Involved by his mother in her intrigues against his father, King Edward II, Edward III was proclaimed King after the latter was forced to abdicate in 1327. While the young Edward was still growing up, England was in the hands of Isabella and her lover, Roger de Mortimer. In 1330, however, the young King staged a palace coup and took power into his own hands. He had Mortimer hanged and confined his mother to her home. Edward III then began a series of wars almost directly after he had control of England. Taking advantage of civil war in Scotland in 1333, he invated that country and defeated the Scots at Halidon Hill, England. He then restored Edward de Baliol to the throne of Scotland. Baliol, however, was soon deposed, and later attempts by Edward to establish him permanently as King of Scotland were unsuccessful. In 1337 France came to the aid of Scotland and this action was the culminating point in a sries of disagreements beween France and England, and Edward declared war on King Philip VI of France. In 1340 the English fleet destroyed a larger French fleet at Sluis, the Netherlands. The action resulted in a truce that, although occasionally disturbed, lasted for six years.

War broke out again with France in 1346. Edward, accompanied by his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, invaded Normandy and won a great victory over the French at the Battle of Crecy. He captured Calais in 1347, and a truce was re-established. Edward returned to England where he maintained one of the most magnificent courts in Europe. The war with France was renewed in 1355, and again the English armies were successful. The Peace of Calais, in 1360, gave England all of Aquitaine and Edward, in return, renounced his claim, first made in 1328, to the French throne.

Edward continued to assert his will both domestically and abroad. In 1363, he concluded an agreement with his brother-in-law, David II of Scotland, uniting the two kingdoms in the event of David’s death without male issue. Three years later Edward repudiated the Papacy’s feudal supremacy over England, held in fief since 1213. He renewed his war with France, disavowing the peace of Calais. This time, however, the English armies were unsuccessful. After the truce of 1375, Edward retained few of his previously vast possessions in France.

The King had, by this time, become senile. He was completely in the power of an avaricious mistrice, Alice Perrers, who, along with his fourth son, John of Gaunt, dominated England. Perrers was banished by Parliament in 1376, and Edward himself died at Sheen the following year.

Edward III, King of England, 1327-1377; b. Windsor, 13 ov. 1312; d. Richmond, 21 Jun. 1377; m. York, 24 Jan. 1328, Philippa of Hainaut (103-34); b. 1312; d. 15 Aug. 1369, dau. of Count William of Hainaut and Holland. (G. E. Cokayne’s (new revised) “Complete Peerage,” vol.s I-XII pt. 2, 1910-1959 - II, 153; V, 736; “Century Cyclopedia of Names,” 353; “Dictionary of National Biography,” (English). Generations 23-30: Cross, “A Shorter History of England and Greater Britain,” 1920, xv-xvi; Oliver J. Thatcher, “A Short History of Mediaeval Europe,” New York, 1897, 324; “Cambridge Mediaeval History”).55