The Black Prince - Chivalry in the Hundred Years War Biography Documentary

it is the 26th of august 1346 in the field south of calais an outnumbered english army commanded by the king of england edward iii confronts the forces of the french king philip vi as the fighting rages the right of the english line is assaulted with fury by the count of allah causing the english ranks to buckle under the pressure the second in command of the english right the earl of warwick sends a message to king edward begging for assistance telling him that his son the 16 year old edward prince of wales is in mortal danger but the english king decides his son must fight on and prove his valor stating that the prince must win his spurs and soon after being thrown to the ground in the crush and rescued by his standard bearer the young edward rallies his men and beats back the advancing french until by dusk the field belongs to the english and the legend of the black prince is born [Music] before we begin a quick word from our sponsor surf shark in the modern age staying safe and protected online has never been so important this is where surf shark vpn comes in as when you go online your location as well as all the data you send and receive is open to attack whereas surfshark hides or encrypts your location along with all your data so that you can surf the internet safe in the knowledge that no one knows who or where you are so browse the web incognito by downloading surfshark today via the link in the video description below and entering the special promo code and receive three months free of charge along with 85 percent off your [Music] subscription the man known to history as edward of woodstock or edward the black prince was born on the 15th of june 1330 at woodstock palace in the county of oxfordshire england his mother was philippa of heinolt the daughter of william the first count of heinous who was queen of england from the 24th of january 1328 until her death on the 15th of august 1369. she married edward iii of england in 1328 after the king's mother isabella had decided that an alliance with flanders would be beneficial for her attempt to remove her husband from the throne of england philippa's marriage to the king would produce 13 children of whom prince edward was the eldest prince edward's father king edward iii of england was the son of edward ii and isabella of france who was crowned as king at the age of 14 after his weak and unpopular father was deposed by his wife isabella and her lover roger mortimer a powerful english noble who with isabella organized an uprising whilst in france and invaded england in 1326 rapidly supplanting edward's government which had lost the support of the nobles of england the english lords felt no loyalty to the king as they resented the influence of edward ii's unpopular favourites first piers gaviston and then hugh de spencer both of whom exercised considerable influence over the government through their close relationships with edward which were resented by his wife isabella furthermore the english lords viewed the reign as a disaster following the crushing defeat against robert the bruce of scotland at the battle of bannockburn in june 1314 which left the north of england vulnerable to raids by the scottish king as well as the devastating famines of 1314 to 1321 which edward was seen as having a weak and insufficient response to therefore assisted by a popular uprising against the king and dispenser in london on the 26th of october isabella and mortimer announced their right to govern england on behalf of the 13 year old edward iii and edward ii and dispenser were captured in wales whilst attempting to flee to ireland and whilst edward was imprisoned in kenworth castle in warwickshire the hated dispenser was brutally hung drawn and quartered on the 24th of november on the 24th of january 1327 edward ii was forced to abdicate and his son was crowned as edward iii of england on the 1st of february but all effective power lay in the hands of isabella and mortimer needless to say the 14 year old king was shocked by the sudden destruction of his previously stable family and political life and although not greatly attached to his father the boy was still saddened by the news that he'd been deposed by isabella which was swiftly followed by his death in september 1327 however edward would soon show that he was nothing like his father in terms of his political and military abilities it was the birth of his son and heir edward of woodstock that galvanized the king to move against the increasingly unpopular mortimer and isabella and on the 19th of october 1330 edward iii raided a castle where the couple were residing in nottingham and captured them and on the 29th of november mortimer was accused of murdering edward ii and executed whilst isabella was confined in a norfolk castle and banned from all political activity edward swift and decisive reassertion of royal power was welcomed by the english nobility and brought a sense of relief upon the entire country who embraced their 18 year old monarch as a king akin to his grandfather edward the first whose military prowess had united and strengthened england and so the king resolved to wage war on the scots like his grandfather had done to avenge the humiliation of bannockburn as well as their numerous raids in the north of england and edward iii demonstrated that he did indeed take after his grandfather and not his father with regards to military talent and his well-disciplined and well-trained army utilizing the longbow to great effect secured a complete victory over the scottish forces at the battle of halidon hill on the 19th of july 1333 killing numerous scottish lords and routing their army from the field edward was received as a hero on his return to england with comparisons being made between the young warrior king and the legendary king arthur and with this resounding victory edward became determined to pursue the redemption of his kingdom from the disaster of his father's reign through military glory and in this task his son would become an able and willing participant details of the early life of edward of woodstock are scarce though he was made the earl of chester in 1333 his first title and was brought up in the surroundings of a magnificent court where feasting and celebration were abundant the young prince was dressed in fine silk clothes and given a personal tailor however the prince's father did not simply shower his son in luxury rather he wanted to ensure that his heir embraced and mastered the world of chivalry and to this end the prince received his first suit of armor at the age of seven and from the age of 13 participated in numerous cheval rick tournaments held by the king in which dueling and jousting between aristocratic knights featured prominently the first decade of his reign saw edward and broad in conflict with the scottish king david bruce son of the legendary robert the bruce leading multiple campaigns in the scottish borderlands following halidon hill however his thoughts soon began turning more towards england's greatest enemy france and in 1337 edward would make a bold move to claim the french throne launching what would become known as the hundred years war the conflict in which the black prince would establish himself as one of the greatest military leaders of the medieval period the origins of edward's claim came from the death in 1328 of charles iv of france without a male heir leaving two chief claimants for the throne philip a counter valor who was edward's cousin and charles's closest relative in the male line and edward himself whose mother isabella was charles's sister and in early 1329 the french aristocracy chose philip of valvar to become philip vi of france this choice was not contested at first primarily because in 1329 isabella and mortimer wanted to maintain good relations with the french and when edward took personal control of england he too had cordial relations with philip but relations between the monarchs soured when philip gave support to david bruce of scotland and deteriorated further when in 1337 philip threatened to confiscate gascony england's only holding on the continent therefore in february 1337 edward iii put forward his claim to the french throne to parliament and at this parliament he also outlined his intention to make the black prince guardian of the realm whenever the king was absent although the boy was just six years old at the time the king wanted the prince to learn from experience at this young age so that he would be prepared for wielding more substantial authority in the future edward wanted to draw the french forces into battle and so invaded northern france in autumn 1339 using scorched earth tactics to devastate the countryside however philip refused to meet the king in battle and withdrew his forces into defensive positions the english king therefore retired to flanders without a victory but in january 1340 in the city of ghent edward formally declared himself king of france by raising his shield upon which the coats of arms of england and france were now joined the leopards of england in two quarters alongside the french fleur de lis by 1340 edward was desperate for a victory over the french as his heavy taxation of england was coming under increasing scrutiny and so he assembled more than a hundred ships at holbrook in the east of england to ferry his troops to flanders and begin a new offensive with his flemish allies however the french had anticipated edward and were blockading his entry to flanders with a fleet twice as large as his own edward received news of this but chose to sail nevertheless on the 22nd of june the fleets clashed near the town of sloyes and though the french boats were faster and more maneuverable their sailors were inexperienced in combat whilst edward's vessels were crowned with archers and men at arms hardened by fighting in scotland furthermore the french boats were bound together to maintain a defensive position making the fleet extremely immobile and on the 24th of june the english won total victory capturing almost the entire french fleet and inflicting thousands of casualties on the enemy however despite the stunning naval success at the battle of sloyes edward could still not force king philip into a decisive battle on french territory and soon ran out of funds and was forced to abandon his 1340 campaign after peace talks with france in 1344 ended in failure edward made plans for a major military campaign in normandy which would commence in 1346 one in which the black prince would take part the boy would be 16 when the campaign began and having grown up surrounded by visions of chavarric glory through his father's tournaments and military campaigns the prince was eager to join his father's quest for the crown of france the king and his son who was made the prince of wales in 1343 landed in normandy on the 12th of july 1346 with a 14 000 strong army intending to lay waste to the duchy's rich agricultural lands and bring philip to battle upon arrival the prince was knighted by his father and was given command of the vanguard of the army the leading unit after pillaging kong in late july with the black prince playing a leading role in the town's capture edward's army continued their easterly march through normandy before turning south in advancing on paris and as criticism mounted towards the french king for his failure to defend his kingdom from the pillaging invaders he sent a letter on the 14th of august to edward challenging him to a battle this was what the english king had been waiting for and he immediately marched north to select a battlefield of his choosing and after crossing the river somme on the 24th of august he arrived on a ridge of high ground between the villages of cressie and wadi court with woodland to the rear of his position the king had around 2 500 men at arms 3 thousand cavalry two thousand spearmen and five thousand to seven thousand longbowmen at cressie whilst the approaching french force was much larger with a strength of approximately thirty thousand men however whilst the english were well rested on the 26th of august having arrived at the battlefield a day before the french the french army was exhausted after their long march northwards yet philips nobles were impatient to engage the enemy immediately and the king was pressured into calling an immediate attack giving the english troops an advantage over the tired and disorganized french and whilst king edward commanded the centre of the army and the earl of northampton the left the black prince was given command of the right wing of the english force which lay forward of the rest of the army and so would bear the brunt of french attacks the french advance was led by genoese crossbowmen however they arrived on the battlefield without their shields which were stunned further back in the baggage train and they were met by masked volleys of edward's longbowmen which forced many to fall back in disarray meanwhile the french cavalry had begun building up behind them and seeing the genoese falter they charged through the crossbowman causing chaos and confusion in the french ranks as they charge towards the english line and a division of knights led by the blind king john of bohemia who was tied to his horse charged the english right under the black prince forcing the archers to fall behind the men's arms and leading to a severe struggle in which the prince himself was beaten to the ground and his banner felled however reinforcements from the english left helped repel the french attack and prince edward though badly concussed soon picked himself up and continued fighting valiantly king philip himself had two horses slain under him during the battle and received an arrow wound to his face and as night fell with his army disintegrating around him against a steady english advance he reluctantly fled the field conceding a terrible defeat to king edward's triumphant army the battle of cressie was one of the greatest english victories of the hundred years war and with edward's army sustaining fewer than 300 casualties whilst the french casualties though not known for certain were likely around fourteen thousand including a great number of prominent nobles and princes such as philip's brother the count of alonson and king john of bohemia indeed the black prince and his father came across the body of john when surveying the battlefield the following day and were deeply moved for john was one of the foremost warriors of his age losing his sight whilst on crusade and perishing valiantly whilst charging the english line and it is said that the prince therefore took jon's emblem of the three white feathers and made it his own and jon's emblem remains the symbol of the prince of wales to this day following the battle edward late sieged the port of calais whilst an invading scottish army encouraged by philip to exploit edward's absence was decisively defeated at neville's cross by an english force under the archbishop of york on the 17th of october 1346 calais finally surrendered in august 1347 and in october of that year king edward negotiated a truce and returned to london having attained his first taste of chevalric glory at cressy prince edward also attained independence establishing a full household with knights and squires priests clerks messengers and keepers of the armory and took an active role in managing his estates indeed the prince became renowned for his generosity to his intimates giving gifts of great value and opulence to his family and his closest associates however the spirit of jubilation across england surrounding edward and his son's great victories was soon brought to an end when in august 1348 the black death crossed the english channel and ravaged the country killing between 40 and 60 percent of the population indeed the black prince was personally impacted by the disease as it claimed the life of his sister joan on the 2nd of september nevertheless in spite of the plague on the 23rd of april 1349 king edward inaugurated his cheval wreck order at windsor castle naming it the order of the garter it had 26 members including the black prince who had assisted his father in selecting the other founding members all of whom were selected based on acts of valor rather than simply their rank furthermore the order was another step in edward's quest to imbue his country with both a chevalric and pious spirit as dedicated religious observance as well as marshall prowess bound the knights of the order together the order would be arguably the most lasting legacy of edward iii's reign as it remains the most senior order of knights in the united kingdom today as the effects of the plague began to dissipate in late 1349 king edward saw the chance to return to the offensive against france and after hearing of an imminent attempt to recapture calais the king and his son went to the vital port ahead of the french and sprung a trap on their enemy repulsing the french force on the 1st of january 1350 although not without the black prince having to lead his garrison in saving his father after edward became stranded outside the city gates against a much larger enemy force the black prince owned large estates throughout the country and although he implemented a host of cash-generating policies when his revenues fell after the black death the prince showed himself to be a tough but fair landlord instructing his revenue official in cornwall in 1351 to deal equitably and rightly with his tenants and to protect them from oppressions and extortions furthermore after local unrest in the county of cheshire in the summer of 1353 the prince traveled to the county himself holding judicial sessions to settle grievances he also agreed to grant cheshire a charter of liberties which he did on the 10th of september though showing himself to be a fair and equitable landlord the black prince was also gaining a reputation as an overly indulgent spender as well as his regular expensive gift giving the prince was constantly living beyond his financial means to fund his extravagant lifestyle and by 1350 faced mounting debt however it should be noted that the prince's extravagance and generosity was not mindless spending for in medieval england a lord needed to be generous in feasting and gift-giving to recruit men into his service and maintain their allegiance and thus striking the balance between rewarding his men and avoiding the burden of debt was a challenge faced by many medieval lords in 1355 jean de grayley a knight of the gata from gascony an english-held province in southern france informed king edward that english supporters in the region were concerned with the actions of jean the count of armagnac he had been appointed by king john ii of france as governor of the southern region of longadoc and who had captured a number of gascon towns and fortresses and in 1354 was attempting to win gaskin nobles to the french cause [Music] edward was keen to resume the offensive against france and on the 24th of may his great council decided that the black prince should lead an expedition from gascony to secure the province and punish the count of armagnac furthermore on the 10th of july the prince was made the king's lieutenant in gascony allowing him to act with the king's authority in the region and was given an army of 2 600 men to be bolstered by gascon soldiers accompanying the prince were 14 nights of the garter including the experienced earls of warwick and suffolk and the prince's special advisers and close friends sir john chandos and sir james orderly and after setting sail from plymouth on the 8th of september the prince reached bordeaux on the 20th of september 1355 after taking council with his military advisors and gasket nobles a ceremony was held on the 21st of september in saint andre cathedral where the prince took his oath as lieutenant of gascony and following the ceremony the prince spoke directly to the inhabitants of bordeaux telling them his hatred for the count of armagnac and his plan to take the offensive against the longer dog governor by marching east and ravaging his lands in the great chevy a french term meaning a brutal plundering raid where land either side of the advancing column was burned the aim of a chevy chain was to plunder and destroy the wealth and resources of an enemy lord's lands in order to wreck his capacity to make war humiliate him and demonstrate to his vassals that he was incapable of protecting them and this was carried out with fire devastation and slaughter however although this may sound brutal and shocking in the modern era it was a common tactic in the medieval period used by the scots against northern england in 1327 and by king edward in normandy during the cressie campaign with the gascon contingents joining his army the black prince's force reached around 8 000 men and on the 5th of october they set off from bordeaux following the river garon and entering armagnac's land on the 12th of october where the troops began burning and fires soon raged for many miles around the army indeed the anglo-gascon soldiers now wreaked havoc on armagnac's estates as villages and castles were plundered and raised to the ground though out of piety the prince ordered that all church property be spared though armagnac was in command of a force much larger than the anglo-gascons the quality of his soldiers was low and he did not want to risk battle against the black prince's experienced men thus he gathered his army in the fortified city of toulouse and destroyed the bridges over the garrow and arya's rivers which turned south and stood in the way of the prince's march and then armagnac waited hoping the raid would fizzle out or come to a halt before the rivers on the 28th of october the prince reached the goron eight miles south of toulouse and although many in his army quivered in fear before the fast-moving river the prince had been informed by local guides in his service that the stream could be forwarded and so he led his army across the garonne and aries in a single day and this audacious move greatly boosted the morale of the anglo-gascon army whilst causing panic and shock amongst armagnac and the french who assumed the prince would turn back before the rivers instead his army now moved east through the county of longadoc a region totally unprepared for the carnage that bought down upon them as the anglo-gascons pillaged the poorly defended villages and towns of longadoc the army reached the major town of carcassonne and raised its outer settlements to the ground on the 6th of november and then continued on to the nar bomb which was occupied in the 8th of november and the prince's troops had by now cover 250 miles since leaving bordeaux and were within sight of the mediterranean sea [Music] after holding a council of war the prince decided to return to gascony before the winter weather set in and so on the 10th of november the anglo-gascons turned and marched west continuing to burn and plunder as they went even as the prince visited and prayed at numerous abbeys and religious houses on the return journey the prince's army re-crossed the garron on the 20th of november and after receiving reinforcements the count of armagneck finally left to lose but despite his superior numbers the count still wanted to avoid a set-piece battle with the enemy so he simply shadowed the anglo-gascons as they marched west much to the fury of john ii the french king on the 28th of november the prince arrived back on gascon soil and spent christmas at bordeaux amid great rejoicing in celebration for the expedition had been a clear success as in the eight-week raid the prince's army had destroyed more than 500 villages towns and castles crippling a region that was an important economic base for the french king's war effort as royal tax revenue from longer dock was a substantial component of the king's military budget prior to the great raid furthermore many gascon lords who had joined the french now rallied to the english cause as armagnac's failure to protect his vassal's lands had been brutally exposed the chevoshe also demonstrated the black prince's skill as a military commander as he had stunned the french with the force and speed of his raid particularly in the crossing of the garonne and arias and had honed his anglo-gascon army into a disciplined resilient and formidable fighting force however the raid had also alienated him from the count of armagnac and their mutual enmity would eventually come back to haunt the prince viewing the unstable political situation in france in 1356 edward iii sensed an opportunity to launch a wider offensive against his enemy as king john ii was facing a crisis in his relations with the nobility originating from john's arrest of the powerful aristocrat charles of navarre and other norman lords at a dinner party in rua when he threw charles in jail and executed four nobles causing normandy to rise in revolt against the french king to exploit this situation whilst his son conquered territory around the borders of gascony king edward sent a small force under the duke of lancaster to normandy at the beginning of june 1356 and urged the black prince to march north to link up with lancaster's army in order to attack john the second son to counter poitiers who was charged with the defense of france south of the loire river the prince was delayed in his expedition by the resurgent count of armagnac whose incursions into gascony forced the prince to leave 2000 of his 8 000 strong force in the duchy to defend it before he began his march on the 4th of august moving north through france and devastating the lands as they went whilst avoiding well-fortified castles and towns however as the prince neared the loire river he began to realize the serious danger his army was in as lancaster had ended his normandy campaign in the face of a larger french force whilst john ii was building an immense army at charge as although jon remained unpopular with french aristocracy they now rallied to him out of fear of the black prince and his dreaded anglo-gascon army and thus the king was able to assemble a force more than twice the size of the princes who now became desperate to locate and link up with lancaster's army especially after a skirmish between his vanguard and a french reconnaissance force on the 31st of august confirmed that the french were nearby on the 7th of september the prince's army reached the loire in the suburbs of tour aiming to join lancaster who was just 70 miles away on the north bank however heavy rain soon made the swollen river impassable and after receiving news that john's army was advancing towards him just 20 miles away the black prince ordered a retreat whilst lancaster withdrew into brittany leaving the black prince to fend for himself with both armies moving south the french had managed to overtake and cut across the english line of march and were now west of their enemy near poitiers gathering reinforcements and after the anglo-gascon's brief engagement with the french rear guard it was clear that a major confrontation was imminent however whilst the prince led about 7 000 men king john had between 20 and 30 000 men in his army on the 18th of september the prince took up his position southeast of poitiers and deployed his army as he had at cressie in a strong natural position occupying a ridge of high ground his flanks protected by thick woods on one side and a steep escarpment on the other with wagons from the baggage train used to shield his flanks further in addition his forces were placed behind a line of thick hedges and the ground in front of the english line was littered with natural obstacles such as vines and marshes the prince placed warwick and oxford's division on his left suffocant salisbury's on his right whilst he commanded the center his longbowmen were placed on the wings of the army on the morning of the 19th of september jon had arrived before the english army and both sides ready themselves for battle with jon ordering most of his men to dismount due to the difficulties of a mass cavalry attack on the broken terrain and forming his army into three divisions led by the dolphin charles john's brother philip de ducovolion and himself at 7 30 am the prince gathered his carts and moved them in a southern direction as if he were retreating in order to ensure that the french attacked for his army were low on provisions and thus he needed an immediate battle the faint worked and the french heavy cavalry desperate to prevent the english escaping charged the english line indeed this charge met with initial success as the armored french horses resisted the prince's archers and crashed into the anglo-gascons however only the horses in the front line were armored and after repositioning to the side the english archers targeted the horses behind the front line to devastating effect destroying the momentum of the french assault and the cavalry that had broken through the defenses was surrounded and cut down then behind the cavalry the dolphins infantry advanced upon the english and were battered by a hail of arrows as they marched the english attacked the exhausted french men at arms and spilled around the flanks of the french line forcing them to retreat after two hours of bloody fighting the dofan's retreating men then collided with the advance of the duke of ollion sending his men back in confusion however the strongest french division under king john viewing the mass retreat in front of them now began to advance nevertheless the black prince and his advisors had a cunning plan to launch a surprise cavalry charge directly at the french line while secretly sending another mounted force on a large-scale flanking maneuver to fall on the french left causing widespread panic and confusion in john's ranks the english archers meanwhile having expended their arrows threw down their boats and launched themselves into battle with the french army now broken up and with many soldiers fleeing the french king was surrounded and after a brave last stand was captured by the english on the evening of the 19th of september french dead stood at 2 500 men at arms and a larger number of other ranks and dozens of notable lords were captured whilst english casualties are unknown and no anglo-gascon noblemen were killed indeed it was clear that from the jewels of defeat the black prince had snatched an improbable and total victory one of the greatest victories in english history the captured king john was treated with the utmost courtesy and respect by the black prince who waited on his table on the evening after the battle and praised the king's valor and bravery even refusing to sit with john while he ate because he did not deem himself worthy of such an honor indeed if the central tenets of medieval chivalry were bravery in battle and the showing of respect to one's enemy then at poitiers the black prince had demonstrated why he would be remembered in history as the embodiment of a chivalrous warrior anglo-gascon army returned to bordeaux on the 5th of october to great public jubilation having met no resistance from the stunned french and having signed a two-year truce with john on the 23rd of march 1357 the prince and his royal captive set sail for england arriving on the 3rd of may and on the 24th of that month edward of woodstock rode through london in triumph parading his captive for the joyous crowds at the undoubted summit of his career as england's warrior prince on the 8th of may 1358 edward iii signed an agreement with john ii in which john agreed to pay 4 million french crowns for his release and recognized edward as sovereign ruler of the large southern province of aquitaine and in return edward would renounce his claim to the french throne this was a treaty which was a substantial victory for the english following his victory the prince fell back into his ever persistent problem of overspending and debt as he began extensive rebuilding projects across his residences and embarked on an ambitious expansion of the val royal in cheshire an abbey begun by his great grandfather edward the first and this combined with his generous rewarding of his followers after the poitiers campaign meant that by the summer of 1358 the prince's finances were in serious crisis nevertheless when the french provisional government rejected the treaty side with john the black prince and his father once again led a large expedition into france on the 28th of october 1359 intending to march on reams and have edward iii crowned as king of france however the army failed to capture reams due to stern resistance from the city and after a severe storm ravaged the troops in mid-april 1360 near paris edward decided to negotiate agreeing to the treaty of brittany on the 8th of may 1360 with the dhofar charles which seeded to edward aquitaine as well as some lands in the north totaling around a third of the territory of modern france whilst edward relinquished his claim to the french throne and lowered john's ransom to three million crowns the following summer of 1361 the 31 year old black prince chose to marry joan of kent his 33 year old twice married cousin and though his father had wanted his son to marry a younger foreign bride to secure a continental alliance by all accounts the prince was infatuated with joan and married her for love rather than political gain edward of woodstock would soon return to france however as on the 19th of july 1362 he was invested as prince of aquitaine england's newly won french province in a ceremony at westminster abbey as a reward for his victory at poitiers and after extensive preparations the prince departed from england the following summer bringing with him most of his household as well as service 600 soldiers arriving at lauremont near bordeaux on the 29th of june upon arrival the prince held a series of ceremonies as he toured across aquitaine and throughout the summer he received homage from the province's various lords as they swore fealty to their new english overlord often reluctantly nevertheless the prince was quite popular at the beginning of his rule as his exceedingly generous hospitality and grand feasts endeared him to local knights and lords and his magnificent court was an uplifting site for a war-weary region furthermore the prince and his wife were extremely happy in their new domain especially upon the birth of their first child in january 1365 a son whom they called edward in addition in a meeting of the three estates the representative body of aquitaine in september 1365 the prince showed himself to be willing to listen to the grievances of his subjects and act to address them working to reduce lawlessness in his lands after hearing complaints of marauding brigands and feuding lords meanwhile france had a new king following the death of john ii in march 1364 as the weak and sickly dorfan charles became charles v of france but despite his physical frailty charles would prove himself to be a strong and effective ruler and a formidable adversary for the black prince who by 1365 was already experiencing some tension with his nobles including his old enemy the count of armagnac who had not yet performed homage to the prince and charles v would work to exacerbate these tensions however the black prince's attention was soon drawn away from aquitaine and towards spain when he received a message in 1366 from the deplaced king of castile pedro begging the prince to help restore him to the throne the 32 year old pedro had succeeded his father alfonso the 11th as the sole child of a loveless marriage to queen maria of portugal but his father preferred his mistress leonard de guzman with whom he had multiple children who he showered with honor and affection whilst isolating pedro who forged a strong resentment towards his half-siblings especially the eldest enrique of trastamara as king pedro was a valuable ally of edward iii after their agreement in 1362 as castile was the largest and most powerful state in the iberian peninsula however in 1366 pedro was removed from the throne by his bitter enemy enrique in an invasion supported by charles v of france causing him to flee to gascony in july of that year many of the prince's advisors and initially the prince himself were opposed to helping pedro as in his rapid evacuation he had brought no soldiers with him meaning that the prince would have to mobilize an army and bear the financial burden of the campaign and more importantly pedro would become known by posterity as the cruel for his numerous acts of violence as king and was widely considered an unstable tyrant and was also excommunicated from the catholic church where the prince who followed a strict code of morality and piety was intensely loyal to the church and so was personally repelled by the castilian monarch [Music] nevertheless edward iii weary of allowing castile to come under french influence was determined to uphold the anglo-castilian alliance and the prince whose loyalty to his father overrode his disapproval of pedro thus reluctantly signed a treaty to help restore the castilian king on september the 23rd 1366 on the condition that pedro swear an oath to amend his life and government upon returning to the throne and repair his relations with the church after the birth on the 6th of january 1367 of his second son richard who would later become king richard ii of england the prince left bordeaux to join his assembling army over 6 000 strong in the foothills of the pyrenees mountains and on the 14th of february the prince's vanguard under sir john chandos crossed the pyrenees followed on the 20th by the prince with the main body reaching pamplona the capital of navarre on the 23rd of february as the prince's army reached victoria it suffered under harsh weather and a lack of provisions and while encamped around victoria it was ambushed on the 25th of march by the franco-spanish force under enrique losing hundreds of men however this shock kicked the prince into action and after retreating to navarre he marched south on a new route whilst exchanging letters with enrique as the two commanders goaded each other into battle on the 3rd of april the two armies would meet on an open plane a mile east of the town of najira and though the exact sizes of the armies are disputed it is likely that enrique of trastamara held the numerical advantage but the black prince used the advantage of the element of surprise by shielding his advance behind a ridge and appearing unexpectedly with his army on enrique's left flank the surprised franco spanish launched a poorly coordinated cavalry charge which was shot down by anglo-gascon archers indeed enrique's spanish soldiers were not accustomed to the devastating effectiveness of the english longbow which broke the advancing infantry in similar fashion and the prince seeing the enemy's distress charged his mounted soldiers to route the spanish and french troops the battle of najira was another complete victory for the black prince whose army inflicted heavy casualties on the spanish while sustaining very few casualties themselves much to the delight of edward iii who had english propaganda glorify the prince's achievement despite this the black prince was soon frustrated to learn that enrique had escaped to france to be shielded by charles v on the 2nd of may at burgos pedro was presented with the cost of the campaign and the sum he owed to the prince was over 400 000 pounds and although he intended to remain with his army in spain to ensure the debt was paid off an outbreak of dysentery hit the army in august when the prince himself was struck with the sickness and so the anglo-gascons marched back across the pyrenees and returned to bordeaux in early september 1367. by autumn of 1367 pedro's failure to repay his debts left the black prince on the verge of bankruptcy with most of his army still unpaid and so the prince was forced to resort to taxing aquitaine introducing a property tax known as the fuage which was approved by the estates in january 1368 however a minority of noblemen led by the count of armagnac and the lord of albre themselves facing serious debt denounced the tax as oppressive and refused to allow its collection on their lands following his spanish expedition many of the prince's political strengths were fading as he now lacked the financial means to maintain loyalty through his generosity and gift-giving and his personal charm was greatly diminished by debilitating sickness which continually plagued him from the summer of 1368 and in june of that year charles saw his opportunity and took it entering an agreement with armagnac albre and the counter perigord three influential aquitaine nobles who were resentful of the prince and his new tax pledging to defend them if the prince ever attacked their domains and granted them lands and funds whilst the nobles promised to fight for charles to recover aquitaine for the french crown as the prince's health worsened his hold over aquitaine became ever more precarious edward iii whose energy and decisiveness had declined with age and ill health failed to provide the prince with adequate financial resources and had dithered whilst louis duke of anjou brother of charles v began raising troops in southern france in coordination with the rebellious nobles to threaten the prince's authority furthermore the prince's position was further weakened when enrique of trustamara reconquered castile and killed pedro in march of 1369 placing a french ally directly south of the prince's lands in june 1369 following months of tension war broke out once again between england and france and edward iii sent a small force under the earl of cambridge and pembroke to assist the black prince charles meanwhile had saved prudently through his reign and had large funds with which to supply the rebellious laws as towns and castles in vulnerable eastern aquitaine began to fall to the french as he remained crippled by illness to add to the prince's woes he began to lose some of his closest military companions sir james orderly died of sickness at the end of august whilst his most experienced captain in aquitaine sir john chandos was killed in a skirmish in poitu on the 1st of january the french then launched an offensive in the summer of 1370 with two large armies one of which under charles the fifth's brother john duke of berry captured the city of le moj in north eastern aquitaine in mid-august after the bishop jean de croc a trusted friend of the black prince surrendered it to the french however the majority of the townspeople remained loyal to the english the prince aghast at the city's surrender joined a four thousand strong army and marched to limage in what would be his final expedition though he had to be carried in a litter as he was by now too ill to mount a horse nevertheless the army arrived and laid siege to the city on the 14th of september and on the 19th the prince's miners succeeded in destroying a large section of the city wall allowing the english troops to surge into limoge and push back the french defenders the city was pillaged and burnt by the retreating french and advancing english and when the bishop of limage was brought before the prince he was told that he deserved execution although he was ultimately spared the recovery of limage was an important victory for the english however on the 29th of september the prince learned of the death of his eldest son edward of the plague and his devastating news combined with his declining ability to provide effective leadership due to illness made him resolve to leave aquitaine and return to england the capture of limoge would however become mired in infamy as the french chronicler jean-fraser who was not present at the siege wrote an account of the capture depicting an angry prince unleashing his vengeance upon the city ordering his soldiers to kill civilians indiscriminately despite this there is much contemporary evidence to suggest that fossard's account was largely fabricated as although there was substantial property damage civilian and military casualties combined were by almost all accounts around 300 rather than fossart's 3000 and it is therefore likely that fossa's depiction of the prince's cruel vengeance was propaganda aimed at staining his reputation rather than an accurate account of the event nevertheless this story of the capture of limage would act as a stain on the prince's reputation even to this day in early january 1371 the prince and his household sail to england where the remainder of his life would be spent residing mostly in birkensted castle having left his brother john of gaunt in charge of the worsening military situation in aquitaine as he was haunted by dysentery in his last years in england the prince became even more devoted to religion and to the church becoming close friends with thomas de la mer the abbot of saint albans who helped the prince form a strict regime of penitence and prayer as the prince suspected that his sickness was divine judgment for his helping of pedro of castile an excommunicant and so he sought god's forgiveness the summer of 1372 saw further military gains for the french and aquitaine as charles's men seized poitiers on the 7th of august indeed by the time a year's truce was signed in june 1375 england's holdings on the continent have been greatly diminished at home edward iii had lost much of his immense popularity as he came increasingly under the influence of his young mistress alice perez the black prince meanwhile remained a figure of great admiration for the people of england as the prince approached his 46th year in 1376 he was virtually unable to leave his bed and on the 1st of june he was carried to the palace of westminster so that he could spend the last of his days with his father who the prince had served with the utmost devotion throughout his life even though their relationship had been somewhat strained since the spanish campaign on sunday the 8th of june 1376 edward of woodstock set a final prayer and died to the despair of the people of england who it was said by contemporary chroniclers always felt safe from invasion whilst the prince was alive he was a man admired even by his enemies indeed charles v and his court on hearing of the prince's death held a mass in paris to honor him and he was buried in canterbury cathedral where his tomb can still be seen today the origins of the name the black prince are not known for certain though prince edward was not called by this name whilst he was alive rather it was adopted during the tudor era over 150 years after his death some speculate that his name arises from the black armor he is said to have worn into battle while some claim that it arises from his dark reputation in france where his 1355 chevy and stories of his sacking of limoge earned him the title black whilst others argue that it originates from his coat of arms which depicted three ostrich feathers on a black background whatever the origins of his name the black prince is regarded as one of the greatest medieval warriors in the history of england playing a leading role in two of the most decisive and iconic english victories in the hundred years war namely cressie and poitier and winning another total victory in spain at najira he was admired and respected by the people of england throughout his life and by his friends and soldiers whom he never ceased to reward generously for their service to him and even by the french kings john ii and charles v who recognized the prince's valor and honor the prince's reputation has significant blemishes however especially in france where his brutal rage through langedoc and northern aquitaine prior to the battle of poitiers including mass atrocities towards civilians and the destruction of significant swathes of french countryside furthermore his persistent overspending meant he was almost always in severe debt which could hinder his ability to rule effectively and as prince of aquitaine he failed to maintain english possession of aquitaine although due in large part to the failures of edward iii to adequately support him however it still leaves a stain on his career nevertheless the black prince was above all else a hero for his time labelled by his surgeon john ardern who accompanied him on many campaigns as the very flower of chivalry but there are few men in history who embodied medieval chivalry as did edward of woodstock the principles of courage in battle showing honour towards one's opponents and a dedication to god and to his sovereign defined the warrior prince's life who lived and died adhering to a code of chivalry that was widely aspired to by knights and nobles in medieval europe indeed of chivalry in many ways to find the era of the black prince and the black prince in many ways defined chivalry what do you think of the black prince was he a ruthless warrior and tyrant winning at any cost or was he pious brave and honorable and in every way the greatest king that england never had please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching you

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Rating: 4.8549452 out of 5

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel

Id: FKgekOeftr4

Length: 50min 50sec (3050 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 07 2020