Life of Edward the Black Prince

by Louise Creighton

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[CONTENTS]

[CHAPTER I.] EARLY YEARS OF THE BLACK PRINCE.
		Page
1330	Birth	[1]
	Position of Edward III.	[2]
	Fall of Mortimer	[3]
	Scottish Affairs	[4]
1333	Edward's Claim to the French Crown	[7]
	Prince Edward's Education	[9]
[CHAPTER II.] BEGINNING OF THE FRENCH WAR.
1336	Flanders and Jacques van Arteveldt	[12]
1338	Edward III. sails for Flanders	[14]
	His Journey to Coblentz	[15]
	He leads an army into France	[16]
1339	He grants Charters to the Flemings	[16]
1340	Birth of John of Gaunt	[17]
	Edward III.'s Money Difficulties	[17]
	Battle of Sluys	[19]
	Edward III. Invests Tournai	[20]
	Truce with France	[21]
1344	Earl of Derby sent to Guienne	[22]
	English Possessions in France	[22]
1345	Edward III. goes to Flanders again	[24]
	Murder of Van Arteveldt	[25]
[CHAPTER III.] CRESSY.
	Constitution of Edward III.'s Army	[27]
1346	Edward III. sails from Portsmouth	[31]
	He lands at La Hogue	[32]
	Capture of Caen	[33]
	Edward III. marches up the Seine	[34]
	Pursuit of Philip	[35]
	Battle of Cressy	[37]
[CHAPTER IV.] THE SIEGE OF CALAIS.
1346	Edward III. lays siege to Calais	[46]
1347	Surrender of the Garrison	[49]
	Heroism of the Six Burghers	[49]
	Edward III. returns to England	[51]
1349	Geoffroy de Chargny tries to retake Calais	[52]
[CHAPTER V.] CHIVALRY.
1347	Effect of Edward's Victories on England	[54]
	Chivalry	[55]
	Education of a Knight	[56]
	Institution of Knighthood	[57]
	Ideal of Knighthood	[58]
	Tournaments in England	[60]
	Order of the Garter	[61]
	Dress	[64]
	Furniture	[66]
	Amusements	[67]
	Miracle Plays	[68]
	Christmas Festivities	[69]
	Hunting and Hawking	[70]
[CHAPTER VI.] THE BLACK DEATH.
1348	First appearance of the Black Death in England	[72]
	Its Ravages	[74]
1349	The Flagellants	[75]
	Effect of the Black Death on Labour	[76]
	The Statute of Labourers	[78]
	Condition of the Labourer	[81]
	Langland's "Vision of Piers the Plowman"	[82]
[CHAPTER VII.] RENEWAL OF WAR WITH FRANCE.
1350	Sea-fight with the Spaniards	[86]
1351	State of France	[90]
1354	Triple Invasion of France	[92]
1356	Burnt Candlemas	[93]
[CHAPTER VII.] POITIERS.
1355	The Black Prince sails from Poitiers	[94]
	His Raid into France	[95]
1356	He starts on his Second Campaign	[96]
	Capture of Romorantin	[97]
	Battle of Poitiers	[98]
	Capture of King John	[107]
	The Black Prince returns to Bordeaux	[110]
[CHAPTER IX.] TRIUMPHAL RETURN TO ENGLAND.
1356	Entry of the Black Prince into Bordeaux	[113]
1357	Black Prince, with King John, sails for England	[115]
	They enter London in triumph	[115]
	State of France	[119]
1358	Jaquerie	[121]
1359	Peace Negotiations	[122]
[CHAPTER X.] THE PEACE OF BRETIGNY.
1359	Edward III. leads a mighty Army into France	[123]
	He lays siege to Rheims	[125]
	He marches into Burgundy	[127]
	Sir Walter Manny assaults the barriers of Paris	[127]
1360	Treaty signed at Bretigny	[128]
	King John returns to France	[129]
	Chandos Lieutenant in Aquitaine	[131]
[CHAPTER XI] EDWARD III.'S JUBILEE.
1361	Meeting of Parliament	[132]
	Black Prince's Marriage	[133]
	John of Gaunt becomes Duke of Lancaster	[133]
	Geoffrey Chaucer	[134]
1362	Edward III. celebrates his Jubilee	[139]
1363	Sumptuary Laws	[140]
	Archbishop Islip's Remonstrance	[141]
	Wealth of the City of London	[142]
	King John's return to England	[144]
[CHAPTER XII.] THE BLACK PRINCE IN AQUITAINE.
	State of Aquitaine	[145]
	Bastides	[146]
	Edward III.'s Policy in Aquitaine	[147]
	Black Prince's Court at Bordeaux	[149]
1364	Birth of Prince Edward	[150]
	State of Spain	[151]
	Don Pedro and Henry of Trastamare	[153]
1366	Black Prince promises to help Don Pedro	[155]
	Preparations for the Spanish Campaign	[158]
[CHAPTER XIII.] SPANISH CAMPAIGN.
1367	Birth of Prince Richard	[159]
	Troops meet at Dax	[160]
	Bertrand Du Guesclin	[161]
	Black Prince crosses the Pyrenees	[162]
	Henry's Manifesto	[163]
	Black Prince marches to Logrono	[164]
	Battle of Navarette	[165]
	Restoration of Don Pedro	[169]
	Black Prince winters round Valladolid	[170]
	He Returns to Aquitaine	[171]
[CHAPTER XIV.] FAILURE IN AQUITAINE.
	Effects of Spanish Campaign	[173]
1368	Release of Du Guesclin	[175]
	Death of Don Pedro	[176]
	Hearth Tax in Aquitaine	[177]
	Discontent in Aquitaine	[177]
1369	Black Prince summoned to Paris	[179]
	Death of Chandos	[180]
1370	Siege of Limoges	[183]
1371	Black Prince returns to England	[186]
[CHAPTER XV.] ENGLISH POLITICS.
1369	Death of Queen Philippa	[187]
	Growth of Parliament	[188]
	Parliaments of Edward I.	[189]
	Parliaments of Edward III.	[190]
	State of Clergy	[192]
1371	The Papacy	[193]
1351	The Popes at Avignon	[194]
1353	Statutes of Provisors and Præmunire	[195]
1371	Lancaster's Opposition to the Clergy	[197]
	Lancaster's Union with Wiclif	[197]
	William of Wykeham	[199]
	Petition of Parliament against the Clergy	[200]
	Triumph of Lancaster's Party	[201]
1374	Congress at Bruges	[202]
[CHAPTER XVI.] THE GOOD PARLIAMENT.
1376	Unpopularity of Lancaster	[204]
	Meeting of Parliament	[205]
	De la Mare, Speaker	[206]
	Petitions of Parliament	[208]
	Impeachments of Lyons, Lord Latimer, &c.	[208]
	Impeachment of Alice Perrers	[210]
[CHAPTER XVII.] DEATH OF THE BLACK PRINCE.
1376	Scene round Black Prince's Death-bed	[212]
	His Funeral	[215]
	His Character	[217]
	Results of the French Wars	[220]
[CHAPTER XVIII.] THE FIRST YEARS OF RICHARD II.
	Lancaster's return to power	[221]
1377	Charges of Heresy against Wiclif	[222]
	His "Simple Priests"	[223]
1381	Peasant's Revolt	[223]
	Insurgents enter London	[224]
	Murder of Archbishop Simon Sudbury	[225]
	Death of Wat the Tyler	[225]
	Wiclif's Translation of the Bible	[226]
	Summary	[229]
PLANS AND MAP.
[Plan of Cressy]		39
[Plan of Poitiers]		99
[Map of France]		at end of vol.

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[CHAPTER I.]

Early Years of the Black Prince.

On the 15th June, in the year 1330, there were great rejoicings in the Royal Palace of Woodstock. One Thomas Prior came hastening to the young King Edward III. to tell him that his Queen had just given birth to a son. The King in his joy granted the bearer of this good news an annual pension of forty marks. We can well imagine how he hurried to see his child. When he found him in the arms of his nurse, Joan of Oxford, overjoyed at the sight, he gave the good woman a pension of ten pounds a year, and granted the same sum to Matilda Plumtree, the rocker of the Prince's cradle.

Perhaps with Edward's thoughts of joy at the birth of his son were mingled some feelings of shame. It was three years since he had been crowned, and yet he was King only in name. He was nothing but a tool in the hands of his unscrupulous mother Isabella, and her ambitious favourite Mortimer. He was very young, not quite eighteen, and had not had sufficient knowledge or experience to know how to break the bonds within which he was held. But with the new dignity of father came to him a sense of his humiliating position. He would wish that his own son, on reviewing his youth, should have different thoughts of his father than he had.