The Coronation of Edward III

At the age of fifteen, Edward had already been placed to the throne because of his father's death. Edward was able to avenge his father by executing Roger Mortimer in 1330. Earlier, Mortimer had attempted to seize the throne in England and had fought in the Scottish wars. In 1323, he was imprisoned, but escaped to France to form an alliance with Queen Isabella, whom had deserted her husband Edward II. Then Mortimer and Queen Isabella raised an army, invaded England, and forced Edward II to put his son to the throne. In 1327, Edward II was cruelly murdered at Berkeley Castle, therefore making Edward III the king, along with a lot of anger towards Roger Mortimer.

After his father's death, Mortimer was arrested at Nottingham and sentenced to death. He was executed in October of 1330 at Tyburn, in London. Edward III went on to win an important battle against the Scots on July 19,1333 at Halidon Hill. From there, he began a lifelong career of military aggression.

In 1338, after his mother's brother Philip IV died, he declared himself the king of France, based on his mother's claims, therefore beginning the Hundred Years' War. William I' s son John had lost Normandy in 1204, by divorcing his English wife and re-marrying Isabelle of Angouleme. That gave the French king an excuse to attack Normandy when John refused to appear before him. His ambition was to recover the territories that England had once held in France.

By: Jeremy Snyder