v42_0489 - AQUITAINE - DUCHY OF AQUITAINE - EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE Pavillon d’or

AQUITAINE - DUCHY OF AQUITAINE - EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE

(1362-1372)

Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) was the eldest son of Edward III Plantagenet and Philippa of Hainaut. He cut his teeth at the battle of Crécy in 1346 where he was strongly impressed by the chivalrous attitude of John the Blind, King of Bohemia, who preferred to die rather than bear the dishonor of defeat. He will take as heraldic arms ostrich feathers which the King of Bohemia already wore. Edward the Black Prince is in Aquitaine in 1355 and begins a ride in Poitou the following year. He crushes the French at Poitiers and takes King Jean le Bon prisoner. By the Treaty of Brétigny in May 1360, the independence of Aquitaine was confirmed. Edward was its first prince from 1362. He arrived in Bordeaux in 1363. The war resumed with France in 1369. After the first English defeats in Aquitaine, the Black Prince returned to England in 1371 and, the following year, renounce his principality. He died in 1376. His father Edward III died the following year. It is Richard II, son of the Black Prince, who ascends the throne.