Edward III Acts 3 – “Sweet flowering peace, the root of happy life, is quite abandoned and expulst the land…”

Edward III Acts 3 – “Sweet flowering peace, the root of happy life, 
is quite abandoned and expulst the land…”

I realize that many people don’t know where King Edward III sits in the history of England and why Shakespeare would write a play (or contribute 40-80% to a play) about him. Edward III himself, like Edward III the play, has faded a bit into obscurity. He was a Plantagenet king and they come before the Lancaster and York kings and their War of the Roses. Coming after Edward II (of course) Edward III is the precursor to Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VI (again), Edward IV (again), Edward V, Richard III and, of course, all this happens before the first Tudor rulers of Henry VII and then Henry VIII. But what was he known for and why would an Elizabethan playwright even write about him?

Edward III, like Elizabeth the First, had great military successes that often turned in his favor due to the weather. Like Elizabeth brought stability and authority after Henry VIII and the musical monarch chair game of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey (the 9 day Queen) and Mary I, Edward III calmed England after the disastrous reign of his own father Edward II. He also, like Elizabeth did during the hard years of 1593, brought in acts and some successful legislation to curb the effects of the Plague. He also reigned for over 50 years and lived until he was 57. Elizabeth the First lived for 69 years and reigned for 45 years. So perhaps the play is a tribute to Elizabeth and her age, her military successes, her long life and her attempts to beat the plague.

On to Act 3 and the French Camp at Flanders. The French discuss preparations to take on the English. King John of France, has the help of all of Europe. Well, maybe not all of Europe but at least the Polonians (the people of Poland), the Danes, the Bohemians and the Sicilians have turned up to the French party though I guess it was moreso for the food than the fight. A Mariner brings news of the arrival of the English fleet sparking desperate preparations and then leaves the stage to change scenery and prepare costumes for the next scene. King John and his son Philip discuss the semantics of Edward being unable to claim the French throne because John already sits on it. This is decidedly unfunny. The Mariner arrives back and tells the bloody tale of the first French defeat. This is a precursor to the bloody Captain in Macbeth who tells of Macbeth’s successes.

We then switch to the roses of Picardy where French citizens, still to discover the joys of coffee, tobacco and the café, which won’t arrive in France until the 17^th century (long after the British style coffee house was established). They discuss who has the best claim to the throne, throw around a few prophecies and, like most citizens, solve all the problems of the world in conversation.

Meanwhile King Edward commends the French traitor Gobin de Grace, for helping him (the English love a good traitor as long as it is not their own). News of more successes arrives. The king is sad to hear of so many deaths but celebrates his success anyway. King John enters and he and Edward trade insults.

“If gall or wormwood have a pleasant taste,


Then is thy salutation honey sweet…”

King John retaliates in kind, matching verbal blow for blow.

“This Champion field shall be a pool of blood,


And all our prospect as a slaughter house.”

Delivering a Henry V style rallying speech to his men, King John bids the English to do battle. Edward accepts the French challenge and arms his son the prince, who is about to participate in his first actual battle. The prince is properly armed and the men prepare to do battle.

We then move onto Cressi and French are retreating and King John is told that the garrison that arrived from Paris wanted time off after their journey from Paris. He seems a little disappointed, heaven knows why. Meanwhile King Edward hears that his son has been captured but he is a bit old fashioned and thinks that his son should be a man and fight for himself. The ‘new age’ lords are upset, but soon prince Edward arrives back with the body of the King of Bohemia. He describes the battle and the king orders the young Prince Edward and Poitiers to chase after King John while King Edward and Derby try to take Calais begirting “…that haven town with siege.”