Edward and the Church

There still remained the church to deal with. Six years before, in 1279, Edward had had his first brush with the ecclesiastical organization and had promulgated one of the most important and famous of all his statutes the Statute of Mortmain. This law forbade men to transfer land on any condition to a monastery or other religious corporation. So frequently had such transfers been made in the past, that it is estimated that one-fourth of the lands of England had come under the control of the church. By such transference the king lost the military service due from these lands, and the feudal lords lost an important part of their revenues. The church was a tenant that never died and never forfeited its lands; therefore it had no occasion, as had other feudal tenants, to render dues at times of marriage, to furnish profits from wardships or the care of minors, or to pay fines when a new tenant took the place of one that had died. For these reasons land so transferred was said to be given in manum mortuum, that is, into the dead hand of the patron. saint. Edward and his barons were in entire accord in remedying this abuse, and when they drafted the Second Statute of Westminster they took occasion to say again that land could not be given in Mortmain. The terms of the Mortmain statute, although later they were frequently evaded by clever ecclesiastics with a turn for law, were nevertheless efficient in checking the growth of monasteries.

At the same time Edward laid down certain rules, which he gave to his justices, regarding the jurisdiction of the church courts or courts Christian. This official order, called circumspecte agatis, contains a list of those cases that the church could take up in its own courts. It also asserts that certain other cases, which the church had been wont to consider within its own jurisdiction, were in reality cases that ought to come before the royal courts. Thus again did Edward seek to extend the authority of the royal courts and the royal justices.

The record of these years is a brilliant one. No important class of his people escaped the beneficial work of the king and his ministers.

The Succession in Scotland

But the year that followed the last of these great measures saw the opening of a phase of Edward's career that is less satisfactory to contemplate. His solution of the difficult Scottish problem has added little to his fame. Thus far the Scottish nation had been wholly independent, though the submission of William the Lion and the renewal of allegiance by his son, Alexander II, in 1217, had seemed to give the English kings a title to a vague over-lordship.

The son of Alexander II, Alexander III, who had married Edward's sister Margaret, died in 1286, leaving as the only descendant of the house of Malcolm, Margaret, the Maid of Norway, Alexander III's granddaughter and Edward's grandniece. Edward willingly accepted the proposal of Eric of Norway, father of Maid Margaret, that he should conduct all negotiations touching her future. In 1289 it was arranged with Scottish representatives that Margaret should be sent to England and should there marry Edward's son, afterward the Prince of Wales, and thus unite the two kingdoms. But the death of Margaret on her way from Norway to England brought this plan to naught and threw the whole question of the Scottish succession into confusion. Claimants to the throne came forward, chief of whom were John Balliol, of the eldest collateral line, whose grandmother was eldest niece of William the Lion, and Robert Bruce, son of William's second niece. The submission of the case to Edward for settlement brought forward the difficult question as to whether the king of England was feudal overlord of Scotland. The claimants seemed to recognize him as such when they admitted in 1291 that "the sovereign seigniory of the realm of Scotland" was vested in him. A long deliberation ensued, during which the questions debated were: (1) Were the rights of an elder sister greater than those of a younger? and (2) Was the third generation in the elder line nearer the throne than the second generation in the younger line ? Finally, on strictly feudal grounds, the claims of Bruce were rejected, and Balliol was declared king of an undivided Scotland. He was crowned at Scone in 1292.

Thus far Edward had in the main acted with wisdom and uprightness, but now a new difficulty arose. Edward claimed, as feudal lord, the right to hear appeals from the court of Balliol in Scotland. Though Balliol submitted, the Scots deemed this claim an infringement on their national rights, and made it evident that should Edward persist in his claim they were prepared to resist. This was important not only because it affected Edward's relations with Scotland, but also because it involved him in a struggle with the Scots at a time when a serious struggle with France was imminent.

Edwards Quarrel with France

At this juncture trouble arose between the English and Norman fishermen in the English Channel, and Philip the Fair (IV) of France took up the quarrel. After a defeat of the Norman sailors off Brittany, in 1293, Philip summoned Edward, as duke of Guienne, and consequently his vassal, to answer for the deeds of his seamen. As Edward did not appear, Philip, by rather a doubtful strategy, seized Guienne, and refused to give it back. A war between the two kingdoms seemed unavoidable, and each king entered into alliances with the enemies of the other. Edward turned to the time-honored enemies of France, the Emperor Adolph of Nassau, the king of Castile (Sancho IV), the prince of Savoy, and the counts of Flanders and Brabant, while Philip turned to Edward's enemies at home, and not only entered into alliance with the Scots, promising to give Balliol his daughter in marriage, but also stirred up the Welsh, under one Madoc, who claimed to be the son of Llewellyn, to revolt. Thus, in 1294-1295, Edward was confronted from Scotland, France, and Wales at the same time. His resources were not at the moment sufficient for the threefold danger. In order to meet the situation he had to increase his revenue and to gain the support of his people by calling a parliament of their representatives.