolution of the
monastery. A monument for her at Lincoln was destroyed in 1641
(this was nearly identical to the one at Westminster).
She has a fine tomb in St Edward the Confessor's chapel at
Westminster Abbey, by Richard Crundale, with a gilt bronze
effigy cast by goldsmith William Torel in 1291. She holds the
string of her cloak in one hand but the sceptre in her other
hand has now gone. It resembles the representation of her on
her seal. The tomb slab and pillows beneath her head are
covered with the emblems of Castile and Leon
(castles and lions).
On the ambulatory side is a carved iron grille of exquisite
workmanship by Thomas of Leighton Buzzard. On the base of the
tomb are remains of a painting showing outlines of figures
including four pilgrims praying and a knight, Sir Otes de
Grandison, Lord of Grandson (c.1238-1328), kneeling before the
Virgin and Child. He is identified by his armorial surcoat.
Sir Otes was a close friend of Edward and accompanied him to
the Holy Land (his tomb is in Lausanne cathedral,
Switzerland). This painting may be by Master Walter of Durham.
The original wooden canopy to the tomb has gone and the
present one is in the Perpendicular style.
Tomb dimensions in metres: length 3.02. width 1.10. height
1.65.
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