Edward I of England

Edward I was born in June 1239, the eldest son of Henry III. He learned statecraft early, briefly backing baronial reformers in 1259 before reconciling with his father and crushing Simon de Montfort at Evesham in 1265. He joined the Ninth Crusade in 1270 and was traveling home when word came of his father's death in 1272; he didn't reach England to be crowned until 1274. He spent years reforming law through statute and expanding royal administration, but his focus shifted to war. He suppressed Wales in the late 1270s, then conquered it outright in 1282–83, building castles and planting English…