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 the next generation a circumstantial story was repeated that Edward had escaped from Berkeley, and after long wanderings in Ireland, England, the Low Countries, and France, ended his life in a hermit's cell in Lombardy (letter of Manuel Fieschi to Edward III from Cartulary of Maguelone in No. 37 of the Publications de la Société Archéologique de Montpellier (1878); cf. article of Mr. Bent in Macmillan's Magazine, xli. 393-4, Notes and Queries, 6th series, ii. 381, 401, 489, and, Chron. Edw. I and II, ii. ciii-cviii).

Edward's family by his wife consisted of (1) Edward of Windsor, born at Windsor on 13 Nov, 1312, who succeeded him [see ]; (2), born at Eltham; (3) Eleanor, also called Isabella (Ann. Paul. p. 283), born at Woodstock on 8 June 1318, and married in 1332 to Reginald, count of Guelderland; (4) Joan of the Tower, born in that fortress in July 1321, married in 1328 to David, son of Robert Bruce, and afterwards king of Scots; she was dead in 1357 (, Genealogical History, pp. 145-56).



EDWARD III (1312–1377), king, eldest son of Edward II and Isabella, daughter of Philip IV of France, was born at Windsor Castle on 13 Nov. 1312, and was baptised on the 16th. His uncle, Prince Lewis of France, and other Frenchmen at the court wished that he should be named Lewis, but the English lords would not allow it. The king, who is said to have been consoled by his birth for the loss of Gaveston (, p. 79), gave him the counties of Chester and Flint, and be was summoned to parliament as Earl of Chester in 1320. He never bore the title of Prince of Wales. His tutor was [q. v.]. afterwards bishop of Durham. In order to avoid doing homage to Charles IV of France the king transferred the county of Ponthieu to him on 2 Sept, 1321, and the dutchy of Aquitaine on the 10th (Fœdera, ii. 607,608). He sailed from Dover on the 12th, joined his mother in France, and did homage to his uncle for his French fiefs (Cont., ii. 60). He accompanied his mother to Hainault, and visited the court of Count William at Valenciennes in the summer of 1326 (, i. 23, 233). Isabella entered into an agreement on 27 Aug. to forward the marriage of her son to Philippa. the count's daughter (, ed. Luce, Pref. cl). Edward landed with his mother and the force of Hainaulters and others that she had engaged to help her on 27 Sept. at Colvasse, near Harwich, and accompanied her on her march towards London by Bury St. Edmunds, Cambridge, and Dunstable. Then, hearing that the king had left London, the queen turned westwards, and at Oxford Edward heard Bishop Orlton preach his treasonable sermon [see under. From Oxford he was taken to Wallingford and Gloucester, where the queen's army was joined by many lords. Thence the queen marched to Berkeley, and on 26 Oct. to Bristol. The town was surrendered to her, and the next day the elder [q. v.] was put to death, and Edward was proclaimed guardian of the kingdom in the name of his father and during his absence (Fœdera, ii. 646). On the 28th he issued writs for a parliament in the king's name. When the parliament met at Westminster on 7 Jan. 1327 the king was a prisoner, and an oath was taken by the prelates and lords to uphold the cause of the queen and her son. On the 13th Orlton demanded whether they would have the king or his son to reign over them. The next day Edward was chosen, and was presented to the people in Westminster Hall (, Anglia Sacra, i. 367; for fuller accounts of this revolution see, Chron. of Edwards I and II, vol. ii. Introd., and Const. Hist. ii. 358 sq.) As Edward declared that he would not accept the crown without his father's consent, the king was forced to agree to his own deposition.

The new king's peace was proclaimed on 24 Jan.; he was knighted by his cousin Henry, earl of Lancaster, and was crowned on Sunday, the 29th (Fœdera, ii. 684). He met his parliament on 3 Feb.: a council was appointed for him, and the chief member of it was Lancaster, who was the young king's nominal