Edward III of England

Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was one of the most successful English kings of medieval times. His fifty-year reign began when his father Edward II of England was deposed on 25 January 1327, and lasted until 1377. Among his immediate predecessors, only Henry III ruled as long, and it would be over 400 years before another monarch would occupy the throne for that duration. Edward's reign was marked by an expansion of English territory through wars in Scotland and France. Edward's parentage and his prodigious offspring provided the basis for two lengthy and significant events in British and European history, the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of the Roses, respectively.

The Hundred Years' War

Edward's claim to unite the English and French thrones was contested by French nobles who invoked Salic law, which held that the royal succession could not pass through a female line (such as Edward's mother Isabella, or Queen Joan II of Navarre), and who therefore asserted that the legitimate King of France was Philip VI, Edward's cousin and heir to Charles of Valois, a younger son of Philip III.

Related Topics:
Salic law - Joan II of Navarre - Philip VI - Valois - Philip III

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Edward declared war on Philip VI in 1337, and declared himself king of France on January 26 1340. The conflict thus commenced eventually became known as the Hundred Years' War, continuing sporadically to the 1450s. In 1346, Edward defeated the French at the Battle of Crecy, accompanied in this campaign by his sixteen year old son the Black Prince.

Related Topics:
Philip VI - 1337 - January 26 - 1340 - Hundred Years' War - 1450s - 1346 - Battle of Crecy - Black Prince

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The Black Prince commanded England's victorious army at the Battle of Poitiers, in 1356. The first phase of the Hundred Years' War was concluded in 1360 with the Treaty of Brétigny, marking the height of English influence in France and providing three million crowns' ransom for the capture of the French King John II.

Related Topics:
Battle of Poitiers - 1356 - 1360 - Treaty of Brétigny - John II

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While these victories were eventually reversed, and then won and lost again in the resulting generations of war, British monarchs would continue to claim the title "King of France" until the Act of Union which led to the creation of the United Kingdom in 1707. Edward III quartered his coat of arms with "France Ancient", the Azure semé-de-lis (a blue shield with a tight pattern of small golden fleur de lis of the French royal house), and it remained a part of the English Coat of Arms until removed by George III. For more information see English Kings of France.

Related Topics:
Act of Union - United Kingdom - 1707 - Coat of arms - Fleur de lis - English Coat of Arms - George III - English Kings of France

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