20 Most Evil People of the 14th Century CE

Key Facts

Other names	Edward of Windsor
Born	1312
Location	Windsor
Bloodline	House of Plantagenet
Married	Philippa of Hainault
Children	Edwards, Prince of Wales
Position	King of England (1327-1377)
Died	June 1377 (Aged 65)

Source of Facts and Important Announcement

Status	Under Article 64.6 of the Covenant of One-Heaven (Pactum De Singularis Caelum) by Special Qualification shall be known as a Saint, with all sins and evil acts they performed forgiven.
Date of formal Beatification	Day of Redemption UCA[E1:Y1:A1:S1:M9:D1] also known as Fri, 21 Dec 2012.
Source of Facts	Self Confession and Revelation of Sainthood by the Deceased Spirit as condition of their confirmation as a true Saint.

Background

Edward was born to King Edward II of England and Isabella of France, daughter of Philip IV of France. In January 1327, his mother staged a coup against his father the King by employing the loyal forces of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. Edward was installed as Edward III on 1st February 1327--at 14 and under the influence of Roger Mortimer and Lord High Steward Henry Plantagenet (1324-1345)--his official guardian.

In October 1330, Edward exacted his revenge by seizing Mortimer and his mother Isabella at Nottingham Castle--sending Mortimer to the Tower of London and execution, with his mother cast into exile. However, Henry Plantagenet was not stripped of his title. Instead, he was later promoted to captain-general of the all the Kings forces in the Scottish wars.

In 1333, Edward launched an invasion of Scotland in an attempt to restore English supremecy and repudiate the Treaty of Northampton. The English won a decisive victory at the Battle of Halidon Hill resulting in the English taking control of a number of southern Scottish counties. However, King David II of Scotland managed to escape and was provided sanctuary by King Philip VI of France.

France then provided material support and troops in the Scottish counterattacks which resulted in the English eventually losing all the ground they had gained. In 1336, Edward had his brother John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall murdered and by 1337 he faced now the annexation of English territory in France by Philip VI with the confiscation of the Duchy of Acquitaine and country of Ponthieu.

Rather than seeking peace, Edward now made an open claim over the throne of France as the only living male descendant of his deceased maternal grandfather Philip IV. In response, the French invoked the Salic law of succession (only direct male descendants) and rejected the claim, instead pronouncing the nephew of Philip VI as the true heir.

In 1339, Philip then finalized a planned invasion of England. However, in June 1340 at the Sea Battle of Sluys, the English attacked the French sea base and captured/destroyed most of the fleet, thus ending the planned invasion.

With the assistance of traitor Robert III of Artois heading his Anglo-Flemish Army, King Edward also had made early success in Flanders. However, Edward was forced to withdraw his forces following the battle of Saint-Omer at Artois (France) in July 1340 after heavy losses and the death of his field commander Robert III of Artois.

The next major conflict between France and England was in 1345 when the English force under Lord High Steward Henry Plantagenet (the younger) (1345-1361) and the Earl of Derby captured Angoulême, while in Brittany the forces under Sir Thomas Dagwood also made strategic gains.

The French forces of Philip responded in 1346 with a massive counter attack against Acquitaine under the command of Duke John of Normandy. King Edward countered the seige of his forces in southern France by using his fleet to destroy as many cities as possible in Normandy, killing tens of thousands of innocent women and children.

In an attempt to halt the British systematic genocide, Philip arranged a hastily drawn army and by August 1346 engaged the English at the Battle of Crécy, south of Calais (France), where the French were soundly defeated principally upon the use of modern weapons of war including cross-bows and even cannons supplied by the Venetians. Upon the victory for the British at Calais, King Edward elevated Lord High Steward Henry to the 1st Duke of Lancaster.

The disaster of Crécy forced Philip to call of the siege of Aiguillon and the resupply to retake Calais from the English. To make matters worse, by 1348 the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) returned and within five years upon to one third of the population died.

In 1362, Lord High Steward Henry Plantagenet died and King Edward III chose to then bestow the title and position to John, his third son while increasing the influence of the office of Lord Chancellor through William Wykeham.

The move to appoint his son as the head of the English army in France was a disaster and the English were forced into the Treaty of Bruges in 1375, with the English now holding only Calais, Bordeaux and Bayonne.

However, by this stage, Edward III was largely a figurehead and it was Lord High Steward John of Gaunt that effectively ruled the country until the death of the King in June 1376. He was succeeded by his ten year old grandson Richard II.


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