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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Edward III
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(1312–77)
King of England from 1327; eldest son of Edward II and Isabella of France; married in 1328 Philippa of Hainaut.
Once he was free of the influence of his mother (see *Edward II) and of her lover (Roger Mortimer, whom he seized and executed in 1330), the young Edward set about reasserting the expansionist policies of his grandfather, *Edward I. He had some success in Scotland, but his main thrust was towards France, to the throne of which he laid claim through his mother. The resulting sporadic conflict, prolonged far beyond his reign, was known later as the *Hundred Years' War.
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There was no conclusion or profit in that struggle with France, in spite of individual English victories such as *Crécy (1346) and *Poitiers (1356), but Edward's reign later came to seem something of a golden age with the romance of medieval chivalry – whether in the exploits of his son, the *Black Prince, or in the founding of the Order of the *Garter.
It was also the last period of stability in England for more than a century. The Black Prince died before his father, causing Edward to be succeeded by a 10-year-old grandson, Richard II (see the *royal house). It was the descendants of two of Edward's other sons, the dukes of Lancaster and of York, who later fought for the throne in the *Wars of the Roses.
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