Edward III of England

Edward III was crowned in January 1327 after Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer forced his father, Edward II, from the throne. Three years later he led a successful coup against Mortimer and took control himself. A campaign in Scotland went well, but his claim to the French throne in 1337 launched the Hundred Years' War. The first phase - the Edwardian War - brought stunning English victories at Crécy and Poitiers, culminating in the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, where England gained territory and Edward renounced his claim to France. His later years unraveled: failing health, domestic trouble, and a second phase of war beginning in 1369 cost him nearly all his conquests by 1375. He outlived his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, and died in June 1377, succeeded by his grandson Richard II.