Edward, the Black Prince, prince of Wales (1330-1376)

Oldest son of Edward III, the Black Prince became the ultimate hero of chivalry for his role in the Hundred Years War. Although he was only sixteen at the time, he was placed in command of the vanguard at the battle of Crecy (1346), where he gained much fame for his bravery in the face of some of the fiercest fighting of the day. In 1349 he was appointed king's lieutenant in Gascony, starting an association that lasted until 1371. From Gascony he raided into France, and it was on one of those raids that he was confronted by King John of France at Poitiers (1356), where he repeated the success of Crecy, this time capturing King John. After the peace gained by the Treaty of Bretigny, he was created prince of Aquitaine and Gascony (1362), where he got involved in Spanish politics, to great financial expense, which strained relations with the Gascon nobility, eventually provoking the return to war in 1368. The one blemish on his reputation was the sack of Limoges (1370), ordered after he had recaptured the city after it had been surrendered to the French by the bishop. His health was already weakened, and in 1371 he resigned the principality of Aquitaine and Gascony and returned to England. His illness removed him from public life some time before his death in 1376, a year before his father, leaving his young son Richard unexpectedly heir to the throne. His successes at Crecy and Poitiers made the Black Prince one of the greatest heros of English chivalry.
How to cite this article: Rickard, J. (20 October 2000), Edward, the Black Prince, prince of Wales (1330-1376), http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_blackprince.html

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