Edward III

Edward III (1312-1377) was king of England from 1327 to 1377. The Hundred Years War between England and France began during his reign.

The eldest son of Edward II and Isabella of France, Edward III was born on Nov. 13, 1312, at Windsor. He was created Earl of Chester 11 days after his birth; he was made Count of Ponthieu and Montreuil on Sept. 2, 1325, and Duke of Aquitaine a week later. In October 1326 Edward was named guardian of the kingdom, and he succeeded to the throne on Jan. 25, 1327.

For the first 4 years of his reign, Edward III was a figurehead for the rule of his mother and Roger Mortimer, with a regency during his minority in the hands of Henry of Lancaster. On Jan. 24, 1328, Edward married Philippa of Hainaut, with whom he had seven sons and five daughters. Later in 1328 Edward was forced to give up all claims to Scotland by the Treaty of Northampton. This treaty caused Mortimer's unpopularity to grow. In November 1330 Edward was sufficiently strong to have Mortimer executed and to confine his mother for the rest of her life at Castle Rising.

With the government in his own hands, Edward resumed the conflict with Scotland, and by 1332 he had established Edward de Balliol on the Scottish throne. Soon Balliol was ousted, and Edward again invaded Scotland, defeating the Scots in July 1333 at Halidon Hill and conquering southern Scotland and the area north of the Forth.

Edward also concerned himself with the economic interests of the country. In 1332 he encouraged Flemish weavers to come to England and teach their skills. In 1337 he prepared for war against the French, who were hoping to cut into the Flemish wool trade with England. With the support of James van Artevelde of Ghent, Edward made an alliance with Ghent, Ypres, Bruges, and Cassel, as well as a treaty with Emperor Louis V for the hiring of troops. In July 1338 Edward went to Flanders, and the following year he laid siege to Cambrai.

Conflict with France

In order to retain Flemish support, Edward took the title of king of France in January 1340, thus reviving a claim that was to last throughout the medieval period and into the reign of George III. He returned to England for supplies, and that same year the English defeated the French in the naval battle at Sluis, the traditional beginning of the Hundred Years War. Edward returned to France in 1342, landing at Brest with the aim of securing Brittany, and laid siege to Tournai.

The following year plans were made at Sainte-Madeleine for a 3-year truce, but Edward claimed that Philip VI of France broke the truce and sent an English force to sack Harfleur, Saint-Lô, and Caen. Through a flanking movement, the English were able to destroy the French army at the Battle of Crécy near Abbeville on Aug. 6, 1346. After a year-long blockade and siege, Calais surrendered. Lacking supplies to continue the war, Edward returned to England in 1347.

Edward's activities in France had stripped England of troops, giving King David II of Scotland an opportunity to rise in revolt. Encouraged by Philip of France, Scottish troops crossed the border, raiding as far south as the Tyne, and conducted a drive to force the English out of Scotland. This attempt was foiled at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346. David was captured and the English recovered much of southern Scotland.

While war with France continued, with a Spanish fleet fighting for France being defeated off Winchelsea in 1350, Edward devoted his attention to internal matters. He founded the Order of the Garter, the senior British order of chivalry, probably in 1348. As a result of an out break of the plague, the Statute of Laborers was enacted in 1351 in an attempt to stabilize wages. To control the Church, the Statute of Provisors was enacted the same year and that of Praemunari 2 years later.

By the mid-1350s the war with France had been resumed, but the King now relied on his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, who led the English to victory at the Battle of Poitiers (Sept. 19, 1356) over King John II of France. The following year, on May 8, Edward III gained vast lands and ransom at the Treaty of Bretigny in return for a promise to abandon his claim to the French throne. This promise was not carried out, and warfare continued.

In 1362 Edward reorganized Gascony and Aquitaine in an attempt to control his French holdings. The following year a plan for the union of England and Scotland was agreed upon by King David but was defeated by the Scottish Parliament. The same period saw the rise of strong English nationalism. The use of French in the law courts ended in 1362, and the payment of Peter's Pence to the papacy was discontinued in 1366. The enactment of the Statute of Kilkenny in 1367 was an attempt to check English colonists in Ireland from adopting Irish customs.

Foreign military commitments continued. In 1367 the Black Prince was sent to help Pedro of Castile regain the throne of Spain, which had been usurped by his half brother, Henry of Trastamare, with the help of the French. Major fighting broke out in France again 2 years later as a result of English "free companies"; the Black Prince seized Limoges and killed all its inhabitants. Desultory warfare occurred in Poitou and Touraine, causing the French to burn Portsmouth in 1369 in retaliation.

Later Reign

Old before his time, Edward took a mistress, Alice Perrers, after the death of his queen in 1369. He allowed the government to be administered by John of Gaunt. He remained passive in the struggles between the barons and the Church, though he attached Church lands in 1371 to raise money for the continuation of the French war. In the struggle between the reforming members of Parliament led by the Black Prince and the Lancastrians led by Henry of Lancaster, his chief minister, Edward was almost a spectator. After the death of the Black Prince in 1376, Edward appears to have been almost deserted. He died the following year on June 21.

During the early years of his reign, Edward was an enlightened king. He made a strong effort to maintain economic ties with Flanders, and his interest in building a navy caused Parliament to call him "king of the sea." However, the military exploits of his reign in the conflict with France were of no lasting benefit to the nation. His victories were due more to superior manpower and supplies rather than to any great military or tactical skill on his part. His financial management had kept the country always in debt, and by the time of his death most of the fruits of his victories had vanished, especially with the loss of Aquitaine in 1374. During the last years of his reign, Edward was unable to cope with either constitutional or social crises.

Further Reading

For the general background of the reign of Edward III see Sir James H. Ramsey, Genesis of Lancaster, 1307-1399 (2 vols., 1913), and May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307-1399 (1959). The conflicts with Scotland are treated in E. W. M. Balfour-Melville, Edward III and David II (1954), and Ronald Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots, 1327-1335 (1965). The causes of the French conflict are treated in Henry Stephen Lucas, The Low Countries and the Hundred Years' War, 1326-1347 (1929). For the war itself see Edouard Perroy, The Hundred Years War (1945; trans. 1951); Alfred H. Burne's more detailed The Crécy War (1955); and H. J. Hewitt, The Black Prince's Expedition of 1355-1357 (1958). Foreign relations are dealt with in P. E. Russell, The English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and Richard II (1955); religious matters in William Abel Pantin, The English Church in the Fourteenth Century (1955); legal development in B. Wilkinson, The Chancery under Edward III (1929); and economic matters in George Unwin, ed., Finance and Trade under Edward III (1918). For information on the last years of Edward's life see F. George Kay's account of Edward's mistress, Lady of the Sun: The Life and Times of Alice Perrers (1966).

Additional Sources

Bevan, Bryan, Edward III: monarch of chivalry, London: Rubicon Press, 1992.

Packe, Michael St. John, King Edward III, London; Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983. □

Edward III 1312–77, king of England (1327–77), son of Edward II and Isabella .

Early Life

He was made earl of Chester in 1320 and duke of Aquitaine in 1325 and accompanied his mother to France in 1325. He returned to England with Isabella and Roger de Mortimer , 1st earl of March, on their expedition of 1326. In 1327, on his father's deposition, he was made king, although the real power was in fact exercised by Isabella and Mortimer. In 1328 he married Philippa of Hainaut, and in 1330 his first son, Edward the Black Prince , was born. In this year the king executed a coup and seized the reins of government, putting Mortimer to death and forcing his mother into retirement.

Reign

Troubles with Scotland and France

Edward, who had gone to Scotland on an unsuccessful expedition in 1327, resented the terms of the Treaty of Northampton (1328), by which he had renounced the Scottish throne, and decided to support Edward de Baliol against the young Scottish king David II. King Edward's victory at Halidon Hill in 1333 did not settle the Scottish question, but trouble with France arose to divide his attention.

The series of wars known as the Hundred Years War , which was to dominate Edward's reign, began in 1337. Disputes over English holdings in France, trouble between the great Flemish weaving cities (allies of the English) and their French overlords, and French aid to the Scots were the chief causes of the war. Edward's assumption of the title of king of France in 1340, based on a claim through his mother, which was first advanced in 1328, was an immediate provocation. Edward took an active part in the war, fighting in the naval victory of Sluis (1340), in the famous battle of Crécy (1346), and in the successful siege of Calais (1346–47). His son, the Black Prince, achieved a popular reputation for his exploits, such as his victory at Poitiers (1356), where he captured the French king, John II. The fighting continued sporadically even after the Treaty of Brétigny (1360), by which Edward was awarded a large ransom for the French king and large concessions of French territory. In 1369, Charles V of France renewed the war, but Edward now took less interest in it. Various factors, among them the poor health of the Black Prince, led to a truce in 1375.

Wars with the Scots, who had been receiving French aid, continued in a desultory manner. In 1346 the English had won a victory at Neville's Cross in England and made a prisoner of David II; in 1356, Edward had gone into Scotland on a harrying expedition known as Burnt Candlemas. Like the French wars, however, the Scottish wars were inconclusive in Edward's reign.

Domestic Developments

Edward's long reign saw many constitutional developments. Most important of these was the emergence of the Commons as a distinct and increasingly powerful group within Parliament . The king's constant need for money for his wars enabled the Commons to assert their right to consent to all lay taxation and gain other substantial concessions.

Considerable social change was also brought about by the decimation of England's population by visitations of the Black Death (see plague ), which struck first in 1348–49 and again in 1362 and 1369. The resulting labor shortage allowed the lower classes to demand higher wages and social advancement and accelerated the breakdown of the system of serfdom. Parliament attempted to curb this development with the Statute of Labourers (1351), which froze wages, but it proved impossible to enforce.

Edward's initially good relations with the church were damaged by the Statute of Provisors (1351) and the Statutes of Praemunire (first issued 1353), which were aimed at reducing papal influence on the English church, and by the king's attempts to get more money from the church. In 1371 the king's clerical councilors were dismissed. By this time Edward was under the influence of his greedy mistress, Alice Perrers , and the political scene became one of rivalry between the court party headed by John of Gaunt and the clerical party led by the Black Prince.

Supported by Alice Perrers, John of Gaunt gained control of the government, but the so-called Good Parliament of 1376 forced the expulsion of Alice Perrers from court, and several of John's supporters were impeached. John once again seized power after the death of the Black Prince. Edward III died soon afterward, and the son of the Black Prince came to the throne as Richard II. Of Edward's seven sons, five figured importantly in history: Edward the Black Prince; Lionel, duke of Clarence; John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster; Edmund of Langley, duke of York; Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester.

Bibliography

See W. Longman, The History of the Life and Times of Edward the Third (2 vol., 1869; repr. 1969); T. F. Tout, History of England, 1216–1377 (1905, repr. 1969); G. M. Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wycliffe (1909); J. Vale, Edward III and Chivalry (1983); M. Packe, King Edward III: Seaman (1984).

Edward III (1312–77), king of England (1327–77), claimant to the French throne (1340–60 and 1369–77). Edward came to the throne in 1327 in unpropitious circumstances, with the government in the hands of his unscrupulous mother Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. Yet he must rank as one of the most successful English kings. His war with France saw the great victories of Crécy and Poitiers. The king of France and the king of Scots were both captured and held for huge ransoms. The Order of the Garter epitomized the glittering chivalric glamour of courtly and military circles.

Edward's first independent political action was in 1330, when he led the coup against his mother and Roger Mortimer at Nottingham. In 1333 he took a major gamble, supporting Edward Balliol's cause in Scotland, and reopening a war which had appeared concluded. The battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 was a triumph, but succeeding campaigns achieved little, partly because of French support for the Scots. War with France began in 1337. A new element was provided by Edward's claim, through his mother, to the French throne.

The French war dominated Edward's reign. It saw the great triumphs at Crécy in 1346 and Poitiers ten years later, but also the disappointment of the 1359 campaign, which brought an unsatisfactory truce until 1369. Edward showed himself to be a great commander, taking great care in the planning of his campaigns, and inspiring his men. How far he planned the strategy which led to the great success at Crécy is a matter for debate, but it is clear that arrangements were made for additional supplies to be brought from England, and that a march northwards was always intended.

The war was extremely expensive. By 1339 the king was effectively bankrupt. Political crisis came in Parliament in 1340–1, with the king's former chief councillor and chancellor, John Stratford, leading opposition to the crown. Edward rolled with the punches, accepting the new statutes imposed on him in Parliament, only to repeal them once Parliament had been dissolved. He was even ready to concede on the question of military service in 1352, in the knowledge that he would have little difficulty in recruiting troops by means of contracts with the main commanders. Parliament's demands were also accepted in 1352 over the question of treason, Edward agreeing to a considerable narrowing of the definition of treason in the interests of political peace. By 1376 the power of the Commons was dramatically displayed in the Good Parliament, with the impeachment of Lord Latimer, the chamberlain, many royal officials, and even the king's own mistress, Alice Perrers. Yet, as in 1340–1, Edward knew that once Parliament was dissolved, it would be possible to regain the lost ground.

Edward was extremely successful in his dealings with his own family, and with the magnates. He was able to provide adequately for his sons, so that he never faced the internal family problems that had beset Henry II. The creation of six new earldoms in 1337 was a courageous move which could have aroused hostility from the established nobility. In practice, Edward skilfully manipulated the chivalrous feelings of his followers, patronizing tournaments and founding the Order of the Garter. He did not attempt to curb the authority of his nobles as Edward I had done, and though it can be argued that the crown's control over them was in theory diminished, in practice the results of royal policy prove the wisdom of the king's approach.

Edward III (1312–77) King of England, Ireland, and France (1327–77). He succeeded his father, EDWARD II, though the throne was at first his in little more than name, power remaining in the hands of his mother, ISABELLA OF FRANCE, and her lover Roger MORTIMER; but in 1330 Edward had Mortimer arrested and began his personal rule. He secured the Scottish frontier with relative ease by the victory of HALIDON HILL (1333); but his initial French strategy was less successful, for although he prudently bought up the allegiance of France's neighbours the cost proved excessive. By 1341 Edward was virtually bankrupt. In 1346 he sought to justify his claim to the French throne by the more direct means of leading a vast army to France, and victories at CRÉCY (1346) and in Brittany made him effectively king in France. The English by now were gaining a taste for foreign warfare and booty, and the truce of 1354 was ended by a fresh invasion of France two years later, crowned by the epic victory that Edward's son, EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE, won at POITIERS.

The rest of Edward's long reign was less successful - there were failures in France between 1369 and 1375, and after the death of his wife, Philippa of Hainault in 1369, his health and mind began to deteriorate; he fell under the influence of his mistress, Alice Perrers. Edward left his successor, RICHARD II, with a legacy of social discontent in England as well as the possession of vast tracts of France.

Edward III (1312–77) King of England (1327–77), son and successor of Edward II. For the first three years of his reign, Edward was king in name only: his mother, Isabella, and Roger Mortimer wielded all political power. In 1330, Edward mounted a successful coup. He conducted inconclusive wars with Scotland, but the outbreak (1337) of the Hundred Years' War dominated his reign. Edward led several campaigns to France, won a famous victory at Crécy (1346), and claimed the title King of France – although only conquering Calais. Parliament divided into two Houses, and permanently sited at Westminster. In old age, his sons, Edward the Black Prince and John of Gaunt, took over government. His grandson, Richard II, succeeded him.