Editing Edward III of England (section)

=== 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}}