Description: Exciting fresh perspectives on Edward I as man, king and administrator.
The reign of Edward I was one of the most important of medieval England, but the king's activities and achievements have not always received the full attention they deserve. The essays collected here offer fresh insights into Edward's own personality as well as developments in law, governance, war and culture. Edward the man emerges in chapters on his early life, his piety and his family, while the administrator king is discussed in evaluations of his twogreat ministers, his handling of the crucial issue of law and order and the way he managed the realm from abroad through his correspondence. Edward's nobles, both in England and Scotland, naturally appear as vital to understanding the reign, while his rule is set in a British and European context. Overall, the book aims to move the debate on the reign beyond K.B. McFarlane's hugely influential judgement that "Edward I preferred masterfulness to the arts of political management", by highlighting his skills -- and failings -- as a politician and manager.Brief description: Andrew M. Spencer is a Senior Tutor of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Associate Lecturer of the University of Cambridge. He is a historian of politics and the constitution of England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and has written extensively on the constitutional, political, military and social role of the nobility in particular.
Review Quotes: [A] valuable addition to undergraduate reading lists, and genuinely thought-provoking for those who
already know the field well.--SPECULUM