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was unanimously rejected by the states of France, yet he persisted in it, and thus involved the countries in a war of nearly thirty years' duration. The French were signally defeated at Sluys, Crecy, Poitiers, and elsewhere, their country was ravaged up to the gates of Paris, and their king taken prisoner; their councils were distracted by the rivalry of the princes of the blood, and the peasantry broke out into insurrection; yet they succeeded eventually in foiling their assailant, and when the contest came to an end, by the peace of Bretigny, he accepted, instead of the whole kingdom, the province of Aquitaine, and much of this was lost before his death, in consequence of a new war. In fact, his only gain was Calais.

Beside attacking France, Edward endeavoured to gain possession of Flanders, and his son, Edward the Black Prince, interfered in the affairs of Spain. These ceaseless foreign expeditions obliged the king to have very frequent recourse to his parliaments, and in return for their liberal aid they gained many concessions, by which the power of the crown was limited in several important particulars.

Edward's latter days were embittered by the deaths of his queen and eldest son, and the loss of most of his French acquisitions, and he died at Shene (now Richmond), June 21, 1377; he was buried at Westminster. Edward married Philippa, daughter of William, count

Truces were frequently made, but they were ill observed, especially in the remote provinces of Britanny and Guienne; such was also the case under his successors. French historians, indeed, speak of the whole period, from Edward's claim until the expulsion of the English by Charles VII., as the Hundred Years' War.

of Holland and Hainault, in 1326. She accompanied him on some of his foreign expeditions, at other times defended his realm in his absence, and died much lamented, at Windsor, Aug. 15, 1369. Their children were five sons and five daughters :

1. Edward, usually styled the Black Prince, born at Woodstock, June 15, 1330, became one of the most renowned warriors of his time. He

served at Crecy, and gained the victory of Poitiers; he received as his patrimony the English conquests in the south of France, and ruled as an independent prince. He was unfortunately induced to undertake an expedition into Spain, in favour of Peter the Cruel, but ruined his health there, and so impaired his finances that he was obliged to tax his Gascon subjects too heavily; they resisted, and appealed to the king of France, who soon overran the province, and the prince retired to England, where he died June 8, 1376, leaving by his wife, Joan of Kent, a son, Richard, who became king.

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Edward the Black Prince, from his tomb at Canterbury.

2. William of Hatfield, born in 1336, died in childhood, and was buried at York.

3. Lionel, born at Antwerp, Nov. 29, 1338, was created duke of Clarence; he was made lieutenant of Ireland, and also aspired to the Scottish crown. He married, first, Elizabeth, the heiress of William de Burgh, earl of Ulster, and had by her a daughter, Philippa, who

She was the daughter of Edmund, earl of Kent, and had been before married, first to Sir Thomas Holland, and secondly to William, earl of Salisbury. Her two sons, Thomas and John, were greatly favoured by their half-brother Richard II.

married Mortimer, earl of March; and secondly Violante, daughter of Galeasius, duke of Milan, by whom he had no issue. He died in Italy in 1368.

Arms of John of Gaunt.

4. John of Gaunt, born at Ghent, probably in 1340, was created earl of Derby, and duke of Lancaster. He succeeded his brother Edward in the government of Gascony, served also in Spain and Scotland, and took a very prominent part in the conduct of affairs in the reign of his nephew Richard II. He was thrice married; his first wife, Blanche, daughter of the duke of Lancaster, brought him a son, who became king, as Henry IV., and two daughters; his second wife was Constantia, daughter of Peter the Cruel, (in whose right he assumed the title of king of Castile and Leon,) who bore him a daughter, Catherine, who married Henry III. of Castile; his third was Catherine Swinford, by whom he was the father of the Beauforts. He died Feb., 1399, and was buried in St. Paul's, London.

5. Edmund, born in 1341, at Langley, was earl of Cambridge and due o York. He, like his brother John, married a daughter of Peter the Cruel, and had by her two sons, Edward, duke of York, killed at Agincourt, and Richar earl of Cambridge, beheaded; and a daughter, Constance, married to Thomas, earl of Gloucester.

6. Thomas, born at Woodstock, January 7, 1355, became earl of Buckingham, duke of Gloucester, and lord high constable. He was engaged in constant struggles with his nephew, Richard II., and after being victorious on several occasions, was at last suddenly seized, hurried off to Calais, and put to death, in

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Sept. 1397. By his wife Eleanor, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, he left a son, who died unmarried, and two daughters.

The king's daughters were, 1. Isabel, married to Ingelram de Courcy, created duke of Bedford; 2. Joan, contracted to the king of Castile, but died in 1348; 3. Blanche, who died an infant; 4. Mary, married to John de Montfort, (afterwards John IV., duke of Britanny); and 5, Margaret, married to John Hastings, earl of Pembroke.

In the early part of his reign Edward bore the same arms as his immediate predecessors, and styled himself, as they had done, king of England, lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine, but in 1337 he took in addition the title of king of France, and in 1340 he quartered the arms of that kingdom with his own. He is said to have introduced supporters to the royal arms, but the fact is doubtful. Various badges were employed by him, of which, rays descending from a cloud, the stump of a tree, couped, a falcon, a griffin, an ostrich feather, and a sword erect, may be enumerated.

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The years of his nominal reign over France are however dated from Jan. 25, 1340. The title, but not the arms of France, was relinquished by the treaty of Bretigny, but as the terms of that treaty were not fulfilled by the French, Edward, by the advice of his parliament, resumed the title in 1369.

Edward in 1337 created a new dignity in England, that of duke, bestowing the title of duke of Cornwall on his son Edward; he also established the Order of the Garter, probably soon after, and in commemoration of, the siege and capture of Calais.

The character of Edward is usually highly estimated, and he seems indeed to have had few other faults than those inseparable from ambition. Though almost constantly engaged in war, he also laboured to improve the commerce and manufactures of his people, and they were thus reconciled to the heavy burdens he imposed on them, notwithstanding that he frequently disregarded the provisions of the Charter, and raised funds with little regard to parliamentary usages.

A.D. 1327. Edward is crowned at Westminster, Jan. 29 d.

The great Charter of the Liberties and the Charter of the Forest ordained to be kept in every article [1 Edw. III. c. 1].

A regency is appointed by the parliament, the earl of Lancaster being nominally the head, but all power residing with Queen Isabella and Mortimer, who share the estates of the Spensers between them.

A new charter is granted to the Londoners.

The Scots invade England; the young king, in pursuing them, narrowly escapes capture, Aug. 4.

The deposed king is removed from the care of the

His peace was proclaimed on Jan. 24, but, for some reason now unknown, his regnal years are computed from Jan. 25.

The charters were again confirmed in 1328, 1330, 1331, 1336, 1340, 1341, 1357, 1363, 1364, 1368, 1370, and 1377.

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