Flag of King Edward III

Description of the Product

The coat of arms of Edward III of England (king from 1327-1377) has the Three Lions of England quartered with the French fleurs-de-lis. As a king he is best known for his military successes, and he transformed England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe.

He also gets credit for restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II. In stark contrast to many of his Plantagenet predecessors, Edward III never experienced opposition or coup attempts from any of his sons, although five of them survived into adulthood. His fifty-year reign is one of the longest in English history, and he is often considered the first English Plantagenet ruler. A good example of the waning Norman influence is that by the end of Edward’s reign the language of the ordinary people, Middle English, was adopted as the language of governance.

Edward III considered himself to be a rightful heir to the French throne, as he was the grandson of Philip IV of France, and this claim started the Hundred Years' War.  At first the war went exceptionally well for England. King Edward III’s relatively small but disciplined force fought on foot, armed with the deadly longbow. In 1346 at Crécy they historically overwhelmed the French knights, the finest cavalry in Europe. The victories continued, and after a victory at Poitiers in 1356 by his son Edward, the Black Prince, the English held great possessions in France. To add insult to injury the French king was in English custody, and the French central government had almost totally collapsed. But the final defeat of the French remained elusive, and later stages of the war were not as successful.

Officially Edward III assumed the title "King of England and France" in 1340, which is when he also started to use the new coat of arms, quartering the Plantagenet three lions with the fleur-de-lis of France, to signify his claim to the French throne. This claim was upheld by all his later descendants until Henry VIII, who was the last to actively claim the throne through an invasion in 1523. The arms remained a part of the English (and later British) royal arms all the way until 1801, when the republican French revolution finally put an end not only to the British claim, but to the French throne itself.

• Flag is double sided with metal grommets
• Size: 93 cm x 150 cm
• For indoor/outdoor use
• Material: Polyester