Edward the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, known as the Black Prince, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III of England. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, succeeded to the throne instead. Nevertheless, Edward earned distinction as one of the most successful English commanders during the Hundred Years' War, being regarded by his English contemporaries as a model of chivalry and one of the greatest knights of his age. Edward was made Duke of Cornwall, the first English dukedom, in 1337. He was made Prince of Wales in 1343 and knighted by his father at La Hougue in 1346.
In 1346, Prince Edward commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy, his father intentionally leaving him to win the battle. 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 Castelnaudary, sacked Carcassonne, and plundered Narbonne. In 1356, on another chevauchée, he ravaged Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry but failed to take Bourges. The forces of King John II of France met Edward's armies near the city of Poitiers. After negotiations between the two sides broke down, the Anglo-Gascon forces under Edward routed the French army and captured King John at the Battle of Poitiers.
In 1360, he negotiated the Treaty of Brétigny. He was created Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony in 1362, but his suzerainty was not recognised by the lord of Albret or other Gascon nobles. He was directed by his father to forbid the marauding raids of the English and Gascon free companies in 1364. He entered into an agreement with Kings Peter of Castile and Charles II of Navarre, by which Peter covenanted to mortgage Castro Urdiales and the province of Biscay to him as security for a loan; in 1366 a passage was secured through Navarre. In 1367, he received a letter of defiance from Henry of Trastámara, Peter's half-brother and rival. The same year, 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. Edward persuaded the estates of Aquitaine to allow him a hearth tax of ten sous for five years in 1368, thereby alienating the lord of Albret and other nobles.
Prince Edward returned to England in 1371 and resigned the principality of Aquitaine and Gascony in 1372. He led the Commons in their attack upon the Lancastrian administration in 1376. He died in 1376 of dysentery and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, where his surcoat, helmet, shield, and gauntlets are still preserved.
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 allowed five hundred marks per year from the profits of the county of Chester for his son's maintenance; on 25 February 1331, the whole of these profits were assigned to the queen for maintaining 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 first phase of 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 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 Edward 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, Prince Edward reportedly met the cardinals outside the City of London and, in company with many nobles, conducted them to Edward III. On 11 July 1338 his father, who was on the point of leaving England to campaign in the Low Countries, appointed him guardian of the kingdom during his absence, and he was appointed to the same office on 27 May 1340 and 6 October 1342; he was, of course, too young to take any save a nominal part in the administration, which was carried on by the council. To attach John III, Duke of Brabant, to his cause, the king in 1339 proposed a marriage between Edward and John's daughter Margaret, and in the spring of 1345 wrote urgently to Pope Clement VI for a dispensation for the marriage.
On 12 May 1343, Edward III created Edward Prince of Wales in a parliament held at Westminster, investing Edward with a circlet, gold ring, and silver rod. 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 put an end to this project. Both in September 1345 and in April 1346, Edward 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.
Early campaigns (1346–53)
Battle of Crécy
Edward, Prince of Wales, sailed with King Edward III on 11 July 1346, and as soon as he landed at La Hougue he received knighthood from his father in the local church of Quettehou. Then, in the words of his biographer Chandos Herald, he "made a right good beginning", for he rode through the Cotentin, burning and ravaging as he went. Edward distinguished himself at the taking of Caen and in the Battle of Blanchetaque with the force under Sir Godemar I du Fay, which endeavoured to prevent the English army 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 the earls of Warwick and Oxford, Sir Geoffroy d'Harcourt, Sir John Chandos, and other leaders, commanding 800 men-at-arms, 2,000 archers, and 1,000 Welsh foot soldiers, though the numbers are by no means trustworthy. When the Genoese bowmen were discomfited and the front line of the French was in some disorder, Edward apparently left his position to attack their second line. At this moment, however, the Count of Alençon charged his division with such fury that Edward was in great danger, and the leaders who commanded with him sent a messenger to tell Edward III that he was in great straits and to beg for assistance. When Edward III learned that his son was not wounded, he responded that he would send no help, for he wished to give Edward the opportunity to "win his spurs", and to allow him and those who had charge of him the honour of the victory. Edward was thrown to the ground and was rescued by Sir Richard Fitz-Simon, his standard-bearer, who threw down the banner, stood over his body, and beat back his assailants while he regained his feet. Harcourt 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.
File:Benjamin West - Edward III with the Black Prince after the Battle of Crécy - RCIN 407523 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|Edward III with the Black Prince after the Battle of Crécy by Benjamin West, 1788
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 two front lines of their army were utterly broken before King Philip's division engaged. Then Edward III appears to have advanced at the head of the reserve, and the rout soon became complete. When Edward III met his son after the battle was over, he embraced him and declared that he had acquitted himself loyally, and Edward bowed low and did reverence to his father. The next day he joined the king in paying funeral honours to King John of Bohemia.
File:Edward the Black Prince 1430.jpg|thumb|180px|Edward as a Knight of the Garter, 1453, illustration from the Bruges Garter Book, British Library
Edward was present at the siege of Calais, and after the surrender of the town harried and burned the country for around, and he 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 in 1348.