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Edward III (The English Monarchs Series) Paperback – May 28, 2013

by W Mark Ormrod (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 71 ratings
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A landmark biography of the charismatic king beloved of fourteenth-century England

Edward III (1312–1377) was the most successful European ruler of his age. Reigning for over fifty years, he achieved spectacular military triumphs and overcame grave threats to his authority, from parliamentary revolt to the Black Death. Revered by his subjects as a chivalric dynamo, he initiated the Hundred Years' War and gloriously led his men into battle against the Scots and the French.

In this illuminating biography, W. Mark Ormrod takes a deeper look at Edward to reveal the man beneath the military muscle. What emerges is Edward's clear sense of his duty to rebuild the prestige of the Crown, and through military gains and shifting diplomacy, to secure a legacy for posterity. New details of the splendor of Edward's court, lavish national celebrations, and innovative use of imagery establish the king's instinctive understanding of the bond between ruler and people. With fresh emphasis on how Edward's rule was affected by his family relationships—including his roles as traumatized son, loving husband, and dutiful father—Ormrod gives a valuable new dimension to our understanding of this remarkable warrior king.

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  1. Part of series
    The English Monarchs Series
  2. Print length
    752 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Yale University Press
  5. Publication date
    May 28, 2013
  6. Dimensions
    6.1 x 2.4 x 9.1 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0300194080
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0300194081
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Mark Ormrod’s Edward III is majestically compelling.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Daily Telegraph (Books of the Year) -- Simon Sebag Montefiore ― The Daily Telegraph (Books of the Year) Published On: 2011-11-19

“Ormrod has mastered the complex interplay of circumstance, motive, and personality to provide an original and important account not only of a King but of a nation at a critical stage of its history. Edward III is a remarkable achievement and deserves a wide readership, both among professional historians and the general public.”—Scott L. Waugh, Times Literary Supplement -- Scott L. Waugh ― Times Literary Supplement Published On: 2012-05-18

“Ormrod’s sheer mastery of his sources informs every page of his text. Here we have the long-awaited authoritative biography of the king for our generation.”—Nigel Saul, Reviews in History -- Nigel Saul ― Reviews in History Published On: 2012-03-29

'Ormrod presents a picture of Edward III that is complex and convincing. Above all, what emerges is the supreme quality of statesmanship and political skill displayed in the king’s best years. This is a masterly study of a complex reign, with its triumphs in the French wars, and with the eventual tragedy of the final years marred by corruption and failing finances.' - Michael Prestwich, author of The Three Edwards: War and State in England, 1272-1377 -- Michael Prestwich

'Mark Ormrod's Edward III is a distinguished contribution to the scholarship of medieval England. At the centre is the development, and eventual decline, of the royal personality; chivalric society and its influence is given its due place, as is the king’s leadership of his country in peace and war. At long last we have a book which does full justice to its subject, and which be read with profit by both scholar and general reader alike.' - Christopher Allmand, author of The Hundred Years War: England and France at War, c.1300-c.1450 -- Christopher Allmand

'This is a magnificent study of Edward III and his reign, a broadly conceived, richly textured and deeply humane evocation of the king and his age. It is as colourful and captivating — one imagines — as the tapestries with which Edward adorned his apartments; but it is as solidly built as Windsor Castle.' - Michael Bennett, author of Richard II and the Revolution of 1399 -- Michael Bennett

'W. Mark Ormrod sets a new and dazzling standard in the writing of biographies of medieval rulers. He brings Edward III vividly to life and a gripping and taut series of analyses focus on the multiple problems facing the English monarchy, Edward's attempts to impose a new agenda, and the lasting effects this had on the character of English kingship.' - Anthony Goodman, author of John of Gaunt: The Exercise of Princely Power in Fourteenth-Century Europe -- Anthony Goodman

“Part of the problem is that Edward III’s respect for the conventional images of kingship has obscured his personality, making him seem like a cardboard cut out. Perhaps the greatest merit of Mark Ormrod’s magnificent new biography, is that it penetrates behind this image…..Ormrod is at his best in describing the personality of the King, and his impact on English political society.”—Jonathan Sumpton, Literary Review -- Jonathan Sumpton ― Literary Review Published On: 2011-10-01

"Ormrod (Univ. of York, UK) has proven himself to be the ideal historian to produce a superlative biography of King Edward. . . . Ormrod gets as close to understanding Edward and his reign as anyone is likely to get."—A.C. Reeves, Choice -- A.C. Reeves ― Choice

"A long-awaited addition to the English Monarchs series" Northern History Journal ― Northern History Journal Published On: 2013-09-02

"A dauntingly large but majestically compelling study of one of England’s most successful war leaders. Ormrod’s vivid prose captures wonderfully the personal quality of medieval politics." Sunday Telegraph. ― Sunday Telegraph Published On: 2013-06-23

About the Author

Mark Ormrod is a professor in the Department of History, University of York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; Illustrated edition (May 28, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 752 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300194080
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300194081
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.62 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 2.4 x 9.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 71 ratings

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W. M. Ormrod

W. M. Ormrod

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
71 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2022
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Most through work available on Edward III by the leading authority on the subject.
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Eric Hasso
5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative!
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2018
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Ormrod has set the bar in scholarship on Edward III. As one of England's greatest medieval monarchs, Edward steered the ship of state through plague and war, and he overcame a very "interesting" family situation to be a truly fascinating king. The author clearly shares this fascination which comes through in the text itself. Ormrod's points are thoroughly researched and explored at length. This book is likely the most authoritative work on Edward III in decades.
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James W. Vice
5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed but quite readable
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2019
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The newer volumes in the English Monarchs series benefit from wider sources and more detailed research techniques. The authors thus bring more material to the table and face additional challenges of organization. I found this heavy volume worth the weight.
2 people found this helpful
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James King
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully written and researched effort
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2017
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A wonderfully written and researched effort. The readers seeking out this volume certainly have particular expectations and I can state that mine were surpassed. This is one of the best biographies in The Yale series.
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Thomas N. Osborne
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating.
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2017
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Grandson of Edward I aka Longshanks. Ruled for 50 years. Survived two outbreaks of the black death, the plague. Started what turned out to be the 100 years war.
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TShaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2013
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Been waiting years for this. Ormrod has done a great job of pulling together the reign of Edward in the context of England of the time.
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constantreader2
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2015
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Excellent well written and very thorough. Great book!
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Gloria Pressnall
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2016
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It was pretty much what it says it is. Repetition of detail got a little boring at times./
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Top reviews from other countries

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cavicchi valter
5.0 out of 5 stars Edward III - Edward II - Henry III - etc. etc.
Reviewed in Italy on January 10, 2022
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Le mie valutazioni sui vostri prodotti sono eccellenti.
Non continuate a richiedermelo per ogni libro che acquisterò in futuro da voi-
Cordiali Saluti
Un cliente molto soddisfatto!
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pierrot
5.0 out of 5 stars Un roi méconnu sort de l'ombre.
Reviewed in France on July 14, 2018
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Chose étrange : un règne crucial de 50 ans n' a intéressé aucun historien français. La biographie de W. M. Ormrod vient à point pour qui veut en apprendre davantage sur l' Angleterre médiévale. Organisée selon un strict plan chronologique, elle se lit comme un roman. Le lecteur y trouvera le récit des débuts de la guerre de Cent Ans selon le point de vue britannique. Enrichissant !
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Mark Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Will Probably Become The Definitive Biography of Edward III
Reviewed in Canada on February 4, 2012
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This is an excellent book that will probably become the definitive biography of Edward III, one of England's most interesting kings.

Some readers may be put off by the book's length (800 + pages). The author does go into great detail about his topic but Edward III is a very interesting subject and the 14th century is a very interesting period of British and European history, so extra detail is not necessarily a bad thing.

This is a very interesting and well written book. Anyone interested in this period of British or European history should find it worthwhile.

Addition to my original post:

For those with Kindles, there are two free e-book downloads on the Amazon Kindle site that will be of interest to anyone interested in this history of Edward III.

These two e-books are short histories of the campaigns which resulted in the Battle of Crecy and the Battle of Poitiers. Both were written by Hilaire Belloc (of Cautionary Tales For Children fame) circa 1910 as part of series Belloc wrote about important European battles. The titles are simple; one is called "Crecy" and the other is called "Poitiers". I've reviewed both on the Kindle site and rated both as 5 stars. Both are excellent, both are free downloads and both should be of interest to anyone interested in this biography of Edward III.
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BobH
5.0 out of 5 stars `The glory of the English, the paragon of past kings, the model of future kings'
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2012
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At first sight the book - over 600 pages without appendixes and bibliography, appears somewhat daunting. Its cover is dominated by the magisterial effigy of Edward III on his tomb. But do NOT be put off. The style is straightforward, its arguments easily flowing through the analyses, examinations and hypotheses which pack its pages - with a battery of footnotes ready for those in search of detail, argument or source.

It starts (where else?) with Edward's birth at Windsor - a bonus from a marriage aimed to stifle the tensions between England and France since 1259 - and passes swiftly through the mess which passed for relations between Crown and Peers during the reign of Edward II. In the end Edward II was betrayed; by his feelings for unworthy favourites; by the jealousies and opposition from equally unworthy lords; by a series of French kings, fearful of their dynasty losing control of France; and, finally, by a long-suffering wife who fell for the charms of a schemer, as unworthy as so many more in that wretched reign.

Deposition in 1327 placed a fifteen-year-old Edward, well-practised as a tool for his mother, on the throne as a puppet for HER manipulator. And then the `Lord Edward' changes, at first tentatively, into Edward III, one of the greatest, in THEIR eyes, of medieval kings - his tomb's epitaph quoted as the title of this review shows that. As Ormrod works through the course of Edward's reign, he reveals an aptness for balanced judgement. So the sudden overthrow of Mortimer in October 1330 was 'the first example of something that was to be a recurring theme of Edward's kingship; his ability to seize the moment, take decisive action and to win the day.'(P.91) However speedy the triumph, equally rapid were celebrations in the form of tournaments etc. whereby `Edward turned his personal style into a political art and created the public image that would sustain his monarchy over the following two generations.'(P.97). So we have Edward the pragmatist and Edward the show-off. Edward retained a great sense of drama - enlisting anonymously in the ranks of tournament competitors, accepting the pleas of petitioners, rescuing damsels in distress under wartime conditions, enjoying the thrill of gambling with state finances to cover his debts. No wonder he could be flamboyant in his gestures of charity and pay more emotional regard to the foibles of Arthurian legend while remaining conventional in orthodox religious practice. He was apt to authorise innovations in government but, `as so often, however, bold statement of intent lacked momentum'(P. 108).

In the 1330's Edward began a series of wars which transformed such features as taxation (largely from direct to indirect) and recruitment of armies. Mark Ormrod describes these in detail. However, as Ormrod remarks: `No matter how hard he tried, Edward III could never quite free himself from the embarrassment of his parents' (P. 125). And Edward did try hard, with victories at Sluys (1340), Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356) to name but the three most famous. However, he didn't escape some of the faults of his father. `The king began to exhibit traits that would reveal themselves repeatedly over the following decade: a stubborn belief in the superiority of his own views, a preference for the advice of the like-minded and a disinclination to acknowledge ambivalence or opposition'. (P. 153) That comment highlights perhaps the major weakness of Edward III and includes, as Ormrod illustrates, his reliance, sometimes, on unworthy assistance. With success Edward's ambitions grew - notably in trying to establish appanages for his sons throughout Britain and the continent. The victories may have been based on `effective leadership, sound strategy and good leadership' (P.293) but ultimately were to get nowhere, and even the wealth gained from ransoms etc. was to be frittered away largely in trying the shore up impossible dreams. For a time Edward III showed `an adeptness in the arts of political management' (P. 667) with such crowd-pleasers as the Statutes of Provisors (1351) and Praemunire (1353), both exploiting the growing xenophobia fanned by military victories, and the reinforced Statute of York in 1351, fostering trade within boroughs, and the establishment of wool staples within English towns, producing a more stable form of royal income. Add to this the panoply of tournaments and Arthurian references under-pinning the Order of the Garter (1348) and Edward's astute harnessing of nobility in support for his enterprises.

But it couldn't last. The demands of war, increasingly unsuccessful after 1360, and the greed of favourites, such as Alice Perrers and William Latimer, ran through the Crown's resources. Taxation increased as society was faced by disasters such as the Black Death and the beginnings of late medieval climate-change. So the Statute of Labourers (1351) `driven by a class prejudice that assumed the God-given right of lords and employers to deprive workers of the benefits that might otherwise have accrued from declining rents and rising wages' (P.362) was but one measure which STARTED to turn the populace against the government - started because Edward remained popular to the very end, miseries and failures were blamed on others, possibly because Edward was `presiding over the most sophisticated governmental machine yet known in the long and illustrative history of the English medieval state.' (P384).

However, Edward could not control the chimera he had created - a secure English withdrawal from France proved impossible and a complex administration fell prey to the likes of Richard Lyons whose machinations produced that universal revulsion demonstrated in the `Good Parliament' (1376). He was perhaps unlucky in that both John II of France and David II of Scotland, enemies who had succumbed to his charm, died too soon and disease and death robbed England of the Black Prince who MIGHT have proved a worthy successor. Ormrod describes how the king strived to preserve his success. He `perfected the arts of spectacle' (P.446) Perhaps he even played what today would be termed the `nationalist card'. `Edward III very deliberately complemented the extravagant assertions of national sovereignty made in the parliaments of the 1360s by representing himself and his court as recognizably English in composition, customs and culture' (P.461). But it didn't work and opposition so grew that the Crown delayed summoning Parliament towards the end of the reign. ' As the wider aristocratic involvement fell away, public perception inevitably shifted, and the court and council of Edward III, once famed for their openness and accessibility, came to be seen as closed shops dominated by the influence and ambition of the few.' (P.533). In the end, as under the early Stuarts, financial problems forced the Crown to face the storm. But it didn't fall on the king himself.

Ormrod discusses the changes in Edward's reputation over the centuries. At first he was praised as one of the greatest of English monarchs: then denigrated as `ambitious, unscrupulous, selfish, extravagant and ostentatious' (Stubbs quoted on P. 594). Ormrod insists `Edward was a relatively uncomplicated man of honest instincts and straightforward manner' (P.598) and then seems to realise that his biography has shown the opposite. Here's what I mean when Mark Ormrod considers Edward's `negative' qualities: `his rather limited intellect, his stubbornness in accepting realities that did not accord with his own ambitions...... If he had the great assets of natural charm and easy congeniality, he could also at times be petulant, wilful, vulgar and boorish. His attitude to religion, education and the arts was chiefly driven by the opportunities they offered for the adornment of the monarchy..... although he proved to be one of England's most vigorous warrior-kings, he was ultimately too easily persuaded that the trappings of power could compensate for the mundane practicalities and hard grind of rule.' (P. 599). Yes that may be o, but all that went down very well with the nation and secured Edward's reputation for centuries. No wonder Ormrod entitled his last chapter `Edward the Great'

In sum, Ormrod's biography is outstanding in its depth and its judgement.
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Brian Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive biography
Reviewed in Canada on March 30, 2022
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This well-written, comprehensive biography has footnotes at the bottom of the page, a well-constructed index, and a solid bibliography. The book is valuable for anyone interested in the 14th century.
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