issue present as
against Philip of Valois. Charles IV., the king just dead, had a sister
Isabella, and Isabella was the mother of Edward III. of England.

But an elder brother to Charles IV., namely, Louis X., had himself left a
daughter, who was now the Queen of Navarre.

If this principle that the daughter or the issue of the daughter of an
elder brother should count before the male issue of a younger brother had
been granted in its entirety, Edward would have had no claim, because this
elder brother of Charles IV., Louis X., had had issue--that daughter,
Joan, the wife of the King of Navarre. So Edward qualified this first
general principle, that one could inherit through women, by another
principle, to wit, that, though the _claim_ to the throne should proceed
through the _daughters_ of _elder_ brothers rather than through the _sons_
of _younger_ ones, yet the _throne_ could _itself_ only actually be held
by a male!

By this tortuous combination Edward III. advanced his claim. His mother
had been the grand-daughter of Philip III. of France, and he was a male.
Her father was the elder brother of Philip of Valois' father, so he
claimed before Philip of Valois.

The whole scheme is apparent from the following table:--

Philip III. 1270-1285.
|
|
----------------------------------------------
| |
Philip IV. 1285-1314 Charles of Valois
| |
------------------------------------- |
| | | | |
Louis X. Philip V. Charles IV. Isabella=Edward II. Philip VI.
1314-1316 1316-1322 1322-1328 | 1328-1350
| | (_Crecy_)
| | |
| Edward III. |
Joan=King of Navarre | John
Edward the Black 1350-1364
Prince. (_Poitiers_).

But, I repeat, we must not take Edward's political claim too seriously.
His real object was not so much to establish himself upon the throne of
France and to create a great French-s