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.The political appeal for a savior for France, which Christinehad launched for almost three decades on behalf of her adoptive coun-try, had finally been answered not by royalty, but by a simple shep-herdess. It is believed that Christine, who communicated such confidence in1429 that Joan would produce the sweeping victory needed to reclaimall France, probably died before she could learn of the Maid s capture onMay 23, 1430.As Christine was a female writer, her career was uncon-ventional, but her works were well respected by her contemporaries.Boththe poets Eustache Deschamps and Martin Le Franc praised her in theirpoetry.Although her writings have been brought to a broad audienceonly in the last fifty years, today her talent and political discernment arealmost universally recognized.Christine was, after all, among many otheraccomplishments, the first writer to devote a significant literary work toher more famous female contemporary, Joan of Arc.Edward III (1312 1377, r.1327 1377)In 1327, as a boy of fourteen, Edward III was thrust into the role ofEnglish monarch.His mother, Isabella, had been sent to France in March1325 to negotiate a settlement between her husband, Edward II, andbrother, Charles IV, king of France, after war broke out in Aquitaine in1324.To save Edward II the humiliation of swearing homage to the kingof France, the young Edward did homage for Aquitaine in September1325.Instead of returning to England as foreseen, Isabella and an escaped 86 BiographiesEnglish rebel, Roger Mortimer, gathered a small force and invaded Eng-land in 1326.Edward II was deposed and died in prison, presumably mur-dered on Mortimer s orders.Once rid of Edward II, Isabella and Mortimerran the affairs of the kingdom as they pleased, even resorting to the ex-ecution of the young Edward s uncle, the earl of Kent, to control dissent.Edward might have caved in to the pressures of his early circumstancesand become a weak man.Instead he seized power from Mortimer, whowas tried and executed in 1330, and sent his mother into retirement onrich estates.In February 1328, one year into Edward s reign, Charles IV died inFrance, leaving no male heir.Edward s French cousin Philip of Valois washastily elected king.In May 1328 Isabella made the case to Parliamentthat Edward s right as French heir should be recognized.When the claimwas put forward by ambassadors, the French rejected it, arguing thatwomen could not transmit to their sons rights which they themselvesnever possessed.Edward refused to accept this decision, at least out-wardly, and his insistence on his right to the French crown became ahallmark of his politics.Scholars still disagree as to Edward s sincerity inasserting his right to the French throne.Facing war in Scotland in 1333, Edward did not immediately provokewar with Philip VI.Instead he maintained a foreign policy of prudentduplicity with regard to France.At the Tower of London in January of1337, he urged his council to seek peace, but at the same time he builta fleet and counted his allies.On August 28, 1337, Edward made the casebefore his council that any war against France would be a defensive war,in view of Philip s naked aggression.Soon after he concluded a hard-wonalliance with Flanders, Edward publicly proclaimed his title to the throneof France in February 1340.It was the first English claim to a dual monar-chy.Edward s first campaign to secure his new kingdom ended in failure;he signed the truce of Esplechin in September 1340.After 1342, Edwardfound a pretext for war against Philip VI in the duchy of Brittany, afterPhilip decided the disputed ducal title in favor of his nephew Charles ofBlois.In June 1344, the English parliament voted war subsidies that al-lowed Edward to set sail for France to take what God may bestow uponhim. 2After a papal peace conference at Avignon failed to reconcile the twocousins, Edward invaded Normandy in July 1346, defying French expec- Biographies 87tations of an attack on Aquitaine.Counting on the destructive Englishtactic known as the chevauchée a raiding maneuver developed in theScottish wars that targeted civilian populations instead of direct mili-tary confrontation, Edward III was nonetheless forced into pitched bat-tle against the French at Crécy.There he scored a glorious victory againstsuperior French forces in August 1346
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