Chapter 9
CHAPTER IX. Edward I. Edward I was one of the best and most wise of kings. When he heard that Henry was dead, he came home at once and brought with him his sweet and good wife, Eleanor of Castile, who had been his nurse when he had a sore wound. He had been brought back to health by her care. She won the love of the whole land.
Edward kept all the laws of Magna Carta and taught the folks what he had seen that was of use in the lands where he had been in his youth, how to care for their beasts and to raise the best kind of grass for them, how to plant new things in their fields that would be good for food.
You know that most of the old Britons who had fled from the Saxons had gone to live in Wales, where the foes could not get to them, as it is a wild land of rocks and hills. They had tribes each with a prince of its own. There was one in North Wales and one in South Wales, and one in the rest of the land. The men on the line near England thought they still had a right to all they could take, and they would go and burn a house and steal the cows and sheep when they chose. King Edward sought to make friends with them and to get them to keep the peace, but they would not, so he had to go to war with them.
The two men who were at the head of the land were slain in this war, and the king won the day. then he told the welsh that if they would meet him at caernarvyn castle he would give them a prince who had been born in their land and could not speak a word that was not welsh they all came and the king met them with his new-born babe in his arms it had been born in caernarvan castle and of course it could not speak a word at all the welsh had to take him for their prince and the king had a welsh nurse for him so that the first word he spoke might be welsh since that day the first-born son of the king of england is known as the prince of wales for a long time wales was in a sad state the english kings did not treat the welsh as well as they did their own folks the welsh felt that this was not right and they would now and then try to set up a prince of their own
now it came to pass that while edward was king of england death took the scotch king and he left no sons there were two young men near kin to him robert bruce and john both set up claims to the crown but as they could not both be kings they made up their minds to ask king edward to judge for them he chose john baliol for scotland's king but at the same time he said he was lord of scotland and that he meant to see that the laws were kept there so if a scotchman thought that he had cause to find fault with aught he would go to the king of england with his case this put the folks of scotland and john baliol in a rage for they thought they ought to have the rule of their own land so the scots went to war and had the worst of it for they lost and all the best part of their land fell into edward's hands the king in fact had made up his mind to join scotland to england and rule it all as one land
but the scots did not see things in the same light the men who were sent to rule them were most harsh and did not treat them in the right way there was one man sir william wallace who had lost his home and wealth at the hands of these men who fled to the woods and hills and drew a large throng with him they fought edward's troops with the hope that they might free scotland from his yoke and at first they won the troops of edward fled and the scots gave chase wallace led his men into england and burnt homes and laid waste all in his course to make up for what the scots had lost but he could not stand in the face of the large force brought by edward to fight him and he had to take to the woods once more edward sent out word that he would let all who would lay down their arms go free most of the band gave up but wallace still hid in the woods till one of his own men was so vile as to tell the english where he was
they took him and sent him to london where the king had him put to death but his name still lives in songs and tales to this day this did not end the war for robert bruce was now king and he too sought to drive out the english troops who had been left to guard all the scotch towns this made a new war for a long time edward was in a rage and set out with his son and more troops to put down this new strife but first he gave a charge to his son that if he should die ere the task was done he would take it up and go on with it the king was weak and ill at the time and he had a fear that the end was near bruce lost a fight and fled to ireland where he lay hid for a long time
edward spent the time in a raid on all that were kin to bruce he would not spare one of them young or old but put all to death and took their goods and lands in the spring bruce came forth to the fray once more and at times he won at times lost edward who was worse in health and near his death still held his course his face to the foe but at last he had to yield to a foe more strong death chapter nine
