It has been observed, in regard to Edward HI., by Sir James Mack intosh, that " though his victories left few lasting acquisitions, yet they surrounded the name of his country with a lustre which pro duced strength and safety; which perhaps also gave a loftier tone to the feelings of Euglaud, and a more vigorous activity to her faculties." "During a reivn of fifty years," it is added, "Edward III. issued writs of summons, which are extant to this day, to assemble seventy parlia ments or great councils : ho thus engaged the pride and passions of the parliament and the people so deeply in support of his projects of • azgrand'ucmcnt, that they became his zealous and enthusiastic followers. Ilia ambition was aught by the nation, and men of the humblest station became proud of his brilliant victories. To form and keep up this state of public temper was the mainspring of his domestic adminis tration, sod satisfactorily explains the Internal tranquillity of England during the forty years of his effective reign. It was the natural con sequence of so long and watchful a pursuit of popularity that most grievance', were redressed as soon as felt, that parliamentary authority was yearly 'strengthened by exercise, and that the minds of the turbulent barons were exclusively turned towards a share in their sovereign's glory... Quiet at home was partly the fruit of fame abroad." The two great chartere were repeatedly confirmed in this reign, and a greater number of important new laws were passed than in all the preceding reigns since the Conquest. Among them may be parti cularly noticed the celebrated statute (25 Ed. III., st. 5, o. 2) defining and limiting the offence of high treason ; the numerous provisions made to regulate the royal prerogative of purveyance, and dimielsh the grievances occasioned by it ; the law (1 Ed. Ill., a 12) permitting tenants in cldef to alienate their lands on payment of a reasonable fine ; the several prohibitions against the payment of Peter's Pence ; and the first statute (the 27th Ed. III., at 1, a I) giving a writ of pi-serum:tiro against such as should presume to cite any of the king's subjects to the court of Rome. In this Mg:sake began tho legisla ion respecting the poor, by the enactment of the statute of Labourers 23 Ed. III., a 1), whioh was followed by several other acts of the lame kind, setting a price upon labour as -well as upon provisions. Trial by Jury also now began to acquire a decided ascendancy over he old modes of trial, and various regulations were made for improving le procedure of the courts and the administration ofjustice. Justices at first called keepers) of the peaeo were established by the statute 14 Ed. Hi., c. I. In 1362 was passed the important act (36 Ed. III., it. 5, a 15) declaring that henceforth "all pleas should be pleaded, 'hewed, defended, amended, debated, and judged in the English tongue," and no longer in the French, which is described as " much =known in tho realm." They were ordered still however to be mtered and enrolled in Latin. The acts of parliament continued to be written sometimes in Latin, but most generally in French, long after this time. The science of legal pleading is considered by Coke to have been brought to perfection in this reign. The only law treatises which belong to this reign are those entitled the Old Tenures,' the 'Old Nature, Brovium,' the ' Novas Narrationes,' and the book on the ' Diversity of Courts.' They are all in Norman French.
The commerce and manufactures of the country made some advances with the general progress of the age in the course of this reign ; but they certainly wero not considerable for so long a space of time. The woollen manufacture was introduced from the Netherlands, and firmly rooted in England before the close of the reign. Some augmentation also seems to have taken place in the shipping and exports of the )ountry. On the other hand, the king's incessant wars operated in various ways to the discouragement of commerce. Sometimes foreign merchants were afraid to send their vessels to sea lost they should be captured by some of the belligerents. On one occasion at least (in 1338), Edward made a general seizure of the property belonging to foreign merchants within his dominions, to supply his necessities. At other times he resorted to the ruinous expedient of debasing the coin. Many acts were passed by the parliament on the subject of trade, but they involved for the most part the falsest principles ; some prohibiting the exportation of money, of wool, and of other articles ; others imposing penalties for forestalling ; others attempting to regulate wages, prices, and expenditure. Of course such laws could not be executed ; they only tormented the people, and aggravated the mis chiefs they were intended to cure; but in consequence of being thus inefficient, they were constantly renewed. The moat memorable inven tion of this ago is that of gunpowder, or rather its application in war. It has been asserted that cannons were used at the battle of Crecy in 1346; and there is reason to believe that they were in use about twenty years earlier. They were certainly familiarly known before the close of the reign.
Among the more elegant arts, architecture was that which was carried to the greatest height. Edward III. nearly rebuilt the castle of Windsor, which however has undergone great improvements and alterations since his time ; the chapel of St. George, built by this king, was reconstructed by Edward IV. Splendour and luxury generally made undoubtedly great advances among the wealthier classes, although it may be questioned if wealth was more generally diffused throughout the community, or if the poverty and wretch edness of the great body of the people were not rather increased than diminished. The increase of licentiousness of manners among the higher ranks appears to have kept pace with that of magnificence, in their mode of living. This was the age of tournaments, and of the most complete asoandency of the system of chivalry. The Order of the Garter was instituted by Edward III., it is generally supposed in the year 1349.
In literature, this was the age of Chaucer, the Morning Star of our poetry, and of his friend Gower, and also of Wicliffe, who first translated the Scriptures into English, and who has been called the Morning Star of the Reformation. The principal chroniclers of the time of Edward III. are Thomas Stubbs, William Thorn, Ralph Higden, Adam Morimuth, Henry de Knighton, and Robert de Avesbury.
Tho convulsion in the church, excited by Wicliffo, began in the last years of Edward IIL, but the history of it more properly belongs to the next reign, that of his grandson Richard IL