Edward the Black Prince
In his superlative career, Edward the Black Prince (1330-76) became a byword for chivalric glory. The son of Edward III, another great warrior, it was only his father’s surprising longevity that prevented him from becoming king. As Edward III’s senility made itself apparent, many wished it hadn’t. Aged just 16, Edward led the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy. Crécy was amongst the most famous English victories in the Hundred Years’ War, and saw 14,000 English decisively rout a French army numbering between 20,000 and 30, 000 men. In 1348 Edward was invested with the Order of the Garter.
Edward did not rest on his laurels. In 1349, he rescued his father at Calais, and fought at the Battle of Winchelsea in the English Channel. In 1355, he defeated the French army at Poitiers, taking the King of France prisoner for good measure. Later, he involved himself in matters in Spain, where he fought successfully to reinstate the deposed King Pedro of Castile after the Battle of Nájera. As well as winning many famous military victories, Edward added to his legend by competing at many tournaments across England, giving a public display of his fighting prowess and chivalry.
If any man were to die in battle, surely it would be Edward the Black Prince. Alas, this was not the case. Whilst greatly successful in Spain, Edward also found time to contract a disease. This was to plague him over the coming years, and seems to have weakened his immune system, for he was seldom well again after 1367. At the risk of being overly scatological, it was once again dysentery that ended this glorious historic figure. Edward’s magnificent tomb bears his own sobering words: ‘such as thou art, sometime was I/such as I am, such shalt thou be.’