ment unto the Death of King James... (London: E. Cotes,
1660), 15–18.
Edward III (1312–1377) English king
The eldest son of King edWard ii and his wife Queen
Isabella, and the grandson of King edWard i, the future
Edward III was born at Windsor, now the British royal
residence, on 13 November 1312. In 1320, at the age
of 8, Edward was summoned to Parliament and given
the title of earl of Chester; five years later, he was named
duke of Aquitaine. His father, an alleged homosexual
who was uninterested in Isabella, surrounded himself
with a series of men, including Sir Hugh Despenser. To
avoid having her son come under the influence of these
men, and because of the conflict between her husband
and the English barons, Isabella took her son and fled
to her native France in 1325. The following year, at the
age of 14, he was betrothed to Philippa of Hainault and
then returned to England with his mother and her lover,
Roger Mortimer. His father fled but was captured and,
in 1327, forced to abdicate in favor of his 14-year-old
son, who was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 29
January 1327. Edward III’s reign would last for 50 years,
one of the longest in English history.
Just six years into his reign, Edward followed the
example of his father and grandfather and went to war
against the Scots. In 1329, robert the bruce, cham-
pion of Scottish independence, died, leaving Scotland
without a clear leader. The Scottish barons backed Ed-
ward de Balliol, who promptly invaded England in 1332
and won a quick victory against the English at Dup-
plin Moor on 12 August and was crowned at Scone on
24 September. However, David II, Robert the Bruce’s
only son, had been crowned on 24 November 1331,
and, backed by a group of Scottish barons, he over-
threw de Balliol. Despite de Balliol’s border incursions,
he was backed by Edward III, who assembled an army
and marched north to defeat the Scottish forces under
David. Edward sacked the border town of Berwick, after
which he was attacked at Halidon Hill on 18 July 1333
by a Scottish force led by Archibald Douglas, the Scot-
tish regent, who had been sent south to relieve the town.
Historian George Bruce writes that “the Scots were pow-
erless against the English archers, and were defeated with
heavy loss, including the Regent, and four Earls.” This
defeat subjugated the Scots and ended this conflict on
Edward’s northern border for some years.
Edward’s next conflict was with France. In 1337,
PhiliP V i of France declared that Gascony (to which the
English kings had long claimed sovereignty) belonged
entirely to France. Edward negotiated a treaty with Em-
peror Louis of Bavaria, paving the way for the opening
of hostilities that history has labeled the Hundred Years’
War (1338–1453). After the siege of Cambrai in 1339
(when cannons were first used), Edward’s fleet won the
battle of Sluis (or Sluys, 24 June 1340). In this naval con-
flict, 200 English ships under the command of Sir Rob-
ert Morley and Richard Fitzalan defeated a French naval
force of 70 ships under Hughes Quieret, destroying the
entire French fleet. Edward then invaded France in 1346.
He landed near Cherbourg, captured Caen, crossed the
Seine and the Somme, and met the French at Crécy-en-
Ponthieu, 12 miles north of Abbeville. Here, on 26 August
1346, perhaps one of the most important land battles in
the history of England took place. Edward, with 40,000
English soldiers under his command, faced a French force
of 100,000 men under the count of Alençon; despite the
overwhelming French advantage, Edward’s troops used
the longbow and cannons to decimate the French lines.
Jean Froissart, a French historian, writes:This battle between the Broye and Cressy [sic]
was very murderous and horrible, and no doubt
many great feats of arms were performed which
never came to light, for when the battle began
it was already very late in the day. This injured
the French more than anything else, for many
men-at-arms, Knights, and Squires lost their
Lords during the night, and wandered about
the field meeting with the English at a great dis-
advantage; and were nearly all killed, for none
were ransomed or given quarter, according to
an order given in the morning because of the
great number of the enemy. The Count Louis de
Blois, nephew of King Philip and of the Count
d’Alençon, fought very valiantly with his people,
as did likewise the Duke of Lorraine.... There
were many French Knights and Squires, as well
as others of Germany and Savoy, who by force
of arms broke the array of the English archers,
and reached the English men-at-arms and fought
valiantly with them, sword in hand.... [T]he
defeat and loss of the French was so great owing
to the number of Dukes, Counts, Barons, and
Knights which were left on the field, that the00 eDwARD iii