Review of A Great and Terrible King- Edward I and the Forging of Britain by Marc Morris

Detailed portrait of a competent and ruthless feudal monarch

As I try to understand the history of the UK – both my kids were educated and live there – I got this book because of the subtitle, the "forging of Britain". Though there was little about that beyond Edward I’s forcible coercion of territories and aristocrats into fealty to him, the book is a fascinating inquiry into the nature of power in the feudal er…