Intelligent girl in her teens, and the couple got on well from the start. But

there was a problem. Isabella and Mortimer would not allow Philippa to be

properly crowned. Isabella didn’t want a young woman ousting her from her

powerful position as queen of the English hive.

Edward and Philippa must have felt pushed to one side, but in 1330, things

changed when Philippa got pregnant. Now she had to be made queen, to

ensure that her child would be the offspring of a king and queen of England

and undisputed heir to the throne. In 1330, Edward and Philippa went off to

Westminster Abbey for Philippa to be crowned queen. A few months later,

she gave birth to a bouncing boy – yet another English prince called Edward.

Mortimer cornered

But even with his queen at his side, Edward couldn’t rule independently.

Isabella and, especially, Mortimer, were still calling the shots. They even sent

letters to other rulers on Edward’s behalf. Edward had to send a message to

the Pope saying that only letters that included the words ‘Holy father’ in the

king’s own hand genuinely came from him.

But with his queen on the throne beside him, a healthy heir in the cradle, and

many barons resentful of Mortimer’s power, things were on Edward’s side. In

late 1330 he and some baronial allies sought out Mortimer at Nottingham

Castle, entered the castle through a secret passage by night, dragged him

from his bed, and carted him away.

Mortimer was found guilty of treason and hanged. Isabella was sent for a

quiet retirement, and Edward announced that from now on he would rule in

his own right.

Damage repair

Getting to a position where he was properly in charge was only half the battle

for Edward. After the disastrous reign of his father and the dodgy episode with

Isabella and Mortimer, the reputation of the crown had taken a nose-dive.

Edward knew that he would have to make a huge effort to turn things around.

One of his biggest challenges was foreign relations. Like his grandfather

Edward I, Edward was a supporter of the Balliol family for the Scottish

throne. England fought bravely in Scotland, and the England-Balliol alliance

eventually sent the Bruce candidate for the Scottish throne scuttling across

the sea to his allies in France. The French king, Philip VI, backed the Bruce

dynasty, and Philip let it be known that if Edward kept his weight behind the

Balliols, his lands in France would be under threat.

War with France looked likely, so Edward set about getting the English

people, especially the nobles, firmly on his side. One thing that Edward did

appealed directly to the medieval idea that a king had God-given powers that

verged on the miraculous. For example, people believed that a king was able

to heal the disease scrofula (a form of tuberculosis affecting the lymphatic

glands) by touching the sufferer. In 1340–1, Edward carried out a staggering

355 healings. Over half of these healings were done in Westminster and would

have impressed both the court and the people of the capital. Historians have

no way of knowing how real the king’s healing powers were. But the important

thing for Edward was that people believed in them.

Even more important were the political moves Edward made to generate support

for his planned war with France. In particular, the king:

_ Moved troops across the Channel.

_ Garnered more support in England by appointing six new earls and a duke.

_ Began to buy alliances with rulers in Holland and Germany.

_ Gave himself the title of King of France. (He had a claim to the French

throne because his mother was the sister of a French king.)

By 1340, England was ready for war with France. No one could have guessed

how long the conflict would last.

The Hundred Years War

Edward III and Philip VI of France began the longest war in the history of their

two nations in 1340. The conflict actually lasted more than 100 years,

because it wasn’t really over until 1453, when England finally lost all its

French possessions except Calais.

The long war was a tale of woe for both England and France because both

countries lost thousands of men, and the people had to put up with years of

fighting, together with all the looting and pillage that went with medieval warfare.

But during Edward III’s reign, things went well for England. Here are

some of the highlights:

_ 1340 Battle of Sluys: England’s first sea battle gave Edward domination

of the Channel, although he failed to invade France.

_ 1346 Battle of Crecy: A major victory for the English, who defeated the

French in spite of being outnumbered by more than two to one.

_ 1347 Siege of Calais: This strategic town surrendered to the English.

_ 1356 Battle of Poitiers: Another victory for the English army, led by

Edward’s son, Edward the Black Prince, who took the French king prisoner.

_ 1360 Treaty of Bretigny: Edward gave up his claim to the French crown,

but retained lands in Calais, Gascony, Guienne, and Poitou; he was paid

big ransoms for the French king and David of Scotland, who was also his

prisoner.

Although he had to give up his claim to be king of France, Edward made huge

territorial gains as a result of 20 years of fighting. What was more, the English

army he had assembled had more than proved their skill. England was a force

to be reckoned with on the battlefield, and this recognition undoubtedly meant

a lot to Edward. The English achieved this with two not-so-secret weapons:

_ Not-so-secret weapon No. 1, the longbow: Medieval armies had various

weapons at their disposal, from the sword and lance of the horse-riding

knight to the powerful crossbow. But the English perfected a still more

impressive weapon, the longbow. The longbow was a powerful weapon –

its sharpest arrowheads could even pierce armour – and it was light and

quick to shoot. While a crossbowman was spending valuable seconds

loading his weapon and getting ready to aim, a longbowman just

grabbed an arrow, lifted his weapon and fired in one swift movement.

Showers of arrows from hundreds of English bows did in the French at

Crecy and terrified enemies until accurate guns became available.

_ Not-so-secret weapon No. 2, The Black Prince: Edward’s eldest son was

just 16 years old when he fought at the Battle of Crecy. His father gave

him a kind of honorary command of part of the force at this battle, and

he impressed those around him. The prince was a natural on the battlefield,

both brave and tactically astute, so he was quickly promoted to a

full commanding role. His most famous success in the Hundred Years

War was at Poitiers, where he turned a near-defeat into a resounding victory.

Oh – his nickname? No one knows for sure why he was called the

Black Prince, but it was probably because he wore black armour.

With the Black Prince’s powerful presence on the field of battle and the

all-important Treaty of Bretigny, it seemed as if England had won the war.

Almost a decade of uneasy peace between England and France followed.

The Black Prince was made ruler of Aquitaine, and the king already had

some interesting projects on hand back home in England.

The Order of the Garter

When he was not gallivanting around France trying to win back territory,

Edward had another passionate interest – the cult of chivalry. In fact, warfare

and chivalry are closely linked, because chivalry means the etiquette and traditions

surrounding the role of the knight.