Edward the Black Prince

"The Black Prince" redirects here. For other uses, see The Black Prince (disambiguation).

Edward of Woodstock
Prince of Wales; Prince of Aquitaine Duke of Cornwall Earl of Chester
Edward, Prince of Wales as Knight of the order of the Garter, 1453, illustration from the Bruges Garter Book
Born	(1330-06-15)15 June 1330 Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire
Died	8 June 1376(1376-06-08) (aged 45) Westminster Palace, London
Burial	29 September 1376 Canterbury Cathedral, Kent
Spouse	Joan, 4th Countess of Kent ​ ​ (m. 1361)​
Issue more...	Edward of Angoulême Richard II of England
House	Plantagenet
Father	Edward III of England
Mother	Philippa of Hainault

Edward of Woodstock known as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault and he participated in the early years of the Hundred Years War. He died before his father and so never became king. His son inherited the Crown on the death of Edward III, becoming King Richard II.

Edward was created Duke of Cornwall in 1337. He was guardian of the kingdom in his father's absence in 1338, 1340, and 1342. He was created Prince of Wales in 1343 and knighted by his father at La Hogne in 1346.

In 1346 Edward commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy, his father intentionally leaving him to win the battle. He was named the Black Prince after the battle of Crécy, at which he was possibly accoutred in black armour. He took part in Edward III's 1349 Calais expedition. In 1355 he was appointed the king's lieutenant in Gascony, and ordered to lead an army into Aquitaine on a Chevauchée, during which he pillaged Avignonet and Casteluaudary, sacked Carcassonne, and plundered Narbonne. The next year (1356) on another Chevauchée he ravaged Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry but failed to take Bourges. He offered terms of peace to King John II of France, who had outflanked him near Poitiers, but refused to surrender himself as the price of their acceptance. This led to the Battle of Poitiers where his army routed the French and took King John prisoner.

The year after Poitiers the Black Prince returned to England. In 1360 he negotiated the treaty of Bretigny. He was created Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony in 1362; his suzerainty disowned by the lord of Albret and other Gascon nobles. He was directed by his father to forbid the marauding raids of the English and Gascon free companies in 1364.

The Black Prince entered into an agreement with don Pedro of Castile and Charles of Navarre, by which Pedro covenanted to mortgage Castro de Urdiales and the province of Biscay to him as security for a loan; in 1366 a passage was thus secured through Navarre. In 1367 he received a letter of defiance from Henry of Trastamare, Don Pedro's half-brother and rival. The same year he after an obstinate conflict he defeated Henry at the Battle of Nájera. However, after a wait of several months, during which he failed to obtain either the province of Biscay or liquidation of the debt from Don Pedro, he returned to Aquitaine.

The Black Prince prevailed on the estates of Aquitaine to allow him a hearth-tax of ten sous for five years, 1368, thereby alienating the lord of Albret and other nobles; drawn into open war with Charles V of France, 1369; took Limoges, where he gave orders for an indiscriminate massacre (1370) in revenge for the voluntary surrender of that town to the French by its bishop, who had been his private friend.

The Black Prince returned to England in 1371 and the next year resigned the principality of Aquitaine and Gascony. He led the commons in their attack upon the Lancastrian administration in 1376. He died in 1376 and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, where his surcoat, helmet, shield, and gauntlets are still preserved.

Early life

Edward was the eldest son of Edward III and Queen Philippa, was born at Woodstock on 15 June 1330. His father on 10 Sept. allowed five hundred marks a year from the profits of the county of Chester for his maintenance, and on 25 Feb. following the whole of these profits were assigned to the queen for maintaining him and the king's sister Eleanor. In the July of that year the king proposed to marry him to a daughter of Philip VI of France.

On 18 March 1333 Edward was invested with the earldom and county of Chester, and in the parliament of 9 Feb. 1337 he was created Duke of Cornwall and received the duchy by charter dated 17 March. This is the earliest instance of the creation of a duke in England. By the terms of the charter the duchy was to be held by him and the eldest sons of kings of England. His tutor was Dr. Walter Burley of Merton College, Oxford. His revenues were placed at the disposal of his mother in March 1334 for the expenses she incurred in bringing up him and his two sisters, Isabella and Joan. Rumours of an impending French invasion led the king in August 1335 to order that he and his household should remove to Nottingham Castle as a place of safety.

When two cardinals came to England at the end of 1337 to make peace between Edward III and Philip VI, the Duke of Cornwall is said to have met the cardinals outside the city of London, and in company with many nobles to have conducted them to the King Edward. On 11 July 1338 his father, who was on the point of leaving England for Flanders, appointed him guardian of the kingdom during his absence, and he was appointed to the same office on 27 May 1340 and 6 Oct. 1342; he was of course too young to take any save a nominal part in the administration, which was carried on by the council. In order to attach John, Duke of Brabant, to his cause, the king in 1339 proposed a marriage between the young Duke of Cornwall and John's daughter Margaret, and in the spring of 1345 wrote urgently to Pope Clement VI for a dispensation for this marriage.

Prince of Wales and first French campaigns

A painted carving on the main gate of Oriel College, Oxford, depicting the badge of the Prince of Wales.

On 12 May 1343 Edward created the duke Prince of Wales, in a parliament held at Westminster, investing him with a circlet, gold ring, and silver rod. The prince accompanied his father to Sluys on 3 July 1345, and Edward tried to persuade the burgomasters of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres to accept his son as their lord, but the murder of Jacob van Artevelde put an end to this project. Both in September and in the following April the prince was called on to furnish troops from his principality and earldom for the impending campaign in France, and as he incurred heavy debts in the king's service his father authorised him to make his will, and provided that in case he fell in the war his executors should have all his revenue for a year.

Crécy campaign

The Black Prince at Crécy

Edward, Prince of Wales sailed with King Edward III on 11 July 1346, and as soon as he landed at La Hogue received knighthood from his father. Then he "made a right good beginning", for he rode through the Cotentin, burning and ravaging as he went, and distinguished himself at the taking of Caen and in the engagement with the force under Sir Godemar du Faÿ, which endeavoured to prevent the English army from crossing the Somme by the ford of Blanquetaque.

Early on Saturday, 26 August, before the start of the battle of Crécy, Edward, Prince of Wales received the sacrament with his father at Crécy, and took the command of the right, or van, of the army with the Earls of Warwick and Oxford, Sir Geoffrey de Harcourt, Sir John Chandos, and other leaders, and at the head, it is said, though the numbers are by no means trustworthy, of eight hundred men-at-arms, two thousand archers, and a thousand Welsh foot. When the Genoese bowmen were discomfited and the front line of the French was in some disorder, the prince appears to have quitted his position in order to fall on their second line. At this moment, however, the Count of Alençon charged his division with such fury that he was in much peril, and the leaders who commanded with him sent a messenger to tell his father that he was in great straits and to beg for succour.

The Black Prince meets King Edward after the battle of Crécy.

When Edward learned that his son was unwounded, he bade the messenger go back and say that he would send no help, for he would that the lad should win his spurs (the prince was, however, already a knight), that the day should be his, and that he and those who had charge of him should have the honour of it. It is said that the prince was thrown to the ground, and was rescued by Richard de Beaumont, who carried the banner of Wales, and who threw the banner over the prince, stood over his body, and beat back his assailants Harcourt now sent to Earl of Arundel for help, and he forced back the French, who had probably by this time advanced to the rising ground of the English position.

A flank attack on the side of Wadicourt was next made by the Counts of Alençon and Ponthieu, but the English were strongly entrenched there, and the French were unable to penetrate the defences and lost the Duke of Lorraine and the Counts of Alençon and Blois.

The Black Prince being made a Knight of the Garter

The two front lines of their army were utterly broken before King Philip's division engaged. Then Edward appears to have advanced at the head of the reserve, and the rout soon became complete. When Edward met his son after the battle was over, he embraced him and declared that he had acquitted himself loyally, and the prince bowed low and did reverence to his father. The next day he joined the king in paying funeral honours to King John of Bohemia.

The prince was present at the Siege of Calais (1346–1347), and after the surrender of the town harried and burned the country for 30 miles (48 km) around, and brought much booty back with him. He returned to England with his father on 12 October 1347, took part in the jousts and other festivities of the court, and was invested by the king with the new order of the Garter (1348).

Calais campaign and the naval Battle of Winchelsea

The Black Prince shared in the king's expedition to Calais in the last days of 1349, came to the rescue of his father, and when the combat was over and the king and his prisoners sat down to feast, he and the other English knights served the king and his guests at the first course and then sat down to meat at another table. When the king embarked at Winchelsea on 28 August 1350 to intercept the fleet of La Cerda, the Prince sailed with him, though in another ship, and in company with his brother, the young John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond. During the Battle of Winchelsea his ship was grappled by a large Spanish ship and was so full of leaks that it was likely to sink, and though he and his knights attacked the enemy manfully, they were unable to take her. Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster came to his rescue and attacked the Spaniard on the other side; she was soon taken, her crew were thrown into the sea, and as the Prince and his men got on board her their own ship foundered.

Cheshire expedition

In 1353 some disturbances seem to have broken out in Cheshire, for the Prince as Earl of Chester marched with the Henry of Grosmont, now Duke of Lancaster to the neighbourhood of Chester to protect the justices, who were holding an assize there. The men of the earldom offered to pay him a heavy fine to bring the assize to an end, but when they thought they had arranged matters the justices opened an inquisition of trailbaston, took a large sum of money from them, and seized many houses and much land into the prince's, their earl's, hands. On his return from Chester the prince is said to have passed by the Abbey of Dieulacres in Staffordshire, to have seen a noble church which his grandfather, Edward I, had built there, and to have granted five hundred marks, a tenth of the sum he had taken from his earldom, towards its completion; the abbey was almost certainly not Dieulacres but Vale Royal.

Aquitaine campaign

When Edward III determined to renew the war with France in 1355, he ordered the Black Prince to lead an army into Aquitaine while he, as his plan was, acted with the king of Navarre in Normandy, and the Duke of Lancaster upheld the cause of John of Montfort in Brittany. The prince's expedition was made in accordance with the request of some of the Gascon lords who were anxious for plunder. On 10 July the king appointed him his lieutenant in Gascony, and gave him powers to act in his stead, and, on 4 August, to receive homages. He left London for Plymouth on 30 June, was detained there by contrary winds, and set sail on 8 September with about three hundred ships, in company with four earls (Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, William Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, William Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, and John Vere, Earl of Oxford), and in command of a thousand men-at-arms, two thousand archers, and a large body of Welsh foot. At Bordeaux the Gascon lords received him with much rejoicing. It was decided to make a short campaign before the winter, and on 10 October he set out with fifteen hundred lances, two thousand archers, and three thousand light foot. Whatever scheme of operations the King may have formed during the summer, this expedition of the Prince was purely a piece of marauding. After grievously harrying the counties of Juliac, Armagnac, Astarac, and part of Comminges, he crossed the Garonne at Sainte-Marie a little above Toulouse, which was occupied by the John I, Count of Armagnac and a considerable force. The count refused to allow the garrison to make a sally, and the prince passed on, stormed and burnt Mont Giscar, where many men, women, and children were ill-treated and slain, and took and pillaged Avignonet and Castelnaudary. All the country was rich, and the people "good, simple, and ignorant of war", so the prince took great spoil, especially of carpets, draperies, and jewels, for "the robbers" spared nothing, and the Gascons who marched with him were specially greedy.

Carcassonne was taken and sacked, but he did not take the citadel, which was strongly situated and fortified. Ourmes (or Homps, near Narbonne) and Trébes bought off his army. He plundered Narbonne and thought of attacking the citadel, for he heard that there was much booty there, but gave up the idea on finding that it was well defended. While he was there a messenger came to him from the papal court, urging him to allow negotiations for peace. He replied that he could do nothing without knowing his father's will. From Narbonne he turned to march back to Bordeaux. The Count of Armagnac tried to intercept him, but a small body of French having been defeated in a skirmish near Toulouse the rest of the army retreated into the city, and the prince returned in peace to Bordeaux, bringing back with him enormous spoils. The expedition lasted eight weeks, during which the prince only rested eleven days in all the places he visited, and without performing any feat of arms did the French king much mischief. During the next month, before 21 January 1356, the leaders under his command reduced five towns and seventeen castles.

Poitiers campaign

Battle of Poitiers

On 6 July 1356 the Black Prince set out on another expedition, undertaken with the intention of passing through France to Normandy, and there giving aid to his father's Norman allies, the party headed by the king of Navarre and Geoffrey Harcourt. In Normandy he expected, he says, to be met by his father, He crossed the Dordogne at Bergerac on 4 August, and rode through Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry, plundering and burning as he went until he came to Bourges, where he burnt the suburbs but failed to take the city. He then turned westward and made an unsuccessful attack on Issoudun, 25–27 August Meanwhile King John II was gathering a large force at Chartres, from which he was able to defend the passages of the Loire, and was sending troops to the fortresses that seemed in danger of attack. From Issoudun the prince returned to his former line of march and took Vierzon. There he learnt that it would be impossible for him to cross the Loire or to form a junction with Lancaster, who was then in Brittany. Accordingly he determined to return to Bordeaux by way of Poitiers, and after putting to death most of the garrison of the castle of Vierzon set out on 29 October towards Romorantin.

Some French knights who skirmished with the English advanced guard retreated into Romorantin, and when the Black Prince heard of this he said: "Let us go there; I should like to see them a little nearer". He inspected the fortress in person and sent his friend Chandos to summon the garrison to surrender. The place was defended by Boucicault and other leaders, and on their refusing his summons he assaulted it on the 31 August. The siege lasted three days, and the prince, who was enraged at the death of one of his friends, declared that he would not leave the place untaken. Finally he set fire to the roofs of the fortress by using Greek fire, reduced it on 3 September.

On 5 September the English proceeded to march through Berry. On the 9 September King John II, who had now gathered a large force, crossed the Loire at Blois and went in pursuit of them. When the king was at Loches on the 12 September he had as many as twenty thousand men-at-arms, and with these and his other forces he advanced to Chauvigny. On the 16 and 17 September his army crossed the Vienne.

Meanwhile the prince was marching almost parallel to the French and at only a few miles (kilometres) distance from them. It is impossible to believe Froissart's statement that he was ignorant of the movements of the French. From the 14 to 16 september he was at Châtellerault, and on the next day, Saturday, as he was marching towards Poitiers, some French men-at-arms skirmished with his advance guard, pursued them up to the main body of his army, and were all slain or taken prisoners. The French king had outstripped him, and his retreat was cut off by an army at least fifty thousand strong, while he had not, it is said, more than about two thousand men-at-arms, four thousand archers, and fifteen hundred light foot. Lancaster had endeavoured to come to his relief, but had been stopped by the French at Pont-de-Cé.

When the Black Prince knew that the French army lay between him and Poitiers, he took up his position on some rising ground to the south-east of the city, between the right bank of the Miausson and the old Roman road, probably on a spot now called La Cardinerie, a farm in the commune of Beauvoir, for the name Maupertuis has long gone out of use, and remained there that night. The next day, Sunday, the 18th, the cardinal, Hélie Talleyrand, called "of Périgord", obtained leave from King John II to endeavour to make peace. The prince was willing enough to come to terms, and offered to give up all the towns and castles he had conquered, to set free all his prisoners, and not to serve against the king of France for seven years, besides, it is said, offering a payment of a hundred thousand francs. King John, however, was persuaded to demand that the prince and a hundred of his knights should surrender themselves up as prisoners, and to this he would not consent. The cardinal's negotiations lasted the whole day, and were protracted in the interest of the French, for John II was anxious to give time for further reinforcements to join his army. Considering the position in which the prince then was, it seems probable that the French might have destroyed his little army simply by hemming it in with a portion of their host, and so either starving it or forcing it to leave its strong station and fight in the open with the certainty of defeat. Anyway John II made a fatal mistake in allowing the prince the respite of Sunday; for while the negotiations were going forward he employed his army in strengthening its position. The English front was well covered by vines and hedges; on its left and rear was the ravine of the Miausson and a good deal of broken ground, and its right was flanked by the wood and abbey of Nouaillé. All through the day the army was busily engaged in digging trenches and making fences, so that it stood, as at Crécy, in a kind of entrenched camp.

The Black Prince drew up his men in three divisions, the first being commanded by the earls of Warwick and Suffolk, the second by himself, and the rear by Salisbury and Oxford. The French were drawn up in four divisions, one behind the other, and so lost much of the advantage of their superior numbers. In front of his first line and on either side of the narrow lane that led to his position the prince stationed his archers, who were well protected by hedges, and posted a kind of ambush of three hundred men-at-arms and three hundred mounted archers, who were to fall on the flank of the second battle of the enemy, commanded by the Charles, Duke of Normandy.

The Black Prince accepting the surrender of King John II.

At daybreak on the 19 September the Black Prince addressed his little army, and the fight began. An attempt was made by three hundred picked men-at-arms to ride through the narrow lane and force the English position, but they were shot down by the archers. A body of Germans and the first division of the army which followed were thrown into disorder; then the English force in ambush charged the second division on the flank, and as it began to waver the English men-at-arms mounted their horses, which they had kept near them, and charged down the hill. The prince kept Chandos by his side, and his friend did him good service in the fray. As they prepared to charge he cried: "John, get forward; you shall not see me turn my back this day, but I will be ever with the foremost", and then he shouted to his banner-bearer, "Banner, advance, in the name of God and St. George!". All the French except the advance guard fought on foot, and the division of the Duke of Normandy, already wavering, could not stand against the English charge and fled in disorder. The next division, under the Philip, Duke of Orléans, also fled, though not so shamefully, but the rear, under the King John II in person, fought with much gallantry. The prince, "who had the courage of a lion, took great delight that day in the fight". The combat lasted until a little after 3 p.m., and the French, who were utterly defeated, left eleven thousand dead on the field, of whom 2,426 were men of gentle birth. Nearly a hundred counts, barons, and bannerets and two thousand men-at-arms, besides many others, were made prisoners, and the king and his youngest son, Philip were among those who were taken. The English loss was not large.

The Black Prince serving a meal to the recently captured King John II.

When King John II was brought to him, the prince received him with respect, helped him to take off his armour, and entertained him and the greater part of the princes and barons who had been made prisoners at supper. He served at the king's table and would not sit down with him, declaring that "he was not worthy to sit at table with so great a king or so valiant a man", and speaking many comfortable words to him, for which the French praised him highly. The next day the Black Prince continued his retreat on Bordeaux; he marched warily, but no one ventured to attack him.

At Bordeaux, which the Black Prince reached on 2 October, he was received with much rejoicing, and he and his men tarried there through the winter and wasted in festivities the immense spoil they had gathered. On 23 March 1357 the prince concluded a two years' truce, for he wished to return home. The Gascon lords were unwilling that King John II should be carried off to England, and the prince gave them a hundred thousand crowns to silence their murmurs. He left the country under the government of four Gascon lords and arrived in England on 4 May, after a voyage of eleven days, landing at Plymouth. When he entered London in triumph on the 24 May, King John II, his prisoner, rode a fine white charger, while he was mounted on a little black hackney. Judged by modem ideas the prince's show of humility appears affected, and the Florentine chronicler remarks that the honour done to King John II must have increased the misery of the captive and magnified the glory of King Edward; but this comment argues a refinement of feeling which neither Englishmen nor Frenchmen of that day had probably attained.

England, tournaments and debts

After his return to England the Black Prince took part in the many festivals and tournaments of his father's court, and in May 1359 he and the king and other challengers held the lists at a joust proclaimed at London by the mayor and sheriff's, and, to the great delight of the citizens, the king appeared as the mayor and the prince as the senior sheriff. Festivities of this sort and the lavish gifts he bestowed on his friends brought him into debt, and on 27 August, when a new expedition into France was being prepared, the king granted that if he fell his executors should have his whole estate for four years for the payment of his debts.

Reims campaign

In October 1359 the Black Prince sailed with his father to Calais, and led a division of the army during the Reims Campaign (1359–1360). At its close he took the principal part on the English side in negotiating the treaty of Bretigny, and the preliminary truce arranged at Chartres on 7 May 1360 was drawn up by proctors acting in his name and the name of Charles, Duke of Normandy, the regent of France. He probably did not return to England until after his father, who landed at Rye on 18 May. On 9 July he and Henry, duke of Lancaster, landed at Calais in attendance on the French king. As, however, the stipulated instalment of the king's ransom was not ready, he returned to England, leaving John in charge of Sir Walter Manny and three other knights. He accompanied his father to Calais on 9 October to assist at the liberation of King John and the ratification of the treaty. He rode with John to Boulogne, where he made his offering in the Church of the Virgin. He returned with King Edward to England at the beginning of November.

Marriage to Joan

On 10 October 1361 the prince, who was then in his thirty-first year, married his cousin Joan, countess of Kent, daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, younger son of Edward I, and Margaret, daughter of Philip III of France, and widow of Thomas lord Holland, and in right of his wife earl of Kent, then in her thirty-third year, and the mother of three children. As the prince and the countess were related in the third degree, and also by the spiritual tie of sponsorship, the prince being godfather to Joan's elder son Thomas, a dispensation was obtained for their marriage from Pope Innocent VI, though they appear to have been contracted before it was applied for. The marriage was performed at Windsor, in the presence of King Edward III, by Simon Langham, archbishop of Canterbury. According to Jean Froissart the contract of marriage (the engagement) was entered into without the knowledge of the king. The prince and his wife resided at Berkhampstead in Hertfordshire.

Lord of Aquitaine and Gascony

Edward, the Black Prince, is granted Aquitaine by his father King Edward III. Initial letter "E" of miniature, 1390; British Library, shelfmark: Cotton MS Nero D VI, f.31

On 19 July 1362 his father, Edward III granted the Black Prince all his dominions in Aquitaine and Gascony, to be held as a principality by liege homage on payment of an ounce of gold each year, together with the title of Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony. During the rest of the year he was occupied in preparing for his departure to his new principality, and after Christmas he received the king and his court at Berkhampstead, took leave of his father and mother, and in the following February sailed with his wife, Joan, and all his household for Gascony, landing at La Rochelle.

At La Rochelle the prince was met by John Chandos, the king's lieutenant, and proceeded with him to Poitiers, where he received the homage of the lords of Poitou and Saintonge; he then rode to various cities and at last came to Bordeaux, where from 9 to 30 July he received the homage of the lords of Gascony. He received all graciously, and kept a splendid court, residing sometimes at Bordeaux and sometimes at Angoulême.

The prince appointed Chandos constable of Guyenne, and provided the knights of his household with profitable offices. They kept much state, and their extravagance displeased the people. Many of the Gascon lords were dissatisfied at being handed over to the dominion of the English, and the favour the prince showed to his own countrymen, and the ostentatious magnificence they exhibited, increased this feeling of dissatisfaction. Arnaud Amanieu, Lord of Albret and many more were always ready to give what help they could to the French cause, and the Gaston, Count of Foix, though he visited the prince on his first arrival, was thoroughly French at heart, and gave some trouble in 1365 by refusing to do homage for Bearn. Charles V, who succeeded to the throne of France in April 1364, was careful to encourage the malcontents, and the prince's position was by no means easy.

In April 1363 the prince mediated between the Counts of Foix and Armagnac, who had for a long time been at war with each other. He also attempted in the following February to mediate between Charles of Blois and John of Montfort, the rival competitors for the Duchy of Brittany. Both appeared before him at Poitiers, but his mediation was unsuccessful.

The next month, May 1363, the prince entertained the Peter, King of Cyprus at Angoulême, and held a tournament there. At the same time he and his lords excused themselves from assuming the cross. During the summer the lord of Albret was at Paris, and his forces and several other Gascon lords held the French cause in Normandy against the party of Navarre. Meanwhile war was renewed in Brittany; the prince allowed Chandos to raise and lead a force to succour the party of Montfort, and Chandos won the Battle of Auray (29 September 1364) against the French.

As the leaders of the free companies which desolated France were for the most part Englishmen or Gascons, they did not ravage Aquitaine, and the prince was suspected, probably not without cause, of encouraging, or at least of taking no pains to discourage, their proceedings. Accordingly on 14 November 1364 Edward III called upon him to restrain their ravages.

Spanish campaign

In 1365 the free companies, under Sir Hugh Calveley and other leaders, took service with Bertrand du Guesclin, who employed them in 1366 in compelling Peter of Castile to flee from his kingdom, and in setting up his bastard brother, Henry of Trastamare, as king in his stead. Peter, who was in alliance with Edward III, sent messengers to the Black Prince asking his help, and on receiving a gracious answer at Corunna, set out at once, and arrived at Bayonne with his son and his three daughters. The prince met him at Capbreton, and rode with him to Bordeaux.

Many of the prince's lords, both English and Gascon, were unwilling that he should espouse Peter's cause, but he declared that it was not fitting that a bastard should inherit a kingdom, or drive out his lawfully born brother, and that no king or king's son ought to suffer such disrespect to royalty; nor could any turn him from his determination to restore the king.

Peter won friends by declaring that he would make Edward's son king of Galicia, and would divide his riches among those who helped him. A parliament was held at Bordeaux, in which it was decided to ask the wishes of the English king. Edward replied that it was right that his son should help Peter, and the prince held another parliament at which the king's letter was read. Then the lords agreed to give their help, provided that their pay was secured to them. In order to give them the required security, the prince agreed to lend Peter whatever money was necessary.

The price and Peter then held a conference with Charles of Navarre at Bayonne, and agreed with him to allow their troops to pass through his dominions. In order to persuade him to do this, Peter had, besides other grants, to pay him 56,000 florins, and this sum was lent him by the prince. On 23 September a series of agreements were entered into between the prince, Peter, and Charles of Navarre, at Libourne, on the Dordogne, by which Peter covenanted to put the prince in possession of the province of Biscay and the territory and fortress of Castro de Urdialès as pledges for the repayment of this debt, to pay 550,000 florins for six months' wages at specified dates, 250,000 florins being the prince's wages, and 800,000 florins the wages of the lords who were to serve in the expedition. He consented to leave his three daughters in the prince's hands as hostages for the fulfilment of these terms, and further agreed that whenever the king, the prince, or their heirs, the king of England, should march in person against the Moors, they should have the command of the van before all other christian kings, and that if they were not present the banner of the king of England should be carried in the van side by side with the banner of Castile.

The prince received a hundred thousand francs from his father out of the ransom of John II, the late king of France, and broke up his plate to help to pay the soldiers he was taking into his pay. While his army was assembling he remained at Angoulême, and was there visited by Peter. He then stayed over Christmas at Bordeaux, for his wife, Joan, was there brought to bed of her second son Richard (the next king of England).

The Black Prince left Bordeaux early in February 1367, and joined his army at Dax, where he remained three days, and received a reinforcement of four hundred men-at-arms and four hundred archers sent out by his father under his brother John, duke of Lancaster. From Dax the prince advanced via Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port through Roncesvalles (in the Pyrenees) to Pamplona (the capital of Kingdom of Navarre).

When Calveley and other English and Gascon leaders of free companies found that the Black Prince was about to fight for Peter, they withdrew from the service of Henry of Trastamare, and joined the Black Prince "because he was their natural lord". While the prince was at Pamplona he received a letter of defiance from Henry.

From Pamplona the prince marched by Arruiz to Salvatierra, which opened its gates to his army, and thence advanced to Vitoria, intending to march on Burgos by this direct route. A body of his knights, which he had sent out to reconnoitre under Sir William Felton, was defeated by a skirmishing party, and he found that Henry had occupied some strong positions, and especially Santo Domingo de la Calzada on the right of the river Ebro, and Zaldiaran mountain on the left, which made it impossible for him to reach Burgos through Álava. Accordingly he crossed the Ebro, and encamped under the walls of Logroño. During these movements the prince's army had suffered from want of provisions both for men and horses, and from wet and windy weather. At Logroño, however, though provisions were still scarce, they were somewhat better off.

On 30 March 1367 the prince wrote an answer to Henry's letter. On 2 April he left Logroño and moved to Navarrete, La Rioja. Meanwhile Henry and his French allies had encamped at Nájera, so that the two armies were now near each other. Letters passed between Henry and the prince, for Henry seems to have been anxious to make terms. He declared that Peter was a tyrant, and had shed much innocent blood, to which the prince replied that the king had told him that all the persons he had slain were traitors.

On the morning of the 3 April the prince's army marched from Navarrete, and all dismounted while they were yet some distance from Henry's army. The van, in which were three thousand men-at-arms, both English and Bretons, was led by Lancaster, Chandos, Calveley, and Clisson; the right division was commanded by Armagnac and other Gascon lords; the left, in which some German mercenaries marched with the Gascons, by the Jean, Captal de Buch and the Count of Foix; and the rear or main battle by the prince, with three thousand lances, and with the prince was Peter and, a little on his right, the dethroned James of Majorca and his company; the numbers, however, are scarcely to be depended on.

Before the battle of Nájera began the prince prayed aloud to God that as he had come that day to uphold the right and reinstate a disinherited king, God would grant him success. Then, after telling Peter that he should know that day whether he should have his kingdom or not, he cried: "Advance, banner, in the name of God and St. George; and God defend our right". The knights of Castile pressed his van sorely, but the wings of Henry's army behaved ill, and would not move, so that the Gascon lords were able to attack the main body on the flanks. Then the prince brought the main body of his army into action, and the fight became hot, for he had under him "the flower of chivalry, and the most famous warriors in the whole world". At length Henry's van gave way, and he fled from the field.

When the battle was over the prince besought Peter to spare the lives of those who had offended him. Peter assented, with the exception of one notorious traitor, whom he at once put to death, and he also had two others slain the next day.

Among the prisoners was the French marshal Arnoul d'Audrehem, whom the prince had formerly taken prisoner at Poitiers, and whom he had released on d'Audrehem giving his word that he would not bear arms against the prince until his ransom was paid. When the prince saw him he reproached him bitterly, and called him "liar and traitor". D'Audrehem denied that he was either, and the prince asked him whether he would submit to the judgment of a body of knights. To this d'Audrehem agreed, and after he had dined the prince chose twelve knights, four English, four Gascons, and four Bretons, to judge between himself and the marshal. After he had stated his case, Audeneham replied that he had not broken his word, for the army the prince led was not his own; he was merely in the pay of Peter. The knights considered that this view of the prince's position was sound, and gave their verdict for Audeneham.

On 5 April 1367 the prince and Peter marched to Burgos, and there kept Easter. The prince, however, did not take up his quarters in the city, but camped outside the walls at the monastery of Las Helgas. Peter did not pay him any of the money he owed him, and the prince could get nothing from him except a solemn renewal of his bond of the previous 23 Sept, which he made on 2 May 1367 before the high altar of the Cathedral of Burgos. By this time the prince began to suspect his ally of treachery. Peter had no intention of paying his debts, and when the prince demanded possession of Biscay told him that the Biscayans would not consent to be handed over to him. In order to get rid of his creditor Peter told him that he could not get money at Burgos, and persuaded the prince to take up his quarters at Valladolid while he went to Seville, whence he declared he would send the money he owed.

The Black Prince remained at Valladolid during some very hot weather, waiting in vain for his money. His army suffered so terribly from dysentery and other diseases that it is said that scarcely one Englishman out of five ever saw England again. He was himself seized with a sickness from which he never thoroughly recovered, and which some said was caused by poison. Food and drink were scarce, and the free companies in his pay did much mischief to the surrounding country.

Meanwhile Henry of Trastamare made war upon Aquitaine, took Bagnères and wasted the country. Fearing that Charles of Navarre would not allow him to return through his dominions, the prince negotiated with the King Peter IV of Aragon for a passage for his troops. The Peter IV made a treaty with him, and when Charles of Navarre heard of it he agreed to allow the prince, the Duke of Lancaster, and some of their lords to pass through his country; so they returned through Roncesvalles, and reached Bordeaux early in September 1367.

War in Aquitaine

Some time after he had returned to Aquitaine the free companies, some six thousand strong, also reached Aquitaine, having passed through Kingdom of Aragon. As they had not received the whole of the money the prince had agreed to pay them, they took up their quarters in his country and began to do much mischief. He persuaded the captains to leave Aquitaine, and the companies under their command crossed the Loire and did much damage to France. This greatly angered Charles V, who about this time did the prince serious mischief by encouraging disaffection among the Gascon lords.

When the prince had been gathering his army for his Spanish expedition, the lord of Albret had agreed to serve with a thousand lances. Considering, however, that he had at least as many men as he could find provisions for, the prince on 8 December 1366 had written to him requesting that he would bring only two hundred lances. The lord of Albret was much incensed at this, and, though peace was made by his uncle the Count of Armagnac, did not forget the offence, and Froissart speaks of it as the "first cause of hatred between him and the prince". A more powerful cause of this lord's discontent was the non-payment of an annual pension which had been granted him by Edward. About this time he agreed to marry Margaret of Bourbon, sister of the queen of France. The Black Prince was annoyed at this betrothal, and, his temper probably being soured by sickness and disappointment, behaved with rudeness to both D'Albret and his intended bride. On the other hand, Charles offered the lord the pension which he had lost, and thus drew him and his uncle, the Count of Armagnac, altogether over to the French side.

The immense cost of the late campaign and his constant extravagance had brought the prince into financial difficulties, and as soon as he returned to Bordeaux he called an assembly of the estates of Aquitaine (Parliament) to meet at Saint-Émilion in order to obtain a grant from them. It seems as though no business was done then, for in January 1368 he held a meeting of the estates at Angoulême, and there prevailed on them to allow him a fouage, or hearth-tax, of ten sous for five years. An edict for this tax was published on 25 January 1368.

The chancellor, Bishop John Harewell, held a conference at Niort, at which he persuaded the barons of Poitou, Saintonge, Limousin, and Rouergue to agree to this tax, but the great vassals of the high marches refused, and on 20 June and again on 25 October the Counts of Armagnac, Périgord, and Comminges, and the lord of Albret laid their complaints before the king of France, declaring that he was their lord paramount. Meanwhile the prince's friend Chandos, who strongly urged him against imposing this tax, had retired to his Norman estate.

Charles took advantage of these appeals, and on 25 January 1369 sent messengers to the Black Prince, who was then residing at Bordeaux, summoning him to appear in person before him in Paris and there receive judgment. He replied: "We will willingly attend at Paris on the day appointed since the king of France sends for us, out it shall be with our helmet on our head and sixty thousand men in our company".

The Black Prince caused the messengers to be imprisoned, and in revenge for this the Counts of Périgord and Comminges and other lords set on Sir Thomas Wake the high-steward of Rouergue, slew many of his men, and put him to flight. The prince sent for Chandos, who came to his help, and some fighting took place, though war was not yet declared. His health was now so feeble that he could not take part in active operations, for he was swollen with dropsy and could not ride. By 18 March 1367 more than nine hundred towns, castles, and other places signified in one way or another their adherence to the French cause.

The Black Prince had already warned his father of the intentions of the French king, but there was evidently a party at Edward's court that was jealous of his power, and his warnings were slighted. In April 1369, however, war was declared. Edward sent the Earls of Cambridge and Pembroke to his assistance, and Sir Robert Knolles, who now again took service with, him, added much to his strength. The war in Aquitaine was desultory, and, though the English maintained their ground fairly in the field, every day that it was prolonged weakened their hold on the country.

On 1 January 1370 the Black Prince sustained a heavy loss in the death of his friend Chandos. Several efforts were made by Edward to conciliate the Gascon lords, but they were fruitless and can only have served to weaken the prince's authority. It is probable that John of Gaunt was working against him at the English court, and when he was sent out in the summer to help his elder brother, he came with such extensive powers that he almost seemed as though he had come to supersede him.

In the spring Charles raised two large armies for the invasion of Aquitaine; one, under the Louis I, Duke of Anjou, was to enter Guyenne by La Reole and Bergerac, the other, under the John, Duke of Berry, was to march towards Limousin and Quercy, and both were to unite and besiege the prince in Angoulême. Ill as he was, the prince left his bed of sickness, and gathered an army at Cognac, where he was joined by the Barons of Poitou and Saintonge, and the Earls of Cambridge, Lancaster, and Pembroke. The two French armies gained many cities, united and laid siege to Limoges, which was treacherously surrendered to them by the bishop, who had been one of the prince's trusted friends.

The storming of Limoges

When the prince heard of the surrender of Limoges to the French, he swore "by the soul of his father" that he would have the place again and would make the inhabitants pay dearly for their treachery. He set out from Cognac with an army of twelve hundred lances, a thousand archers, and three thousand foot. His sickness was so great that he was unable to mount his horse, and was carried in a litter. The success of the French in Aquitaine was checked about this time by the departure of Du Guesclin, who was summoned to the north to stop the ravages of Sir Robert Knolles. During the siege of Limoges the prince determined to take the town ordered the undermining the walls. His mines were constantly countermined by the garrison, and it was not until the end of October, after a month's siege, that his miners succeeded in demolishing a large piece of wall which filled the ditches with its ruins. The prince ordered that no quarter should be given, and a terrible massacre took place of persons of all ranks and ages. Many piteous appeals were made to him for mercy, but he would not hearken, and three thousand men, women, and children are said to have been put to the sword. When the bishop was brought before him, he told him that his head should be cut off, but Lancaster begged him of his brother, and so, while so many innocent persons were slain, the life of the chief offender was spared. The city was pillaged and burnt.

The prince returned to Cognac; his sickness increased, and he was forced to give up all hope of being able to direct any further operations and to proceed first to Angoulème and then to Bordeaux.

England

The death of his eldest son Edward, which happened at this time, grieved him greatly; he became worse, and his surgeon advised him to return to England. He left Aquitaine in charge of Lancaster, landed at Southampton early in January 1371, met his father at Windsor, and put a stop to a treaty the king had made the previous month with Charles of Navarre, for he would not consent to the cession of territory that Charles demanded, and then went to his manor of Berkhampstead, ruined alike in health and in fortune.

On his return to England the prince was probably at once recognised as the natural opponent of the influence exercised by the anti-clerical and Lancastrian party, and it is evident that the clergy trusted him; for on 2 May he met the convocation of Canterbury at the Savoy, and persuaded them to make an exceptionally large grant. His health now began to improve, and in August 1372 he sailed with his father to the relief of Thouars; but contrary winds meant that the fleet never reached the French coast. On 6 October he resigned the principality of Aquitaine and Gascony, giving as his reason that its revenues were no longer sufficient to cover expenses, and acknowledging his resignation in Parliament of the next month. At the conclusion of this parliament, after the knights had been dismissed, he met the citizens and burgesses "in a room near the white chamber", and prevailed on them to extend the customs granted the year before for the protection of merchant shipping for another year.

It is said that after Whitsunday, 20 May 1374, the prince presided at a council of prelates and nobles held at Westminster to answer a demand from Pope Gregory XI for a subsidy to help him against the Florentines. The bishops, after hearing the pope's letter, which asserted his right as lord spiritual, and, by the grant of John, lord in chief, of the kingdom, declared that "he was lord of all". The cause of the crown, however, was vigorously maintained, and the prince, provoked at the hesitation of Archbishop Wittlesey, spoke sharply to him, and at last told him that he was an ass. The bishops gave way, and it was declared that John had no power to bring the realm into subjection.

The prince's sickness again became very heavy, though when the "Good Parliament" met on 28 April 1376 he was looked upon as the chief support of the commons in their attack on the abuses of the administration, and evidently acted in concert with William of Wykeham in opposing the influence of Lancaster and the disreputable clique of courtiers who upheld it, and he had good cause to fear that his brother's power would prove dangerous to the prospects of his son Richard. Richard Lyons, the king's financial agent, who was impeached for gigantic frauds, sent him a bribe of £1,000. and other gifts, but he refused to receive it, though he afterwards said that it was a pity he had not kept it, and sent it to pay the soldiers who were fighting for the kingdom.

Death

Tomb

Bronze effigy

From the time that the Good Parliament met, the Black Prince knew that he was dying, and was much in prayer, and did many good and charitable works. His dysentery became very violent, and he often fainted from weakness, so that his household believed that he was actually dead. Yet he bore all his sufferings patiently, and "made a very noble end, remembering God his Creator in his heart", and bidding his people pray for him.

He gave gifts to all his servants, and took leave of the king his father, asking him three things, that he would confirm his gifts, pay his debts quickly out of his estate, and protect his son Richard. These things the king promised. Then he called his young son to him, and bound him under a curse not to take away the gifts he had bestowed. Shortly before he died Sir Richard Stury, one of the courtiers of Lancaster's party, came to see him. The prince reproached him bitterly for his evil deeds. Then his strength failed.

In his last moments he was attended by the Bishop of Bangor, who urged him to ask forgiveness of God and of all those whom he had injured. For a while he would not do this, but at last joined his hands and prayed that God and man would grant him pardon, and so died in his forty-sixth year. His death took place at the palace of Westminster. He was buried with great state in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 September, and the directions contained in his will were followed at his funeral, in the details of his tomb. It has a bronze effigy beneath a tester depicting the Holy Trinity, with his heraldic achievements—his surcoat, helmet, shield and gauntlets—hung over the tester (they have been replaced with replicas, and the originals now reside in a glass fronted cabinet within the cathedral). The famous epitaph inscribed around his effigy reads:

The original heraldic achievements of the Black Prince, on display in Canterbury Cathedral

Such as thou art, sometime was I.

Such as I am, such shalt thou be.

I thought little on th'our of Death

So long as I enjoyed breath.

On earth I had great riches

Land, houses, great treasure, horses, money and gold.

But now a wretched captive am I,

Deep in the ground, lo here I lie.

My beauty great, is all quite gone,

My flesh is wasted to the bone.

Arms and heraldic badge

The Black Prince's coat of arms.

The Black Prince's shield.

The "shield for peace", with the ich dien motto.

Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th azure semée of fleur-de-lys or (France Ancient); 2nd and 3rd gules, three lions passant guardant or (England); overall a label of three points argent. Crest: On a chapeau gules turned up ermine, a lion statant or gorged with a label of three points argent. Mantling: gules lined ermine. As Prince of Wales, Edward's coat of arms were those of the kingdom, differenced by a label of three points argent.

Edward also used an alternative coat of Sable, three ostrich feathers argent, described as his "shield for peace" (probably meaning the shield he used for jousting). This shield can be seen several times on his tomb chest, alternating with the differenced royal arms. His younger brother, John of Gaunt, used a similar shield on which the ostrich feathers were ermine.

Edward's "shield for peace" is believed to have inspired the badge of three ostrich feathers used by later Princes of Wales.

Family

Signet ring of the Black Prince in the Louvre

Edward married his cousin, Joan, Countess of Kent (1328–1385), on 10 October 1361. She was the daughter and heiress of Edmund, Earl of Kent, the younger son of King Edward I by his second wife Margaret of France.

They had two sons, both were born in Aquitaine:

• Edward, born at Angoulême on 27 July 1364. died immediately before his father's return to England in January 1371, and was buried in the church of the Austin Friars, London
• Richard who succeeded his grandfather on the throne as Richard II of England

From his marriage to Joan, he also became stepfather to her children by Thomas Holland:

• Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent whose daughter, Joan Holland, later married Edward's brother, Edmund of Langley.
• John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, who married Edward's niece, Elizabeth of Lancaster, daughter of his brother, John of Gaunt.

Edward had several natural sons before his marriage.

With Edith de Willesford (died after 1385):

• Sir Roger Clarendon (c. 1352 – executed 1402); he married Margaret (d. 1382), a daughter of John Fleming, Baron de la Roche.

With unknown mothers:

• Sir John Sounders
• Edward (b. ca. 1353 – died young)
• Sir Charles FitzEdward (born c. 1354).

Ancestry

Family of Edward the Black Prince

16. Henry III of England 8. Edward I of England 17. Eleanor of Provence 4. Edward II of England 18. Ferdinand III of Castile 9. Eleanor of Castile 19. Joan, Countess of Ponthieu 2. Edward III of England 20. Philip III of France 10. Philip IV of France 21. Isabella of Aragon 5. Isabella of France 22. Henry I of Navarre 11. Joan I of Navarre 23. Blanche of Artois 1. Edward, the Black Prince 24. John I, Count of Hainaut 12. John II, Count of Holland 25. Adelaide of Holland 6. William I, Count of Hainaut 26. Henry V, Count of Luxembourg 13. Philippa of Luxembourg 27. Margaret of Bar 3. Philippa of Hainault 28. Philip III of France (= 20) 14. Charles, Count of Valois 29. Isabella of Aragon (= 21) 7. Joan of Valois 30. Charles II of Naples 15. Margaret, Countess of Anjou 31. Mary of Hungary

See also

• Cultural depictions of the Black Prince
• HMS Black Prince, for Royal Navy ships named in his honour
• Black Prince's Ruby which he forced Peter the Cruel to give to him after the Castilian campaign for his ungratefulness. It is actually a large red spinel.
• A43 Infantry Tank "Black Prince" a British experimental AFV design, essentially a "super Churchill" of which six prototypes were built very late in World War II.
• List of Knights and Ladies of the Garter

References

• Barber, Richard (January 2008), "Edward, prince of Wales and of Aquitaine (1330–1376)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8523 (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Costain, Thomas B. (1962) [1958], The Three Edwards, New York: Popular Library, p. 87
• Froissart, Sir John (1848), Chronicles of England, France and Spain and the Surrounding Countries, Translated from the French Editions with Variations and Additions from Many Celebrated MSS, translated by Johnes, Thomas, London: William Smith, pp. 398–411
• Green, David (2007), Edward, the Black Prince: Power in Medieval Europe, Harlow: Longman, p. 73, ISBN 978-0-582-78481-9
• Jones, Dan (2014), The Plantagenets: the warrior kings and queens who made England, New York: Penguin, p. 524.
• Jean de Bel (1904), Chronique de Jean de Bel, Paris, Librairie Renouard, H. Laurens, successeur{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• MacNalty, A.S. (1955), "The illness of Edward the Black Prince.", Br Med J, 1 (4910): 411, doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4910.411, PMC 2061131, PMID 13230513
• Siddons, Michael Powell (2009), Heraldic Badges in England and Wales 2.1., Woodbridge: Society of Antiquaries/Boydell, pp. 178–190
• Velde, Francois R. (5 August 2013), "marks of cadency in the British royal family", Heraldica, retrieved 10 November 2017 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help).
• Weir, Alison (2008), Britains royal families: the complete genealogy, London: Vintage Books, p. 95

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hunt, William (1889), "Edward the Black Prince", in Stephen, Leslie (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 17, London: Smith, Elder & Co, pp. 90–101 Endnotes
  • Barnes (1688), History of Edward III with that of the Black Prince {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help);
  • Collins, Arthur, Life of Edward, Prince of Wales;
  • James, G.P.R. (1822), Hist. of the Life of Edward the Black Prince, eulogistic and wordy, but useful;
  • in the edition of 1836 James defends his work from the strictures of the Athenæum;
  • Longman's Life and Times of Edward III;
  • Murimuth cum cont. Engl. Hist. Soc.;
  • Thomas Walsingham, Eulogium Historiarum, and Chronicon Angliæ (Rolls Ser.);
  • Robert of Avesbury, ed. Hearne;
  • Knighton, ed. Twysden;
  • Stow's Annales;
  • G. le Baker, ed. Giles;
  • Sloane MSS. 56 and 335 ;
  • Archæologia, xxix. xxxi. xxxii.;
  • Rolls of Parliament;
  • Rymer's Fœdera, Record ed.;
  • Jehan le Bel, ed. Polain;
  • Froissart, ed. Luce and ed. Buchon;
  • Le Prince Noir, poème du Héraut Chandos, ed. Fr. Michel;
  • Chronique de Bertrand du Guesclin, Panthéon Litt.;
  • Istorie di Matteo Villaui, Muratori, Rerum Ital. ss. xiv.
  • For the battle of Poitiers, Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de l'Ouest, viii. 59, xi. 76.
  • For the Spanish campaign, Lopez de Ayala's Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla, ed. 1779.
  • For other references see under "Edward III". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 17. 1889. , in text of above art., and in the notes of M. Luce's Froissart.

Further reading

• Barber, Richard (1978), Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine: a biography of the Black Prince, London: Allen Lane, ISBN 0-7139-0861-0
• Barber, Richard, ed. (1986), The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince: from contemporary letters, diaries and chronicles, including Chandos Herald's Life of the Black Prince, Woodbridge: Boydell, ISBN 0-85115-435-2
• Green, David (2001), The Black Prince, Stoud: Tempus, ISBN 0752419897
• Green, David (2009), "Masculinity and medicine: Thomas Walsingham and the death of the Black Prince", Journal of Medieval History, 35: 34–51, doi:10.1016/j.jmedhist.2008.12.002
• Harvey, John (1976), The Black Prince and his Age, London: Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-3148-2
• The Herald of Sir John Chandos (1910), Pope, Mildred K.; Lodge, Eleanor C. (eds.), Life of the Black Prince, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Hoskins, Peter (2011), In the Steps of the Black Prince: the Road to Poitiers, 1355–1356, Woodbridge: Boydell, ISBN 978-1-84383-611-7
• Pattison, Richard Phillipson Dunn (1910), The Black Prince, London: Methuen
• Pepin, Guilhem (2006), "Towards a new assessment of the Black Prince's principality of Aquitaine: a study of the last years (1369–1372)", Nottingham Medieval Studies, 50: 59–114

External links

• Texts on Wikisource:
  • Haaren, John H (1904). "Edward the Black Prince" . Famous Men of the Middle Ages.
  • Tout, Thomas Frederick (1911). "Edward, the Black Prince". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). pp. 999–1000.