Cultural depictions of Edward III of England

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Edward III of England is the central character in the play Edward III, sometimes attributed to William Shakespeare. He also appears as a boy in Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. Edward is also the protagonist of William Blake's early drama Edward the Third, part of his Poetical Sketches, published in 1783. George Bernard Shaw portrayed Edward for dramatic purposes as, in Shaw's preface to The Six of Calais, behaving himself like an unrestrained human being in a very trying situation.

Edward III has rarely been portrayed on screen. He was portrayed by Charles Kent in the 1911 silent short The Death of King Edward III and by Michael Hordern in the 1955 film The Dark Avenger, about Edward, the Black Prince. As a boy he has been portrayed by Stéphane Combesco in the 1982 French TV adaptation of Marlowe's play and by Jody Graber in Derek Jarman's 1991 version. In World Without End (2012), Blake Ritson portrayed Edward III.

Edward is portrayed as the son of Isabella and the Scottish rebel, William Wallace, in the 1995 film Braveheart. This is historically impossible, as Wallace died seven years before Edward was born when Isabella was about 17 years old. It is extremely unlikely William Wallace and Isabella ever met.[1]

Edward appears in Maurice Druon's series of historical novels Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings). Jean-Louis Broust portrayed him in the 1972 French TV adaptation of these novels, and Aurélien Wiik played the role in the 2005 French TV adaptation.[2]

Edward is a major character in The King's Mistress by Emma Campion and her Owen Archer mystery novel The Lady Chapel (1994) under the name Candace Robb. He appears in the 2000 Bernard Cornwell novel Harlequin, as well as in the 2007 Ken Follett novel World Without End, the sequel to Pillars of the Earth. Edward also appears briefly in The First Princess of Wales by Karen Harper.

References

  1. Ewan, Elizabeth. "Braveheart." American Historical Review. Vol. 100, No. 4. October 1995., pp. 1219–21.
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