Edward, the Black Prince

Early life (1330–1343)

Edward, the eldest son of Edward III of England—Lord of Ireland and ruler of Gascony, and Queen Philippa—was born at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, on 15 June 1330. On 10 September, Edward III allocated five hundred marks per year from the profits of the county of Chester to financially support his son; on 25 February 1331, the whole of these profits were assigned to the queen for supporting Edward and the king's sister Eleanor. In July 1331, the king proposed to marry Edward to a daughter of Philip VI of France. Tensions between England and France reached a breaking point during the reign of Edward III. Disputes over English lands in France, feudal obligations due to king Philip IV of France, and Edward III's claim to the French throne culminated in Edward declaring war on France in 1337, beginning the Hundred Years' War.

On 18 March 1333, Prince Edward was invested with the earldom and county of Chester, and in the parliament of 9 February 1337, he was made Duke of Cornwall, and received the duchy by a charter dated 17 March. This is the earliest instance of the creation of a duke in England. By the charter's terms, the duchy was to be held by Edward and the eldest sons of kings of England. His tutor was Walter Burley of Merton College, Oxford. His revenues were placed at the disposal of his mother in March 1334, for the expenses she made in raising 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 leave Nottingham Castle for their safety.When two cardinals came to England at the end of 1337 to make peace between Edward III and Philip VI, Prince Edward reportedly met them, and brought them to Edward III. On 11 July 1338, his father, who was about to leave England to campaign in the Low Countries, appointed him guardian of the kingdom for his absence, and he was appointed to the same office on 27 May 1340 and 6 October 1342; due to his age, he had only a small role in the administration, which was managed by the council. To bring John III, Duke of Brabant into his cause, in 1339, the king proposed a marriage between Edward and John's daughter Margaret, and in the spring of 1345, wrote urgently to Pope Clement VI for an exemption from the marriage.

On 12 May 1343, Edward III made Edward the Prince of Wales in a parliament held at Westminster. Edward accompanied his father to Sluys on 3 July 1345, and the king tried to persuade the burgomasters of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres to accept his son as their lord, but the murder of Jacob van Artevelde made his effort futile. In September 1345 and in April 1346, Edward was called on to give supplies to troops from his principality and earldom for the upcoming campaign in France, and as he incurred heavy debts in the king's service, his father allowed him to make his will. It was determined that, in case he died in the war, his executors would receive his revenue for a year.

Early campaigns (1346–1353)

Battle of Crécy

Edward, Prince of Wales, sailed with his army and Edward III on 11 July 1346, and as soon as they landed at La Hougue, his father knighted him at a church in Quettehou. He then rode his army through the Cotentin, while burning and sacking the area. Edward distinguished himself at the Battles of Caen and Blanchetaque, against Godemar I du Fay's army which tried to prevent the English from crossing the Somme.

Early on 26 August 1346, before the start of the Battle of Crécy, Edward received the sacrament with his father at Crécy, and took the command of the right, or van, of the army with Thomas Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick; John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, and other leaders. An unconfirmed source says that they commanded 800 men-at-arms, 2,000 archers, and 1,000 Welsh foot soldiers. When the Genoese bowmen and the front line of the French became disordered, Edward apparently left his position to attack their second line. However, the Count of Alençon then charged his division, endangering Edward, and the leaders who commanded with him sent a messenger to beg Edward III for assistance. When Edward III learned that his son was not wounded, he responded that he would not send help, to give Edward an opportunity to "win his spurs", despite already being knighted. In the battle, Edward was thrown to the ground, then rescued by Sir Richard Fitz-Simon, his standard-bearer, who protected him as he regained his feet. Probably by this time, the French advanced to the elevated ground of the English position. Earl of Arundel, having been sent for help by Harcourt, forced back the French.A flank attack on the side of Wadicourt was then attempted by the Counts of Alençon and Ponthieu, but the English were entrenched there, and the French were unable to penetrate the defences. The French lost the Duke of Lorraine and the Counts of Alençon and Blois. The two front lines of their army were broken, and Philip VI's division then engaged. Edward III perhaps advanced at the head of the reserve, and the rout was soon completed. When the battle was over, Edward III told his son that he had acted loyally.

Edward was present at the siege of Calais (1346–1347), and after the town surrendered, he sacked and burnt the surrounding countryside. He returned to England with his father on 12 October 1347, and was invested by the king with the new Order of the Garter in 1348.

Battles of Calais and Winchelsea

Prince Edward went on the king's expedition to Calais in the late 1349, once coming to the rescue of his father. When the king embarked at Winchelsea on 28 August 1350 to intercept the fleet of La Cerda, the Prince sailed with him in a different ship, alongside his brother, John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond. During the Battle of Winchelsea, Edward's ship engaged with a large Spanish ship, and became endangered by leaks. He and his knights failed to take down the Spanish. Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster, came to their rescue by attacking the Spanish from their other side; the ship was soon taken by the English, as her crew were thrown into the sea, and as the Prince and his men got on board, their own vessel foundered.

Cheshire expedition

In 1353, some incidents seem to have broken out in Cheshire, as the Prince as Earl of Chester marched with 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 stop the assize, but the justices opened an inquisition of trailbaston, took a large sum of money from them. They seized houses and swaths of land for their earl, the prince. Upon returning from Chester, the prince reportedly passed by the Abbey of Dieulacres in Staffordshire, and granted five hundred marks—a tenth of the sum he had taken from his earldom—to a church his great-grandfather Edward I had built, which was almost certainly Vale Royal.

Further campaigns (1355–1364)

Aquitaine

When Edward III decided to resume the war with France in 1355, he ordered Edward to lead an army into Aquitaine while he acted with the King of Navarre in Normandy, and the Duke of Lancaster defended John of Montfort in Brittany. Edward was accompanied by some of the Gascon lords. On 10 July, the king appointed Edward his lieutenant in Gascony, and gave him powers to act in his stead and to receive homages. Edward left London for Plymouth on 30 June, was stopped there by contrary winds, and set sail on 8 September with about 300 ships, along with four earls—Thomas Beauchamp; John de Vere; William Ufford, Earl of Suffolk; and William Montagu, Earl of Salisbury—and in command of 1,000 men-at-arms, 2,000 archers, and many Welsh foot soldiers.

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 1,500 lances, 2,000 archers, and 3,000 light foot. Whatever plan the king may have formed during the summer, Edward's expedition was purely for sacking the area. After brutally attacking the counties of Juliac, Armagnac, Astarac, and part of Comminges, he crossed the Garonne at Sainte-Marie, north of Toulouse—which was occupied by John I, Count of Armagnac, and a large force. The count refused to allow the garrison to make a sortie, and Edward went on into the Lauragais. His troops stormed and burnt Montgiscard, killing many residents, and captured and pillaged Avignonet and Castelnaudary. The only castle to resist the English was Montgey. Its châtelaine defended its walls by pouring beehives onto the attackers, who fled in panic.

Carcassonne was taken and sacked, but Edward did not take the citadel, which was fortified and favorably located. Ourmes (or Homps, near Narbonne) and Trèbes bought off his army. He sacked Narbonne, and then wanted to attack the citadel for loot, but decided against it after hearing it was well defended. While 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 marched back to Bordeaux. The Count of Armagnac tried to intercept him, but as a group of French soldiers had been defeated in a skirmish near Toulouse, the rest of the army retreated into the city, and Edward returned to Bordeaux with his spoils. The expedition lasted eight weeks. The next month, before 21 January 1356, the leaders under his command attacked five towns and seventeen castles.

On 6 July 1356, Edward set out on another expedition, intending to pass through France to Normandy, and then aid his father's Norman allies, the party headed by the King of Navarre and French noble Geoffroy d'Harcourt. In Normandy, he expected his father to meet him. He crossed the Dordogne river at Bergerac on 4 August and rode through Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry, plundering and burning until he came to Bourges, where he burnt the suburbs, but failed to take the city. He then turned west, and made an unsuccessful attack on Issoudun on 25–27 August. Meanwhile, John II gathered a large force at Chartres, from which he could defend the passages of the Loire river, and sent troops to fortresses that seemed prone to an attack. From Issoudun, Edward returned to his former line of march and took Vierzon. There, he learned that he could not cross the Loire or meet up with Lancaster, who was then in Brittany. He decided to return to Bordeaux by way of Poitiers, and after executing most of the garrison of the castle of Vierzon, he set out on 29 August towards Romorantin.

Reims campaign

In October 1359, Edward sailed with his father to Calais and led a division of the army during the Reims campaign. Near the campaign's end, he took the principal part on the English side in negotiating the Treaty of Brétigny, 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 his father landed at Rye on 18 May. On 9 July, he and Henry, Duke of Lancaster, landed at Calais, visiting the French king. As the stipulated instalment of the king's ransom was not ready, he returned to England, leaving King John in the charge of Sir Walter Manny and three other knights. He and his father went to Calais on 9 October to assist with the liberation of King John and the treaty's ratification. He rode with John to Boulogne. He returned with King Edward to England at the beginning of November.

In spring 1361, Edward married his half-first cousin once removed 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 Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, with whom she had five children. The wedding was performed in secret, without the knowledge of Prince Edward's parents. The marriage is believed to be a love match, as Prince of Wales acted without his father's approval, and Joan was an older widow, which did not make her ideal candidate for a future queen and mother of next royal heir; additionally, Joan was an English noblewoman, which made her an unusual choice of bride for the future king, as there had not recently been a domestic queen in England.

Because Edward and Joan were related in the third degree, and since Edward was the godfather of Joan's eldest son Thomas a dispensation was needed to make their marriage valid. It was eventually obtained from Pope Innocent VI. While the couple's wedding earlier that year was declared null, Edward and his chosen bride were allowed to have a second ceremony, that was performed by Simon Islip Archbishop of Canterbury at Windsor on 10 October 1361. Edward and Joan resided at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire and held the manor of Princes Risborough; the estate may have been used as a hunting lodge.

Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony

On 19 July 1362, Edward III granted Prince Edward 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. For the rest of the year he prepared for his departure to the principality, and after Christmas, he received the king and his court at Berkhamsted, left his parents, and the following February, sailed with 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 finally to Bordeaux, where from 9 to 30 July, he received the homage of the lords of Gascony. He received them graciously, and resided often at Bordeaux and Angoulême.

The prince appointed Chandos constable of Guyenne, and gave the knights of his household profitable offices. Their extravagance displeased the people. Many of the Gascon lords were dissatisfied at being handed over to the dominion of the English, at the favouritism Edward displayed towards his own countrymen, and at the extravagance they displayed. Arnaud Amanieu, Lord of Albret, and others were ready to help the French cause, and Gaston III, Count of Foix, though he visited the prince on his first arrival, was loyal to the French; in 1365, he refused to do homage for Bearn. The duke of Normandy, having been crowned as the French king Charles V in April 1364, encouraged this dissatisfaction.

In April 1363 Edward mediated between the Counts of Foix and Armagnac, who had for a long time been at war with each other. He also attempted in February 1364 to mediate between Charles of Blois and John of Montfort, rivals for the Duchy of Brittany. Both appeared before him at Poitiers, but his mediation was unsuccessful.

In May 1363, Edward entertained King Peter I of Cyprus at Angoulême, and held a tournament there. Meanwhile, he and his lords declined to join Peter's proposed crusade. In the summer, the Lord of Albret was at Paris, and his forces, alongside other Gascon lords, defended the French Normandy against the party of Navarre. Meanwhile, war resumed in Brittany; the prince allowed Chandos to raise and lead a force to aid the party of Montfort. Chandos won the Battle of Auray against the French on 29 September 1364.

Spanish campaign (1365–1367)

In 1365, the free companies under Sir Hugh Calveley and other leaders took service with Bertrand du Guesclin who employed them in 1366 to compel King Peter of Castile to leave his kingdom and to establish his bastard brother, Henry of Trastámara, as king. In alliance with Edward III, Peter sent messengers to Prince Edward seeking help, and on receiving a gracious answer at Corunna set out for 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, did not want him to take up Peter's cause, but he declared that it was not "either decent or proper that a bastard should possess a kingdom as an inheritance, nor drive out of his realm his own brother, heir to the country by lawful marriage; and no king, or king's son, ought ever to suffer it, as being of the greatest prejudice to royalty."

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 III 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 they would be paid. To give them the required security, the prince agreed to lend Peter whatever money he needed.

Edward and Peter then held a conference with King Charles II of Navarre at Bayonne and agreed with him to allow their troops to pass through his dominions. To persuade him to do this, Peter had, besides other grants, to pay Charles 56,000 florins, and this sum was lent to him by Edward. On 23 September, the Treaty of Libourne was entered into between Edward, Peter, and Charles at Libourne, by which Peter agreed to put province of Biscay and the territory and fortress of Castro de Urdialès to Edward to guarantee the repayment of the debt. He also agreed to pay 550,000 florins for six months' wages—250,000 being the prince's—and 800,000 florins to the lords who would serve in the expedition. Peter agreed to leave his three daughters in Edward's hands as hostages to fulfill these terms. He also agreed that whenever the king, the prince, or their heirs should march in person against the Moors, they would have the command of the vanguard, and if they were not present, then England would march alongside the Castilians.

Edward received 100,000 francs from his father out of the ransom of the late John II, and used a part of this money 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 wintered at Bordeaux, where Joan gave birth to their second son Richard. Edward left in early February 1367, and stayed with his army at Dax for three days. They were reinforced by 400 men-at-arms and 400 archers sent by Edward III under John of Gaunt. From Dax, Edward 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 Edward was about to fight for Peter, they withdrew from the service of Henry of Trastámara and joined Edward "because he was their natural lord". At Pamplona, Edward received a letter of defiance from Henry.

War in Aquitaine (1366–1370)

Some time after he had returned to Aquitaine, the free companies, some 6,000 strong, also reached Aquitaine, having passed through Kingdom of Aragon. As they had not received all the money Edward had agreed to pay them, they took up their quarters in his country and pillaged the countryside. Edward persuaded the captains to leave Aquitaine, and the companies under their command crossed the Loire and greatly attacked France. This greatly angered Charles V, who retaliated by encouraging to the Gascon lords to disaffect.

When Edward gathered his army for his Spanish expedition, the Lord of Albret agreed to serve with 1,000 lances. Considering, however, that he had at least as many men as he could find provisions for, Edward wrote to him on 8 December 1366, saying he could only have 200 lances. The Lord of Albret was angered at this, but was restrained by his uncle, the Count of Armagnac. The nonetheless incident began his and Edward's mutual hatred. The Lord of Albert was also angered by the non-payment of an annual pension Edward had granted him. Around this time, he agreed to marry Margaret of Bourbon, sister of the Queen of France. Edward was annoyed at this, and became aggressive to both Margaret and Albret. However, 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 Edward 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 to obtain a grant from them. It seems as though no business was done then, for he held a meeting of the estates at Angoulême and there persuaded them to allow him a 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, Chandos, who strongly urged Edward against imposing this tax, had retired to his Norman estate.

Charles took advantage of these appeals, and on 25 January 1369 sent messengers to Prince Edward, 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, but it shall be with our helmet on our head and sixty thousand men in our company". Edward had the messengers imprisoned; in revenge for this, the Counts of Périgord and Comminges and other lords set on Thomas Wake, 2nd Baron Wake of Liddell, the high-steward of Rouergue, killed many of his men, and made him flee. 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 poor that he could not take part in active operations. By 18 March, more than nine hundred towns, castles, and other places signaled their support of the French cause.

Return to England

The death of Edward's eldest son Edward of Angoulême in 1371 caused him a great deal of grief. His health continued to deteriorate, and his personal doctor advised him to return to England. Edward left Aquitaine with the Duke of Lancaster and landed at Southampton early in January 1371. Edward met his father at Windsor. At this meeting, Prince Edward interceded to stop a treaty Edward III had concluded the previous month with Charles of Navarre because he objected to the ceding of lands to King Charles. After this, Edward returned to his manor in Berkhamsted.

On his return to England, Edward was publicly recognised as the natural opponent of the anti-clerical and Lancastrian party's influence. On 2 May, he met the convocation of Canterbury at the Savoy and persuaded them to make an exceptionally large grant. His health 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. He acknowledged his resignation in Parliament 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.

Edward's illness returned in force, though when the "Good Parliament" met on 28 April 1376, he was the House of Commons' main ally in their criticism of the administration, and evidently acted in concert with William of Wykeham in opposing the influence of Lancaster, and he had good reason 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 Edward refused it. He later said he regretted not keeping and sending it to his soldiers.

Death

Following the Good Parliament, Edward knew that he was dying. His fits of dysentery had become so violent they sometimes made him faint. He left gifts for his servants in his will, and said goodbye to Edward III, whom he asked to confirm his gifts, pay his debts quickly out of his estate, and protect his son Richard. Edward's illness likely started after the Battle of Nájera, and relapsed at various points until his death. His death may have been caused by P. vivax malaria, brucellosis, inflammatory bowel disease, long-term complications of acute dysentery (probably not chronic dysentery), or similar conditions.

His death was announced at the Palace of Westminster on 8 June 1376. In his last moments, he was attended by the Bishop of Bangor who urged him to ask forgiveness of God and of all those he had injured.

Edward was buried in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 September. His funeral and the design of his tomb were made according to his will's instructions. 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 since been replaced with replicas; the originals now reside in a glass-fronted cabinet within the cathedral. His epitaph, inscribed around his effigy, is in French; one English translation reads, in part:

Arms and heraldic badge

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. Edward's coat of arms as Prince of Wales 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. 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. The motto "Ich dien" means "I serve".

Family

Edward married his half-first cousin once removed Joan, Countess of Kent, in early 1361. Their wedding was conducted in secret, and was later annulled the same year because of lack of needed dispensation, but afterwards the couple managed to obtain the necessary documents and married once again on 10 October 1361. Joan was the daughter and heiress of Edmund, Earl of Kent, the younger son of King Edward I by his second wife Margaret of France. She and Edward had two sons, both born in Aquitaine:

Edward of Angoulême, born at Angoulême on 27 January 1365, died shortly 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 as king

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.

Joan Holland, Duchess of Brittany, who married John IV, Duke of Brittany

Maud Holland, Lady Courtenay, Countess of Ligny, Countess of St Pol, who married firstly, Hugh Courtenay, grandson of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon; Secondly, Waleran III of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny. One Daughter from the marriage to Waleran III of Luxembourg

Edmund Holland (c. 1354), who died young

Edward had several natural sons before his marriage.

With Edith de Willesford (died after 1385):

Appellation "Black Prince"

Edward is often referred to as the "Black Prince". The first known source to use this sobriquet was the antiquary John Leland in the 1530s or early 1540s (about 165 years after Edward's death). Leland mentions it in two manuscript notes of this period, with the implication that it was relatively common by that date. In one instance, he refers in Latin to "Edwardi Principis cog: Nigri" (i.e., "Edward the Prince, cognomen: The Black"); in the other, in English to "the Blake Prince". In both instances, Leland is summarising earlier works – respectively, the 14th-century Eulogium Historiarum and the late 15th-century chronicle formerly attributed to John Warkworth – but in neither case does the name appear in his source texts. In print, Roger Ascham in his 1545 Toxophilus refers to "ye noble black prince Edward beside Poeters"; while Richard Grafton in his 1569 Chronicle at Large uses the name on three occasions, saying that "some writers name him the black prince", and elsewhere that he was "commonly called the black Prince". Raphael Holinshed uses it several times in his 1577 Chronicles; and it is also used by William Shakespeare in his plays Richard II (written c. 1595; Act 2, scene 3) and Henry V (c. 1599; Act 2, scene 4). In 1688, it appears in the title of Joshua Barnes's The History of that Most Victorious Monarch, Edward III, [and his] Son, Edward, Prince of Wales and of Aquitain, Sirnamed the Black-Prince.

The origins of the name are uncertain, though many theories have been proposed, falling under two main themes, that it is derived from Edward's black shield (and/or the rumours that he wore black armour), or from his brutal reputation, particularly towards the French in Aquitaine. It was possibly intended as a double entendre.

The black (sable) field of his "shield for peace" is well documented. However, there is no sound evidence that Edward wore black armour; John Harvey refers to an unnamed, "shadowy" French report that Edward served "in black armour of burnished steel" (en armure noire en fer bruni) at the Battle of Crécy. Richard Barber suggests that the name's origins may have lain in pageantry, in that a tradition may have grown up in the 15th century of representing the prince in black armour. He points out that several chronicles refer to him as Edward IV (the title he would have taken as king had he outlived his father): this name would obviously have become confusing when the actual Edward IV succeeded in 1461, and this may have been the period when an alternative had to be found.

Historiography and legacy

Edward the Black Prince has been a common subject in scholarly work and interest of the period and beyond specifically in the Georgian and Victorian periods. One of the sources of the romanticised historical view of Edward came from a biography written in 1836. Another more modern source looks at Edward's role in promoting patriotism and chivalry. Another modern look at Edward has a much broader scope in that it uses his military career to look at the Hundred Years War, and other developments in Medieval European History.