Edward was born in 1330 and was raised to knightly standards from an early age. In the Middle Ages, the ideal king had to be a knight, so Edward III wanted his son to receive military training from an early age. By the age of 7, Edward was already equipped with a complete set of armor from head to toe. In the same year, the well-known Hundred Years' War broke out. At the age of 16, Prince Edward began to fight diligently for his father's career and his military career. The rest of his life was full of energy and controversy.
The terrible Black Prince
The truce with France ended in the mid-1650s, and Prince Edward had his own war zone in Gascony, which was still English territory. The prince eagerly "begged the king for permission to be the first to go out to sea". He officially sailed to southwestern France and took full control of the English possessions there.
On 20 September 1355, Prince Edward landed in Bordeaux, and on 5 October an Anglo-Gasconie army of 6,000 to 8,000 men set out on a chevauchée (cavalry attack) to cut off enemy supplies and demoralize the enemy by burning down and robbing towns and villages. This was in fact an act of authorized terrorism, not uncommon in the Hundred Years' War, and Prince Edward contributed to the legitimization of such wanton destruction.
In honor of England's Great Victory, Edward III issued a new currency in 1351, portraying himself as the "King of the Seas"
In 1355, Prince Edward took aim at Jean d'Armagnac's domain. John II of France commanded Damagnack to exert pressure on The English Possessions. On 10 October, as soon as Prince Edward's army reached the enemy country, it divided into three columns and spent two weeks looting Damagnak's territory. The military even used portable bridges to expand the scope of looting. Prince Edward then marched into Languedoc, causing considerable damage to the local town, including capturing and burning the town of Carcassonne.
For the people of southern France, riding is a nightmare. In Montisgard, men, women and children were recorded to be indiscriminately slaughtered, a scene that was repeated throughout the region. Until the 19th century, the carbonized remains of charred grain could still be found in the ruins of Montbrun-Lauragais, and even the pope was said to have feared for his safety in Avignon. Prince Edward's nickname probably derived from this ride. Everywhere he went, people called him "le terrible Prince Noir." The catastrophe caused by this catastrophe was so severe that until the 20th century, the peasants of the area still passed the story of the medieval "L'Homme Noir" leading an army through the area.
Poitiers victory
In August 1356, Prince Edward launched another cavalry attack on France from Aquitaine. He adopted a scorched-earth policy as he moved north to relieve the pressure on the English garrisons in northwestern and central France, but due to his failure to take the castle, he stopped Tours. At the same time, he heard that John II was marching south from Normandy with the intention of wiping out his army at Tours, so Prince Edward began to retreat toward Bordeaux, but the King of France caught up with him near Poitiers.
King John II (centre-left, man in white) fought valiantly at Poitiers, but was eventually captured and handed over to Prince Edward.
At this time, Prince Edward offered to exchange the loot looted by his army for safe passage, but was refused. Desperate, on 19 September, he led an Anglo-Gasconian army of 6,000 men against a French army of at least 20,000 men. He divided his troops into three parts, flanked by archers, behind the halls of elite cavalry troops, and the rest were deployed behind low bushes for cover, with swamps on the left and carriages on the right.
King John divided his troops into four "echelons", commanded by himself, the Crown Prince, the Baron clermont, and the Duke of Orléans. The Crown Prince and Claremont launched an attack on the British, but were bombarded and counterattacked by the British. The Crown Prince's army was also mixed up with the troops of Orleans and John, which were in disarray for a time. Had the French not panicked at this point, they would have been able to crush Prince Edward's troops, who were exhausted and had begun to collect the wounded. However, Prince Edward seized the fighter and ordered his soldiers to jump over the bushes to charge the French, while the cavalry attacked the enemy flanks. After a bloody battle, the British army gained a foothold, and the French army collapsed.
This was a huge victory for Prince Edward. At the smallest cost, 2,000 French soldiers were killed and another 2,000 captured, including the largest spoil of war, King John II. He was taken to Prince Edward's tent and received hospitality from the prince. According to one chronicler, John's personal heroism "surpassed that of his greatest knight." Prince Edward's move was a small consolation for John II, who was eventually brought back to England by the victors.
It is said that at the Battle of Clessy, Edward III refused to send reinforcements to the Black Prince
In London, Prince Edward was greeted by the crowd, with toasts everywhere, while John II wore a gloomy black robe. He was so dressed for good reasons — his captivity had serious consequences for France, and the ransom alone exceeded France's annual income, some say twice. John II eventually died in England, leaving his country in a state of disintegration and anarchy.
Go dark
Poitiers was the pinnacle of Prince Edward's military career. He himself seemed ready to succeed his father as the mighty King Edward IV of England. From 1360 to 1367 he ruled the semi-independent Principality of Aquitaine and won another dramatic victory at Nájera in Spain in 1367. But after this Spanish campaign, his health began to deteriorate rapidly.
Prince Edward died in 1376 and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral. He was the first Prince of Wales not to inherit the throne of England
In 1370, a highly controversial event occurred during the siege of Limoges. The prince, who was lying on a stretcher at the time, ordered the looting of the captured town. According to the chronicler Fu Huasa, "This incident is very frustrating, because all people, regardless of class, age, gender, all knelt before the prince and begged for forgiveness, but in his anger he ignored it and killed them all." Historians have debated this since then, but regardless of the truth, the bloodbath of Limoges has greatly tarnished Prince Edward's reputation.
The prince's health continued to deteriorate, and he died in 1376 at the age of 46, a year before his father. The mighty prince never became king of England. Instead, his son took his place, becoming Richard II. The legacy left behind him is an indescribable mixture of sparkling military glory, chivalry that varies from person to person, and painful memories of bloodshed.
(Source: Plantagenet Dynasty)