EDWARD III, king of England: b. Wind sor, 13 Nov. 1312; d. Richmond, Surrey, 21 June 1377. He was a son of Edward II, and on his father's deposition in 1327, was proclaimed king under council of regency, while his mother's paramour, Mortimer, really possessed the prin cipal power in the state. The pride and op pression of Mortimer now became so intoler able that a general confederacy was formed against him. The result was the seizure of • Mortimer, who was tried and condemned by a parliament at Westminster, and was executed 29 Nov. 1330. The queen, although treated with outward respect, never again during the remaining 28 years of her life recovered any degree of authority. Edward now turned his attention to Scotland. Assisted by some prin cipal English nobles, Edward Baliol, son of the John Baliol to whom the crown had been awarded by Edward I, raised a force, and de feating the Scots in a great battle, set aside David Bruce, then a minor, and was crowned at Scone in 1332. Baliol being driven away on the departure of his English auxiliaries, applied to Edward, who defeated the regent, Douglas, at the famous battle of Halidon Hill, in July 1333. This victory produced the restoration of Baliol, who was, however, again expelled, and again restored, until the ambition of Edward was called off by a still more splendid object. The crown of France, by the Salic law, having devolved to Philip de Valois, cousin-german to the deceased king Charles the Fair, Edward was induced to claim it in right of his mother, that monarch's sister. Edward, in order to ob tain supplies, made concessions to Parliament which he never intended to keep; and finding his territory of Guienne threatened, sent over a force for its defense, and quickly followed himself, accompanied by his son Edward, the famous Black Prince, all his chief nobility, and 30,000 men. The memorable battle of Crecy followed, 25 Aug. 1346, succeeded by the siege of Calais. In the meantime, David Bruce, hav ing recovered the throne of Scotland, made an incursion, at the head of a large army, into England; but being met at Durham by a much inferior force, raised by Queen Philippa, and headed by Lord Percy, was totally defeated and taken prisoner, with many of his principal no bles. Philippa went over to her husband at Calais, and, by her interference prevented the barbarous execution of Eustache de Saint Pierre and five other citizens, whom Edward, on the capitulation of the place, had determined to execute, in revenge for his long detention in the siege. In 1348 a truce was concluded with
France. The year 1349 was distinguished by the institution of the order of the Garter, which soon became one of the most illustrious orders of knighthood in Europe. Philip, King of France, dying in 1350, was succeeded by his son John, the commencement of whose reign abounded with intestine commotion, and in 1355 Edward again invaded France on the side of Calais, while the Black Prince at the same time led a large army from Gascony. Both these expeditions were attended with much plunder and devastation; and Edward, being recalled home by a Scottish inroad, soon repelled it, and retaliated by carrying fire and sword from Berwick to Edinburgh. During this time the Prince of Wales had penetrated from Guienne to the heart of France, where he was opposed by King John, at the head of an army nearly five times more numerous than that of the Eng lish. The famous battle of Poitiers ensued, in which the French monarch was taken prisoner. Edward held at the same time in captivity the kings of France and Scotland, the most dan gerous of his enemies. John was taken to Eng land and treated with the greatest respect; and David was soon after liberated upon ransom. A truce had been made with France after the battle of Poitiers, at the expiration of which, in 1359, Edward once more passed over to Calais with a large army, but at length con sented to a peace. Besides the stipulation of a large ransom for King John, several prov inces and districts in the southwest of France and neighborhood of Calais were yielded to Edward, who in turn resigned his title to the crown of France and duchy of Normandy. Quarrels with his Parliament, the opposition of the Black Prince and personal affairs dissipated the rest of his reign. The successor of John, Charles V, invaded the provinces entrusted to Prince Edward, and Edward had the mortifica tion of witnessing the gradual loss of all his French possessions, except Bordeaux and Bayonne, and of all his conquests except Calais. Consult Longman,
and Times of Edward III) (1869) ; Mackinnon,