v42_0057 - EDWARD III Écu d'or à la chaise n.d. Calais

EDWARD III

(07/10/1337-08/05/1360)

Edward (1312-1377), eldest son of Edward II and Isabella of France, follows his mother when she rebels against her husband. When Edward II is overthrown, Edward III, who had already been Duke of Aquitaine since 1317, becomes King of England. He marries Philippa de Hainaut (+1369), the daughter of the count of Hainaut, Guillaume. After the death of Charles IV le Bel, his cousin, he paid homage to Philippe VI de Valois for Aquitaine. In 1330, in England, he executed Mortimer, his minister and his mother's lover. He forces his mother to retire (+1358). Pushed by his cousin Robert d'Artois, he broke the homage for Aquitaine. The Hundred Years War began in 1337. The French were beaten at the Lock in 1340, then at Crécy in 1346. He took Calais after a long siege (the famous bourgeois). England was hit by the Great Plague in 1348. After the death of Philip VI, he continued the fight against John II, defeated him at Poitiers and took him prisoner.