CHAP. XXVII. COURT OF THE BLACK PRINCE AT BOURDEAUX.- XXVII. Character of Prince. IN the beginning of the year 1363 the Black CHAP. Prince settled as the feudatory lord, in the principality of Aquitaine. He had already the Black acquired a character which it falls to the lot of few to obtain. He was a soldier with the lustre of a sovereign; and he had the lustre of a sovereign, unexposed to the resentment, the misconstruction and the censures, usually attendant upon that elevated a The writ conferring this dignity is in Rymer, Vol. VI, 36 Edw. 3, Jul. 19. CHAP. rank. He had assisted in the battle of XXVII. Cressy, and he had won the battle of Poi 1361. His mar riage. tiers; two of the most considerable victories in modern times. History has scarcely fixed upon this elevated personage the shadow of a blemish. He was brave, but deliberate; he was enterprising, but sagacious and prudent. He was generous and humane, yet without weakness; he was proud, yet without insolence or cruelty. His contemporaries have been lavish in his praise, but he had no enemies; and, if the narrators of his actions have imputed to him any failure, they have ingenuously and unequivocally stated that it was to be ascribed to the urgency of his situation and unavoidable circumstances, and have fully acquitted him of errors of the heart. Never was man more free from every species of excess'; never was man more liberal, frank, well-tempered and kind. This prince, after having secured his military renown in the battles above mentioned, and attained to the age of thirty-one years, became, about sixteen months before he took XXVII. up his residence in Aquitaine, a husband". CHAP. He had seen his two younger brothers mar- 1361. ried before him; and his parents and his country felt an anxiety that so illustrious, so accomplished and blameless a personage should leave behind him some inheritor of his blood and his virtues. He accordingly married a lady near of kin to the throne, daughter, and at length heiress, to Edmund earl of Kent, youngest son to Edward I. This lady, whose name was Joan, and who was known among her contemporaries by the appellation of the Fair Maid of Kent, married for her first husband sir Thomas Holland, in her right earl of Kent, and one of the founders of the order of the Garter. By him she had two sons, Thomas and John, distinguished persons in the court of Richard II; and she became a widow 26 December 1360°. At this time she was thirty-three years of age, a matron of great beauty, excellent un b Rymer, Vol. VI, 35 Edv. 3, Oct. 18. • Sandford, Book III, Chap. xi. Ashmole, Chap. XXV, Sect. iii, n. 14. XXVII. 1361. CHAP. derstanding and uncommon accomplishments. We shall have occasion repeatedly in the course of this history to notice her affectionate nature, the prudence of her counsels, and the graceful propriety of her conduct. It is related by one of the old chroniclers a, that the Black Prince first addressed her in behalf of one to whom he was much attached; and that, after having urged her repeatedly on the subject, and shown himself not satisfied with her denials, she at length retorted upon him with much dignity, "that when she was under ward, she had submitted to be disposed of in marriage as those who had the superintendence of her conduct thought proper; but now, she was her own mistress, she remembered she was of the blood royal of England, and she would not cast herself away upon one beneath her; she was resolved therefore never to marry again, unless to a prince whose quality and virtues resembled his own." Prompted by this hint, he began Harding, apud Barnes, Book III, Chap. vii, §. 9. XXVII. 1361. his courtship; he admired her for her spirit CHAP. and elevation of mind; and he felt in himself the beginning of a kindness, responsive to the ingenuous and noble partiality with which she regarded him. Accompanied by this princess, and with Chandos (the most distinguished of all the warriors who fought under the standard of Edward III) for his prime minister, he passed over to Aquitaine, and fixed his residence in Bourdeaux, where he kept his court. His manners were so prepossessing and noble, and his fame in chivalry so splendid, that his court, in an age when chivalry was the reigning passion, could not fail to be a principal resort of all persons of 1363. Settles in Aqui taine, generous minds and cultivated understandings. In about one year after his taking up 1364. his abode in Aquitaine, his princess bore him a són, who was named after himself Edward'. The court of the Black Prince, agreeably to His court. |
