Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/443

EDWARD III. 435 the most considerable and potent of whom was the young Roger Mortimer. A domestic rebellion supported by a foreign invasion was projected, and in September, 1326, the queen with a foreign force of 3,000 men, led by Mortimer and John of Hainaut, landed on the coast of Suffolk. The most powerful no- bles and prelates hastened to meet her, and Edward, having in vain appealed to the citizens for support, retreated to the marches of Wales. The queen pursued him, and he was captured at Neath abbey, Glamorganshire, and sent to the castle of Kenilworth. The favorite Despen- ser was taken at the same time and hanged. The parliament being assembled, by the influ- ence of Isabella and Mortimer, it was resolved, in January, 1327, that the reign of Edward of Carnarvon had ceased. While imprisoned in Berkeley castle under the charge of ruffians' employed by Mortimer, Edward II. was found dead in his bed in the morning after shrieks had been heard from his apartment, and his distorted features betrayed the agony in which he had expired. It is said that his bowels were burned out with a hot iron. EDWARD HI., eldest son of Edward II. and Isabella of France, born at Windsor, Nov. 13, 1312, proclaimed king of England Jan. 25, 1327, died at Shene (now Richmond), June 21, 1377. At the age of 12 he went with a splen- did retinue to France to do homage to Charles IV. for the possession of Guienne and Pon- thieu, which had been resigned to him by his father. He remained with his mother at the French court, was contracted in marriage by her to Philippa, daughter of the count of Hainaut, whom he married Jan. 24, 1328, and was declared king after the captivity of his fa- ther. A council of regency, consisting of four bishops and ten noblemen, most of whom, being of Isabella's party, gave up to her and Mortimer (now created earl of March) the as- cendancy in the government, had but just been appointed, when Robert Bruce, in violation of the truce, sent an army of 24,000 men under Randolph and Douglas, which ravaged the county of Cumberland. Young Edward marched to the north with more than 40,000 men, made a vain pursuit of the Scots, came up with them twice when they were in inac- cessible positions, is recorded to have wept when he found himself outgeneralled by an inferior enemy, and concluded an inglorious campaign by a treaty in which the entire inde- pendence of Scotland was recognized. The odium of this settlement was thrown upon Isa- bella and Mortimer, who increased their un- popularity by intrigues against the earl of Kent, whom they caused to be executed for high treason in 1330. In the same year Ed- ward asserted his own authority against his mother and her paramour. Mortimer was executed for high treason at Smithfield, and Isabella was confined for the rest of her life in the manor of Risings. He immediately re- newed his father's project of conquering Scot- land, and secretly encouraged the claim of Ed- ward Balliol to the crown of that country, who was willing to hold it as a fief of the Eng- lish monarch. Balliol won the crown and lost it within three months, and the incursions of the Scots gave to Edward a pretext for re- newing the war. He laid siege to Berwick, and on July 19, 1333, defeated on Halidon hill with great loss the army of the regent Doug- las. The town and castle were immediately surrendered, and Balliol, being again seated on the throne of Scotland, ceded a large terri- tory to England, a measure which was fol- lowed by his flight to that country within four months. Three times in three years Edward invaded and devastated Scotland in support of Balliol, and then laid claim to the crown of France against Philip of Valois. The ground of this pretension was, that although females were excluded from the French throne, their male descendants were not ; and that as the son of Isabella, the daughter of Charles IV., his claim was better than that of Philip, who was descended from a younger brother of Charles IV. Edward made alliance with sev- eral continental princes and rulers, the chief of whom were Louis the Bavarian, emperor of Germany, the dukes of Brabant and Gueldres, and James van Artevelde of Ghent. He for- mally published his claim in 1337, and in the following year sailed with a numerous fleet to Antwerp, designing to begin the campaign with the siege of Cambrai ; but perceiving the difficulty of the enterprise, he advanced into France with about 50,000 men, was almost confronted with an army of nearly double that force under Philip, yet no engagement ensued, and he returned to Brussels and disbanded his army without having derived any advantage from his immense expenditures. He returned to England in 1340, obtained an unprecedented grant from parliament, defeated a French fleet off Sluis, returned to the continent, and at the head of nearly 200,000 men, including his Flemish allies, undertook at the same time the sieges of Tournay and St. Omer, both of which were unsuccessful ; and he quickly concluded an armistice for nine months, and soon after another for three years and eight months. Another English campaign in France was begun in 1346 under the earl of Derby, and prosecuted with uninterrupted success. Edward also landed with a numerous force on the coast of Normandy, advanced to Rouen, sent his light troops to insult the faubourgs of Paris, and on Aug. 26 gained over Philip the decisive battle of Crecy. The siege of Calais followed, and while the chivalry of England lay before the walls of that city, the Scots sud- denly crossed the frontier, but were defeated near Durham by a miscellaneous and rapidly collected army, and their king David captured. Calais surrendered after an obstinate defence, and a truce, followed which lasted till 1355. Meantime Edward invaded and widely deso- lated Scotland, causing a havoc long remem-