Ultimately, the tension between the two crowns erupted in the War of Saint-Sardos. In
1323, one of Edward’s vassals violently resisted attempts to construct a French royal
bastide near the priory of Sardos in the Agenais. This incident and Edward’s failure to do
homage to King Charles IV of France since the latter’s accession in 1322 led Charles to
declare Edward’s lands forfeit in 1324. Warfare in that year reduced Edward’s holdings
to a coastal strip running from Bordeaux to Bayonne. In 1325, Queen Isabella traveled to
France and negotiated a settlement for Edward with her brother Charles: Edward was to
do homage and regain his lost territory. Edward fell ill, and his son, the future Edward III,
took his place, after receiving the duchy from his father. Charles failed to return the
conquered lands, so in 1326 Edward II resumed administration of Aquitaine. That year,
however, Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer, invaded England and overthrew
Edward II before he could act effectively in the duchy.
Donald F.Fleming
[See also: ISABELLA OF FRANCE; SAINT-SARDOS]
Brown, Elizabeth A.R. “The Political Repercussions of Family Ties in the Early Fourteenth
Century: The Marriage of Edward II of England and Isabelle of France.” Speculum 63 (1988):
573–95.
Chaplais, Pierre. Essays in Medieval Diplomacy and Administration. London: Hambledon, 1981.
Fryde, Natalie. The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1979.
Kicklighter, Joseph A. “French Jurisdictional Supremacy in Gascony: One Aspect of the Ducal
Government’s Response.” Journal of Medieval History 7(1979):127–34.
Labarge, Margaret Wade. Gascony, England’s First Colony 1204–1453. London: Hamish
Hamilton, 1980.
EDWARD III
(1312–1377). King of England and claimant to France. The son of Edward II and Isabella
of France, Edward III became king of England in 1327, when his mother led a coup that
deposed his father. Through his mother, Edward was the grandson of Philip IV of France
and nephew of Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. He was therefore nearer in relation to
the last Capetians than was Philip VI of Valois. But the successions of Philip V and
Charles IV had established precedents excluding the succession of daughters, and the
French princes decided in 1328 to exclude those whose claim was through the female
line. At that time, and in 1329 and 1331, Edward had rendered homage to Philip VI for
his French fiefs, acts implying acceptance of Philip’s succession. But despite this Valois
diplomatic victory, the issue of Edward’s claim to the throne did not disappear, and it
became a major subtheme of the Hundred Years’ War.
Edward laid claim to the throne in 1337 and by 1340 was using the title “King of
France.” His reasons for reviving his claim were twofold. First, it transformed the feudal
dispute over Gascony that had triggered the war from an unequal contest between the
king of France and a rebellious vassal to a contest between equals. Second, it allowed
Edward’s partisans in such areas as Flanders and Brittany to support his cause without
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