Edward III (1327–1377) was only fifteen when he succeeded his father, and for three years his mother and Mortimer ruled in his name. Then Edward had them arrested. Mortimer was hanged in London and Isabella eventually became a Franciscan nun. Edward III is generally believed to have been an ideal medieval king. He was a brave general in battle, a born leader, had charm and good humour. Edward realized the importance of the correct use of patronage in keeping the nobles loyal and contented with his rule. He created new earls, granting them lands, and even married some of his daughters into the nobility. He also proved to be a mighty patron of architects, painters and musicians. Keen on chivalry, chivalrous pursuits and virtues, Edward rebuilt Windsor Castle as a setting for great festivals of chivalry, indeed transforming it into his Camelot, to which knights flocked from all over Europe in tribute to his fame. In 1348 he founded the Order of the Garter, whose motto Honi soi qui mal y pense (Shame to him who thinks this evil) challenged anyone who dared oppose the English claim to the French throne.

The Order of the Garter is thus closely connected with the major event in the reign of Edward III, the start of the Hundred Years’ War, which, in fact, lasted one hundred and fifteen years in all. The causes of the war were complex. Edward claimed the French crown through his mother, a French princess. Indeed, he would have had a greater claim to be king of France than Philip VI, the first Valois king, if France hadn’t had the Salic Law, according to which the right to succeed could only pass through men and never through a woman. Edward had good reasons to want control of France. The French were doing their best to spoil England’s wool trade, especially in the Netherlands; the French ships threatened the Channel; France was allied with Scotland and stirred up trouble there; finally, the French held the pope prisoner in Avignon and misused his influence on the English church.

The war that started in 1337 was to be different from all its predecessors, for it quickly assumed the character of a crusade fought by a true king against a usurper. In 1340 Edward III publicly proclaimed himself king of France and the lilies of France were added to his coat of arms, which remain there to this day. Edward played his role to the full, riding at the head of his troops into battle and addressing them with a speech. His son, Edward of Woodstock, called the Black Prince probably on account of his black armour, was even more famous than his father, being hailed as ‘the flower of chivalry of all the world’. At the age of sixteen he was already leading part of the English forces into battle. For over two decades the English won victory after victory. In the Battle of Crecy (1346) the king and his son defeated an enemy force more than twice their number. The victory was due to the use of the longbow and the king’s skill as a general. The battle was followed by the siege and surrender of the port of Calais which was to remain in English hands for two centuries. Ten years later came another legendary battle, Poitiers, in which the young Black Prince was the hero. He defeated the French and took their king prisoner.

That glorious phase of the war came to an end in 1360 when peace was made and the enormous ransom of three million pounds was paid for the French king. The English lands in France were enlarged as they now included Calais. Although the war was renewed in the 1370s it was never as successful. By then Edward was old and the Black Prince ill. The Valois kings shrewdly avoided battle. There was little active warfare during the next two reigns. Richard II (1377–1399), the grandson of Edward III and the last Plantagenet king, realized that the long war with France which he inherited was ruining the country. Henry IV (1399–1413), of the House of Lancaster, was a weak ailing monarch whose whole reign was marked by rebellions both in the north and in Wales. Yet the war was popular with the great lords, for through it they profited by plunder and ransoms. They had actually been permitted by Edward III to raise private armies for the French war. The lords were given what they wanted by the next king Henry V (1413–1422), a natural soldier and a born leader of men, immortalized by Shakespeare. Henry voiced his territorial claims to France from the moment of his accession. In 1415 he won the Battle of Agincourt, defeating a French army five times greater than his own and destroying the flower of the French nobility. During the next year the English were again victorious, this time over the French fleet. By 1418 the whole of Normandy had fallen into Henry’s hands. The French king agreed to disinherit his son and recognize Henry, married to his daughter, as ‘heir of France’. The child of this marriage would be destined to rule over the dual monarchy of France and England. However, this was not to happen. In 1422 Henry V died and Parliament began to complain about the cost of the war. The conquest of Normandy was not working, and it was proving impossible to administer. Besides, the war had united the French behind their Dauphin. Within a few years Joan of Arc appeared to inspire a new loyalty to the French crown and, with Henry V dead and his son Henry VI (1422–1471) a mere child (he was born in 1421), the English had lost their commander. Before long, the dual monarchy had vanished, and within thirty years England was reduced to its old foothold of Calais.