Ever since he breathed his last in Cumbria in 1307 – on his way to confronting a Scottish rebellion – King Edward I has occupied a unique place in England’s popular consciousness. He is the ‘Hammer of the Scots’, the conqueror of Wales, the ferocious warrior-king who left behind him a string of castles so mighty that they still stand today, among them Caernarfon, Harlech and Beaumaris.

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For centuries, Edward also occupied a unique – and exalted – position in English historians’ pantheon of monarchs. Here was one of the country’s great medieval kings, credited not just with beginning the unification of the British Isles, but also for masterminding vast improvements to England’s legal system.

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