British Kings "Bullet Book," Edward I, 1272 - 1307
BillJones
Posts: 33,481 ✭✭✭✭✭
Edward I Penny, S-1408
NOTE: The depressed lines on the obverse of this piece are from the long cross on the revese. The planchet was too thin to prevent them from showing through on the obverse.
• Although he had his faults, Edward I is viewed as one of the great kings of England.
• Edward is noted for his military prowess, but his more lasting contributions to British history are rooted his reforms of the administration of government policies and in the establishment of Parliament as influential governing body. The basic structure of English Common Law was instituted during Edward’s reign.
• Edward conquered Wales and made it in essence a British colony.
• He was less successful in his efforts to subdue Scotland. Although he defeated and executed William Wallace (The hero in the Mel Gibson film, “Brave Heart”), he was unable to bring the Scots completely under British control.
• Edward took the Stone of Destiny from the Scots and placed it under his own throne. The stone had been used as a pedestal for the crowning of Scottish kings. In so doing Edward symbolically placed the Scots under British rule. The Scots took back the stone in 1996.
• In a darker note, Edward I expelled the Jews from England and seized their assets to pay for his wars.
• Edward I improved the quality of English coinage, and introduced a new denomination, the groat or four pence. This first groat was not very successful and is a very scarce coin today. In later years it would become an important part of the British monetary system. Citizens submitted the older coins to the British Government for re-coinage.
Comments
@BillJones - keep 'em coming. I really enjoy these threads.
Nice balance above of Edward's good and bad traits. I think most Americans only think of the depiction from Braveheart!
My current "Box of 20"
That's a beautiful coin. Thanks for the history lesson as well!
So this is the guy that threw his son's friend
out the window in the movie ?.
And as always, thanks for a great history lesson Bill.
Steve
2nd to last point is all needed to be said. Nice coin great write up, horrible guy.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Thanks Bill.
That hammered penny has it all IMO.
Wait until you read about the next king.
One of the things you learn when you read about the history of these kings and queens is that nice guys finish last in the historical rankings. Just look at what historians think of Henry II and Henry III. Sometimes they ended up dead.
As one news reporter said upon the death of Princess Diana, "There is a lot of blood on the British throne." Grabbing power and holding to it was and still is a brutal business.