Edward of Windsor inherited a dishonoured crown. His father was deposed; his mother lived in open adultery with the upstart Mortimer, the nobility was disaffected, and the Scots had inflicted a humiliating defeat on the English at Bannockburn. But from this unhappy beginning, Edward III swept the nation forward on a tide of victory. He established his independence in a coup against Mortimer, reunited the nobility around the crownm defeated the Scots and Halidon Hill and in the brilliant victory at Crecy against the French, raised English prestige to unparalleled heights. His achievements were not only military. The happiness of his family life formed the corner-stone of a court renowned for its chivalry, and his foundation of the Order of the Garter emulated the legends of Arthur's knights. With Queen Philippa he gave his patronage to writers and musicians, including the young Chaucer, and to self-made men like William of Wykeham, the founder of Winchester School and New College, Oxford. When, in the years of Edward's dotage, the French regained their lost territories and the Scots reasserted their independence, the peaceful achievements of Edward's reign survived. The prosperous growth of the cloth trade, the flowering of a native literature, and the sense of nationhood among the English were his enduring triumphs...