Edward was anxious to proffer his services as a peacemaker, dream of a Europe, united for the liberation of the holy places, had not been expelled from his mind by his schemes for the advancement of his kingdom.  If he could inspire his neighbour kings with something of his spirit, the crusade might still be possible.  Other matters also called Edward’s attention to the continent.  He had to do homage to the new French king; he had to press for the execution of the treaty of Amiens, and his presence was again necessary in Gascony.  His realm was in such profound peace that he could safely leave it.  Accordingly in May, 1286, he took ship for France.  With him went his wife Eleanor of Castile, his chancellor Bishop Burnell, and a large number of his nobles.  He entrusted the regency to his cousin, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, the son and successor of Earl Richard; and England saw him no more until August, 1289.  Edward first made his way to Amiens, where he met the new King of France, Philip the Fair.  The two kings went together to Paris, where Edward spent two months.  There he performed homage for Gascony, and made a new agreement as to the execution of the treaty of Amiens, by which he renounced his claims over Quercy for a money payment, and was put in possession of Saintonge, south of the Charente.  The settlement was the easier as for the moment neither king had his supreme interest in Gascony.  Edward’s real business was to make peace between Anjou and Aragon, and Philip IV. showed every desire to help him.  Before Edward left Paris, he had negotiated a truce between the Kings of France and Aragon.  Soon afterwards he went to Bordeaux.  He made Gascony his headquarters for three years, and strove with all his might to convert the truce into a peace.

Grave obstacles arose, chief among which was the determination of the papacy to make no terms with the King of Aragon so long as his brother still reigned over Sicily.  Honorius IV., in approving Edward’s preliminary action, and exhorting him to obtain the liberation of the Prince of Salerno, carefully guarded himself against recognising the schismatic Aragonese.  Edward himself was no partisan of either side.  He was heartily anxious for peace and desirous to free his kinsman from the rigours of his long imprisonment.  His wish for a close alliance between England and Aragon was unacceptable to the partisanship both of Honorius IV. and his successor Nicholas IV.  Papal coldness, however, did not turn Edward from his course.  In the summer of 1287 he met Alfonso at Oloron in Bearn, where a treaty was drawn up by which the Aragonese king agreed to release Charles of Salerno on condition that he would either, within three years, procure from the pope the recognition of James in Sicily, or return to captivity and forfeit Provence.  Besides this, an alliance between England and Aragon was to be cemented by the marriage of one of Edward’s daughters to Alfonso.  Delighted with the success of his undertaking, Edward, on his return to Bordeaux, again took the cross and prepared to embark on the crusade.