{| class="infobox"
|+ '''Edvard III'''
|-----
| style="background:#efefef;" align="center" colspan="2" |  200px
|-----
| '''Regeringstid:''' || 1327&ndash;1377
|-----
| '''Ätt:''' || Plantagenet
|-----
| '''Företrädare:''' || Edvard II
|-----
| '''Födelseår:''' || 1312
|-----
| '''Födelseplats:''' || Windsor Castle
|-----
| '''Drottning:''' || Filippa av Hainault
|-----
| '''Begravningsplats:''' || Westminster Abbey
|-----
| '''Dödsdatum:''' || 21 juni 1377
|-----
| '''Föräldrar:'''
| Edvard II och Isabella
|}
'''Edvard III''', eng. ''Edward III'', född Edvard II, farfar till Rikard II och Henrik IV. Gift 1328 med Filippa av Hainault

Edvard III var en av de mest framgångsrika medeltida engelska kungarna. Hans femtioåriga regeringstid inleddes då hans far, Edvard II avsattes Henrik III regerat så länge, och det skulle komma att dröja över 400 år innan en annan monark skulle sitta på tronen så länge. Edvards regeringstid kännetecknas av en expansion av Englands territorium genom krig i Skottland och Frankrike. Edvards börd och avkomma bäddade för två långa och betydelsefulla händelser i brittisk och europeisk historia; Hundraårskriget respektive Rosornas krig.

== Barndom ==

Edvard, son till Filip den sköne, föddes i Karl IV. 

Den mäktiga drottningen och hennes älskare Roger Mortimer tvingade vid återkomsten den svage och impopuläre Edvard II att abdikera och gjorde sonen till kung 1327.
Edvard II mördades sedan och Isabella och Roger Mortimer styrde England under den unge kungens första år på tronen.

== Tidig regeringstid ==

Edvard III kröntes Karl IV utan manliga arvingar, efterlämnande en gravid änka, och gjorde därmed Edvard (genom modern Isabella) den äldste överlevande manlige arvtagaren till Filip IV, Karl och Isabellas far, och därigenom möjligheten att ärva de franska tronen. (Edvards yngre bror John, earl av Cornwall, var den ende andra överlevande manlige ättlingen till Filip IV). Senare fick Ludvig X och Filip V:s döttrar manlig avkomma såsom kung Karl II av Navarra, hertig Filip av Burgund och greve Ludvig av Flandern. 

1330 tog den artonårige Edvard över det engelska hovet genom att avsätta Isabella och avrätta Mortimer.

Edvard III:s regeringstid kännetecknas av ett fortsatt krig med Skottland, men ännu mer av krig med Frankrike. Han första stora militära framgång var Slaget vid Halidon Hill 1333, vilket han vann till sin marionetts, den nye skotske kungen Edward Balliols favör, gentemot sin svåger David II av Skottland, i ätten Bruce och make till Edvards syster Johanna av tornet.

== Hundraårskriget ==
thumb|150px|Edvard III:s stora sigill
Edvards anspråk att ena de engelska och franska tronerna motsattes av den franska adeln som åberopade den Filip VI, Edvards kusin och arvtagare till Charles av Filip III.

Edvard förklarade krig mot Filip III 1337 och utropade sig som kung av Frankrike 26 januari 1340. Det här var början till den konflikt som skulle komma att bli känd som Hundraårskriget, och som fortsatte sporadiskt fram till 1450-talet. 1346 besegrade Edvard fransmännen i Slaget vid Crecy, med honom på fälttåget var hans sextonårige son, Edvard, den svarte prinsen.

Den svarte prinsen ledde Englands framgångsrika armé i Slaget vid Poitiers 1356. Den första fasen i hundraårskriget avslutades 1360 med Brétignyfördraget, vilket markerar en höjdpunkt av engelskt inflytande i Frankrike och gav en lösesumma på tre miljoner kronor för den franske kungen Johan II av Frankrike. 

Medan dessa segrar så småningom vände, och vanns och förlorades igen under generationer av krig fortsatte engelska monarker att göra anspråk på titeln "Kung av Frankrike" fram till Act of Union vilket ledde till skapandet av Georg III.

== Inrikes händelser och familjeliv ==

Medan kungen och prinsen krigade utomlands låg styret av riket i händerna på prinsens yngre bror, John av Gaunt. Ekonomisk tillväxt från den växande ullhandeln gav nya intäkter till riket, men utbrott av böldpest, Digerdöden, påverkade undersåtarnas liv markant.
Handelsskatter blev en stor kunglig inkomst, då det tidigare kommit främst från skatt på landegendomar. Parlamentet delades upp i överhus och underhus. Under Edvards regeringstid var franska det språk som användes av adeln sedan den normandiska erövringen, men detta förändrades.

Kungen grundade även en riddarorden, strumpebandsorden, det sas att det var efter en incident då han dansade med en dam på en hovbal, och hon tappade ett intimt klädesplagg. Han plockade då galant upp det, och för att mindra hennes skam knöt han det runt sitt eget ben och påpekade ''Honi soit qui mal y pense'' (''Skam den som tycker illa därom''), vilket kom att bli strumpebandsordens motto. Kvinnan i fråga är endast känd som ''Grevinnan av Salisbury''. Somliga menar att det var Edvards svärdotter Johanna av Kent, men en mer trolig kandidat är Johannas svärmor. 

Trots ett ovanligt lyckligt äktenskap och att han fick tretton barn med Filippa var Edvard en notorisk kvinnotjusare, Efter Filippas död 1369, blev Edvards älskarinna, Alice Perrers namn synonymt med korruption.

Då Edvard stod inför en stärkt fransk monarki och förluster i Frankrike, frågade han parlamentet om han kunde få intäkter genom att beskatta vin- och ullhandeln, men detta mottogs illa 1374-1375 då ett nytt utbrott av böldpest slagit till.  Det "Goda parlamentet" 1376 kritiserade Edvards rådgivare, däribland Alice Perrers familj, och rådde honom att rätta mun efter matsäcken.  

Edvard dog av Edvard, hade avlidit ett år tidigare och Edvard efterträddes av sin unge sonson,  Rikard, son till den svarte prinsen.

===Sönerna och Rosornas krig===

Rosornas krig var ett inbördeskrig om den engelska tronen som utkämpades mellan ättlingarna till Edvard II genom de fem sönerna. Varje gren av familjen hade motstridiga anspråk grundade på släktskapets rang, legitimitet och/eller könet på deras förförfäder. 

(1) '''Edvard, den svarte prinsen''' (1330-1376), hertig av Cornwall, prins av Wales.  

{{Infobox British Royalty|majesty
| name = Edward III
| title = King of England; Lord of Ireland
| image = Edward3.jpg
| reign = 25 January 1327 &ndash; 21 June 1377 (50 years)
| coronation = 1 February 1327
| predecessor = Edward II
| regent = Roger Mortimer, Earl of March<br />& Queen Isabella ''(de facto)''<br />Council inc. Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster (1327–1330; ''de jure'')
| successor = Richard II
| spouse = Philippa of Hainault
| issue = Edward, Prince of Wales "The Black Prince"<br />Isabella, Dame de Coucy<br />Lady Joan<br />Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence<br />Mary, Duchess of Brittany<br />Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester
| titles = The King<br />The Earl of Chester<br />Duke of Aquitaine<br />Edward of Windsor
| royal house = House of Plantagenet
| father = Edward II
| mother = Isabella of France
| date of birth = 
| place of birth = Windsor Castle, Berkshire
| date of death = 
| place of death = Sheen Palace, Richmond
| place of burial = Westminster Abbey, London
}}
'''Edward III''' (English monarchs of the Middle Ages. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Henry III, and none would again until George III.

Edward was crowned at the age of fourteen, following the deposition of his father. When he was only seventeen years old, he led a coup against his Roger Mortimer, and began his personal reign. After defeating, but not subjugating, the Crécy and Poitiers led up to the highly favourable Treaty of Brétigny. Edward’s later years, however, were marked by international failure and domestic strife, largely as a result of his inertia and eventual bad health.

Edward III was a temperamental man, but also capable of great clemency. He was, in most ways, a conventional king, mainly interested in warfare. Highly revered in his own time and for centuries after, Edward was denounced as an irresponsible adventurer by later Whig historians. This view has turned, and modern historiography credits him with many achievements.

==Biography==
===Early life===

Edward was born at Windsor on Edward II, was fraught with military defeat, rebellious barons and corrupt courtiers, but the birth of a male heir in 1312 temporarily strengthened Edward II's position on the throne.<ref>For an account of Edward II's later years, see Fryde, Natalie (1979). ''The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, 1321–1326''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-22201-X.</ref> To further this end, in what was probably an attempt by his father to shore up royal supremacy after years of discontent, Edward was created Earl of Chester at the age of only twelve days, and less than two months later, his father gave him a full household of servants for his court, so he could live independently as if he were a full adult Nobleman.<ref>Mortimer, ''The Perfect King - The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation'', 1.</ref>

On Isabella, and her consort Roger Mortimer deposed the king. Edward, now Edward III, was crowned on regents. Mortimer, the ''de facto'' ruler of England, subjected the young king to constant disrespect and humiliation. 

Mortimer knew his position was precarious, especially after Edward and his wife, Philippa of Hainault, had a son on 15 June 1330.<ref>Ormrod, ''Reign of Edward III'', 6.</ref> Mortimer used his power to acquire a number of noble estates and titles, many of them belonging to Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel. FitzAlan, who had remained loyal to Edward II in his struggle with Isabella and Mortimer, had been executed on 17 November, 1326. However Mortimer's greed and arrogance caused many of the other nobles to hate him; all this was not lost on the young king.

The young, headstrong King had never forgotten the fate of his father, or how he himself had been treated as a child. At almost 18 years old, Edward was ready to take his revenge. On the 19 October 1330, Mortimer and Isabella were sleeping in Nottingham castle. Under the cover of night, a group loyal to King Edward entered the fortress through a secret passage-way and burst into Mortimer's quarters. Those conducting the coup arrested him in the name of the King and he was taken to the Tower of London. Stripped of his land and titles, he was hauled before the 17 year-old King and accused of assuming Royal authority over England. Edward's mother begged her son to show mercy, but he would not. Without allowing his regent a trial, Edward sentenced Mortimer to death one month after the coup had been staged. As Mortimer was executed, Edward's mother was exiled in Castle Rising. By his 18th birthday, Edward's vengeance was complete and he was de facto ruler of England.

===Early reign===

Edward chose to renew the military conflict with the father and grandfather had engaged with varying success. Edward repudiated the Treaty of Northampton that had been signed during the regency, thus renewing claims of English sovereignty over Scotland and resulting in the Second War of Scottish Independence.

Intending to regain what the English had conceded, he won back control of Berwick and secured a decisive English victory at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 against the forces of the boy-king David II of Scotland. Edward III was now in a position to put Edward Balliol on the throne of Scotland and claim a reward of 2,000 librates of land in the southern counties - the Lothians, Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, Dumfriesshire, Lanarkshire and Peebleshire. Despite the victories of Dupplin and Halidon, the Bruce party soon started to recover and by the close of 1335 and the Battle of Culblean, the Plantagenet occupation was in difficulties and the Balliol party was fast losing ground.

At this time, in 1336, Edward III's brother Perth.

Although Edward III committed very large armies to Scottish operations, by 1337 the vast majority of Scotland had been recovered by the forces of David II, leaving only a few castles such as Edinburgh, Roxburgh and Stirling in Plantagenet possession. These installations were not adequate to impose Edward's rule and by 1338/9 Edward had moved from a policy of conquest to one of containment.

Edward faced military problems on two fronts; the challenge from the French monarchy was of no less concern. The French represented a problem in three areas: first, they provided constant support to the Scottish through the Franco-Scottish alliance. Philip VI protected David II in exile, and supported Scottish raids in Northern England. Second, the French attacked several English coastal towns, leading to rumors in England of a full-scale invasion.<ref>Ormrod, ''Reign of Edward III'', 9.</ref> Finally, the English king's possessions in France were under threat&mdash;in 1337, Philip VI confiscated the duchy of Aquitaine and the county of Ponthieu.

Instead of seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict by paying homage to the French king, Edward laid claim to the French crown as the only living male descendant of his deceased maternal grandfather, Philip IV. The French, however, invoked the see below) and thereby setting the stage for the see below).<ref>Hanawalt, ''The Middle Ages: An Illustrated History'', 133.</ref>

In the war against France, Edward built alliances and fought by proxy through minor French princes. In 1338, Louis IV named him vicar-general of the Sluys on 24 June 1340, where 16,000 French soldiers and sailors died.

Meanwhile, the fiscal pressure on the kingdom caused by Edward's expensive alliances led to discontent at home. In response he returned unannounced on 30 November 1340. Finding the affairs of the realm in disorder, he purged the royal administration.<ref>Fryde, N.M. (1978). "Edward III's removal of his ministers and judges, 1340–1", ''British Institute of Historical Research'' 48, pp. 149–61.</ref> These measures did not bring domestic stability, however, and a standoff ensued between the king and John Stratford, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Edward, at the Parliament of England of April 1341, was forced to accept severe limitations to his financial and administrative prerogatives. Yet, in October of the same year, the king repudiated this statute, and Archbishop Stratford was politically ostracised. The extraordinary circumstances of the 1341 parliament had forced the king into submission, but under normal circumstances the powers of the king in medieval England were virtually unlimited, and Edward took advantage of this.<ref>Ormrod, ''Reign of Edward III'', 16.</ref>

===Fortunes of war===

After much inconclusive campaigning in McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 132.</ref> His army sacked the city of Caen and marched across northern France. On Crécy and won a decisive victory. Meanwhile, back home, William Zouche, the Archbishop of York mobilized an army to oppose David II, who had returned, defeating and capturing him at the Battle of Neville's Cross on 17 October. With his northern border having been secured, Edward felt free to continue his major offensive against France, laying siege to the town of Calais, which fell after an extraordinarily long siege-- probably the greatest single military operation undertaken by the English state in the Middle Ages-- in August of 1347. 

After the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV in October of 1347, his son Charles IV, but Edward finally decided in May 1348 not to run for the German crown.

In 1348, the Statute of Labourers (1351). The plague did not, however, lead to a full-scale breakdown of government and society, and recovery was remarkably swift.<ref>Prestwich, ''Plantagenet England'', 553.</ref> 

In 1356, Edward's oldest son, the Black Prince, won a great victory at the battle of Poitiers. The greatly outnumbered English forces not only routed the French but captured the French king, John II. After a succession of victories, the English held great possessions in France, the French king was in English custody, and the French central government had almost totally collapsed. Whether Edward's claim to the French crown originally was genuine or just a political ploy,<ref>For a discussion of this question, see Prestwich, ''Plantagenet England'', 307–10.</ref> it now seemed to be within reach. Yet a campaign in 1359, meant to complete the undertaking, was inconclusive. In 1360, therefore, Edward accepted the Treaty of Brétigny, whereby he renounced his claims to the French throne but secured his extended French possessions in full sovereignty.

===Later reign===

right|thumb|200px|Edward III and the [[Edward, the Black Prince|Black Prince]]

While Edward's early reign had been energetic and successful, his later years were marked by inertia, military failure and political strife. The day-to-day affairs of the state had less appeal to Edward than military campaigning, so during the 1360s Edward increasingly relied on the help of his subordinates, in particular William Wykeham. A relative upstart, Wykeham was made Lord Chancellor in 1367, though due to political difficulties connected with his inexperience, the Parliament forced him resign to the chancellorship in 1371.<ref>Ormrod, "Reign of Edward III", 90–4; Ormrod, "Edward III", ''DNB''.</ref>

Compounding Edward's difficulties were the deaths of his most trusted men, some from the 1361–62 recurrence of the plague. William Montacute, Edward's companion in the 1330 coup, was dead by 1344. William de Clinton, who had also been with the king at Nottingham, died in 1354. One of the earls of 1337, William de Bohun, died in 1360, and the next year Henry of Grosmont, perhaps the greatest of Edward's captains, succumbed to what was probably plague. Their deaths left the majority of the magnates younger and more naturally aligned to the princes than to the king himself.

The king's second son, Lionel of Antwerp, attempted to subdue by force the largely autonomous Anglo-Irish lords in Ireland. The venture failed, and the only lasting mark he left were the suppressive Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366.<ref>McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 231.</ref>

In France, meanwhile, the decade following the Treaty of Brétigny was one of relative tranquillity, but on John II died in captivity in England, after unsuccessfully trying to raise his own ransom at home. He was followed by the vigorous Charles V, who enlisted the help of the capable Constable French war started anew, and Edward's younger son John of Gaunt was given the responsibility of a military campaign. The effort failed, and with the Treaty of Bruges in 1375, the great English possessions in France were reduced to only the coastal towns of Calais, Bordeaux and Bayonne.<ref>McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 145.</ref>

Military failure abroad and the associated fiscal pressure of campaigning led to political discontent at home. The problems came to a head in the parliament of 1376, the so-called House of Commons took the opportunity to address specific grievances. In particular, criticism was directed at some of the king's closest advisers. Lord Chamberlain William Latimer and Lord Steward John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby were dismissed from their positions. Edward's mistress, Alice Perrers, who was seen to hold far too much power over the aging king, was banished from court.<ref>Ormrod, "Reign of Edward III", 35–7; McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 387–94.</ref>

Yet the real adversary of the Commons, supported by powerful men such as Wykeham and Edmund de Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, was John of Gaunt. Both the king and the Black Prince were by this time incapacitated by illness, leaving Gaunt in virtual control of government. Gaunt was forced to give in to the demands of parliament, but by its next convocation, in 1377, most of the achievements of the Good Parliament were reversed.<ref>The earlier belief that Gaunt "packed" parliament in 1377 is no longer widely held. See Wedgewood, J.C. (1930). "John of Gaunt and the packing of parliament", ''English Historical Review'' 45, pp. 623–5.</ref>

Edward himself, however, did not have much to do with any of this; after around 1375 he played a limited role in the government.<ref>Ormrod, "Edward III", ''DNB''.</ref> Around 29 September 1376 he fell ill with a large abscess. After a brief period of recovery in February, the king died of a stroke (some sources say gonorrhea<ref>Cantor, ''In the Wake of the Plague'', 38</ref>) at Sheen on 21 June.<ref>Ormrod, "Edward III", ''DNB''.</ref> He was succeeded by his ten-year-old grandson, King Richard II of England, son of the Black Prince, since the Black Prince himself had died on 8 June 1376.

==Achievements of the reign==

 thumb|left|200px|Edward III depicted in ''Cassell's History of England'' (1902)

===Legislation===

The middle years of Edward's reign was a period of significant activity. Perhaps the best known piece of legislation was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.<ref>Prestwich, M. (1981). "Parliament and the community of the realm in the fourteenth century", in Art Cosgrove and J.I. McGuire (eds.) ''Parliament & Community'', p. 20.</ref>

The reign of Edward III coincided with the so-called Babylonian Captivity of the papacy at xenophobic English population. The statutes of Provisors and Praemunire, of 1350 and 1353 respectively, aimed to amend this by banning papal benefices, as well as limiting the power of the papal court over English subjects.<ref>McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 280–81.</ref> The statutes did not, however, sever the ties between the king and the Pope, who were equally dependent upon each other. It was not until the Great Schism in 1378 that the English crown was able to free itself completely from the influence of Avignon.

Other legislation of importance includes the Treason Act of 1351. It was precisely the harmony of the reign that allowed a consensus on the definition of this controversial crime.<ref>McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 257.</ref>  Yet the most significant legal reform was probably that concerning the Justices of the Peace. This institution began before the reign of Edward III, but by 1350, the justices had been given the power not only to investigate crimes and make arrests, but also to try cases, including those of felony. With this, an enduring fixture in the administration of local English justice had been created.<ref>Musson and Ormrod, ''Evolution of English Justice'', 50–54.</ref>

===Parliament and taxation===

Parliament as a representative institution was already well established by the time of Edward III, but the reign was nevertheless central to its development. During this period membership in the English summons to parliament.<ref>McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 186–7.</ref> This happened as parliament gradually developed into a bicameral institution. Yet it was not in the House of Commons that the greatest changes took place. The widening of political power can be seen in the crisis of the Good Parliament, where the Commons for the first time&mdash;albeit with noble support&mdash;was responsible for precipitating a political crisis. In the process, both the procedure of Speaker were created. Even though the political gains were of only temporary duration, this parliament represented a watershed in English political history.

The political influence of the Commons originally lay in its right to grant taxes. The financial demands of the Hundred Years' War were enormous, and the king and his ministers tried different methods of covering the expenses. The king had a steady income from crown lands, and could also take up substantial loans from Italian and domestic financiers. To finance warfare on Edward III's scale, however, the king had to resort to taxation of his subjects. Taxation took two primary forms: levy and Edward I had tried to introduce an additional duty on wool, but this unpopular ''maltolt'', or 'unjust exaction', was soon abandoned. Then, from 1336 onwards, a series of schemes aimed at increasing royal revenues from wool export were introduced. After some initial problems and discontent, it was agreed through the Ordinance of the Staple of 1353 that the new customs should be approved by parliament, though in reality they became permanent.<ref>Brown, ''Governance'', 67–9, 226–8.</ref>

Through the steady taxation of Edward III's reign, parliament&mdash;and in particular the Commons&mdash;gained political influence. A consensus emerged that in order for a tax to be just, the king had to prove its necessity, it had to be granted by the community of the realm, and it had to be to the benefit of that community. In addition to imposing taxes, parliament would also present petitions for redress of grievances to the king, most often concerning misgovernment by royal officials. This way the system was beneficial for both parties. Through this process the commons, and the community they represented, became increasingly politically aware, and the foundation was laid for the particular English brand of constitutional monarchy.<ref>Harriss, ''King, Parliament and Public Finance'', 509–17.</ref>

===Chivalry and national identity===

thumb|260px|right|The Great Seal of Edward III

Central to Edward III's policy was reliance on the higher nobility for purposes of war and administration. While his father had regularly been in conflict with a great portion of his peerage, Edward III successfully created a spirit of camaraderie between himself and his greatest subjects.

Both Edward I and Edward II had conducted a policy of limitation, allowing the creation of few peerages during the sixty years preceding Edward III's reign. The young king reversed this policy when, in 1337, as a preparation for the imminent war, he created six new earls on the same day.<ref>K.B. McFarlane (1973). ''The Nobility of Later Medieval England'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 158-9. ISBN 0-19-822362-5.</ref> At the same time, Edward expanded the ranks of the peerage upwards, by introducing the new title of duke for close relatives of the king.

Furthermore, Edward bolstered the sense of community within this group by the creation of the Round Table of King Arthur never came to fruition, but the new order carried connotations from this legend by the circular shape of the garter. Polydore Vergil tells of how the young Joan of Kent, Countess  of Salisbury &mdash;the king's favourite at the time&mdash;accidentally dropped her garter at a ball at Calais. King Edward responded to the ridicule of the crowd by tying the garter around his own knee with the words ''honi soit qui mal y pense''&mdash;shame on him who thinks ill of it.<ref>McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 251-2. Another candidate for the owner of the original garter was her mother-in-law Catherine Grandisson, the Dowager Countess of Salisbury.</ref>

This reinforcement of the aristocracy must be seen in conjunction with the war in France, as must the emerging sense of national identity. Just like the war with Scotland had done, the fear of a French invasion helped strengthen a sense of national unity, and nationalise the aristocracy that had been largely Anglo-French since the Norman conquest. Since the time of Edward I, popular myth suggested that the French planned to extinguish the Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Yet the extent of this Namur.<ref>McKisack, ''Fourteenth Century'', 253; Prestwich, ''Plantagenet England'', 554.</ref> Edward III&mdash;himself bilingual&mdash;viewed himself as legitimate king of both England and France, and could not show preferential treatment for one part of his domains over another.

== Assessment and character ==

Edward III enjoyed unprecedented popularity in his own lifetime, and even the troubles of his later reign were never blamed directly on the king himself.<ref>Ormrod, ''Reign of Edward III'', 37.</ref> Edward's contemporary Chronicles'' that "His like had not been seen since the days of King Arthur".<ref>Ormrod, ''Reign of Edward III'', 38.  Froissart's predecessor, Jean le Bel, who had served under the king in 1327, likewise called Edward "Arthur come again."</ref> This view persisted for a while, but, with time, the image of the king changed. The Whig historians of a later age preferred constitutional reform to foreign conquest and discredited Edward for ignoring his responsibilities to his own nation. In the words of Bishop Stubbs: