EDWARD III
(1327-1377 AD) King of England (1327-1377), who initiated the long, drawn-out struggle with France called the Hundred Years' War.
Edward III, the eldest son of Edward II and Isabella of France, was born in 1312. His youth was spent in his mother's court, until 1327 when he was crowned king at the age of fourteen. Edward was dominated by his mother and her lover, Roger Mortimer, until 1330, when Mortimer was executed and Isabella was exiled from court. Philippa of Hainault married Edward in 1328 and bore him many children; the 75% survival rate of her children (nine out of twelve) was incredible considering conditions of the day.
The Hundred Years' War occupied the largest part of Edward's reign. He and Edward Baliol defeated David II of Scotland , and drove him into exile in 1333. The French cooperation with the Scots, French aggression in Gascony and Edward's claim to the throne of France (through his mother Isabella; the Capetians failed to produce a male heir) led to the outbreak of War. The sea Battle of Sluys (1340) gave England control of the Channel and Battles at Crecy (1346), Calais (1347) and Poitiers (1356) demonstrated English supremacy on the land. Edward, the Black Prince and eldest son of Edward III, excelled during this first phase of the war.
The Black Death swept across England and northern Europe from 1348-1350, removing as much as half of the population. The Treaty of Bretigny in 1360 brought a respite until the resumption of hostilities in 1369. English military strength, weakened considerably after the plague, gradually lost so much ground that by 1375, Edward agreed to the Treaty of Bruges, which only left England Calais, Bordeaux and Bayonne.
Domestically, England saw many changes during Edward's reign. Parliament divided into two Houses - Lords and Commons - and met regularly to finance the war. Treason was defined by statute for the first time (1352), the office of Justice of the Peace was created (1361) and English replaced French as the national language (1362). Philippa died in 1369 and the last years of Edward's reign mirrored the first; he was again dominated by a woman, his mistress Alice Perrers. Alice preferred one of Edward's other sons, John of Gaunt, over the Black Prince, which caused political conflicts in Edward's last years.
Edward, the Black Prince, died one year before his father. Rafael Holinshed intimated that Edward spent his last year in grief and remorse, believing the death of his son was a punishment for usurping his father's crown. In Chronicles of England , Holinshed wrote: "But finally the thing that most grieved him, was the loss of that most noble gentleman, his dear son Prince Edward ... But this and other mishaps that chanced to him now in his old years. might seem to come to pass for a revenge of his disobedience showed to his in usurping against him..." 13

Married 24 JAN 1328, York Minster to , Philippa of Hainault

Child 1: , Edward The Black Prince, Prince of Wales, b. 15 JUN 1330
Child 2: , Isabella, b. 16 JUN 1332
Child 3: , Joan (Joanna), b. ABT FEB 1335
Child 4: , William of Hatfield, b. BEF 16 FEB 1337
Child 5: Plantagenet, Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, b. 29 NOV 1338
Child 6: Plantagenet, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, b. MAR 1340
Child 7: Plantagenet, Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, b. 5 JUN 1341
Child 8: Tour, Blanche de la, b. MAR 1342
Child 9: , Mary, b. 10 OCT 1344
Child 10: , Margaret, b. 20 JUL 1346
Child 11: , Thomas, b. 1347
Child 12: , William of Windsor, b. 24 JUN 1348
Child 13: Plantagenet, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, b. 7 JAN 1355
Child 14: , Joan

Associated with Perrers, Alice

Child 15: de Southeray, John, Sir, b. CIR 1364
Child 16: , Joan
Child 17: , Jane
Child 18: Lytlington, Nicholas, Abbot of Westminster

aka: Philippa of Hainault
Philippa van Holland
* Birth: 1314, Hainault, Belgie
* Married: 24 Jan 1328
* Death: 14 Aug 1369, Windsor Castle
* Buried: Westminster Abbey
Others show her born 1314 in Hainault Belguim
Died of a dropsy-like illness.