Titans of History

Edward III displayed, throughout his extraordinary long reign, remarkable energy, daring and ambition, often distinguishing himself in the thick of the fighting. He grew up under the shadow of his disastrously weak father Edward II, who was deposed and murdered in 1327 by his mother, Queen Isabella, and her lover Roger Mortimer. The two then ruled despotically until the sidelined king, at just seventeen years old, arranged a successful coup d’état, personally leading the posse of his close friends to seize Mortimer, an act of characteristic derring-do.

Dynamic, talented and athletic, Edward first waged war against the Scots, leading the conquest of much of the Lowlands and achieving a glorious victory at Halidon Hill in 1333. Like his grandfather Edward I, he tried to impose his own candidate, in this instance Edward Balliol, on the Scottish throne. In 1346, the king’s army won an even greater victory at Neville’s Cross, capturing King David II of Scotland, who was destined to spend many years as a hostage at the court in London.

In 1338, Edward launched his new policy aimed at reasserting the English claim to the crown of France and the Angevin territories lost by King John. By 1340, he was acclaimed king of France and then won a naval battle at Sluys against the French, though he had to return to London to face a political and financial crisis which ended with his dismissal of his minister, John Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury. He returned to France in 1346, conquering territory including Calais and winning the ultimate of his many victories at the Battle of Crécy, the achievement of his skill in command and his English archers. After Crécy, Halidon Hill and Sluys, and the conquest of Calais, Edward’s prestige as king and warrior were enormous. In 1350, hearing that Calais was about to be betrayed, Edward, at great risk to himself, secretly rushed there with an armed group, saved the town in a brief skirmish and destroyed the traitors—a virtuoso performance.

When his eldest son and heir, Edward of Woodstock, was thirteen, the king allowed him to start campaigning abroad. As the English faced the French at Crécy in 1346, the king placed Edward’s company in the thick of the fighting. The French fell upon the prince and his men, and it took every ounce of strength to batter them back. Although later stories tell of the king refusing to help until the prince had “won his spurs,” in fact Edward III realized that his son was in grave danger and sent reinforcements of twenty senior knights. But when they arrived, they found the prince and his companions catching their breath, having already repulsed the French.

The legend of the Black Prince—named for his black armor—was born at Crécy, and it was one that the prince was keen to maintain. One of the allies of the French, King John of Bohemia, had demanded to be brought into battle despite being totally blind. Not surprisingly, he did not survive long. But the prince was impressed with his chivalry and adopted the Bohemian ostrich feathers as his own heraldic device in the dead king’s honor. The ostrich feathers still form the crest of the Prince of Wales today.

Edward appointed his son as prince of Aquitaine. Ten years later, in 1356, with a decade’s experience of command behind him, the Black Prince commanded another division of English troops to an even greater victory. Without his father to back him up, the prince was not particularly enthused by the idea of engaging the French king, John II; yet on September 19 he led his men into battle about five miles from Poitiers. The prince used his tactical nous to outflank his enemies, charging downhill at them and engaging them in hand-to-hand combat. The French king was captured, and a victory even greater than Crécy was won.

Stories of the Black Prince’s chivalrous deeds spread across Europe: he famously deferred to the superior rank of his captive, King John, refusing to eat with him but rather serving him at table.

Poitiers marked the high point of the prince’s career. As governor of Aquitaine he was hated for his harsh rule, and he also ill-advisedly became involved with Spanish politics in Castile. With his beautiful wife Joan, “The Fair Maid of Kent,” he gained a reputation for lavish indulgence and a lack of political finesse.

Edward III now reveled in his chivalric glory as he held two kings—of France and Scotland—to ransom in London and earned vast sums from both. He celebrated his success by founding the Order of the Garter, playing up to his legend as a latter-day King Arthur. Yet despite these astonishing victories, Edward now found it hard to dominate Scotland and hold on to his conquests in France—signing an unsatisfactory treaty with the latter in 1360.