Irene Preston's Historical Writing
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - PART SIX
Edward III
Edward III was crowned in 1327 but remained a puppet
king under the
domination of his mother and Mortimer for 3 years. By this time Edward
was 17. He was tall, like his grandfather, and handsome. He married
Philippa of Hainault in 1328 in York Minster. They were close in age and
became deeply attached even though Edward was often unfaithful. The
Queen had a gentle nature, was warm-hearted and the only one able to
soothe Edward's hasty temper. She accompanied him on his campaigns where
several of their 12 children were born.
Isabella and Mortimer were afraid for their own future should Edward die
so set about befriending the Scots. They also spread a rumour that
Edward II was not dead but alive in Corfe Castle. They arranged the
pretence by lighting candles around the parapet and playing music in the
hope that they would flush out the late king's followers. Edmund, Earl
of Kent, uncle to the young king, had been a good friend of his father
and sent spies to discover the truth, saying if he was alive he should
be released. He was tried as a traitor by Mortimer and beheaded. The
people had not liked him as his servants had seized their possessions as
they travelled around the country. Several earls had sworn to protect
the new king, becoming convinced that Mortimer was planning to usurp the
throne and marry Isabella. The earls decided that in the interest of the
safety of the kingdom Mortimer would have to die. In 1330 Edward,
asserting his authority, obtained the support of his barons and decided
it was time to make a stand against his mother and Mortimer. They
secretly entered Nottingham Castle by hidden passages,
broke into Isabella's bedroom and were able to arrest Mortimer and take
him to the Tower of London. He was judged by his peers and was not
allowed to speak in his own defence; and was hung and drawn. Many
factions and civil outbreaks were ended with the death of Roger
Mortimer, Earl of March. Isabella was taken to Castle Rising where she
was held in semi-captivity with her servants and soldiers. Edward
visited her several times as he felt his mother had been influenced by
her love for Mortimer. She also attended the king's banquet at Windsor.
In 1328, whilst still under his mother's influence, Edward had made
peace with Scotland and given his sister Joan, aged 7, in marriage to
King Robert's son David, aged 4. Robert I died the following year and
David became king under the regency of the Earl of Moray until 1332 when
John Balliol's son Edward sailed from France with a large fleet of
warships to reclaim the Scottish throne for the Balliols. He was crowned
King of Scotland and David settled in France supported by King Philip VI
who gave Edward III an ultimatum that there would be no settlement over
Gascony unless the King of Scots rights were guaranteed in the same
treaty. Edward had sought support in the Low Countries using an embargo
on English wool exports to Flanders as a weapon to win an alliance with
the wealthy cloth-making Flemish towns. Philip invaded Gascony in 1337
and declared Gascony forfeit to the French Crown. By 1339 Edward, with
12,000 men, launched the beginning of what was to be known as the
‘Hundred Years War’. This phrase was not used until the late 19th
Century and includes a series of wars.
In 1340 Edward III formally laid claim to the Kingdom of France as the
true heir to France through his mother and added the Fleur- de-Lis to
the Lions of England. It wasn't until 1803 when the French Monarchy no
longer existed that England renounced its claim to the Kingdom of
France.
Edward and Philippa had 7 sons and 5 daughters, 2 sons and 1 daughter
died in infancy. In medieval times royal and aristocratic children were
given a name together with their place of birth. Their 5 sons were,
Edward of Woodstock born in 1330, Lionel of Antwerp born in 1338, John
of Gaunt born in Ghent in 1340, Edmund of Langley born in 1341 and
Thomas of Woodstock born in 1355. Due to Philippa's influence the sons
had a good relationship with their father and each other. Their 4
daughters were Isabella born at Woodstock in 1332, Mary born at Waltham
near Winchester in 1344 and Margaret born at Windsor in 1346. Joanna was
born at the Tower of London but died quite young of a pestilence whilst
staying in a small village near Bordeaux. She was on her way to be
married to Pedro, son of Alphonso, King of Castile. Her parents were
greatly upset and Edward had a small bronze image put on the side of his
tomb in Westminster Abbey,
Prince Edward as heir to the throne was given the Earldom of Chester at
the age of 3 and 4 years later the Earldom of Cornwall after his uncle
John had died. The young prince often officiated in affairs of state at
court in his father's absence and in 1340, when the prince was aged 10,
the king sailed to fight the French fleet at Sluys on the coast of
Zeeland in the Low Countries. The king entrusted the prince with the
safety of the kingdom and sent him his own account of the battle. When
Prince Edward reached the age of 13 he was elevated to the Prince of
Wales and in1346 aged16 accompanied his father to France and was
knighted on the beach as the king's army disembarked. Edward only just
scraped to a victory at Crecy due to a retreat of certain French
leaders. His men were by now very tired and he did not wish to push on
to Paris so the king decided to head for the coast and capture a port.
He chose Calais as it was the nearest to England and more suitable than
the ports of Flanders and would provide an effective control of the
Channel. The town's fortifications were strong and Edward had to spend
the winter there and built wooden huts for his troops, setting them out
like streets and covering the roofs with reeds it resembled a town and
they even held market days. Food and men were shipped over from England
and the wounded, together with the plunder taken, were returned to
England. Edward had blockaded the approach to the town walls by sea with
a large fleet of ships outside the harbour. They had wooden towers and
catapults to destroy any ships trying to break through. By the spring of
1347 the king was ready to take Calais with 30,000 troops, having more
troops to fight in France now that Scotland had been subdued. In 1341
King David II had regained his throne and, retaining the Scottish
alliance with France, had attacked England in1346 whilst Edward was
fighting in France. Later that year at the battle of Neville's Cross
David was injured and taken prisoner; and was held for 9 years. King
David II died in 1371 without an heir and the Scottish crown went to his
nephew Robert II.
The de Brus family came from Bruis near Cherbourg they arrived just
after the Norman Conquest and were granted 43 manors in Yorkshire. They
became Lords of Annandale in Scotland during the early 12th Century.
Robert I had a daughter, Marjorie, by his marriage to Marjorie, Countess
of Carrick. His daughter married Walter Fitzalan, the 6th High Steward
of Scotland. Steward became Stewart and later took the French form of
Stuart. Their son became King Robert II of Scotland founding the Royal
House of Stuart. Before becoming king, Robert had married Jean the
daughter of Sir John Lyon, the Thane of Glamis; and ancestor of the Late
Queen Mother, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
During the summer of 1347 King Philip set off to relieve Calais but was
unsuccessful and ordered his army to retreat. The starving garrison of
Calais surrendered but Edward was very angry and told them that the keys
of the town were to be brought to him by 6 chief burgesses who were to
be hanged. Queen Philippa pleaded with her husband to show mercy in the
name of the Virgin Mary and her Son, as she Philippa, was soon to bear
the king's child. Edward could not refuse his Queen so all were saved
and Calais was to be the gateway into France for 200 years. The Port of
Calais was named a staple port through which all exports had to pass.
This gave rich citizens a concentration of trade and was easy for tax
collecting by the Crown. In 1348 it became the staple for lead, tin and
cloth and in 1383 for wool when it was placed under a group of London
capitalists the ‘Merchants of the Staple’.
Soon after the capture of Calais in 1347 the plague called the Black
Death broke out in the East and spread to the continent and England
carried by fleas living on black rats. Animals died as well as humans
and the spores could be air-borne or carried on wool, cloth and fur. The
disease was a form of anthrax and not bubonic as in the 17th Century,
even so it killed thousands of people and did not abate until 1348. The
fields were uncultivated and animal stocks were greatly reduced whilst
surviving peasants, doing most of the work, were being exploited and
started to revolt over their hardship and demanded better wages. In 1351
Edward's parliament imposed a ‘Statute of Labourers,’ a control of
wages. Peasants were hiring themselves out to the best employers but
their wages were strictly limited and the law enforced severe financial
penalties for employers who tried to reach private agreements. These
restrictions brought great hardship and was probably the cause of the
‘Peasant's Revolt’ in 1381. In 1348, after his victories of Crecy and
Calais, Edward founded the Order of the Garter, and Windsor was to
become the centre of his Court. He converted it into a Gothic Palace.
Windsor Castle was first built as part of William the Conqueror's
fortifications around London. It stands 30 metres above the River Thames
and is close to the old hunting forest. Each successive monarch added
towers and chapels to suit their requirements. In 1240 Henry III had
ordered a chapel to be built close to his apartment and dedicated it to
St Edward the Confessor. It stood on the site of the present Albert
Memorial Chapel. Edward III had been likened to King Arthur and his
Knights of the Round Table so the king decided to build a circular keep
which was known as the ‘Round Table’.
The Order of the Garter symbolized the ideals of chivalry and was to
bind the nobility together. Membership was regarded as one of honour and
distinction. The Order took as its patron St George, who was already
known as the patron saint of knights throughout Christendom. The king
created new earldoms which he gave to his young comrades-in-arms and
raised his son's earldoms to dukedoms. Edward, Duke of Cornwall, Lionel,
Duke of Clarence and John would inherit the Duchy of Lancaster. The
king's younger sons would become Edmund, Duke of York and Thomas, Duke
of Gloucester. By the 1300s earldoms had been greatly reduced by the
many civil wars. There had been 23 in 1154 but by 1337 there were only
10 and most belonged to members of the royal family. Henry of Grosmont,
Earl of Lancaster, had inherited his earldom from his grandfather
Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, the son of Henry III, so he shared the same
great grandfather as Edward III. Henry's earldom was also raised to a
dukedom and would eventually be inherited by Edward's son, John of
Gaunt. Edward re-founded Henry Ill's Chapel and established a body of
clergy, a college which in the middle ages signified a collection of men
with a common purpose, usually ecclesiastical. Most of the king's
buildings were representative of the 3rd style of Gothic architecture
called Perpendicular and first seen during Edward's reign and referred
to as English Gothic. It was mostly used in ecclesiastical buildings and
several good examples can be seen in Beverly and York Minsters founded
in early Saxon times, Exeter Cathedral and parts of St. George's Chapel.
The Porch of Honour shows beautiful vaulting and panelling, the first
examples of English Gothic, Edward III organized the building of many
small castles along the coast as a defence against the French, but they
no longer exist. One of Edward's interests was in mechanical clocks and
he had many put into his castles. Prince Edward is usually referred to
as the Black Prince but not by his contemporaries. In 1350 the
Castilians had assembled a fleet of 40 ships at Sluys and were causing
havoc on English merchant shipping. Edward had fought at Sluys 1O years
earlier when his son, John of Gaunt, was born in Ghent. Now 10 years
old, John accompanied his father and his older brother, Edward, who took
him on his own war ship. Medieval war ships were usually ‘Cogs,’ a
merchant ship designed for carrying cargoes ranging from wood, wine,
livestock and passengers. It was shallow and tub-shaped weighing 30-40
tons even 200 tons and was an all-weather boat that could easily use
creeks and wide rivers where larger ships could not go. They were useful
for carrying troops and Edward's ship was especially rigged for battle.
The Castilians had captured many boats and chained them together to ward
off Edward's fleet and with the wind in their favour the Castilians sank
both the King's ship and Prince Edward's. Both managed to escape by
boarding the enemy's vessels and the fighting continued into the night.
They captured 14 Castilian galleys and threw their crews overboard.
Edward's son Lionel was born before John but was not an outstanding
personality and achieved very little before an early death. He was born
in 1338 and when he was 3 he was betrothed to Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th
Countess of Ulster, to secure large territories in Ireland. Her
grandmother had been the earlier Elizabeth who had been used as a
marriage pawn by Edward II. In 1345 whilst still an infant he was
designated guardian of the realm in his father's absence.
Lionel and Elizabeth were married in 1352 and their daughter Philippa
was born in 1355 the same year that Lionel accompanied his father and
brothers, Edward, John and Edmund on campaign in France.
It was about this time that we hear of Geoffrey Chaucer who had been
taken into the household of Lionel and Elizabeth as a page at the age of
12. His father was a prosperous wine merchant who served a term as a
customs official of the king. Chaucer was on campaign as a squire,
captured and held for ransom but the king paid £16 towards his release.
Over the next 6 years little is heard of him but he seems to have
studied law and became a diplomat travelling to Europe on behalf of the
king. By this time he was a member of the household of Lionel's brother
John of Gaunt
Lionel had been made governor of Ireland and arrived in Dublin in 1361
and the following year he was created Duke of Clarence. His wife
Elizabeth died in 1363 and Lionel returned to England in 1367. The king
arranged another marriage for him to Violante Visconti the 13- year- old
daughter of the Duke of Milan, a wealthy Italian ruler of Pavia, in
1368. Lionel left England for his new estates in Piedmont and is
believed to have died of a fever not long after his arrival. In the same
year his daughter Philippa was married to Edmund Mortimer 3rd Earl of
March. The Earl of Pembroke had died in 1348 and his infant son and heir
John Hastings, whose mother was one of the daughters of Roger Mortimer,
became a ward of the king. John, now Earl of Pembroke, married the
king's daughter Margaret who died 2 years later and Edward granted John
the Lieutenancy of Aquitaine. He was captured at sea by the Spanish
fleet and imprisoned for 2 years being badly treated and he died in
1375, aged 28. The king's other daughter Mary was married to the Duke of
Brittany but she also died soon after her marriage, aged 17.
The war in Poitiers was between 1350 and 1360 and mostly involves Prince
Edward and the new King of France, John II. The Prince was relentless in
battle and destroyed property to weaken his enemy and yet he was
courageous arriving at Bordeaux with 1,000 knights, squires, men-at-arms
and 2,000 archers. They travelled across the countryside burning and
plundering, collecting wine, cattle and slaughtering pigs and chickens.
Gold, silver plate and jewels and ransoms brought many riches to the
king, his son and their men. King John II was captured with his sons and
taken to London. He rode alongside the prince through the cheering
crowds and was given the use of the Savoy Palace on the Strand by Henry,
Duke of Lancaster. He was treated with respect as befitted a king and
often entertained King Edward and Queen Philippa. Several French counts
had accompanied the king as hostages and it was one of these counts,
Enguerrand de Coucy, who was to marry King Edward's very fickle
daughter, Isabella. She was his first daughter and rather spoiled,
refusing all her proposed betrothals but she had taken a fancy to the
count. He held estates in England and these were returned to him on his
release and he was created Earl of Bedford. In 1360 most of King John's
ransom was paid and he was allowed to return to France but his sons had
to remain as hostages. One son broke his parole and went back home to
his young wife and refused to return.
The chivalrous king considered it a breach of honour and returned to the
Savoy Palace in 1364 where he died a few months later. A magnificent
requiem was held at St. Paul's Church and his body was returned to
France.
Prince Edward had several illegitimate children before his marriage. One
of them was Sir Roger Clarendon, probably born at the royal palace of
Clarendon in Wiltshire. He was to lose his head as a traitor during the
reign of Henry IV. The prince married late in his life to his cousin
Joan, Countess of Kent, in 1361 after receiving permission from the pope
as they both shared the same great grandfather, Edward I. She had
previously been married to Sir Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, who died in
1360 and Sir William Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, from whom she had been
divorced. Joan had several children to Thomas Holland who became the
stepsons of Prince Edward. That same year the Prince was appointed the
Duke of Aquitaine and went to Bordeaux to take up his duties as the
resident Lord. Joan bore 2 children, Edward in1365 but he died in 1371
and Richard in 1367 who was destined to be crowned King Richard II in
1377. The duke failed to understand the sensibilities of his new
subjects and appointed many English lords to oversee the province. He
was criticized for his extravagance and to pay for his lavish Court he
unwisely raised taxes. He was a great soldier but not a politician and
he yearned for military adventure. This he was to have when he offered
his services to aid King Pedro of Castile in 1366. Civil war had broken
out in Spain when the king's illegitimate brother usurped the throne.
The prince was accompanied by his brother John.
John of Gaunt had the title of Earl of Derby when he
married Blanche the co-heiress of Henry, Duke of Lancaster. In 1321
Henry's uncle Thomas had been beheaded for treason by Edward II but the
act of treason was reversed by parliament to allow Henry's father, who
held the Earldom of Leicester, to inherit the title of his late brother.
The duke died of the plague in 1361 and his other daughter, Maud, died
the following year without issue. John of Gaunt then inherited the Duchy
of Lancaster, Earldoms of Leicester, Lincoln and Derby with manors in
England and Wales. He also became the owner of the grand Palace of Savoy
which he held in great pride as his London home, second only to the
Palace of Westminster. Blanche bore John 3 daughters and 4 sons but 3
sons and 1 daughter died young the remaining son was Henry Bollingbroke,
born in 1367. This son would usurp his cousin Richard II and be crowned
Henry IV. Their 2 daughters made good marriages. Philippa married John
II of Portugal and their son Henry would become known as Henry the
Navigator, sending ships on voyages of discovery. Elizabeth married John
Holland, Duke of Exeter, stepson to Prince Edward.
When Edward III had married Philippa she had brought her Captain of the
Guard with her and his 2 daughters, Katherine and Philippa de Roet as
her maids of honour. They later entered the household of John and
Blanche as nursemaids to their children. Phiiippa married Geoffrey
Chaucer who was a member of the duke's household in 1366 and Katherine
married Sir Hugh Swynford, a knight from Lincolnshire.
Blanche died of the plague in 1368 and Chaucer wrote his ‘Book of the
Duchess’ in her honour. Katherine, now a widow, remained in the
household as the governess of the duchess's children. After his wife's
death the duke formed a relationship with Katherine and made her his
mistress. John, Duke of Lancaster, had his sights on the crown of
Castile and joined his brother Edward to overthrow the usurper and put
Pedro back on his throne. They were successful over the Castilian and
French forces and John married Pedro's daughter Constance and was called
‘Monsieur de Espagne’. They had a daughter called Catherine and John
renounced his claim to the throne for 600,000 gold francs in favour of
their daughter who married John of Castile, grandson of Henry, the
illegitimate half brother of Pedro. John, Duke of Lancaster, was not
popular with the Spanish in view of his links with the Hundred Years
War. He returned to England and his lavish Savoy Palace. John's brother
Edmund, Duke of York, had also married Isabella the sister of Constance.
Prince Edward and his men suffered with dysentery brought on by the
contrast of a cold wet winter and a dry hot summer in Castile and many
died. The prince never properly recovered and it was to leave him weak
and almost helpless, and in 1368 he returned to his palace in Bordeaux.
King Pedro could not pay Prince Edward for his help so the prince
imposed a five-year fouage or hearth tax throughout his domain. Several
powerful lords refused to allow the fouage tax to be levied in their
domains. They first appealed to King Edward but, not waiting for a
reply, also appealed to King Charles V of France. Having accepted their
cause he laid the complaint before his parliament. Revolt broke out
throughout Gascony, towns and castles broke their allegiance to England
and all fell to the French. By 1370 the prince was in such poor health
he was unable to mount his horse and was carried on a litter when he set
out to have his revenge on the towns that had rebelled. His brothers,
John and Edmund, directed his soldiers and sacked Limoges killing 3,000
citizens. This act was most unworthy of a great soldier and much against
his father's code of chivalry. In 1371 his illness had worsened and he
was advised to return to England leaving John, Duke of Lancaster, in
charge. The following year he accompanied his father on a final
expedition to France but their ships were blown back to the coast by bad
storms. In 1372 he resigned his principality and returned to his castle
at Berkhamstead and the king made his son-in-law, John, Earl of
Pembroke, the Governor of Aquitaine. Edward, Prince of Wales, Duke of
Cornwall and Earl of Chester died in 1376 and was buried in Canterbury
Cathedral. His effigy shows him wearing the armour of a chivalrous
knight, as he would have worn in all his campaigns, emblazoned with the
arms of England and France. Edward III was also declining in health and
his failure to reach Rheims in 1364 and be crowned King of France had
been a great disappointment to him. About this time he took a new
mistress, Alice Perrers, the daughter of Richard Perrers, a landowner,
and installed her as one of Queen Philippa's maids of the bedchamber.
The Queen died in 1369, she was much revered as a woman of great
gentleness, dignity and tolerance of Edward's infidelities. After her
death the king declined into premature old age and senility giving his
mistress valuable properties in London.
Alice soon dominated the king and was much disliked by members of the
Court. She was clever and amusing but avaricious and many religious
chroniclers, especially those of St Albans, wrote unkindly about her but
this was probably more to do with her father's dispute with them over
land. King Edward III died in 1377 after suffering a fatal stroke and
was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. His monument consists of a bronze
effigy lying on a Purbeck marble tomb decorated with miniature bronze
effigies of his large family. There are also 6 copper angels surrounding
Queen Philippa's tomb. Edward was not as great as his grandfather and
was a slave to his passions but he had wanted to found a commercial
empire which would include France and the Netherlands. Trade and
commerce increased industry but gradually losses through piracy and
warfare, restrictions on exports and more regulations led to the
development of Flemish weavers, dyers and fullers living in England. The
development of cloth-making became an important industry and made its
way to Norfolk, a small parish called Worstead, hence the production of
the famous worsted cloth. Soon most of England turned sheep's wool into
yarn and cloth and became known as a Cottage Industry. His long reign of
50 years had benefited most of the community, aristocrats, merchants,
wool-masters, farmers and financiers. Hearths and chimneys replaced
smoky open fires, Flemish glass appeared in tracery windows and wealthy
merchants built fine houses with smaller private rooms and parks out of
the countryside. But there were many who thought that all this
prosperity would lead to spiritual decline and bring a great division
between the rich and the poor. The king had made known that his grandson
Richard would be his heir and when Edward died John, Duke of Lancaster,
became the effective head of Government but was loyal to the young king
who was just 10 years old.
See article on Cheshire Archers
Recommended Books
The Hundred Years War, The English in France 1337-1453
By David Seward
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - William I to Henry II click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Richard I and King John click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Henry III click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Edward I click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Edward II click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Edward III
click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Richard II
click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Henry IV click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND - Henry V click
THE PLANTAGENET KINGS OF ENGLAND -
Henry VI
click