Edward i longshanks biography of abraham

Edward Longshanks

Often considered the greatest of the Plantagenets, Edward I was born on the evening of 17th June 1239, at Westminster Palace, the firstborn child of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence.

He was named Edward in honour of his father's favourite saint, the Saxon King Edward the Confessor. Edward was a delicate child and suffered from a life-threatening illness in 1246, which his devoted mother, Eleanor of Provence, nursed him through at Beaulieu Abbey.

Edward i longshanks biography of abraham

Among Edward's childhood friends was his cousin Henry of Almain, who was the son of Henry III's brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall. Henry of Almain would remain a close companion of Edward throughout both the civil war that followed and later during the crusade.

Edward's appearance

Edward I was a tall man of six feet two inches (1.88 metres), with long arms and legs from which his nick-name, Longshanks, was derived. His hair was black like his Provencal mother's, his complexion swarthy and his