Life Of Edward The Black Prince - free ebook by Louise Creighton

Thomson's Seasons: Winter.

With an Introduction to the Series, by the Rev. J. Franck Bright ,. M.A., Fellow of University College, and Historical Lecturer in Balliol, New, and University Colleges, Oxford, late Master of the Modern School at Marlborough College. 1 s....

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Cowper's Task.

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Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel.

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Scott's Lady of the Lake.

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Notes to Scott's Waverley.

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Twenty of Bacon's Essays.

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Simple Poems.

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Selections from Wordsworth's Poems.

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Milton's Paradise Lost.

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Selections from the Spectator.

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Browne's Religio Medici.

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Goldsmith's Traveller, and The Deserted Village.

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Poems selected from the Works of Robert Burns.

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Southey's Life of Nelson.

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History of the English Institutions.

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History of French Literature.

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The Roman Empire. From A.D. 395 to A.D. 800. With Maps and Plans.

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History of Modern English Law.

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English History in the XIVth Century.

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The Reign of Lewis XI. With Map.

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The Great Rebellion.

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History of the French Revolution.

By the Rev. J. Franck Bright , M.A., Fellow of University College, and Historical Lecturer in Balliol, New, and University Colleges, Oxford; Author of an "English History for the use of Public Schools."...

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The Age of Chatham.

By Sir W. R. Anson , Bart., M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, and Vinerian Reader of Law, Oxford....

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The Age of Pitt.

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The Supremacy of Athens.

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The Roman Revolution. From B.C. 133 to the Battle of Actium.

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History of the United States.

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History of Roman Political Institutions.

By J. S. Reid , M.L., Christ's College, Cambridge. RIVINGTONS: LONDON, OXFORD, AND CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHIES EDITED BY REV. M. CREIGHTON, M.A. LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD. Edward the Black Prince...

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HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHIES

Edited by THE REV. M. CREIGHTON, M.A. LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD With Maps. The most important and the most difficult point in historical teaching is to awaken a real interest in the minds of beginners. For this purpose concise handbooks are seldom useful. General sketches, however accurate in their outlines of political or constitutional development, and however well adapted to dispel false ideas, still do not make history a living thing to the young . They are most valuabl

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LIFE OF Edward the Black Prince

BY LOUISE CREIGHTON WITH MAP AND PLANS RIVINGTONS WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON Oxford and Cambridge MDCCCLXXVI Shakespeare , Richard II. Act ii. Scene 2....

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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,

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Beginning of the French War.

The years from 1336 to 1338 had been spent by Edward III. in preparations for war. He had been endeavouring to gain allies amongst the princes on the Continent, his idea being to unite against France the rulers of the small principalities that lay to its north, such as Brabant, Gueldres, Hainault, and Namur. He also succeeded in gaining the alliance of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria. But his most important ally was Jacques van Arteveldt, the man who then ruled Flanders with the title of Ruwaert. T

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Cressy.

During the years between the campaign in Flanders, which was ended by a truce on September 25th, 1340, and the campaign of Cressy, in 1346, Edward had been principally occupied in preparations for renewing the war. Peace negotiations had been carried on before Pope Clement VI. by commissioners appointed by the two kings; but as neither party wished for peace, it could not be expected that these would lead to any result. The Parliament that sat at Westminster in 1343 had, as we have seen, relieve

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The Siege of Calais.

After the battle of Cressy, the road to Calais lay open to Edward III. It was of the utmost importance to him to gain possession of this town. Its port was the home of the French pirates who so fatally damaged his commerce. If he could but gain possession of it, they would be destroyed, and he would gain a new and convenient harbour for his trade with Flanders. To take Calais by assault was hopeless on account of its strong fortifications. Edward determined to besiege it, and reduce the town by

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Chivalry.

The victories in France had brought great wealth and prosperity into England. The booty won from France was spread throughout the land, and the matrons of England clothed themselves in the garments of the matrons of France. The result was not altogether beneficial. This increased wealth brought with it also a change in the simplicity of English manners. Wearing the more extravagant dress of the French, sleeping on their feather beds, clothing themselves in their rich furs, the people's taste gre

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The Black Death.

The famous Order of the Garter had been established. Men were feasting and carousing, and were spending their days in brilliant festivals, while the shadow of a great calamity was creeping over the land. A terrible plague had broken out in the interior of Asia. It spread rapidly to Europe, devastated Greece and Italy, and passed on through France to England. Its coming is said to have been heralded by the most frightful signs. A stinking mist seemed to advance from the East and spread over Europ

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Renewal of War with France.

In 1350 the English were again troubled by rumours of war. The seamen of the Spanish ports on the Bay of Biscay had always been animated by hostility to the English, in whom they found formidable opponents to their commercial enterprises. They were full of zeal for mercantile adventure, and side by side with their commerce they committed many acts of piracy. They now assembled a large fleet, primarily with the object of trading with Flanders; but on their way to the Flemish ports they behaved mo

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Poitiers.

The Black Prince had sailed from Plymouth on September 8th, 1355, with a large band of nobles. He was received at Bordeaux with great joy by all the nobles of the country. The Gascon lords were eager to fight under the banner of so brave a prince, and to distinguish themselves by feats of arms. They had long been annoyed by the inroads of the French, and they now begged the prince to lead them on a foraging expedition into France. They formed no plan for a campaign. The expedition was simply und

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Triumphal Return to England.

On leaving the battle-field of Poitiers, the little army of English, with many prisoners and rich booty, did not venture to attack any fortress on their way to Bordeaux; it would be honour enough to take back in safety the King of France and his son, and all the gold and silver and jewels they had won. They proceeded by slow marches, as they were heavily laden. They met with no resistance. The whole country was subdued by terror, and the men-at-arms retreated into the fortresses. When the Prince

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The Peace of Bretigny.

England all this time was in a condition of peaceful prosperity; the king and his court were amusing themselves with tournaments and hunting parties. Edward III. determined to open the war again, and began his preparations for leading a mighty army into France. Swarms of adventurers of all nations gathered at Calais, and offered him their services. The Duke of Lancaster was also to come to Calais, and bring with him the English troops which had been fighting for the cause of the De Montforts in

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Edward III.'s Jubilee.

The Christmas after the treaty of Bretigny was spent by Edward and his court with great splendour at Woodstock. When the holidays were over, the king went to Winchester, where he had summoned his Parliament to meet him on the 24th of January, 1361. He told them all the articles of the peace concluded between him and the King of France, with which they expressed themselves entirely satisfied. On the last day of January the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrated the mass of the Holy Trinity in the pr

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The Black Prince in Aquitaine.

When the Black Prince had been created Duke of Aquitaine, the barons and knights of that country were very anxious that he should come and live amongst them, and they often entreated the King that he would allow him to do so. The English Parliament also, seeing the large sums of money which were necessary to keep up the magnificent establishments of the King and his sons in England, represented to Edward that if the Black Prince were to set up his court in Aquitaine, that rich and fertile countr

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Spanish Campaign.

The troops were to collect at Dax for the expedition. The Black Prince did his utmost to attach the Free Companies firmly to him, by distributing amongst them the money which he had raised by melting down his plate. His father, learning his want of money, had consented to send him the yearly payment made by the French in consideration of the sum of money still due for King John's ransom. This money also was distributed amongst the companies. On Wednesday, the feast of the Epiphany, when the Blac

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Failure in Aquitaine.

Though crowned with success, the Spanish expedition was most fatal in its consequences to the Black Prince. His victory in Spain had caused him to be esteemed as the greatest among the princes and generals of Europe. The news of it had been received in England with enthusiastic joy; bonfires, rejoicings, and thanksgivings in the churches had celebrated it all over the country. But what was the result? The Prince had restored for a moment a bloodthirsty tyrant to the throne, and in return for tha

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English Politics.

The England to which the Black Prince returned was in many ways different from the England which he had left. The country had suffered one great loss; the good Queen Philippa, so long the faithful wife of Edward III., had died in 1369. By her wisdom and virtue she had been of great use to the King, and had been beloved through all the kingdom. Deprived of her counsel, Edward fell under the influence of one of the ladies of her bedchamber, Alice Perrers, a woman of great wit and beauty, who ruled

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The Good Parliament.

Whatever men might have hoped from the Congress at Bruges, and from the lay ministry formed by the influence of John of Gaunt and his party, all their hopes were now disappointed. They had hoped for reform in the Church, and all they obtained was a compact with the Papacy for the maintenance of old abuses. The man who had been foremost in making this compact, the Bishop of Bangor, was rewarded by translation by Papal provision to the see of Hereford. This was what the lay ministry had done for t

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Death of the Black Prince.

For the moment the people's cause had triumphed in Parliament. Meanwhile the people's friend was slowly passing away. The Black Prince had been afflicted for five years with a grievous malady; but he had never been heard to murmur against the will of God. His sufferings had been very great; he was often so ill that his servant took him for dead. He had rallied his last strength that he might give Parliament his support in its struggle against the Duke of Lancaster. For this purpose he had, as we

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The First Years of Richard II.

It is not possible to make a pause in the history of the times with the Black Prince's death. It will be well for us briefly to consider the events which followed it. His death interrupted the reform begun by the Good Parliament by depriving it of his support, and prepared the way for his brother's return to power. John of Gaunt interfered in the most unscrupulous manner in the elections for the next Parliament, and so obtained the return of men who reversed the acts of the Good Parliament. Will

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