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Edward III - The Family Man

© Wendy J. Dunn

In many ways, Edward III of England typified the mores and attitudes of the men of his time. He was a good soldier, a pious Catholic, and a patron of the arts. However, his most outstanding characteristic was his role as a husband and father.

Royalty seldom if ever married for love. Marriage was a contract, usually the final act to bind treaties or cement alliances. The bond of kinship was a strong one to the upper class medieval mind. Edward's marriage of Philippa of Hainault (in modern day Belgium) was a dynastic one, without doubt. Surprisingly, it resulted in one of the most enduring and happy marriages in royal history.

Doubtless, Edward's observations of his parents' marriage had an effect on the youth. When he married Philippa in 1328 he was sixteen, and one can imagine that he felt a sense of relief that he was no longer isolated at his mother's court. The newlyweds discovered they were compatible, and slightly less than two years later, Philippa presented Edward with a son, the first in what was to be a long line of healthy children.

The birth of his son seems to have spurred Edward to wrest actual control of the government from his mother and her lover, which he accomplished in a palace coup. The Queen Mother's lover was executed forthwith, as the new king exacted revenge for the murder of his father. Filial duty, however, precluded the eighteen-year-old monarch from serving his mother in the same fashion, and Edward settled for exiling her.

He was now in charge of his kingdom in fact, as well as in name. Edward III was a man who traveled extensively, and it is another hint of the happiness of his marriage that his queen accompanied him everywhere. Even her almost constant state of pregnancy didn't slow her down.

 Edward (the Black Prince) Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, born at Woodstock, 1330

 Isabella born at Woodstock, 1332

 Joan (Johanna) born at Woodstock,1335

 William, born at Hatfield, 1337 (died 1337)

Queen Philippa then traveled with the king to the Continent in 1338, where:

 Lionel, Duke of Clarence, born in Antwerp in 1338

 John, Duke of Lancaster, born in Ghent (Middle English: Gaunt) in 1340

From there, the royals returned to England:

 Edmund, Duke of York, born in Langley (Hertfordshire) in 1341

 Blanche, born at Windsor in 1342 (died in 1342)

 Mary, born at Winchester in 1344

 Margaret, born at Windsor in 1346

Edward III

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