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EDWARD

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 1000 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDWARD , See also:

prince of See also:Wales, known as " THE See also:BLACK PRINCE " (1330-1376), the eldest son of Edward III. and Philippa of See also:Hainaut, was See also:born at See also:Woodstock on the 15th of See also:June 1330. Contemporaries called him Edward of Woodstock, and his surname of the Black Prince cannot be traced back earlier than the 16th See also:century. It is supposed to have been derived from his wearing black See also:armour. In 1333 he was made See also:earl of See also:Chester, and in 1337 See also:duke of See also:Cornwall, being the first duke ever created in See also:England. Nominal See also:warden of England during his See also:father's absences abroad in 1338 and 1342, he was created prince of Wales in 1343, and in 1345 he first accompanied his father on a See also:foreign expedition. His real career begins, however, with Edward III.'s See also:Norman See also:campaign of 1346. On landing at La Hogue he was knighted by his father, and took a prominent See also:part in the whole of the campaign. He commanded the right wing of the See also:English forces at See also:Crecy, and, though hard pressed for a See also:time by the See also:French, took his full See also:share in gaining the victory. Next See also:year he was at the See also:siege of See also:Calais, and returned to England in See also:October 1347 with his father. He was one of the See also:original knights of the Garter, and participated in his father's chivalrous adventures at Calais in 1349 and in the See also:battle off See also:Winchelsea in 1350. In See also:September 1355 he was sent to See also:Gascony at the See also:head of an English See also:army, having been appointed his father's See also:lieutenant there in See also:July. He was warmly welcomed by the Gascons, and at once led a foray through See also:Armagnac and See also:Languedoc.

By See also:

November he had got as far as See also:Narbonne, whence he returned to See also:Bordeaux, where he kept his See also:Christmas See also:court. In See also:August 1356 he started from See also:Bergerac on another marauding expedition, this time in a northerly direction. He penetrated as far as the See also:Loire, but was there compelled to retire before the See also:superior forces of See also:King See also:John of See also:France. On the 19th of September the two armies met in the battle of See also:Poitiers, fought about 6 m. See also:south-See also:east of the See also:city. It was the hardest-fought and most important battle of the See also:Hundred Years' See also:War, and Edward's victory was due both to the excellence of his See also:tactical disposition of his forces and to the superior fighting capacity of his army. The flank See also:march of the See also:Captal de See also:Buch, which decided the See also:fate of the See also:day, was of Edward's own devising, and the captivity of King John attested the completeness of his See also:triumph. He treated his prisoner with almost ostentatious magnanimity, and took him to Bordeaux, whence they sailed to England in May 1357. On the 24th of that See also:month he led his prisoner in triumph through the streets of See also:London. In 1359 he took part in his father's invasion of See also:northern France, and had a large share in the negotiations at Bretigny and Calais. In October 1361 Edward married his See also:cousin See also:Joan, countess of See also:Kent (1328-1385), the daughter and heiress of See also:Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, the younger son of Edward I. by his second wife See also:Margaret of France. The See also:lady, who enjoyed a See also:great reputation for beauty, was in her See also:thirty-third year, and the widow of See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Roland, by whom she had had three See also:children. See also:Froissart says that the See also:marriage was a love match, and that the king had no knowledge of it.

However, Edward III. approved of his son's choice, and in July 1362 handed over to him all his dominions in See also:

southern France, with the See also:title of prince of See also:Aquitaine. In See also:February 1363 Edward and Joan took See also:ship for Gascony, which became his See also:ordinary See also:place of See also:residence for the next eight years. He maintained a brilliant court at Bordeaux and See also:Angouleme, and did his best to win the support of the Gascons. He was not, however, successful in winning over the greater nobles, who, with John, See also:count of Armagnac, at their head, were dissatisfied with the separation from France, and looked with suspicion upon Edward's attempts to reform the See also:administration as being likely to result in the curtailment of their feudal rights. Edward was better able to conciliate the towns, whose franchises he favoured and whose See also:trade he fostered, hoping that they would prove a counterpoise to the See also:aristocracy. He kept the See also:chief posts of the administration mainly in English hands, and never really identified himself with the See also:local See also:life and traditions ofhis principality. He succeeded in clearing Aquitaine of the See also:free companies, and kept See also:good See also:peace for nearly six years. In 1367 Z'eter the Cruel, the deposed king of See also:Castile, visited Edward at Bordeaux, and persuaded him to restore him to his See also:throne by force. In February 1367 Edward led an army into See also:Spain over the pass of See also:Roncesvalles. After a difficult and dangerous march Edward reached the See also:Ebro, and on the 3rd of See also:April defeated See also:Bertrand du Guesclin at Najera, the last of his great victories. He then proceeded to See also:Burgos, and restored See also:Peter to the throne of Castile. He remained in Castile for four months, living principally at See also:Valladolid.

His army wasted away during the hot See also:

Spanish summer, and Edward himself contracted the beginnings of a mortal disease. In August 1367 Edward led the remnant of his troops back through the pass of Roncesvalles, and returned to Bordeaux See also:early in September. He had exhausted all his resources on the Spanish expedition, and was forced to seek from the estates of Aquitaine extraordinary See also:sources of See also:supply. A See also:hearth tax for five years was willingly granted to him, and generally paid. The greater barons, however, found in this See also:impost a pretext for revolt. The count of Armagnac, who had already made a See also:secret understanding with See also:Charles V., appealed against the hearth tax to the See also:parlement of. See also:Paris. Cited before this See also:body in See also:January 1369, Edward declared that he would See also:answer at Paris with sixty thousand men behind him. War See also:broke out again, and Edward III. resumed the title of king of France. Thereupon Charles V. declared that all the English possessions in France were forfeited, and before the end of 1369 all Aquitaine was in full revolt. With weak See also:health and impaired resources, the Black Prince showed little activity in dealing with his insurgent subjects, or in warding off French invasion. Though too See also:ill to ride on horseback, he insisted upon commanding his troops, and on the 19th of September 1370 won his last barren success, by capturing the revolted city of See also:Limoges and putting the See also:population to the See also:sword.

Early in 1371 he returned to England, leaving the impossible task of holding Gascony to his See also:

brother John of Gaunt. In August 1372 he joined his father in an abortive expedition to France, but contrary winds prevented their landing, and he now abandoned military life for good. In October he resigned his principality on the ground that he could not afford to retain any longer so expensive a See also:charge. His health now rapidly declined, but he still followed politics with See also:interest, and did what he could to support the constitutional opposition of the great ecclesiastics to the administration of John of Gaunt and the See also:anti-clerical courtiers. His last public See also:act was to inspire the attack on See also:Lancaster's See also:influence made by the Good See also:Parliament in the See also:spring of 1376. The famous parliament was still in session when he died at See also:Westminster on the 8th of July. He was buried in the east end of See also:Canterbury See also:cathedral on the 29th of September, where his magnificent See also:tomb, erected in accordance with the instructions in his will, may still be seen. By Joan, " the See also:fair maid of Kent," who died on the 7th of August 1385, the Black Prince See also:left an only son, afterwards King See also:Richard II. For authorities see EDWARD III. To these may be added W. See also:Hunt's See also:article in the See also:Diet. Nat.

Biog.; A. See also:

Collins's Life of Edward, Prince of Wales (174o) ; G. P. R. See also:James's Life of Edward the Black Prince (1839) ; J. Moisant's Le Prince Noir en Aquitaine (1894) ; and R. P. Dunn-See also:Pattison's The Black Prince (1910). (T. F.

End of Article: EDWARD

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EDWARD BICKERSTETH (1814—1892)

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