Windsor Castle Today
Introduction:
The circumstances leading to Edward III’s ascension to power as the King of England in 1327 foreshadowed the Plantagenet dynasty’s end 158 years in the future. To be clear, Edward ruled for fifty years until his death in1377, a significant accomplishment for a monarch in any era. However, the story of a young teenager thrust into a world of power and privilege set the stage for what came many decades later. As such, Edward’s reign is a fitting introduction to Plantagenet: The End of a Dynasty.
Edward of Windsor and his cousin Philip of Valois initiated an aristocratic, extended family’s epic battle for the French throne, which outlasted the principals by many decades. Twenty-five-year-old Edward III of England and forty-four-year-old Philip VI of France set off an international conflict dubbed by later historians the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).
The transition of power exemplified by Edward III’s emergence presaged the decades hence bloody civil war genteelly termed the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). Upon Edward’s death in 1377, Edward’s children and the extended Plantagenet family renewed their battle for England’s throne.
Part I – Marriage, a Political Alliance:
Matrimony in the Middle Ages served two masters, producing a legitimate male heir and easing tensions between aristocratic families.
Philip IV’s twelve-year-old daughter, Isabela of France, married into the House of Plantagenet in the person of Edward II of England in 1308. Isabella’s union with Edward attempted to ameliorate long-standing tension between the French and English monarchies. On 13 November 1312, seventeen-year-old Isabella gave birth to their son Edward of Windsor. Edward II, the proud father, twenty-eight.
While wed to Isabella, Edward II maintained a close relationship with Piers Gaveston (c. 1284-1312), making him Earl of Cornwall. The English gentry resented Edward’s granting Gaveston royal patronage and Gaveston's exclusive access to the king. Isabella established a workable relationship with Gaveston while she relied upon her French connection to solidify her position in the realm.
When English nobles executed Gaveston, Edward II turned to another favorite, Hugh Despenser the Younger (c. 1287-1326). Isabella could not abide Despenser. Edward thwarted a 1321-1322 rebellion by those opposed to the king and his relationship with Despenser. However, by 1325, Edward’s proclivity for favorites placed severe strain on the marriage relationship. Isabella was thirty years old, her son Edward of Windsor, twelve.
Frequent disputes over dominance and control accompanied the feudal system of the Middle Ages. In return for aristocratic privileges in France, Charles IV required Edward II to pledge reverence and submission to Charles. Despite being a vassal to the French king, Edward II refused to return to France to pay homage. Instead, he named his son Duke of Aquitaine. As the duchy’s nominal head, young Edward of Windsor, in 1325, traveled to France to meet the obligation on Edward II’s behalf.
At the same time, Edward II commissioned Isabella to negotiate a peace treaty with her brother Charles IV.
While in France, Isabella pursued a personal agenda.
Isabella arranged her son Edward of Windsor’s marriage to Philippa of Hainault, Philip III’s great-granddaughter. Edward and Philippa, first cousins, received papal dispensation and wed on 24 January 1328
Events turned ugly for Edward II. Isabella established a personal relationship with Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March.
Previously, Edward II, in need of protection along England’s Welsh frontier, appointed Mortimer as lord of the Welsh Marches. As a March lord, Mortimer gained wealth and power. He led a revolt against his king, for which Edward II imprisoned Mortimer in the Tower of London in 1322. Mortimer later escaped to France.
In France, Isabella, Edward II’s Queen consort, conspired with Mortimer to depose her husband. Mortimer and Isabella amassed an armed force and invaded England, where Edward II’s troops abandoned him. Edward II abdicated on 21 January 1327. On 25 January, England proclaimed Edward of Windsor king. Fourteen-year-old King Edward III received his crown at Westminster Abbey on 1 February 1327.
Isabella served as Edward III’s regent. Mortimer became the de-facto ruler of England.
With the deposed king in his control, Mortimer moved Edward II to safekeeping at Berkeley Castle in early April 1327. Forty-three-year-old Edward II died at Berkeley on the evening or night of 21 September 1327.
Some doubt the date and the fact of Edward II’s death. Others question Edward II’s death as the result of natural causes. The timing of the former king’s death proved fortuitous for Mortimer by removing intrigue by forces hoping to return Edward II to the throne. Several theories about Edward’s demise included Edward having been spirited away and living in secret exile. At the time, those aware of the facts remained silent. History can only speculate.
Isabella and Mortimer ruled England for four years during Edward III’s minority. On 19 October 1330, Edward III began his majority rule. Edward and a few trusted allies surprised Mortimer at Nottingham Castle and captured him. Later, the young king executed Mortimer. Isabella lost her regency. Edward arrested his mother and imprisoned her for two years.
Edward III relented and allowed his mother her freedom. Isabella lived an affluent life after incarceration with access to her grandchildren. Isabella developed a particular fondness for her grandson, Edward of Woodstock, the Prince of Wales known to history as the Black Prince.
Caught up in a web of intrigue, Edward of Windsor assumed the mantle of power as a young teenager. He ruled England until his death at age sixty-four.
Part II – Primogeniture:
History identifies the series of Anglo-French conflicts from 1337 to 1453 as the Hundred Years War. What was at issue? Was the war an attempt by the House of Plantagenet to return the combined or personal realm, including much of France, England, and Ireland as held by the Angevin monarchs?
Perhaps.
A crisis developed in France when Charles IV (1294-1328) died on 21 September 1328. Charles died with no male issue. Which male heir with a legitimate claim to Charles’s throne?
Fifteen-year-old Edward III of England pressed his legitimate claim as Isabella’s son, Charles’s nephew, and Philip IV’s grandson.
French peers of the realm chose thirty-five-year-old Philip of Valois. On 29 May 1328, Philip received his crown as Philip VI of France. The new king, a first cousin to the deceased Charles IV, was the deceased king's younger brother's son.
The question at hand: Did a male cousin to the deceased king own a better claim than the grandson of the deceased king’s father? According to genetics, the answer is no. According to strict agnate primogeniture, the answer is no.
However.
The c. 550 French Salic law excluded women from inheriting thrones, fiefs, and other estates.
The strength of Philip of Valois’s claim rested in his lineage: Philip III (1245-1285), Charles of Valois (1270-1325), to Philip VI (1293-1350). When Charles IV died without a male heir, Philip, the only male out of the House of Capet’s paternal line, which ruled France since 987, became the first monarch of the House of Valois.
Edward III’s claim came through the cognate line: Philip IV (1268-1314), Isabella (1295-1358), to Edward III (1312-1377).
Edward III's claim to the French crown rested on the interpretation of Salic law. While the Salic law excluded women from inheriting the French crown, did the law exclude male inheritance from the maternal line? His lineage through his mother became a central point of dispute.
Edward appeared to accept Philip VI as the new French monarch.
After his coronation, Philip VI twice summoned Edward III to pay homage for Edward’s Duchy of Aquitaine and Gascony.
Sixteen-year-old Edward III arrived at the Cathedral of Amiens on 6 June 1329 to fulfill his obligation to his thirty-six-year-old cousin.
The story goes the two planned a joint crusade, which never materialized.
However, divergent political interests put asunder whatever amity existed between the cousins.
The David II Affair:
In April 1326, Robert the Bruce of Scotland (1274-1329) and Philip VI of France renewed the centuries-old auld alliance. The accord called for mutual support against English aggression, a pact viewed by the English as antithetical to their interests.
The Scots invaded northern England in July/August 1327, where they defeated the English forces at the Battle of Stanhope Park. Roger Mortimer, the de facto ruler of England during Edward III’s minority, led the English counter-insurgency forces. Fourteen-year-old Edward III participated in the defense as the nominal head of state. The Scots almost captured the young king. English gentry viewed the defeat and Edward III’s near capture as an embarrassment.
Facing blowback from England’s aristocracy, Mortimer and Isabella negotiated an unfavorable treaty with the Scots. England recognized Scotland’s de jure independence from England (for a time). Isabella betrothed her youngest daughter (and Edward III’s sister), Joan of the Tower (1321-1362), to Robert the Bruce’s young son, David (1324-1371).
Joan and David wed on 17 July 1328.
Two months earlier, in May 1328, Philip VI ascended to the French throne.
On 6 June 1328, Edward III arrived in France to pay homage to Philip VI.
A year later, on 7 June 1329, Robert the Bruce died. The next day, Scotland recognized five-year-old David, Edward III’s brother-in-law, as David II of Scotland. David and Joan received their Scottish crowns two years later, on 24 November 1331.
English barons, with Edward III at the head, invaded Scotland. The English prevailed at the July 1333 Battle of Halidon Hill. With nine-year-old David II in his minority, David’s supporters sent David and Joan to safety in France. The royal couple arrived in France in March 1334, where Philip VI welcomed them and put them up in a castle along the Seine about sixty-five kilometers from Paris.
Edward III viewed Philip’s actions as a manifestation of the auld alliance and an affront to England’s political interests.
The Robert of Artois Affair:
Robert III of Artois (1287-1342), Philip VI’s wife’s half-brother, played a role in Philip’s ascension to the French throne. Robert gained Philip’s trust and parlayed the confidence into a position of influence in the royal court.
He attempted to use his influence to regain the county of Artois from his cousin. Robert forged an attestation to his father’s will in a failed attempt to regain what he viewed as his birthright.
Robert lost all hope of regaining Artois when officials exposed the ruse. Philip confiscated Robert’s property in 1331and imprisoned Robert’s wife and sons. In 1332 Robert fled France to escape execution.
After exile in the Low Countries, Robert made his way to safety in England. He secured a position on Edward III’s royal council by 1337. Once in place, Robert provided Edward valuable royal French intelligence and became an advocate for Edward’s claim to the French throne.
The royal cousins drew a line in the sand.
On 26 December 1336, Philip demanded Edward return Robert III of Artois to his jurisdiction in France. Edward refused.
In 1337, Edward II allied with Louis IV and the Holy Roman Empire.
Philip VI confiscated Edward III’s Duchy of Aquitaine and Gascony.
Edward claimed the French crown as the grandson of Philip IV.
Next up: The Hundred Years War
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