His freedom from it was the more remarkable that Edward was a great soldier.

His strategy in the campaign before Evesham marked him as a consummate general.

Earl Simon was forced to admire the skill of his advance on the fatal field, and the operations by which he met the risings that followed it were a model of rapidity and military grasp.

In his Welsh campaigns he was soon to show a tenacity and force of will which wrested victory out of the midst of defeat.

He could head a furious charge of horse as at Lewes, or organize a commissariat which enabled him to move army after army across the harried Lowlands.