'He outlived his own mental and physical powers, the closest companions of his wars, his greatest ministers and lieutenants, and his heir' Edward III lived through violent and turbulent times, becoming famed for his many military triumphs and the chivalric splendour of his court during his fifty-year reign. Yet, as Jonathan Sumption's hugely enjoyable account of Edward's rise and fall shows, he thirsted too much for glory and, ultimately, ended his life a heroic failure.