1239-1307

English king known, among other things, for reforms, such as his standardization of measurements. During his reign (1272-1307), Edward greatly curtailed the power of feudal lords and in 1295 summoned England's first parliament. In 1305 he standardized the acre as a unit of land measurement. A participant in the Ninth Crusade (1270-72), Edward was among the monarchs that Bar Sauma, the Chinese-Turkish Nestorian monk, met during his trip to Europe in 1287-88. Edward spent a good deal of his reign suppressing revolts in Wales and Scotland—he was the English king depicted in the 1995 Academy Award-winning film Braveheart—and died on his way to suppress a revolt in Scotland under Robert the Bruce.