Editing Edward III of England (section)

== Legacy ==
{{See also|Cultural depictions of Edward III of England}}
[[File:King Edward III from NPG.jpg|thumb|Edward III as he was depicted in the late 16th century]]

Edward III, argues the scholar Michael A.R. Graves, left a "dual legacy". These were the large brood of children and grandchildren he left, and his claim to the French throne. In the first instance, his endowment of his sons as Dukes of Clarence, Lancaster and York allowed them to create their own dynasties which were both part of the royal family and the aristocracy, which, following [[Henry Bolingbroke]]'s usurpation of Edward's grandson, Richard II, "bedevilled" the [[House of Lancaster|Lancastrian dynasty]].{{Sfn|Graves |2013|p=7}} Secondly, while the resumption of Edward's claims and war in France was initially successful—contemporaries compared [[Henry V of England|Henry V]]'s decisive victory at [[Battle of Agincourt|Agincourt]] with Edward's at Crécy and Poitiers<!--needs a source-->—when the tide turned against the English in France, the dynasty was also weakened.{{Sfn|Graves |2013|p=7}} Indeed, war in France was problematic for the [[House of York]] as well as Lancaster. [[Edward IV]] was probably consciously following in his namesake's footsteps when he invaded France in 1475, even if the subsequent [[Treaty of Picquigny]] was wholly unintended.{{Sfn|Carpenter|1997|p=197}} Edward IV's reign looked back on that of Edward III – with its martial and administrative progress – as something to model their own on, argues Morgan. Edward IV's own ''Household Books'', summarise the approach as "we take to bylde upon a more perfit new house", and indeed many of their grants and warrants contain a final clause that whatever was under discussion should be as they were in Edward III's final year. Even the final destruction of the [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenets]] at [[Battle of Bosworth|Bosworth]] in 1485 failed to impinge on Edward III's posthumous image; he was also the most recent king [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] could lay claim of descent from.{{sfn|Morgan|1997|p=869}}