Editing Edward III of England (section)

== Later reign (1360–1377) ==
=== Further campaigns in France and governance ===
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]].{{Efn|For more on Wykeham, see:{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Virginia |title=William Wykeham |date=2007 |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |isbn=978-1-8472-5172-5}}}} A relative upstart, Wykeham was made [[Lord Privy Seal|Keeper of the Privy Seal]] in 1363 and [[Lord Chancellor|Chancellor]] in 1367, though due to political difficulties connected with his inexperience, the Parliament forced him to resign the chancellorship in 1371.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|pp=88–90}} Compounding Edward's difficulties were the deaths of his most trusted men, some from the 1361–62 recurrence of the plague. [[William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury]], Edward's companion in the 1330 coup, died as early as 1344. [[William de Clinton, 1st Earl of Huntingdon]], who had also been with Edward at [[Nottingham]], died in 1354. One of the earls created in 1337, [[William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton]], died in 1360, and the next year [[Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster]], perhaps the greatest of Edward's captains, succumbed to what was probably plague.{{Sfn|Fowler|1969|pp=217–218}} Their deaths left the majority of the magnates younger and more naturally aligned to the princes than to the King himself.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|pp=127–128}}

[[File:Edward III Black Prince 14thc.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|King Edward III grants Aquitaine to his son Edward the Black Prince. Initial letter "E" of miniature, 1390; [[British Library]], London, [[shelfmark]]: Cotton MS Nero D VI, f.31.]]

Increasingly, Edward began to rely on his sons for the leadership of military operations. The king's second son, [[Lionel of Antwerp]], attempted to subdue by force the largely autonomous [[Normans in Ireland|Anglo-Irish]] lords in [[Ireland]]. The venture failed, and the only lasting mark he left was the suppressive [[Statutes of Kilkenny]] in 1366.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=231}} In France, meanwhile, the decade following the [[Treaty of Brétigny]] was one of relative tranquillity, but on 8 April 1364, John II died in captivity in England, after unsuccessfully trying to raise his own ransom at home.{{Sfn|Tuck|1985|p=13}} He was followed by the vigorous [[Charles V of France|Charles V]], who enlisted the help of the capable [[Bertrand du Guesclin]], [[Constable of France]]{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|p=35}} In 1369, the French war started anew, and Edward's son [[John of Gaunt]] was given the responsibility of a military campaign. The effort failed, and with the [[Treaty of Bruges (1375)|Treaty of Bruges]] in 1375, the great English possessions in France were reduced to only the coastal towns of [[Calais]], [[Bordeaux]], and [[Bayonne]].{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|p=145}}

==== Alice Perrers ====
{{Main|Alice Perrers}}

[[Alice Perrers]] was originally one of Philippa's household ladies, having been appointed by 1359.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2006|p=223}} Within five years, by which time she would have been 18, and after the death of her husband, she is speculated to have become the lover of the elderly King. She maintained an active business life outside her career in the royal household, particularly as a [[moneylender]], while also making the most out of her royal connections, accepted gifts from courtiers and those wishing to further their causes with the King. Edward presented her with gifts, including land, manors and jewels, and in 1371 these included those of the now-dead Philippa. Alice, in what may have been an attempt to keep her new estates after the King's death, tied them up in a series of [[Feoffment|enfeoffments]]. This meant that legally they ceased to be royal gifts which could be [[Eminent domain#United Kingdom|resumed]] to the Crown, but hers to receive from her feoffees when she chose.{{Sfn|Given-Wilson|2004}} These gifts included 50 manors in 25 counties and £20,000 in jewels.{{Sfn|Bothwell|1998|p=31}} The contemporary chronicler [[Thomas Walsingham]] saw her as a low-born woman who, through her own ambition, made a fortune from the besotted King;{{Sfn|Ormrod|2006|p=225}} and this was the popular view presented to the [[Good Parliament]] of 1376, in which she was also accused of taking 2000 to 3000 [[Avoirdupois|pounds]] in gold and silver per annum from the [[royal treasury]].{{Sfn|Bothwell|1998|p=31}} Another contemporary, the [[St Mary's Abbey, York|Anonimalle Chronicler]], complained that this was all "without any notable profit and in great damage to our lord the king",{{Sfn|Bothwell|1998|p=32}} and argued that Alice be removed from the King's circle even though he was still living, albeit known to be dying.{{Sfn|Bothwell|1998|p=32}} Modern historians have credited her with more agency than merely using "womanly wiles" to get her own way, noting her head for business and the law.{{Sfn|Bothwell|1998|p=33}} Bothwell also notes that she probably recognised the precariousness of her own position after the King had died – "which it was obvious to all in the 1370s was imminent"{{Sfn|Bothwell|1998|p=34}} – and intended much of her wealth to provide for her two daughters, whose lives would be even more precarious in the following reign.{{Sfn|Bothwell|1998|pp=35–36}} She was correct in her surmise: by the time the Good Parliament met, Edward was too weak but to acquiesce in her [[banishment]]. This did not, however, last very long; she had returned to his inner circle later that year and remained there until his death. However, in 1378 her previous fears resurfaced, and this time put on trial before Parliament in the first year of [[Richard II]]'s reign. She was found guilty and sentenced to be exiled. Further, her property was forfeited to the Crown.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2008}}

=== Discontent at home ===
Military failure abroad, and the associated fiscal pressure of constant campaigns, led to political discontent in England.{{Sfn|Holmes|1975|p=66}} Finance was a particular grievance; although it was rarely raised as an issue before 1371, after that time complaints about the royal household's expenditure were frequent.{{efn|Not only under the remainder of Edward III's reign; Given-Wilson has said that they continued throughout most of Richard II's and Henry IV's reigns also.{{Sfn|Given-Wilson|1986|pp=110–111}}}} The problems came to a head in the Parliament of 1376, the so-called [[Good Parliament]]. The Parliament was called to grant taxation, but the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] took the opportunity to address specific grievances. In particular, criticism was directed at some of the King's closest advisors. [[Lord Chamberlain]] [[William Latimer, 4th Baron Latimer]], and [[Lord Steward|Steward of the Household]] [[John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby]], were dismissed from their positions.{{Sfn|Holmes|1975|p=66}} Edward III's mistress, Alice Perrers, who was seen to hold far too much power over the ageing king, was banished from court.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|pp=41, 43}}{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|pp=387–394}}

Yet the real adversary of the Commons, supported by powerful men such as Wykeham and [[Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March]], was [[John of Gaunt]]. Both the King and Edward of Woodstock were by this time incapacitated by illness, leaving Gaunt in virtual control of government.{{Sfn|Harriss|2006|p=440}} Gaunt was forced to give in to the demands of Parliament, but at its [[Bad Parliament|next convocation]] in 1377, most of the achievements of the Good Parliament were reversed.{{Sfn|Wedgwood|1930|pp=623–625}}

=== Death and succession ===
[[File:Edward-III-king-England.jpg|thumb|Edward III's funerary monument in [[Westminster Abbey]]]]

Edward III did not have much to do with any of this; after around 1375 he played a limited role in the government of the realm. Around 29 September 1376, he fell ill with a large [[abscess]]. After a brief period of recovery in February 1377, the King died of a stroke at Sheen on 21 June.{{Sfn|Ormrod|2000|p=45}}

Edward III was succeeded by his ten-year-old grandson, [[King Richard II]], son of Edward of Woodstock, since Woodstock himself had died on 8 June 1376.{{Sfn|McKisack|1959|pp=392, 397}} In 1376, Edward had signed [[letters patent]] on the order of succession to the crown, citing in second position his third son John of Gaunt, but ignoring [[Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster|Philippa]], daughter of his second son [[Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence]]. Philippa's exclusion contrasted with a decision by Edward I in 1290, which had recognized the right of women to inherit the crown and to pass it on to their descendants.{{Sfn|Bennett|1998|pp=585, 587}} The order of succession determined in 1376 led the [[House of Lancaster]] to the throne in 1399 (Gaunt was [[Duke of Lancaster]]), whereas the rule decided by Edward I would have favoured Philippa's descendants, among them the [[House of York]], beginning with [[Richard of York]], her great-grandson.{{Sfn|Bennett|1998|pp=601–603}} The large number of cousins that were created is sometimes argued to have laid the foundations for the [[Wars of the Roses]] in the fifteenth century.{{sfn|Goodman|2015|p=568}}