The Black Prince and the Hundred Years War - Coursework Example

The Black Prince and the Hundred Years War I. Introduction “And he is bred out of the blood strain that haunted us in our familiar paths; Witness our too much memorable shame when Cressy battle fatally was struck, and all our princes captiv’d by the hand of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales.” Shakespeare, Henry V: Act II, Scene IV (Neillands, 1990, 109) King Edward III’s paramount rule and heightened powers were witnessed by the period 1347. He became the King of a triumphant kingdom and well-known throughout Western Europe as a dominant, commanding and well-mannered monarch, the reflection of a true Christian King. He celebrated his victorious return with prolonged feasts, spectacles and competitions, in which his regal and dignified prisoners, King David of Scotland, Charles of Blois, aspirant to the dukedom of Britanny, and Raoul d’Eu, occasionally Constable of France, in addition to several other imprisoned lords and knights, partook in the celebration with eagerness (Packe, 1983). It was better than decaying in a dungeon, a concept which actually conjures an image of a tower rather than a murky, underground chamber. Since prisoners were lucrative, it is logical to keep them in good physical shape and the principles of chivalry necessitated that every civility was shown to a conquered adversary, not least due to the possibility that in some imminent battle the luck might be on the other amulet. Through sharing these merriments, one lord at least went excessively distant. Hearsays of Count Raoul’s wholehearted involvement in Plantagenet tumults and festivities in time got back to Paris, and when he at last returned home he was quickly put into trial for treason by the French and beheaded (ibid). On the other hand, England prospered. Despite of the negative repercussions of the war and the depletion on resources impacting every aspect of the kingdom, the court and aristocracy carried on in beautifying the kingdom with elegant and expensive establishments. For instance, Windsor Castle was improved and adored with a chapel raised as a tribute to St. George, yet the greater agenda, which persisted throughout the sovereignty, and during the war, was committed to an investment in education; because of this, literacy rate among the emerging merchant class increased and such wealth as could be secured to the putting up of new colleges and educational institutions (Allmand, 1988). At the moment then, all was prosperity and extravagance in England. However, in France it was a different narrative. The aftermath of Crecy proved to be disastrous for France because it was further plunged into turmoil and disorder due to their staggering defeat. Powerless to bring back Calais or prevail in the field, in November 1347 King Philippe convened the Estates and brazened them out with new demands for wealth. The necessity was remarkably great, yet the moment was inopportune; conquered kings are disgracefully out of credit (Perroy, 1965). However, having lightened their sentiments with some direct conversation, the Estates concurred to some of the King’s plights, and he rapidly sent diplomats to all the towns within the kingdom, advising that men and money be provided to his backing. Philippe’s objective was to position his new army in his new flotilla and harass the English seaboard, yet prior to the carrying out of his plan a brand new catastrophe struck his kingdom, and all of Western Europe; a ship from Outremer arrived at the port of Aigues-Mortes in the autumn of 1347 which brought the bubonic plague or notoriously known in world history as the Black Death (Bryant, 1963). I. The Black Death and the Hundred Years War In 1346, the spread of the disease was reported in China, then the Black Death swelled into Europe through the trade channels and in 1348 it materialized at the same time in Sicily and the Italian harbors. Once reached the shore, the disease spread rapidly. During 1348-9 it wreak havoc on the inhabitants of Western Europe, and by the time the initial onslaught had conceded, in the spring of 1349, the dreadful disease had killed a considerable portion of the population of France and England, and become the basis of similar slaughter in other European nations (Ziegler, 1982). The impacts of this epidemic are extensive. Almost half of the clergy died. Fertile land were left bare because the farmers had died, herds of sheep scattered, not yet harvested crops perished in the fields. All the way through the autumn and winter of 1348-9, the disease continued to kill. In the winter scarcity was furthered to the despair of the English and French inhabitants, whereas within the reeking streets and passageways of the towns and communities the rats unrelentingly spread the plague and the extermination of human lives persisted (ibid). Unfortunately, the medieval world had no way of surviving with a calamity on such a grand scale. Knowledge in medicine was merely an accredited superstition, so a scapegoat had to be discovered (Neillands, 1990). In all this darkness and wretchedness there was still occasion, it appears, for some chivalrous movement. In 1348, during the St. George’s Day, Edward accomplished a long-held dream and established his personal society of chivalry, the Knights of the Garter. He had endeavored to structure another society that of the Round Table, in 1344 at Winchester, yet this first attempt was eventually disposed of. The Order of the Garter, founded at the Castle of Windsor, was established from the beginning on logical basis and has thrived until the present period (Packe, 1983). In spite of the repeal which confronted their initial attempt on the town in 1347, the French continued to be steadfast to recapture Calais, if necessary through deceit. In the autumn of 1349, a top French commander, Geoffrey de Charny, leading French troops at Saint-Omer, twenty miles from the Calais Pale, got in touch with an Italian knight of the defense force, Aymeric de Pavia, and presented him a generous enticement to open the gates to a French force. Aymeric was Master of the Crossbowmen and had taken interim command of the stronghold when Edward’s partisan, Sir John Montgomery, died of the plague (Gies, 1984). Even though a number of versions claim that Aymeric accepted the bribe, simply to have his exploit revealed, it seems that in reality, he quickly conveyed this French offer to his superior commander, Edward III (ibid). Edward made a decision not to respond immediately to the threat and decided to ambush de Charny when he approached the walls. He delegated Sir Walter Manny, who had been the Captain of Calais and had the well-endowed knowledge of the town, to lead the back up. Commanding Aymeric to carry on concessions with de Charny, Edward crossed to Calais in cover up, escorted by the Prince of Wales and several of his local knights, all serving in Manny’s followers (Packe, 1983). On New Year’s Eve in 1349, the settled night, Aymeric accordingly received his kickback of 20,000 crowns and permitted de Charny and several of his men into the town. There they were without delay set upon by the King and his party. Following a night-long rendezvous, de Charny and a number of his knights were imprisoned in the brawl but freed after paying a sizeable ransom. Edward resolved that Aymeric de Pavia should be taken away from further temptation and conferred him control of a small castle in the Calais Pale, where he was in due course arrested by de Charny, who had him tormented to death in the central square of Saint-Omer (ibid). On the other hand, the enduring economic effects of the Black Death were being suffered all over Europe, and the social impacts which indispensably followed such a disaster eventually turned out to be evident, for with the shortage of available labor to cultivate the fields, wages accelerated. Hands to labor the fields became imperative but the villains, who had been gradually restoring their feudal benefit responsibilities with the payment of cash rent for their shares, were hesitant to be fettered again to the soil and at the moment felt liberated to choose their own masters (Ziegler, 1982). This privilege, the masters expectedly refused to accept, yet since there was no general position between the knights, feudalism which was already declining started to collapse rapidly (ibid). In 1350, in an effort to calm down the labor market, where wages had risen dramatically since 1348, Edward III implemented an Ordinance of Laborers, standardizing wages at no higher than the level set in 1348. This ordinance became a law, known as the Statute of Laborers, immediately when the Parliament sensed it harmless to reconstruct, in 1351. Under the Statute, wages were regulated and the sanctions for raising them were harsh (Packe, 1983). The Black Death carried over practically all military endeavors to a stop in France, even compelling an ending in the continuous internal strife around the borders of Calais and Aquitane. When the initial effect of the Death had passed, even though the epidemic was to strike again in several ensuing years, once the population increased to a point where the pestilence could once again locate victims, the French confronted many of the similar predicaments as England: a steep reduction in the labor force and a remarkable shortage of currency. Subsequent to the epidemic, the French Parliament kept on even more forcefully against the weakened labor force (Perroy, 1965). Nevertheless, as in England, the means or the determination to put into effect these rules was deficient. Liberated from feudal restrictions, guaranteed of work and security wherever they run away from masters distressed for labor, many laborers abandoned the land for the towns, or adopted soldiering, enlisting to one of the several Free Companies or mercenary combatants which were starting to come out in the countryside. Overwhelmed in despair, the French people staggered on the threshold of revolt (Neillands, 1990). III. The Black Prince and the Hundred Years War Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, later branded as the Black Prince, was born at the royal Manor of Woodstock in Oxfordshire in 1330 (Neillands, 1990, 121). As to his legendary title, the Black Prince that did not materialize until centuries later, even though the Prince definitely had a penchant in black. He rode black horses, possessed a black field for his symbol of ostrich feather, and is rumored to have clothed black armor. His ‘black’ character may have appeared to equal that of the Black Death, but the original making use of of the name seems to be in the Shakespeare’s Richard II or, more unforgettably, in Henry V, as aforementioned (ibid). King John of France, the Black Prince’s cousin, initially had no funds, few men and scarce time to curtail the fresh English attacks headed by Prince Edward. Primarily, he had to settle with foes closer to home. In April 1356, King John traveled with troops from Paris and wreaked havoc on the Dauphin’s dinner party, where some of the guests, or conspirators, were manhandled into a nearby field and beheaded on the spot (Vaughan, 1966). On the other hand, two English armies were already in the field and the likelihood that King Edward might turn up with a stronger force and destroy some other sections of France, King John sent bearers of news to all pockets of his kingdom, commanding his forces to pull together near the city of Chartres, located southeast of Paris, from where they could protest against their progressing enemies. Having prepared his forces near Chartres, King John initially harassed Duke Henry’s smaller army, approximately at 3,000 men, and compelled it to march back to Brittany. This would imply that even at the onset of the crusade, the King of France had mustered a significant army, big enough to make even Duke Henry retreat. This accomplished, King John guided his army across the Loire and south across Poitou to engage the Prince of Wales, who had stopped progress on the Loire and was at the moment in full withdraw for the borders of Aquitane (ibid). The Prince had subjugated the field at the end of July, traversing the Dordogne on the 4th of August, and striding across Poitou into Touraine, directing for the Loire, where he anticipated to ally with Henry of Lancaster who, hauled away from the river by the French soldiers, was at that instant blockading Domfront. Confronting strengthening French opposition from the North, the Prince curved west marching at a snails pace downstream, next to the south bank of the Loire lingering for Lancaster prior to the walls of Tours, while cohorts of English knights explored the castles located at the Indre Valley and argued with those knights of the battalions who journeyed out to defy them, a moderately pleasurable way of enduring the blazing hot summer days (Barber, 1978). The campaign of the 1356, on balance, has provided strategic advantages to King John, for Edward III’s strategy had collapsed. The King of England was still preoccupied devastating Scotland King John had dealt with to ward off the doughty Duke of Lancaster, and the eldest son of the English King was at the moment ensnared in the woods before the entire French army. If appropriate tactics could be recommended, the French could gaze forward with assurance of a gainful triumph (Neillands, 1990). The Prince was just nearby. Taking more guidance from Sir John Chandos, he had retreated from the pursuit and put up his red silk tent well out on the battlegrounds, where everybody could witness it, and his troops were gradually returning, forming into their customary splitting formations as they move toward the tent. Now en route for this spectator area emerged a mighty shouting crowd of English and Gascons, many carrying their swords, men dragging the French King and his little son back and forth, arguing his capture and their portion in his ransom, even though as the King calmly stressed out, he was prosperous enough to make them all wealthy (Barber, 1978). He was saved from this pushing encounter by the Earl of Warwick, who guided the King and Prince Philippe to the Prince, who welcomed his imperial cousin on bended knee (ibid). “Thus was the battle won, says Froissart, on the plain of Maupertius, two leagues from the city of Poiters” (Neillands, 1990, 132). The victory brought excessive wealth to England, aside from numerous knightly prisoners they had sacked at the French camp, where there was an abundant supply of gold and silver and precious jewels (ibid). IV. Conclusion In a message to his father, the Prince declared that the French lost an estimate of 3,000 whereas the English casualties did not go beyond forty, which appears absolutely low. That night the Prince celebrated with his regal prisoners in his red tent. The next day, sated with loot and prisoners, the English troops rode out to Bordeaux. Here they carried out more feasting and celebrations, and when the rumors of Poitiers reached England there was grand rejoicing, with public masses, celebrating this fresh, hard to believe victory against all odds. Afresh, their army headed towards France and returned triumphant (Allmand, 1988). For the bewildered French it was an exceptionally different narrative. In some, way, the English had prevailed over once again. Their King was a captive and several of the powerful lords were rotting upon the battlefields or were imprisoned for a lump sum of money; hence the prospect for France looks black undeniably. During that gloomy autumn on 1356, the French were not to be aware that because of Edward III and his aggressive son, the Black Prince, the golden age of glory were already ended (ibid). The high spirit of English triumphs, a decade on the deluge through France, had already started to fade. Works Cited Allmand, C. (1988). The Hundred Years War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Barber, R. (1978). Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitane. London: Boydell Press. Bryant, S. A. (1963). The Age of Chivalry. London: Collins. Gies, F. (1984). The Knight in History. New York: Harper & Row. Neillands, R. (1990). The Hundred Years War. London: Routledge. Packe, M. (1983). King Edward III. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Perroy, E. (1965). The Hundred Years War. New York: Capricorn Books. Vaughan, R. (1966). John the Fearless. London: Longman. Ziegler, P. (1982). The Black Death. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Read More