Issue of Edward III of England

Edward III of England is "often described as the ancestor of the British upper-middle class"Burke's Presidential Families of the USA, 1981 through his sons John of Gaunt, Lionel of Antwerp, Edmund of Langley and Thomas of Woodstock. All of Edward's legitimate children were by Philippa of Hainault.

The Wars of the Roses were fought between the different factions of Edward III's descendants. The following list outlines the genealogical background of that conflict.

The sons

The Wars of the Roses were a civil war over the throne of the Kingdom of England fought among the descendants of King Edward III through his five surviving adult sons. Each branch of the family had competing claims through seniority, legitimacy, and/or the sex of their ancestors.

(1) Edward, the Black Prince (1330–1376), Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Wales

The eldest son of Edward III predeceased his father and never became king. Edward's only surviving child was Richard II who ascended to the throne but produced no heirs. Richard II designated as his heir presumptive his cousin Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, senior heir of the female line, the grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, but this succession never took place as Richard II was eventually deposed and succeeded by another of Richard's cousins, Henry Bolingbroke (who ascended as Henry IV), who was senior heir of the male line.

(2) William of Hatfield (16 February 1337 – 8 July 1337), buried at York Minster.

(3) Lionel of...... ...
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