This Day in History: King Edward III
On the 1st of February 1327, the 14-year-old son of Edward II was crowned as King Edward III at Westminster Abbey. His father, King Edward II, had not long been deposed by his mother, Isabella. The coronation was a hastily arranged affair, thanks to concerns surrounding the confirmation of Edward III’s legitimacy.
The accession of Edward III had cleared the way to more power for Isabella’s lover, Roger Mortimer. He now ruled the kingdom in Edward’s name. He used his power to gain more titles and increase his landholdings. He soon became even more unpopular as a result. This early in his reign, Edward was little more than a puppet of Mortimer and Isabella. Mortimer held the reins of power.
Mortimer’s avarice and greed did not abate, neither did his ever-worsening reputation and popularity. This was compounded after suffering defeat to the Scots. The Scottish won a huge victory, which led to the 1328 Treaty of Northampton, which all but guaranteed Scottish independence.
Edward could only agree for now but would later renege on the treaty when presented with a chance. The king dislike the power Mortimer wielded. In consequence, he showed him a distinct lack of respect. In January 1328, Edward wed Philippa of Hainault. The arrival of therefore their first son in 1330, posed a further threat to Mortimer’s position.
His downfall was swift.
In October 1330, Edward arranged an attack on Mortimer Nottingham Castle. He was soon tried for treason and executed. Edward treated his mother more leniently, permitting her to live comparatively quietly in Norfolk for the rest of her days. The advent of Mortimer’s death allowed Edward III to seize real power and begin to exercise true authority.
Now Edward had real power, and with that came two critical issues for him to deal with. He had to find a way to heal the relationships between the King, the barons, and the titled gentleman of the land. This promised to be no mean task, given the divisions caused by the frosty relationships existing between the nobility and his father, Edward II. He also needed to decide what approach she would take to the likelihood of war with France and Scotland.
Edward III in Scotland
Like his grandfather Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, Edward III renewed historic hostilities with Scotland and aspired and endeavored to impose English authority over the country. Robert the Bruce’s death in 1329, and the ascension of the young David II provided him an opportunity.
In 1332 Edward supported the claim of Edward Balliol to the throne of Scotland, seeking to unseat David II. Balliol was supported by some wealthy aggrieved English men who had all lost land. They had gained a victory over the Scots and sought to place Balliol on the throne. However, fierce opposition eventually led to Balliol being driven from the kingdom. It eventually necessitated the intervention of Edward III as King of England.
Edward was driven by the desire to emulate his grandfather and regain power in Scotland. To that end, Edward III began military campaigns at Berwick. He dealt the Scots a devastating blow at Hailden Hill and was consequently able to see Balliol regain a measure of control over Scotland. David II fled to France. Despite this, Balliol never managed to regain true power in Scotland, and by 1338 Balliol gave up control and Edward agreed to halt hostilities. David was later to return, only to suffer defeat by forces led by the Archbishop of York and endure imprisonment, not long before the Black Death first appeared.
Meanwhile, Edward III turned his attention to France.
Edward III, France, and the Hundred Years War
The rivalry between England and France could be said to originate from the Norman conquest. It had simmered away ever since. Tensions worsened when King Charles IV of France died without issue.
As Charles IV’s nephew, Edward had a claim to the throne of France. However, the French parliament chose his cousin, Philippe VI instead. To add insult to injury, French resistance to the presence of the Plantagenets in Gascony was increasing. The final straw came in 1334, when Philippe supported David II, and, in 1336, began preparations to invade England.
Edward did not waver and made no secret of his designs on the French throne. Fighting soon broke out between the English and the French, marking the beginning of the Hundred Years War.
By 1340, Edward III took the bold step of claiming the position of King of France. Six years later, he returned at the head of an army, alongside his son, Edward, The Black Prince, and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Crecy. This led to the capture of Calais, which would be held by the English crown for the next 200 years. Another stunning victory followed for the Black Prince, at the Battle of Poitier in 1356.
Edward III’s reign marked a high point in English dominance of continental Europe, though hostilities would rage for another century and Edward III’s military fortunes would begin to sour.
Dealing with the Nobility
Locked in struggles with France, Edward could ill afford to alienate the barons and nobles of England. He needed to fund his military campaigns and sought to increase taxation with Parliament’s permission. The barons were soon swept up by shared interests because Parliament functioned as a consultative institution which gave them powers to revoke or agree.
Edward III went one step further and established The Most Noble Order of the Garter, which served to unify his court. It was built upon the ideas of Arthurian legend, chivalric principles, and attitudes. The Order comprised 26 members committed to upholding chivalric ideals.
The Black Death
The plague appeared in France circa. 1348. It rapidly killed a sizeable proportion of the fighting population of Europe. A truce was agreed upon rather than continue hostilities whilst the illness ravaged Europe. Both the English and the French experienced significant loss of life, Edward himself losing his daughter Joan to the disease.
The Black death had a massive social and political impact. With the population decimated, workers began to demand they be paid more for their work. Edward III tried to restore the pre-pandemic status quo by introducing the Statute of Labour in 1351.
The plague continued to rage across Europe for years. Still, before six years had elapsed, hostilities with both France and Scotland resumed.
The Later Years of Edward III
in the later years of his reign, Edward III’s military fortunes began to sour. A new agreement struck in 1360 forced him to withdraw his claim to the throne, in return for the sovereignty of Gascony. Domestic issues began to resurface, too. During the Good Parliament of 1376 power was stripped from the king’s mistress, Alice Perrers, who had served as a lady in waiting to Queen Philippa before her death in 1369 and had since gained profound influence over the king. Instead, the king’s ambitious third son, John of Gaunt, seized power.
Edward III distanced himself from the strife of court. England remained at war with France for the rest of his life, and by the time of his death, on 12th June 1377, all that was left of Edward’s continental territories was Calais and a small section of Gascony.
His son, Edward the Black Prince, the flower of English chivalry, had predeceased his father, in June 1376. Thus, Richard II, the eldest surviving son of The Black Prince, succeeded his grandfather at the tender age of ten.
The glory days of the Plantagenets seemed over.
