Edward III (born 1327)

Edward was born at Windsor on November 13, 1312, and was thus called "Edward of Windsor" in his early years. The reign of his father, Edward II, was fraught with military defeat, rebellious barons and corrupt courtiers, but the birth of a male heir in 1312 temporarily strengthened Edward II's position on the throne. When the queen finally left England to return to France Edward joined her and despite his father's many letters and pleas for him first to return to England and then to promise not to marry without Edward II's express consent, he remained with Isabella and contracted to marry Philippa of Hainault, the daughter of William III of Hainault and Jeanne of Valois, the granddaughter of Philippe III of France. They eventually married in York Minster on 24th January 1328.

On 20 January 1327, when the young Edward was fourteen years old, the king was deposed by his queen, Isabella, and her consort Roger Mortimer. Edward, now Edward III, was crowned on 1 February, and a regency was set up for him, led by Isabella and Mortimer. Mortimer, the de facto ruler of England subjected the young king to constant disrespect and humiliation.

Mortimer knew his position was precarious, especially after Edward and his wife, Philippa of Hainault, had a son on 15 June 1330. Mortimer used his power to acquire a number of noble estates and titles, many of them belonging to Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel. FitzAlan, who had remained loyal to Edward II in his struggle with Isabella and Mortimer, had been executed on 17 November 1326. However Mortimer's greed and arrogance caused him to be hated by many of the other nobles. All this was not lost on the young king.

Shortly before his 18th birthday, Edward, with the help of a few trusted companions, staged a coup d'état at Nottingham castle (19 October 1330), resulting in the arrest of both his mother Isabella and Mortimer. Mortimer was sent to the Tower of London, and hanged a month later. Isabella was forced into retirement at Castle Rising. With this dramatic event, the personal reign of Edward effectively began.

Edward chose to renew the military conflict with the Kingdom of Scotland in which his father and grandfather had engaged with varying success. Edward repudiated the Treaty of Northampton that had been signed during the regency, thus renewing claims of English sovereignty over Scotland and resulting in the Second War of Scottish Independence.

Intending to regain what the English had conceded, he won back control of Berwick and secured a decisive English victory at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 against the forces of the infant David II of Scotland. Edward III was now in a position to put Edward Balliol on the throne of Scotland and claim a reward of 2,000 librates of land in the southern counties - the Lothians, Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, Dumfriesshire, Lanarkshire and Peebleshire. Despite the victories of Dupplin and Halidon, the Bruce party soon started to recover and by the close of 1335 and the Battle of Culblean, the Plantagenet occupation was in difficulties and the Balliol party was fast losing ground.

At this time, in 1336, Edward III's brother John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall died. A whisper of a rumour says that Edward killed his brother in a quarrel at Perth.

Although Edward III committed very large armies to Scottish operations, by 1337 the vast majority of Scotland had been recovered for David II, leaving only a few castles such as Edinburgh, Roxburgh and Stirling in English possession. These installations were not adequate to impose Edward's rule and by 1338/9 Edward had moved from a policy of conquest to one of containment.

Edward's military problems, however, were on two fronts; the challenge from the French monarchy was of no less concern. The French represented a problem in three areas: first, they provided constant support to the Scottish through the Franco-Scottish alliance. Philippe VI protected David II in exile, and supported Scottish raids in Northern England. Second, the French attacked several English coastal towns, leading to rumours in England of a full-scale invasion. Finally, the English king's possessions in France were under threat—in 1337, Philippe VI confiscated the duchy of Aquitaine and the county of Ponthieu.

Instead of seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict by paying homage to the French king, Edward laid claim to the French crown as the only living male descendant of his deceased maternal grandfather, Philippe IV. The French, however, invoked the Salic law of succession and rejected the claim, pronouncing Philippe IV's nephew, Philip VI, the true heir and thereby setting the stage for the Hundred Years' War.

In the war against France, Edward built alliances and fought by proxy through minor French princes. In 1338, Louis IV named him vicar-general of the Holy Roman Empire, and promised his support. These measures, however, produced few results and the fiscal pressure on the kingdom caused by the war and alliances caused discontent to grow in England - allieviated somewhat by the English naval victory at the Battle of Sluys (24th June, 1340).

In response to the financial complaints,Edward returned to England unannounced on 30 November 1340. Finding the affairs of the realm in disorder, he purged the royal administration. These measures did not bring domestic stability, however, and a standoff ensued between the king and John Stratford, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Edward, at the Parliament of England of April 1341, was forced to accept severe limitations to his financial and administrative prerogatives. Yet, in October of the same year, the king repudiated this statute, and Archbishop Stratford was politically ostracised. The extraordinary circumstances of the 1341 parliament had forced the king into submission, but under normal circumstances the powers of the king were virtually unlimited, and Edward took advantage of this in order to pursue his goals. In an effort to both placate his Barons yet still pursue his own ends, he returned to France with his levies and, in a surprise move, the English laid siege to Château-Gaillard, catching the French off-guard and threatening David II of Scotland, resident there. The open warfare between the Count of Armagnac and the Count of Foix entangled French forces attacking English held Gascony, and prevented a rapid response. Queen Joan of Scotland sued for mercy for the limited garrison of Château-Gaillard and the lives of those they were protecting. Being the sister of Edward III this was readily granted and she and her husband, the King of Scotland, were taken hostage and sent to England. Queen Joan was made welcome at court and officially placed in the residence of Queens Philippa and Isabella, and David II took up residence in the Tower of London. Although emboldened by the return of Princess Margaret, who escaped English custody late in 1340, the Scots come to an immediate (uneasy) ceasefire with the English.

Edward could be impulsive and temperamental yet at the same time, he was well-known for his clemency. Both in his religious views and his interests, he was a conventional man. His favourite pursuit was the art of war, and, as such, he conformed to the medieval notion of good kingship. He seems to have been unusually devoted to his wife, Queen Philippa and although he was said to have mistresses if he did he was discreet about it. This devotion extended to the rest of the family as well; he loved his children, wife and mother, and was good to his more distant relatives.

In March 1345, Edward and Philippa have seven children:

Edward of Woodstock, Duke of Cornwall (b.1330)
Isabella of Woodstock (b.1332)
Joan of Woodstock (b.1333)
Lionel of Antwerp (b.338)
John of Gaunt (b.1340)
Edmund of Langley (b.1341)
Mary of Waltham (b.1344)

Being descended from several European royal families, Edward III has kin throughout Europe. In England however his nearest relatives are Margaret de Brotherton, the Duchess of Lorraine and Countess of Norfolk, John, Earl of Kent, Henry, 4th Earl of Lancaster (and his seven sisters and children) and William, Baron Tavistock (and his several children).