Edward III of England

Edward III was one of the most successful and chivalric monarchs of English history, reigning for half a century from 1327 to 1377. Taking power at age seventeen by launching a daring midnight raid through secret subterranean tunnels beneath Nottingham Castle to overthrow his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, Edward restored the prestige of the English crown.

In 1337, through his mother Isabella, daughter of Philip IV of France, Edward laid claim to the vacant French throne, initiating the epic Hundred Years' War. Combining tactical dismounted knights with massed Welsh and English longbow archery, Edward achieved glorious victories at the naval Battle of Sluys (1340) and the land masterpiece at the Battle of Crécy (1346), followed by the capture of Calais. In 1348, he founded the Order of the Garter at Windsor Castle, embodying the apex of European chivalry. Despite the catastrophic demographic devastation of the Black Death (1348–1349), his reign saw the English language replace Anglo-Norman French in courts and Parliament.