wn, having been two years previously proclaimed king;
during his reign the ascendency of the Church and the nobles received a
check, the growing aspiration of the people for a larger share in the
affairs of the nation was met by an extended franchise, while the right
of Parliament to regulate taxation was recognised; under his reign Wales
was finally subdued and annexed to England, and a temporary conquest of
Scotland was achieved (1239-1307).

EDWARD II., king of England (1307-1327), son of the preceding; was
first Prince of Wales, being born at Carnarvon; being a weakling was
governed by favourites, Gaveston and the Spencers, whose influence, as
foreigners and unpatriotic, offended the barons, who rose against him; in
1314 Scotland rose in arms under Bruce, and an ill-fated expedition under
him ended in the crushing defeat at Bannockburn; in 1327 he was deposed,
and was brutally murdered in Berkeley Castle (1284-1327).

EDWARD III., king of England (1327-1377), son of the preceding,
married Philippa of Hainault; during his boyhood the government was
carried on by a council of regency; in 1328 the independence of Scotland
was recognised, and nine years later began the Hundred Years' War with
France, memorable in this reign for the heroic achievements of EDWARD
THE BLACK PRINCE (q. v.), the king's eldest son; associated with
this reign are the glorious victories of Crecy and Poitiers, and the
great naval battle at Sluys, one of the earliest victories of English
arms at sea; these successes were not maintained in the later stages of
the war, and the treaty of Bretigny involved the withdrawal of Edward's
claim to the French crown; in 1376 the Black Prince died.

EDWARD IV., king of England (1461-1483), son of Richard, Duke of
York, and successor to the Lancastrian Henry VI., whom he defeated at
Towton; throughout his reign the country was torn by the Wars of the
Roses, in which victory rested with the Yorkists at Hedgeley Moor,
Hexham, Barnet, and Tewkesbury; in this reign little social progress was
made, but a great step towards it was made by the introduction of
printing by Caxton (1442-1483)

EDWARD V., king of England for three months in 1483, son of the
preceding; deposed by his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester; was
ultimately murdered in the Tower, along with his young brother
(1470-1483).

EDWARD VI., king of England (1547-1553), son of Henry VIII. and Jane
Seymour; his reign, which was a brief one