Edward I

In the long term, of course, Edward I's "iron ring" did become Wales' tourist asset; the descendants of Llywelyn Fawr sit on Edward's throne and the princely lines of Powys, rather than dying out, have guided not just Wales, but Britain, through the major crises of the last 600 years.

Dan said: "I've written about the Plantagenents - particularly about Edward I and Edward II - so this was a bit of a jumping-off point for me to spend time talking about the Battle of Stirling Bridge, the Battle of Bannockburn, the siege of Stirling castle, where Edward I built War Wolf, reputedly the biggest catapult that has ever been constructed.

In "Edward I's Centurions: Professional Soldiers in an Era of Militia Armies," David Bachrach reconstructs the service records of the men who led units of foot archers and crossbowmen under Edward I, finding among them a surprisingly high level of experienced leadership from repeated service.

Perhaps most notable are the impressive and well known castles of King Edward I. Having snatched power from Welsh prince Llewellyn ap Gruffudd, Edward I built a network of castles along the north west coast, from which he ruled over Wales and protected his power.

This new scholarship includes Mundill's own excellent book England's Jewish Solution, which focuses on the political measures leading up to Edward I's expulsion of the Jews from the island.

After this discussion of the Barons' War of the 1260s, the chapters proceed both chronologically and thematically, involving consideration of literary responses to Edward I's Scottish campaigns, the failures of Edward II, and the early years of Edward III.

Although their influence would reveal itself fully in the defense of godly reformation during critical moments in Elizabeth's reign, Hoak demonstrates that they had developed their ideology a generation earlier, in the context of Edward I's reign.

Like other Jews his family was forced to wear identification, constantly fined and harassed, before being expelled under Edward I's Edict of Expulsion in 1290 when their house was impounded by the state.

Designed by Edward I's master castle builder, it has eight massive towers around a high curtain wall.

If you want more history, visit Edward I's castles in Conwy, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Harlech and Denbigh.

That and the Battle of Culloden, Oliver Cromwell and the Act of Union, and Edward I's spanking of Prince Llywelyn in the 13th century, look you.

From Edward I's hopelessly outnumbered, trapped English invaders, who introduced the longbow at the battle of Crecy: Superior technology will usually carry the day.

One imagines the Archbishop of Canterbury will be getting a call any day now instructing him to rip out The Cloisters, rebuild The Chapter House and chuck out Edward I's Coronation Chair for something a bit more glamorous.

Notes are by Jeremy Duquesnay Adams, considering as an analogue for the figure of Arthur the addressee of a letter of Sidonius Apollinaris, Riothamus; Ann Dooley, on the earliest known reference to Arthur in Irish literature; James Carmi Parsons, linking Edward I's translation of the putative Arthurian remains at Glastonbury to the increasingly important role played by royal funerary ceremonial in legitimizing succession; and Michelle Brown and James Carley, presenting a version and continuation of the Arthurian epitaph on the Glastonbury tomb in a fifteenth-century manuscript owned by John Shirley as evidence of interest in the Arthurian story in the milieu of Caxton's readers.

That passion and enthusiasm, especially for history, is clear even from five minutes of watching him teach a GCSE class on Edward I's campaigns against the Welsh.