Are modern images and portraits of early English Kings (before Henry VII 1505) created only based off of descriptions or how do historians know what they looked like? There’s things like Effigies that were made for Edward II and Richard I and others but I thought those were made long after their deaths and the portraits stamped in coins were very unrealistic to what they really looked like. I know I’m ancient Rome and Ancient Greece had statues but from what I’ve heard the oldest statue of an English King was built in 1630. So do we have any idea of what these kings really looked like?
There are in fact a few contemporary or near contemporary illustrations in manuscripts that record the donation of early rulers of England:
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On the other hand, there is at least one wooden effigy of the Edward III in Westminster Abbey, in addition to the well-known bronze one, was said to have based on the death mark directly: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/edward-iii-and-philippa-of-hainault
There are some more illustrations of the royal figures in high and later medieval manuscripts, but AFAIK these three are the closest to contemporary.