Editing Edward III of England (section)

== Government ==
=== Legislation ===
[[File:Gold quarter noble of Edward III (YORYM 2015 140) reverse.jpg|thumb|Gold quarter [[Noble (English coin)|noble]] of Edward III, York Museums Trust]]

The middle years of Edward's reign were a period of significant legislative activity. Perhaps the best-known piece of legislation passed was the [[Statute of Labourers of 1351]], which addressed the labour shortage problem caused by the [[Black Death]]. The statute fixed wages at their pre-plague level and checked peasant mobility by asserting that lords had the first claim on their men's services. In spite of concerted efforts to uphold the statute, it eventually failed due to intense competition among landowners for labour.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=335}} The law has been described as an attempt "to legislate against the law of [[supply and demand]]", which doomed it to certain failure.{{Sfn|Hanawalt|1989|p=139}} Nevertheless, the labour shortage had created a community of interest between the smaller landowners of the [[House of Commons]] and the greater landowners of the [[House of Lords]]. The resulting measures angered the peasants, leading to the [[Peasants' Revolt]] of 1381.{{Sfn|Prestwich|1983|p=20}}

The reign of Edward III coincided with the so-called [[Avignon Papacy|Babylonian Captivity]] of the papacy at [[Avignon]]. During the wars with France, opposition emerged in England against perceived injustices by a papacy largely controlled by the French crown.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=272}} Papal taxation of the English Church was suspected to be financing the nation's enemies, while the practice of provisions (the Pope's providing benefices for clerics) caused resentment in the English population. The statutes of [[Statute of Provisors|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.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|pp=280–281}} The statutes did not sever the ties between the king and the Pope, who were equally dependent upon each other.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|pp=120–121}}

Other legislation of importance includes the [[Treason Act 1351]]. It was precisely the harmony of the reign that allowed a consensus on the definition of this controversial crime.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=257}} 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]].{{Sfn|Putnam|1929|pp=43–45}} With this, an enduring fixture in the administration of local English justice had been established.{{Sfn|Musson|Ormrod|1999|pp=50–54}}

=== Parliament and taxation ===
[[File:King Edward III half groat York mint.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Half [[Groat (coin)|groat]] with portrait of King Edward III, York mint]]

[[Parliament of England|Parliament]] as a representative institution was already well established by the time of Edward III, but the reign was nevertheless central to its development.{{Sfn|Harriss|2006|p=66}} During this period, membership in the English [[baron]]age, formerly a somewhat indistinct group, became restricted to those who received a personal [[Hereditary peer#Writs of summons|summons]] to Parliament.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|pp=186–187}} This happened as Parliament gradually developed into a [[bicameral]] institution, composed of a House of Lords and a House of Commons.{{Sfn|Harriss|2006|p=67}} Yet it was not in the Lords, but in the Commons that the greatest changes took place, with the expanding political role of the Commons. Informative is the Good Parliament, where the Commons for the first time – albeit with noble support – were responsible for precipitating a political crisis.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|p=288}} In the process, both the procedure of [[Impeachment in the United Kingdom|impeachment]] and the office of the [[List of Speakers of the House of Commons of England|Speaker]] were created.{{Sfn|Fritze|Robison|2002|p=409}} 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 their right to grant taxes.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|p=52}} The financial demands of the Hundred Years' War were enormous, and the King and his ministers tried different methods of covering the expenses. Edward had a steady income from [[crown lands]], and could also take up substantial loans from Italian and domestic financiers.{{Sfn|Brown|1989|pp=80–84}} To finance warfare, he had to resort to taxation of his subjects. Taxation took two primary forms: levy and customs. The levy was a grant of a proportion of all moveable property, normally a tenth for towns and a fifteenth for farmland. This could produce large sums of money, but each such levy had to be approved by Parliament, and the king had to prove the necessity.{{Sfn|Brown|1989|pp=70–71}} The customs therefore provided a welcome supplement, as a steady and reliable source of income. An "ancient duty" on the export of wool had existed since 1275. [[Edward I]] had tried to introduce an additional duty on wool, but this unpopular ''[[maltolt]]'', or "unjust exaction", was soon abandoned.{{Sfn|Harriss|1975|pp=57, 69}} 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 [[Statute of the Staple]] of 1353 that the new customs should be approved by Parliament, though in reality, they became permanent.{{Sfn|Brown|1989|pp=67–69, 226–228}}

Through the steady taxation of Edward III's reign, Parliament – and in particular the Commons – 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.{{Sfn|Harriss|1975|p=509}} In addition to imposing taxes, Parliament would also present [[petition]]s for redress of grievances to the King, most often concerning misgovernment by royal officials.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|pp=282–283}} 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.{{Sfn|Harriss|1975|pp=509–517}} It became the norm for the king's ministers to argue his case before Parliament, the Commons to grant the king the tax he requested, and then the king's concessions to Parliament would be announced at its end.{{sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=108, 188}}

The King occasionally attempted to avoid resorting to Parliament to raise taxes, such as in 1338 when he attempted a forced loan on wool. This soon collapsed – in the words of [[E. B. Fryde]] it was a "lamentable failure"{{Sfn|Fryde|1983|pp=260–261}} – and once again, Edward had to return to Parliament. Edward also attempted to reinforce what he believed to be his ancient rights, such as the return of all [[Personal property|goods and chattels]] of [[felons]] to the Crown, and [[scutage]], as well as new proposals, such as that debts should be repaid to the Crown in one payment rather than incrementally. All these schemes collapsed, however, the latter because the lords claimed that such a method of taxation infringed upon their traditional rights.{{Sfn|Fryde|1983|pp=260–261}} According to Fryde, "one of Edward's most onerous and wasteful liabilities" came in February 1339, when he effectively [[pawned]] the [[Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|Great Crown]] of England to the [[Archbishop of Trier]], for which the King promised repayment of £16,650.{{Sfn|Fryde|1983|pp=1164–1165}} Edward met his creditors in [[Ghent]] in 1340, but, unable to immediately satisfy their demands, notes Bertie Wilkinson, "pretending that he wanted to take a walk, he secretly rode away".{{Sfn|Wilkinson|1995|p=134}}

[[File:The Great Seal of Edward III.JPG|thumb|The [[Great Seal of the Realm|Great Seal]] of Edward III]]

=== Six new earls and the first three English dukedoms created ===
Central to Edward III's policy was reliance on the higher nobility for purposes of war and administration. While Edward II had regularly been in conflict with a great portion of his peerage, his son successfully created a spirit of camaraderie between himself and his greatest subjects.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|pp=101, 106}} Both Edward I and Edward II had been limited in their policy towards the nobility, allowing the creation of few new peerages during the sixty years preceding Edward III's reign.{{Sfn|Given-Wilson|1996|pp=29–31}} Edward III reversed this trend when, in 1337, as a preparation for the imminent war, he created six new [[earl]]s on the same day.{{Sfn|Given-Wilson|1996|pp=35–36}}

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;{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|p=364}} creating the first three dukedoms of England (Cornwall, Lancaster, and Clarence). His eldest son, [[Edward the Black Prince]], was created [[Duke of Cornwall]], the first English duke, in 1337. In 1351 the Earl of Lancaster was elevated to the [[Duke of Lancaster]].{{Sfn|Wilkinson|1995|p=134}} In 1362, the second son of King Edward III, [[Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence|Lionel of Antwerp]], was made the first [[Duke of Clarence]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Clarence, Dukes of|volume=6|pages=427–428}}</ref>

=== Chivalry and national identity ===
Furthermore, Edward bolstered the sense of community within this group by the creation of a new [[order of chivalry]].{{sfn|St George's Windsor|2023}} In January 1344 a great feast was held in [[Windsor Castle]] to which large numbers were invited; not just the lords but the City of London also sent a contingent. The first night saw a feast at which all the attending ladies, with only two knights among them, dined, while the other men ate in their tents. This was followed by jousting over the next three days, where Edward – "not because of his kingly rank but because of his great exertions",{{sfn|Barber|2007|p=38}} iterates [[Adam Murimuth]] in his chronicle – was deemed champion. This was followed by the King's announcement of the founding of the [[Round Table]] of [[King Arthur]], to which "certain lords" took an oath. The first meeting of the new chapter was arranged for the following [[Whitsun]].{{sfn|Barber|2007|pp=38–39}}{{efn|Whitsun was the seventh Sunday after Easter, so the meeting was to take place on 23 May 1344.{{sfn|Cheney|1961|p=110}}}} Nothing, however, was to come of the project; as Murimuth comments, "this work was later stopped for various reasons".{{sfn|Barber|2007|p=39}}

Instead, around four years later, Edward founded the [[Order of the Garter]], probably in 1348.{{sfn|St George's Windsor|2023}} The new order carried connotations from the legend by the circular shape of the garter.{{Sfn|Tuck|1985|p=133}} Edward's wartime experiences during the Crécy campaign (1346–7) seem to have been a determining factor in his abandonment of the Round Table project. It has been argued that the total warfare tactics employed by the English at [[Battle of Crécy|Crécy]] in 1346 were contrary to Arthurian ideals and made Arthur a problematic paradigm for Edward, especially at the time of the institution of the Garter.{{Sfn|Berard|2012|pp=2–3}} There are no formal references to King Arthur and the Round Table in the surviving early fifteenth century copies of the Statutes of the Garter, but the Garter Feast of 1358 did involve a round table game. Thus, there was some overlap between the projected Round Table fellowship and the actualized Order of the Garter.{{Sfn|Berard|2016|p=89}} [[Polydore Vergil]] tells of how the young [[Joan of Kent]] – allegedly the King's favourite at the time – accidentally dropped her [[garter]] at a ball at Calais. Edward responded to the ensuing ridicule of the crowd by tying the garter around his own knee with the words ''[[honi soit qui mal y pense]]'' (shame on him who thinks ill of it).{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|pp=251–252}}

This reinforcement of the [[aristocracy]] and the emerging sense of an English national identity must be seen in conjunction with the war in France.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|p=114}} Just as 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-Norman since the [[Norman Conquest]]. Since the time of Edward I, popular myth suggested that the French planned to extinguish the English language, and as his grandfather had done, Edward III made the most of this scare.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|pp=209–210}} As a result, the English language experienced a strong revival during Edward III's reign; in 1362, a [[Statute of Pleading]] ordered English to be used in law courts,{{Sfn|Dodd|2019|p=23}}{{Sfn|Dudley|2017|p=270}} and the year after, Parliament was for the first time opened in English.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=524}} At the same time, the vernacular saw a revival as a literary language, through the works of [[William Langland]], [[John Gower]] and especially ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'' by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]].{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|pp=526–532}} Yet the extent of this [[Anglicisation]] must not be exaggerated. The statute of 1362 was in fact written in the French language and had little immediate effect, and Parliament was opened in that language as late as 1377.{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|p=556}} The Order of the Garter, though a distinctly English institution, included also foreign members such as [[John IV, Duke of Brittany]], and [[Robert of Namur (1323–1391)|Robert of Namur]].{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=253}}{{Sfn|Prestwich|2005|p=554}}