King EDWARD 1ST was the leading warlord of the late 1200s but also a
devoted husband.
When his Spanish wife of 36 years, Eleanor, died in Nottinghamshire
in 1290, Edward
was heartbroken and ordered 12 crosses to be set up wherever her cortege
paused en route
to her last resting place in Westminster Abbey. The last "Eleanor Cross"
was at the bottom
of Trafalgar Square, but was smashed by Puritans during the English
Civil War.
The Eleanor Cross outside Charing "Cross" Station is a Victorian replica
When it came to fighting the Scots, King Edward I of England wanted
war beyond the grave.
In his will, he ordered a simple coffin that could be opened if the
Scots rebelled, his body
boiled down and his bones carried into battle at the head of the avenging
English army. He’s
still there, in Westminster Abbey, awaiting his country’s call.
On the side of his tomb chest it
reads Malleus Scotorum - Hammer of the Scots. For the Scottish rebel
William "Braveheart"
Wallace, Edward invented the hideous punishment of
hanging, drawing and quartering
So Mel Gibson, if you’re ever tempted to make
Braveheart 2, you have been warned!
