Edward III of England

18th Great Grandfather – FFFMFFFMFFFFFFFMMFFF¹

As I described in a previous article King Edward III of England was my 18^th great grandfather through the Taylors, Gordons and ultimately Beaufort descendants of Edward III’s third son John of Gaunt. Books have been written about Edward III, so in this article I will briefly describe his life.

Edward was born on 13^th November 1312 at Windsor Castle, the eldest son of Edward II and his wife Isabella, daughter of King Philip IV of France, so through Edward I am also descended from French Royalty. Prior to his accession to the throne he was known as Edward of Windsor after his birthplace².

Edward was crowned at age fourteen, on 25^th January 1327 after his father was deposed by his mother Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. The following year, Edward married Phillippa of Hainault³ on 24^th January 1328 at York Minster.

Edward and Philippa’s first child, the future Black Prince, was born on 15^th June 1330. By this time, Edward was becoming increasingly worried about the ambitions of his mother’s lover Mortimer, who was the de facto ruler of England during Edward’s minority, and so later that same year at the age of seventeen, with a group of loyal friends he led a successful coup against Mortimer, and began his personal reign.

Edward’s reign is remembered for his military success against the French during the early phases of the Hundred Year’s War⁴. Edward had triggered the war by claiming he was the rightful King of France through his mother Isabella.

After some initial setbacks the first phase of the conflict, from 1337 to 1360, often known as the Edwardian War, which saw major victories for the English at Crecy⁵ and Poitiers⁶, resulted in the favourable Treaty of Bretigny⁷, in which England made territorial gains in France (see pink areas in Figure).

Edward and Philippa had 13 children, 8 sons and 5 daughters, although only 5 of his sons and one of his daughters attained adulthood. The eldest son was Edward⁸, nicknamed The Black Prince. He was a great warrior but died before his father in 1376, so his son Richard succeeded Edward III as King Richard II.

The second surviving son was Lionel of Antwerp⁹, the 1^st Duke of Clarence. He also predeceased his father, in 1368. While he had no male heirs, his daughter Philippa, was the basis of the Yorkist claim to the throne during the Wars of the Roses.

The third surviving son, John of Gaunt¹⁰, Duke of Lancaster, was my ancestor and he was the basis of the Lancastrian claim to the throne.

The fourth son Edmund of Langley¹¹, the 1^st Duke of York, was the ancestor of the Yorkist kings, and finally the fifth son Thomas of Woodstock¹² was Duke of Gloucester.

The Treaty of Bretigny was the high point in Edward’s reign and during the second phase of the Hundred Year’s War, the French regained most of what they had lost in the treaty.

Edward died of a stroke on 21^st June 1377 and he was succeeded by his grandson Richard II. Edward had declared in his will that if Richard died without an heir then the crown should pass to the heirs of his third son John of Gaunt, rather than the heirs of his second son Lionel, i.e. Philippa, and this was one of the causes of the War of the Roses.

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