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Edward III and His Family
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2017
Extract
The chroniclers and poets of the later Middle Ages credited Edward III with many successes, among which the production of a large family rated highly. The king had a total of twelve children, of whom no fewer than nine—five sons and four daughters—survived to maturity (fig. 1). Historians have not always been enthusiastic about the generous provisions made for this large family. Edward's very fecundity, viewed by fourteenth-century writers as a sure sign of God's grace, has been seen as a political liability because it exhausted resources, created a political imbalance between the crown and the younger branches of the royal family, and led ultimately to the deposition of Richard II and the Wars of the Roses.
It is possible, however, to view Edward III's family arrangements in a different and rather more favorable light. Since the loss of many of their overseas territories in the thirteenth century, the Plantagenet kings had come to regard their remaining possessions as an inalienable patrimony to be handed on intact from father to eldest son. Unless younger children were able to create titles for themselves in foreign lands, kings had no option but to reward their sons with English earldoms. This was not a policy guaranteed to benefit the crown: the bitter quarrels between Edward II and his cousin Thomas of Lancaster showed very clearly the dangers that might arise when cadet branches of the Plantagenet dynasty became bound up with the English aristocracy.
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References
1 See, e.g., the lists of Edward's children contained in obituaries of the king ( Wright, Thomas, ed., Political Poems and Songs Relating to English History, Rolls Series no. 14 [London, 1859–1861], 1:219–20Google Scholar; Galbraith, V. H., ed., The Anonimalle Chronicle, 1333–1381 [Manchester, 1927], p. 106 Google Scholar; Arnold, Thomas, ed., Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, Rolls Series no. 96 [London, 1890–1896], 3:294)Google Scholar. Most of the chronicles of the later Middle Ages, including the most popular, Froissart and the Brut, record the births, marriages, and deaths of Edward's children and include many reports of their deeds.
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13 Rymer, 2, pt. 2:990, 994, 1109–10; 3, pt. 1:72.
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20 It is interesting to note that the earl of Arundel and Sir Walter Mauny, both of whom had widespread authority in Wales, later married cousins of Edward III (Tuck (n. 3 above], p. 5; Waters, pp. 74, 76).
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24 Frame, pp. 243–50.
25 For the dates and political significance of these marriages, see ibid., pp. 51, 264–65.
26 For the effect of this appointment and the subsequent system of administration in Wales, see Evans, D. L., “Some Notes on the History of the Principality of Wales in the Time of the Black Prince (1343–1376),” Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1925–26 (London, 1927), pp. 28–40 Google Scholar.
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29 Le Patourel (n. 4 above), chap. 12, pp. 179–89.
30 Jones, Michael, “Edward III's Captains in Brittany,” in England in the Fourteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1985 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. Ormrod, W. M. (Woodbridge, 1986), p. 103 Google Scholar; Déprez (n. 12 above), p. 277. Note also the negotiations for marriages with the count of Eu, the lord of Coucy, and the count of Blois in the 1330s (Rymer [n. 2 above], vol. 2, pt. 2:854, 890; Haines [n. 8 above], p. 234).
31 Le Patourel, chap. 12, pp. 186–88; Jones, Michael, Ducal Brittany, 1364–1399 (Oxford, 1970), pp. 4, 16–17 Google Scholar.
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39 See the provisions of the Treaty of Guines, 1354 ( Bock, Friedrich, “Some New Documents Illustrating the Early History of the Hundred Years War [1353–1356],” Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 15 [1931]: 71–72, 91–92)Google Scholar. It was only at this point, when he looked set to obtain sovereignty over most of the old Plantagenet lands in France, that Edward was prepared once more to make offers of marriage alliances with the Valois.
40 Le Patourel, John, “Edouard III, ‘roi de France et due de Normandie,’” Revue historique de droit francais et etranger, 4th ser., 31 (1953): 317–18Google Scholar, and Feudal Empires, Norman and Plantagenet, chap. 12, pp. 182–84.
41 English Historical Documents, vol. 2, 1042–1189, ed. Douglas, D. C. and Greenaway, G. W., 2d ed. (London, 1981), p. 351 Google Scholar.
42 No English titles were bestowed on any of the king's children between 1343 and 1362. A detailed analysis of the provision of lands for the family (Wolffe [n. 3 above], pp. 230–44) reveals that only Edmund of Langley and Princess Isabella received any English territories in the period from 1343 to 1359.
43 Fowler (n. 7 above), pp. 76, 98–102; Bock, pp. 64, 85.
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46 There has been much misunderstanding over the dates of these weddings. Gaunt's marriage can be dated precisely to May 19, 1359 (PRO, Exchequer [E] 101/393/10). Fryde et al., eds. ([n. 2 above], p. 40), give the same date for the marriage of Princess Margaret, but the issue roll implies that this wedding had taken place by December 1358 ( Devon, Frederick, ed., Issues of the Exchequer, Henry III to Henry VI [London, 1847], p. 172 Google Scholar, misplaced because of Devon's error over the Exchequer year). The same entry on the issue roll in December 1358 refers to the marriage of Philippa of Ulster and Edmund Mortimer. Cokayne ([n. 2 above], 8:445) wrongly dates this marriage 1368 (on the basis of an ambiguous reference in PRO, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward III, 1367–70, 14:114 Google Scholar). The error has been perpetuated through Holmes, George A., The Estates of the Higher Nobility in Fourteenth-Century England (Cambridge, England, 1957), pp. 12, 17 Google Scholar; and Tuck, Anthony, Crown and Nobility, 1272–1461 (London, 1985), p. 154 Google Scholar. There is in fact clear evidence to corroborate the earlier date for Philippa's marriage (see the references cited in Harriss [n. 8 above], p. 485 and n. 3; together with Rymer [n. 2 above], vol. 3, pt. 2:725).
47 For Edward's concern to uphold his rights in the Marches, see Davies, R. R., Lordship and Society in the March of Wales, 1282–1400 (Oxford, 1978), pp. 269–73Google Scholar.
48 Lionel's appointment had been expected for some time ( Frame, , English Lordship in Ireland [n. 17 above], pp. 323–25Google Scholar). Family arrangements need to be set alongside other factors leading to his commission in 1361. For these and the subsequent events of Lionel's lieutenancy, see Otway-Ruthven, A. J., A History of Medieval Ireland (London, 1968), pp. 277–95Google Scholar.
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50 For Edward's demands, see Campbell, pp. 196–98; and Balfour-Melville, E. W. M., ed., “Papers Relating to the Captivity and Release of David II,” Publications of the Scottish History Society, 3d. sen, 50 (1958)Google Scholar. Note also that, after the English chevauchée through the Lowlands in 1355–56, Edward Balliol renounced his claims in Scotland, and Edward III announced his intention of governing the northern kingdom directly (Rymer, vol. 3, pt. 1: 315–16, 325). It is just possible that David II's grant of the earldom of Moray to Henry of Grosmont in 1359 was an oblique reference to John of Gaunt's candidature for the Scottish throne (Fowler, p. 175). The treaty of Berwick is usually interpreted as an agreement between equals and a triumph for Scottish independence, but note that English transcripts of the treaty denied David II the title “king of Scots” (Campbell, p. 200; Webster, Bruce, ed., The Acts of David II King of Scots, 1329–1371, vol. 6 of Regesta Regum Scottorum, 1153–1424 [Edinburgh, 1982], no. 148, pp. 173–84Google Scholar, with comment).
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53 Jones, M. (Ducal Brittany [n. 31 above], pp. 14–15 Google Scholar) notes the creation in 1360 of a special commission to deal with the Breton succession dispute. At Calais in 1360, Edward III also obtained interim agreements safeguarding his titles of king of France and duke of Normandy ( Le Patourel, , Feudal Empires, Norman and Plantagenet, chap. 13, pp. 38–39 Google Scholar). This deliberate policy of splitting off sections of the Bretigny settlement for separate treatment weakened the French position and helped Edward to delay the final ratification of the treaty. It should also be noted in this respect that, in November 1362, the English king assumed the power to make a private agreement with the French hostages (the so-called Treaty of Fleur-de-Lys), which brought Edward and his family additional gains not envisaged in 1360. The English king's son-in-law Enguerrand de Coucy, for instance, obtained the county of Soissons as a result of this treaty and rendered homage to Edward for it and for his barony of Coucy (see Delachanel, R., Histoire de Charles V [Paris, 1909–1931], 2:339–50Google Scholar; Perroy, Edouard, ed., “The Anglo-French Negotiations at Bruges, 1374–1377,” Camden Miscellany 19, Camden Society, 3d ser., 80 [London, 1952], p. 83 [no. 25] and n. 5)Google Scholar.
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56 Barber, Richard (Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine [London, 1978], pp. 172–74Google Scholar) rejects suggestions that the king opposed the Black Prince's marriage.
57 Connolly, P., “The Financing of English Expeditions to Ireland, 1361–1376,” in England and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages: Essays in Honour of Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, ed. Lydon, James (Dublin, 1981), pp. 104–11, 117–19Google Scholar.
58 Lionel's first wife died in 1363: the expenses of her funeral are contained in PRO, E 101/394/19. For his second marriage, which brought him considerable lands in Piedmont, see Trautz, pp. 396–99.
59 Russell (n. 44 above), pp. 1–5. Barber (pp. 186–89) emphasizes Edward III's involvement in preparing this expedition.
60 Russell, pp. 168–217.
61 Perroy, ed., pp. xvi–xvii. Compare Richard II's grant of palatine status in Ireland to Robert de Vere in 1386 and his handing over of Guyenne to John of Gaunt in 1390. It is possible that Richard was prepared permanently to alienate his possessions in southern France, though this matter is controversial (see Palmer, J. J. N., England, France and Christendom, 1377–99 [London, 1972], pp. 28–43 Google Scholar; and Sherborne, J. W., “Charles VI and Richard II,” in Palmer, , ed. [n. 32 above], p. 62)Google Scholar.
62 Rymer, 3, pt. 2:750–51. The treaty also stated that, if the counties of Hainault, Holland, and Zeeland passed to Edward through Queen Philippa, these, too, would be granted to Edmund. Calais and Guines were new English acquisitions, and Ponthieu had come into the hands of the English kings only in 1279, after Henry III's statement on the inalienability of the royal patrimony ( Le Patourel, , Feudal Empires Norman and Plantagenet, chap. 8, pp. 301–2, 303 Google Scholar). It may therefore be that Edward III was observing the earlier Angevin distinction between an indivisible “inheritance” and a partible “acquisition.” The most important point, however, is that sovereignty over Calais, Guines, and Ponthieu was specifically reserved to the king of England under the 1364 agreement.
63 The phrase is that of Gillingham, John (The Angevin Empire [London, 1984], p. 31)Google Scholar.
64 Alexander ([n. 22 above], pp. 20–22) suggests that the English concept of the palatinate developed from the model of the French appanages. But it must be remembered that Edward III's younger sons did not hold palatine status in this period and that, as Alexander himself points out, the exercise of jura regalia was an exceptional privilege in England, carefully regulated by the crown. The situation was very different in fourteenth-century France. The appanages created for the sons of the Valois kings were intended to bind previously independent principalities to the crown, but, in a short while, the princes themselves assumed the quasi-independent status of their predecessors (see Le Patourel, , Feudal Empires, Norman and Plantagenet, chap. 15, pp. 155–83Google Scholar; Lewis, Peter, Late Medieval France: The Polity [London, 1968], pp. 190–92, 195–99)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Note also in this respect that Edward III's decision to maintain his claims over Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine after 1360 was itself a direct challenge to the sons of John II, who held ducal titles in these regions.
65 Perroy, (n. 32 above), pp. 150–65. The defection of Brittany proved temporary, for Duke John later reverted to the English cause and was granted the earldom of Richmond in 1372. John of Gaunt was compensated for the loss of this title by grants from Queen Philippa's estates (Wolffe [n. 3 above], p. 242).
66 The idea of a court party is clearly evident in Stubbs ([n. 3 above], 2:439–53). Tout ([n. 4 above], 3:432–38) added the popular party. Tout enlarged and refined these themes in his Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England (Manchester, 1920–1933), 3:266–307 Google Scholar. The same interpretation applies to Tuck, , Richard II and the English Nobility (n. 3 above), pp. 1–32 Google Scholar; and still to some extent in Tuck, , Crown and Nobility (n. 46 above), pp. 166–74Google Scholar. My account depends heavily on Holmes, George, The Good Parliament (Oxford, 1975)Google Scholar; and Given-Wilson, C. J., “The Court and Household of Edward III, 1360–1377” (Ph.D. thesis, University of St. Andrews; 1975)Google Scholar. The principal conclusions of the latter work are published in Given-Wilson, C. J., The Royal Household and the King's Affinity: Service, Politics and Finance in England, 1360–1413 (New Haven, Conn., 1986), pp. 146–60Google Scholar.
67 These were the castles and lordships that the duke of Orléans had put up as security in the Treaty of Fleur-de-Lys and that had subsequently been surrendered to Thomas in 1364–65 (Delachanel [n. 53 above], 2:339–41; Rymer, 3, pt. 2:758–59; PRO, Exchequer [Treasury of Receipt], Diplomatic Documents, E 30/1509).
68 For Edmund of Langley, see Goodman (n. 49 above), p. 78.
69 This is the conclusion of Holmes, The Good Parliament; and Given-Wilson, “The Court and Household of Edward III.”
70 Holmes, , The Good Parliament, p. 156 Google Scholar; Strachey, ed. (n. 6 above), 3:16 (no. 48). By the early fifteenth century, there was a tradition that, in his last ten years, Edward III had exhausted royal resources by making overgenerous grants outside his family circle ( Wolffe, Bertram P., “Acts of Resumption in the Lancastrian Parliaments, 1399–1456,” in Fryde, and Miller, , eds. [n. 34 above], 2:65–68 Google Scholar.
71 Richard also represented his grandfather in the parliament of January 1377 (Strachey, ed., 2:361).
72 Although Edmund and Thomas received lands and annuities and Thomas was granted the office of constable, both had to wait until 1385 before they secured dukedoms. It is also notable that the earl of March lost the office of marshal after the Good Parliament ( Holmes, , The Good Parliament, pp. 156–57, 183 Google Scholar). Whether this implies March's complete alienation from the court is, however, doubtful ( Given-Wilson, , “The Court and Household of Edward III,” p. 173 Google Scholar). It is possible that the continual council proposed by the Commons in the Good Parliament was intended to act during the impending minority, but it proved inoperative ( Holmes, , The Good Parliament, p. 158 Google Scholar). Tout ( Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England, 3:323–24Google Scholar) suggested that the administrative problems created by an official minority made it more convenient to pretend, as in 1219 and 1327, that the young king was competent to rule. This, however, is to ignore the clear precedents of 1253 and 1272 and the subsequent careful arrangements made by Henry V in 1421-22 for a regency (see Wolffe, Bertram, Henry VI [London, 1981], pp. 28–32)Google Scholar.
73 Although the betrothal did not take place until 1381, the marriage was obtained by Gaunt in 1377 (Goodman, p. 82, with references). The reestablishment of palatine status in the duchy of Lancaster came in February 1377. This grant was unpopular and went directly against contemporary political opinion and administrative policy, as I hope to illustrate elsewhere.
74 Galbraith, ed. (n. 1 above), p. 95. For Edward's itinerary and continued political involvement during the last period of his life, see Given-Wilson, , The Royal Household and the King's Affinity, pp. 33–34 Google Scholar. Edward made reference to his illness in an undated privy seal letter some time after September 1376 (Perroy, ed., p. 78, no. 8).
75 Holmes, , The Good Parliament, p. 194 Google Scholar.
76 Tout, , Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England, 3:324–39Google Scholar; McKisack (n. 3 above), pp. 399–406.
77 For the relationship of the royal uncles with the regency council, see Tout, , Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England, 3:335 Google Scholar. Goodman, Anthony (The Loyal Conspiracy [London, 1971], pp. 4–6 Google Scholar) suggests that Gaunt and Woodstock drew together as allies after the Good Parliament. It should be remembered that, when Thomas made his stand against Richard II, it was in alliance with Henry of Derby against the royal family's common enemy, Michael de la Pole ( Roskell, J. S., The Impeachment of Michael de la Pole Earl of Suffolk in 1386 [Manchester, 1984], pp. 113–48Google Scholar). This serves to emphasize the inconsistency and inadequacy of party labels.
78 For example, Wright, ed. (n. 1 above), 1:94–122, 215–18, 454–62; Hoccleve, Thomas, The Regement of Princes, ed. Furnivall, Frederick J., EETS E.S. 72 (London, 1897), pp. 19, 93, 96 Google Scholar; Capgrave, John, The Book of the Illustrious Henries, trans. Hingeston, Francis C., Rolls Series no. 7 (London, 1858), pp. 102, 186–92Google Scholar. Note in this context the high reputation enjoyed by Queen Philippa in the later Middle Ages (see, e.g., the references in Barnie, John, War in Medieval Society: Social Values and the Hundred Years War, 1337–99 [London, 1974], pp. 118 and 176, n. 4Google Scholar).
79 Only the figures on the ambulatory side of the tomb survive: these are identified as the Black Prince, Joan, Lionel, Edmund, Mary, and William of Hatfield (born 1336, died in infancy).
80 PRO, Special Collections, Ancient Correspondence, SC 1/39/161.
81 Robert Parving, chancellor from October 28, 1341, to August 26, 1343.
82 Richard de Crendon, abbot of Nutley, Buckinghamshire.
83 William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicanum, in Chronicles and Memorials of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, ed. Howlett, Richard, Rolls Series, no. 82 (London, 1884–1889), 1:1–408, 2:409–53Google Scholar.
84 Nicholas Herle had close associations with the court (see Emden, Alfred B., A Survey of Dominicans in England [Rome, 1967], p. 362)Google Scholar.
85 Walter of London, a former clerk of the royal household and dean of Wells (see Emden, Alfred B., A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to 1500 [Oxford, 1957–1959], 2:1158 [where his death is wrongly dated 1340]Google Scholar; le Neve, John, Fasti ecclesiae anglicanae, 1300–1541, rev. by King, H. P. F., Horn, Joyce M., and Jones, B. [London. 1962–1967], 8:3–4 [Bath and Wells diocese])Google Scholar.
86 It is not known whether Edward III received the promised copy of Newburgh's Historia, but several fourteenth-century copies of the chronicle do survive (Howlett, ed., 1:xxxix, xliv–xlv, xlviii–xlix).
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