Edward III of England (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was King of England from 25 January 1327 to 21 June 1377, succeeding Edward II of England and preceding Richard II of England. Edward is considered to be one of the greatest kings of England, as he took power from his mother Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer in a coup while he was fourteen in 1327, before re-establishing crown authority and defeating Scotland in a war. He engaged the Kingdom of France in the Hundred Years' War of 1337-1456, where he fought to press his maternal claim to the throne of France against Philip VI of France. Edward won several victories, but he died in 1377 before he could press his claim, and ultimately the House of Valois emerged victorious after 121 years of war.
Biography[]
Edward III was a powerful ruler who stamped his authority on England. The support of the nobility allowed him to campaign abroad in security and provided reliable lieutenants to lead armies on his behalf. His first military campaigns were against the Scots, who had humiliated his father, Edward II, at Bannockburn. He scored a great victory at Halidon Hill in 1333 using innovative tactics. His knights fought defensively on foot while the Scots were felled by his longbowmen.
Crossing the Channel[]
Edward in 1337
From 1337, Edward began to stake his claim to the French throne, thus sparking the series of conflicts that became known as the Hundred Years' War. His aggressive campaigns across the Channel brought a naval victory at Sluys in 1340, when he destroyed a large French and Genoese fleet. Six years later he led an army of 15,000 men to Normandy, sacking Caen and ravaging northern France, forcing the French king, Philip VI, to fight a pitched battle at Crecy. For Edward it was a triumph, since the charging French knights were brought down by his archers, then beaten in a melee. He took Calais after a year's siege, a huge effort that involved shipping supplies to his army across the Channel.
Edward himself did not return to campaign in France until 1359, after the victory of his son, Edward the Black Prince, at Poitiers. Devastating areas of northern France, he induced the French to agree to onerous peace terms at Bretigny in 1360. Among other conditions, they ceded one-third of their country to Edward. However, he lived to see most of these gains lost by his sons in his old age.