The Ebb and Flow of Excellence: The Story of the Life of King Edward III of England and the Longbow (1327-1377)

By N. Beetham Stark

Edward III tried his best to be different from his father, Edward II. He succeeded in many respects, but failed in a few. Historians disagree on the impact of his life on English history. Some feel that he was the best English King to have ever served. Others think that he was self-aggrandizing and constantly trying to sell his image as a much feared King poured from the mould of King Arthur. In this book, two cousins serve Edward for most of his life. One favors the view that Edward was a magnificent King approving of many much-needed laws while the other cousin spends his time criticizing the things that he did poorly. One celebrates each of Edward’s triumphs while the other complains that Edward fought for twenty years to gain the crown of France and failed. His main accomplishment was to bring pain and death to hundreds of thousands of Englishmen and Frenchmen. The author gives you the facts. Here you get to be the judge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: N. Beetham Stark
• Release date: May 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9780998000060

N. Beetham Stark

Nellie Beetham Stark was born November 20, 1933, in Norwich, Connecticut to Theodore and Dorothy Pendleton Beetham. She attended the Norwich Free Academy and later Connecticut College in New London, CT before graduating with a MA and a Ph.D. degree in Botany (Ecology) from Duke University.Stark worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a botanist for six years and then joined the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada where she worked on desert and forest ecology and later tropical nutrient cycling. She has consulted in many countries, working for some time in Russia, Australia and South America. She developed the theory that explains why tropical white sand soils cannot grow good food crops and described the decline processes of soils. She has also developed a science of surethology, or survival behavior which describes how humans must adapt to their environments if they hope to survive long term. She has 96 professional publications and has published in four languages.Her life long hobby has been English history, with emphasis on naval history. Her family came originally from Tristan Da Cunha in the South Atlantic in the early 1900’s. Her grandfather was a whale ship captain for a time which spurred her interest in naval history. She also paints pictures of sailing ships which she has used as covers for her historical novels. She has built several scale models of sailing ships and does extensive research on ships and naval history, traveling to England once yearly.Stark was awarded the Connecticut Medal by Connecticut College in 1986 and the Distinguished Native Daughter Award for South Eastern Connecticut in 1985. She was named outstanding Forestry Professor three times by the students of the University of Montana, School of Forestry.Today she writes historical novels, mostly set in England. She has published some 21 novels in the past twenty years, mostly on the internet. She lives on a farm in Oregon and raises hay and cows.Stark's two most popular book series are:Early Irish-English History1. The Twins of Torsh, 44 A.D. to 90 A.D.1. Rolf "The Red" MacCanna, 796-8462. An Irishman's Revenge, 1066-11124. Brothers 4, 1180-12165. Edward's Right Hand, 1272-13076. We Three Kings, 1377-1422The Napoleonic Wars at Sea (Benjamin Rundel)1. Humble Launching - A Story of a Little Boy Growing Up at Sea, 17872. Midshipman Rundel - The Wandering Midshipman, 17953. Mediterranean Madness - The Luckless Leftenant Rundel, 17974. The Adventures of Leftenant Rundel, 1797-17995. Forever Leftenant Rundel, 1800-18036. Captain Rundel I – Trafalgar and Beyond, 1803-18067. Captain Rundel II – Give Me a Fair Wind, 1806-18098. Captain Rundel III – Bend Me a Sail, 1810-18139. Admiral Rundel – 1814-1846

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The Ebb and Flow of Excellence

The Story of the Life of King Edward III of England

and the Longbow (1327-1377)

by N. Beetham Stark

Published by N. Beetham Stark at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com

Copyright © 2019 by N. Beetham Stark

Published in The United States of America

ISBN 978-0-998-0000-6-0

This book was published in the United States of America through Smashwords and Amazon.com. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be printed or copied without the written permission of the author or her agents. Paid downloads are acceptable.

This book is dedicated to Tarsie, Picotso, Jinder and Tander for the love they gave me during the writing and research.

The events, conditions and battles are portrayed here as accurately as possible. The reader is introduced to Edward III through the eyes of two fictitious characters who reflect the widely different views of the main biographers who have written about the life of this great king.

Each generation gets to use the resources from earth for a short time and then leaves this earth to the next generation. Not only do we leave behind some resources, but we leave a historic track which, if heeded, can make life better for the next generation. But ignore the past at your own peril for it shines a light on the true path that we should follow. Wander from that path and we will fall victim of many evils.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 A Son Defies His Father

Chapter 2 A Prisoner’s Escape and Edward’s First War

Chapter 3 A Funeral and a Wedding

Chapter 4 War, Failure, and More War

Chapter 5 All About Edward

Chapter 6 When Not Dreaming About Fighting, What Does a King Do?

Chapter 7 Crecy

Chapter 8 The Siege of Calais

Chapter 9 Death Without the Arrow

Chapter 10 The New Edward

Chapter 11 A Long Painful End

About the Author

About the Book

Introduction — The Legacy of King Edward II

One can hardly hope to understand Young Edward III without taking a fair look at his father, King Edward II. It is fair to say that England never had a King like Edward II. By most accounts he was handsome, strong, and most likable. He had several serious faults which might not have been serious for other men, but these deficiencies in a king would cause him lifelong grief. For one, he had an unusual liking for certain young men which bordered on gay behavior. His likings were more than just casual; they were almost insane infatuations. The men in his life, Gaveston, Maury, Audley the two Hugh Despensers and several others found ways to benefit financially and socially from this intense infatuation of the King. When a monarch ignores his barons, and other nobles, his family and even ignores the affairs of state in order to spend idle time with his favorites, most often a Frenchman, good Englishmen are likely to grow angry and they did. England was on the brink of civil war during much of Edward II’ s reign.

Only the most dire of circumstances could jog this fellow to the point that he would tend to matters of state. He was obsessed with entertainment and even took his jesters and dancers to war with him. In regards to war, he never won a battle that he was personally responsible for conducting. Others did win a few battles for England while Edward II sat and watched a play or some musician performing on his behalf.

That would have been enough to set any prudent Englishman off by itself, but Edward had another weakness. He loved to work like common laborers. Nothing made him happier than to join some peasants in a field who were digging a ditch or some men thatching a roof. He reveled in coming home dirty and tired, his hair in array even if he had an important state dinner to host. It was probably not the dirt that he craved because his favorite pastime was swimming in any stream, pond or puddle that he could find. His behavior was odd enough to lead one to wonder if his stout, warrior father, Edward I, was truly his father. In fact there was a time when an imposter appeared claiming to be the real Edward III who had been exchanged with another baby at birth. Nothing ever came of it, but there is always reason based on his behavior for a lingering doubt.

That leads us to his son, Edward III. This youngster became King only in name under the control of his mother, Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. The young Edward began his career as king at a very low ebb in English history. Eventually he was able to destroy Mortimer and he became his own man. From there his career shot upward and he reached an zenith at Crecy. He grew slowly but steadily working with Parliament and passing some important laws, some of which continue in spirit to this day. History shows a reign of great conquests and in later years some losses. He excelled in almost everything that he did but he had able men beside him and he knew how to use them. In the previous book in this series, ‘The Peasant King’ by this author we see the frustration of Shandor’s father as he tries to perfect the long bow and have it accepted for use in battle. Now under Edward III the long bow finds its’ mark and excels in battles against the French.

Part of his success was because his son, Edward the Black Prince, who was a great help to Edward III. He had the great strength and warring abilities of his grandfather, Edward I, but he died in 1376 just a year before his father. Another element in the success of Edward III was the emergence of the long bow as a weapon of war. In this history we credit a man named Shane with the crafting of the original long bow. It is his son, Shandor, who befriends Edward III and teaches him the power of the long bow. It is this very long bow that repeatedly won battles for Edward III. His father, Edward II, had looked down on the long bow as a clumsy weapon unsuited to use in combat. All of his life, Shane had served Edward II and tried to use his long bow, but Edward II managed to find any number of ways to avoid fighting battles and was noted for his aversion to war. Shane never had a chance to use his long bow in a real battle. As one learns of the life of Edward III, one has to wonder how he could have risen from the unhappy life that he knew as a child to the great warrior that he became. One can only speculate that his father, Edward II, had little strong influence on his son. There were many other influences on the young Edward that could have made him an excellent warrior. At least this is not a case of ‘Like father, like son.’ A noble named Bury was one strong influence on young Edward and he delighted in steering the young boy towards great heroic tales of men like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. A steady diet of these heroic tales could have a strong influence on any young man.

This story begins at the point where King Edward II had become estranged from his wife, Isabella. Edward’s (II) many affairs with handsome young men finally began to get to Isabella when Edward became infatuated with Hugh Despenser. Despenser the younger, was an overly ambitious young Frenchman who wormed his way into Edward’s affections and made a serious practice of annoying and alienating the Queen, Isabella. Things got so bad that Isabella would do anything to get rid of Despenser. When Edward became worried about the loss of his properties in France, he sent Isabella, who was the sister of King Charles of Valois, to France to plead for the return of Edward’s French holdings. He had lost his lands for failing to appear before King Charles to do homage for his lands. This was not an oversight on the part of Edward but a childish whim that prompted Edward to ignore King Charles’ many invitations to come to France and meet him in person to do homage as he was supposed to. Edward had put off this task for several years and Charles was becoming impatient. So he confiscated all of Edward’s lands most of which his father, Edward I, had secured for him. Edward II would do anything to avoid a fight. He had already taken Isabella’s children from her and reduced her household budget to a mere pittance. These things were more than a gentle irritant to Isabella who was finally coming to her own as a monarch.

Later Edward sent his son, young Edward, (III) to France to pay homage to King Charles. This decision was not without much agonizing. Edward did not want to go to France himself because he feared that his nobles would capture and kill his favorite, Hugh Despenser if he left him in England. He was equally loath to take Despenser with him to France because the French were anxious to capture Despenser and execute him for earlier dastardly deeds. Edward III was his oldest son and next in line for the throne. He did not want to endanger his heir by sending him abroad. During that era, much of a King’s power came from his ability to have many children and marry them into powerful and wealthy royal families. If he sent Edward to France, his mother would surely take him under her wing and arrange for a wedding that the King would not approve of. So Young Edward was a powerful pawn in the royal world. His mother did just as was expected of her, she arranged for Edward to marry the Princess of Hainault. Edward (II) was furious.

Meanwhile, Isabella had aligned herself with Roger Mortimer, a powerful and successful warrior who would love to get access to the English crown. Isabella was the easiest way to reach his goal. They banded together and Isabella amassed a small army under Mortimer’s leadership. Edward had to decide whether he should return to England as his father begged him to do in many impassioned letters, or ally himself with his mother and her new warrior friend who together were preparing to invade England with a small army and destroy his father the King. I am sure young Edward must have lain awake many night trying to decide what to do. His entire future depended on his making the correct decision. In the end, Young Edward joined his mother and Mortimer and he took part in the invasion and dethroning of his father. The boy must have been well aware of his father’s shortcomings and he must have known that his father’s reign must soon come to an end for the good of England.

The invasion of England was the first since William the Conqueror in 1066. Many Englishmen were happy to see young Edward return in a capacity where he might claim the throne even though he was only fourteen years old. Mortimer landed on the English coast in September, a time when most men were busy with the harvest. He brought with him barely 1,500 armed men, but within hours their numbers had grown as Englishman after Englishman dropped their tools and took up their swords with the intent of defeating Edward Il and The Despenser who had effectively taken over the government.

This story really begins where Edward II is preparing to send his son to France and is ordering a group of select archers/swordsmen to accompany the boy.

If the reader is interested in the most unusual life of King Edward II, the King who died and then walked the streets of Europe after his death, one can read ‘The Peasant King’ by N. Beetham Stark or download it from Smashwords or Amazon. This story is a continuation of the previous book by the same author.

Shane, the man who perfected the long bow gave that bow to his only son, Shandor and told him to use it wisely. This is really his story told as he progressed through life trying to honor his father’s command.

Fasten your seat belts for a grand ride through the ups and downs (ebbs and flows) of Edward III long life. He struggled to be heard over the voices of his mother and Mortimer until with the help of some noblemen, he was able to destroy Mortimer. From that point on Edward III spent much time honing his skills as a King and fighting grand battles for the right to the throne of France. He had several battles in Scotland some of which did not end in Edward’s favor, but he was learning. He soon realized the power of the long bow which turned his life around. Now every battle, including Crecy brought more honor to Edward III, the King of England. Much of his warring years were spent harassing the French by burning their towns and destroying their crops. Then there was the plague which decimated so much of the French population and also harmed the English but miraculously missed Edward all together. He lost friends and family to the Black Death, but he came through unscathed. One cannot help but take seriously the hundreds of thousands of lives, both French and English that perished under his sword, arrows or from loss of their homes and food supplies over the many years of his waging war on the French. Over a million people most likely died so that Edward might gain the French crown, which he failed to do. Perhaps he is best remembered for the good laws that he enacted to further civilize the English.

His waning years are an ebb of life where he slowly watches his friends and family die and leave him behind. His great Order of the Garter slowly declines in importance as he sinks deeper and deeper into poor health. At first I decided not to write about his waning years, but there is too much to be learned from those years to exclude them from the writing. The reader will see that I have spent little time on Edward’s last years, but have brought forth the most important things that happened during that prolonged period of agony. King Edward III’s life was so full and at times frantic that one almost wants to shout, ‘stop time,’I want to get off this rollercoaster.’

I have followed the history of Edward III as written by Ian Mortimer in ‘The Perfect King,’ because it is the most complete serious study of the King’s life and attempts to portray the good and not so good things that he accomplished. That made it possible to keep all of the historical events pretty much in chronological sequence. There is much to learn here if one has the patience to examine the events critically.

I have used fictitious names for Shandor and Justin. I have been unable to locate the names of similar men in Edward’s life. This story picks up where ‘The Peasant King’ left off.

Chapter 1 — A Son Defies His Father

Grab those arrows and get the men to the archery shed at once, said Bret Lawson, head archer for King Edward II. Shandor headed off to the archer’s shed calling to the men as he ran.

One archer said, Are we under attack?

No but I bet we see some action very soon now. Old Lawson is calling for a general meeting of the archers.

There was much talking and nodding of heads as the archers filed into their shed.

Your attention! We are asked to board a ship at the docks tomorrow at 6 am. We are assigned to escort the King’s son, Prince Edward, to France. He goes on assignment for his father and it is our duty to see to his safety. But there is not room for all of us. Only sixty will go. I have posted the names of the archers who will sail tomorrow. Each man will travel with one other archer as his partner. If we have to fight with sword, you will fight back to back with your partner. Each man should pick up a sword, scabbard, a quiver of arrows, a flask, gut and a good bow from the supply shed. No drinking or woman chasing tonight, lads. You must be alert and ready for action on the morrow. God only knows what will be left of England when we return, if we do. Those who stay behind must be ready to go into action on a minute’s notice. Things could catch fire very quickly here and you must be ready.

Shandor at age 18 was the second in command of the archers and he was excited at the prospect of action, even if it might be just a sail across the Channel. He thought of his companion, Rob Moran, who always fought at his side. He has a family and will not be anxious to leave home. And where is Robert? I have not seen him all day."

Shandor went to the storage shed and waited in line to pick up his gear. He had his own sword and his long bow which the other men did not have. His father, Shane Leahy left him his long bow before he died and bade him to use it in health and with good purpose. Now he was anxious to try it in real battle. His father had carried it for twenty years but never had a chance to use it in battle because King Edward II seemed to have a talent for avoiding battle. .

Back at their sleeping quarters, Shandor examined his meager belongings. He would take his feather bed which had a leather cover and could be folded up to a small bundle for travel. It served as a rain shield in inclement weather and a bed at night. He had a book that his father had given him, a decent hunting knife, an instrument similar to a flute which he played and two pair of socks knitted by a lass in the nearby town. ‘All this will have to go with me,’ he thought as he put the things in his field pack. Then it was off to sleep.

The next morning Shandor woke to see a strange face peering down at him.

Rise my friend for we must sail in an hour. Your partner, Moran, seems to have come down with a severe fever and cannot sail with us. I am Justin Leahy and I have been called to serve as your partner on this expedition.

I am not surprised that Moran cannot sail with us. He is deathly afraid of water and he is newly married and may not want to be absent from his new wife. I welcome you, Justin and I hope that we can work well together.

I know that I am not one of the regular archers, but I do have much experience even though my usual work is in the King’s library. I was chosen because of my knowledge of languages and my skill with the sword." At that he whipped out his sword and killed a fly that sat on the windowsill.

I shall defer all of the sword work to you, my friend for you seem to have great command of the weapon. said Shandor.

I have heard wondrous tales of your swordsmanship as well. Perhaps we shall have to try one another out someday. But for now, let’s get some breakfast before we load out.

Shandor rose, dressed and picked up his small pack and put it on his shoulders with his quiver. His sword he strapped to his waist and grabbed his bow and they were off to the room next to the scullery where they could get food. Breakfast was a wooden bowl of hot oatmeal and a flask of water. Shandor made a habit of collecting nuts from the nearby woods. He offered some to Justin to spice up his breakfast.

As the two men ate they talked. Shandor said, You say your name is Justin Leahy. What was your father’s name?

He was a monk and I never knew him. I only saw him two times and then I was very small.

Do you know if he had any brothers?

I do remember him talking about a King’s archer named Shane, but I never met him. He was supposed to be the best in the land.

But he was Irish, was he not?

Yes and I am Irish after my father. I serve England only because it is the land of my birth.

Your father was a monk?

Yes, of that I am certain.

I thought that monks were not supposed to know women.

True, but my father had a child earlier who died in birth. I was so anxious to get out and see the world that he sinned once again and found a warm womb to give me nourishment and I managed to live.

Do you know from whence your father’s family came?

I was told that we came from western Ireland. That is all. But he did speak once of a place somewhere south of Galway.

My friend, my last name is also Leahy and my father was a fine archer who was head of the royal archers. Do you know what that means?

Not really.

If our fathers were brothers then we must be cousins!

What a queer turn of events that by chance two cousins have been brought together in the service of the King and neither knowing the other.

I think it is an act of God. Neither of us has another soul in the world, so we must stick together and help one another over the hurdles that life places in our paths!

Yes. You are right. By the way, which monastery was you father at?

It was just south of London about half a day’s ride. It might be Crawley or perhaps Reigate. I cannot be sure.

That is good enough. We must be cousins and we should celebrate this night for having found one another.

And celebrate they did.

They made their way to the docks and found a small boat drawn up to the quay. Men were already boarding and it looked as if they would be heavily loaded. As they waited the two men talked.

Why is the young prince sailing to France? He is but fourteen years of age.

That is him over there by the pile of rope. I believe that he is going to France at his father’s command. Edward II has procrastinated for years now in paying homage to King Charles for his French lands. He is a subject of the French King you know and must pay proper homage for his French lands. It is required.

So why doesn’t Edward come to France himself?

For one, he is a cautious man and does not want to endanger his hide.

I can understand that since he is the King and the most important man in England, but why send his oldest son who is the next to inherit the throne? Is that not dangerous too?"

More so than you might think. As assistant to the librarian and translator, I get to see many documents that are not put before the eyes of others. You know about the problem with the Despensers?"

Yes. Everyone knows that Hugh Despenser is an avaricious man who has taken over the King and is effectively ruling the country. The King seems to be oblivious to the harm that Despenser is doing to his country. The barons are ready to revolt in order to seize control from Despenser. We may be leaving behind the makings of a civil war.

Yes and that is why Edward II fears leaving the country. He knows that if he leaves Hugh Despenser behind in England that his barons will have his head on a pike in a matter of hours. If he takes Despenser with him to France, the French want him for former crimes and they will make quick work of him. But it gets more complicated than that. If he sends Prince Edward, he may be captured and held for ransom and his father has little money to spare just now. Or his mother may take control of him and marry him to some princess that will not advance Edward’s political future. A prince is a power political tool because a king can advance his powers over other countries mainly if he allies with powerful and wealthy countries. Edward wants the privilege of choosing his son’s wife so that he can advance his position in the world. England is badly in need of powerful allies. So we do not really know what we are leaving or what we are sailing into do we?

My sympathy is with the poor young prince who will have no say in what woman lies by his side for the rest of his life.

He is being forced to grow up very fast. There will be no time for him to experiment with life. He is already being submersed in it if not smothered by his position."

I hear that he is devoted to his mother, more so than to his father. Edward seems to dote over his son, but I fear that the Prince knows too much about his father to hold him in the highest regard. There are many men who seek to steer him on a correct course so that he does not follow in his father’s footsteps. William Pagula and Walter Milemete through their writings seek to help the lad. They stress the importance of peaceful relations among the ruling magnates.

I am sure that the young prince knows how many of his friends and even some of his father’s own family were put to death by order of Edward II after the execution 0f Gaveston. There was a horrible bloodbath and much of it was royal blood or at least noble.

I agree with you completely. Shortly thereafter a squall blew up and they were thrown about a good bit.