Edward I 231city its second RELIC, an apocryphal letter of Jesus to
Abgar. Crusaders seized Edessa in 1098, creating the
County of Edessa, the first of the crusader States in SYRIA.
It subsequently fell to Zangi (ca. 1084–1146) in 1143,
was recovered briefly by the crusaders, only to be sacked
by NUR AL-DIN, who massacred its male citizens and sold
its women and children into slavery. The crusaders made
no real effort to capture it again. It surrendered to the
Mongols in 1259, but its region was devastated anyway. It
did revive economically in the 14th and 15th centuries as
a center of trade between the Persian Gulf to SYRIA.
See alsoALEPPO;DAMASCUS.
Further reading: Eliyahu Ashtor, A Social and
Economic History of the Near East in the Middle Ages
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976); Robert
Lawrence Nicholson, Joscelyn I, Prince of Edessa(Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1954); Robert Lawrence
Nicholson, Joscelyn III and the Fall of the Crusader States
1134–1199(Leiden: Brill, 1973).
Edinburgh(Dun Eideann) This town has been the
capital of the kingdom of SCOTLANDfrom the 15th cen-
tury. The origin of the city was a hill fort on what is now
called Castle Rock. This site and intensive later building
obscure the plan of any early fortification or associated
settlements that may have existed.
HISTORYIn the sixth century, the town and fortress of Edinburgh
were ruled by native British. In 638 it fell to the Angles
and was on the northern limits of the kingdom of
Northumberland. In the 10th century, it fell to the Scots.
For the next century or so, Edinburgh remained an
unstable frontier fortress under the control of the kings
of the Scots, who preferred to live most of the time
elsewhere, mostly at Dunfermline. Edinburgh’s location
became more tenable as a capital when King Malcolm III
(r. 1058–93) extended his rule south to Berwick. Its loca-
tion in the extreme southeast of the kingdom, however,
always made the city vulnerable to English expeditions,
which captured it several times during the wars of the
later Middle Ages.
Despite the repeated damage suffered in these
English invasions, Edinburgh grew and came to enjoy
great commercial prosperity. From the nearby port, a
Leith, on the Firth of Forth, the city traded with the rest
of Scotland, ENGLAND, and the Continent, exporting wool
and hides, and woolen cloth and fish from at least the
15th century. In the 14th century Edinburgh had already
become the chief port for Scotland.
In 1329 ROBERTI THEBRUCEfor a small fee issued
Edinburgh’s first borough CHARTER, granting the burgesses
rights over the port at Leith and other privileges. In 1376,
the burgh contained about 400 houses and at least one
suburb, at Cowgate in a valley stretching to the south.
Edinburgh’s emergence as the political capital in the
15th century owed much to the accession of the Stewart or
Stuart dynasty. Holyrood abbey in the town became their
royal mausoleum. James II (r. 1430–60) was born, married,
and buried at the abbey. James granted Edinburgh permis-
sion for a larger city wall and allowed royal land below the
northern side of the castle to be flooded for defensive pur-
poses. By 1483, Edinburgh had become the permanent seat
of government and justice and, as the usual royal resi-
dence, the center of a flourishing court culture.
Further reading:Judith Everard, “Edinburgh,” EMA
1.467; Louise Olga Fradenburg, City, Marriage, Tourna-
ment: Arts of Rule in Late Medieval Scotland(Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1991); John Gifford, Edin-
burgh(New York: Penguin Books, 1984).Edirne SeeADRIANOPLE;OTTOMANTURKS ANDEMPIRE.Edmund, Saint(the Martyr Eadmund)(ca. 841/842–
870)king of East Anglia
Of the details of his reign little has survived except coins.
He was born about 841 to an Anglo-Saxon noble and
ascended the throne about 955. After his death in battle
against the Vikings, or immediately thereafter by execu-
tion, on November 20, 870, he was quickly venerated as a
martyr and saint. In the 10th century his body was
brought to the monastery of Bury Saint Edmunds. The
ensuing rapid growth of his cult and heroism might have
been part of a reconciliatory process among the Anglo-
Danish in East Anglia by becoming Christian and expiat-
ing their violent pagan past.
The first written treatment of Edmund’s death was by
ABBOof Fleury, who had taught in England at Ramsey
Abbey from 985 to 987. Although written more than a
century after the events and reflecting traditional expec-
tation for sainthood, the story likely had considerable
historical accuracy. Edmund was portrayed as a good
Christian king. Abbo’s text was later translated into the
vernacular and adapted by Ælfric in his Lives of Saints.
The abbey of Bury Saint Edmunds had a fine artistic
record and remained a major goal of pilgrimage through-
out the Middle Ages, though his body is now lost.
Further reading:Marco Mostert, King Edmund of East
Anglia (†869)(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1986); S. J. Ridyard, The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon En-
gland(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).education SeeSCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES.Edward I (Longshanks)(1239–1307) Plantagenet king
of England
The eldest son of HENRYIII and Eleanor of Provence
(1223–91), Edward was born on June 17/18, 1239, in
Westminster. In October 1254, at the age of 15, he