Birth and boyhood
Edward was born on 15 June 1330 at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, the first child of Edward III and Queen Philippa of Hainault. His father had taken power only a few months earlier, ending the control of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella. The prince therefore grew up in a court that was working to restore royal authority.
Titles came early. He was made Duke of Cornwall in 1337, the first English duke, which gave him a steady income from the estates attached to the duchy. In 1343 he became Prince of Wales, a title that has been given to the heir to the English crown ever since, though it was not yet an automatic title at that time. As a boy he was educated in the usual way for a noble heir, with attention to riding, arms and courtly manners, and he was surrounded by tutors and household knights. During his father’s absences in France in the 1340s he was sometimes nominal regent, with ministers doing the real work.
First campaigns
At sixteen he went to France with his father and fought at Crecy in 1346, an event described elsewhere in connection with his victories. He took part in the siege of Calais the next year. The Black Death arrived in England in 1348, and he, like everyone, lived with its effects on court and country. His father created the Order of the Garter in the late 1340s, and the prince was among its earliest members, one of the great honors of the age.
Command in Gascony and Poitiers
In 1355 the prince took command in Gascony and led the long raid toward Narbonne. In 1356 he won the Battle of Poitiers and took the French king prisoner. Returning to England in 1357 with the captive, he was welcomed with a procession through London. He was twenty-six years old and the most celebrated soldier in England.
Marriage and Aquitaine
In 1361 Edward married Joan of Kent, a cousin of his, known in later tradition as the Fair Maid of Kent. She had already been married before, and the match was made without the king’s prior approval, which caused some difficulty, but the couple were accepted. They had two sons: Edward of Angouleme, born in 1365, who died young, and Richard, born in Bordeaux in 1367.
In 1362 his father granted him the principality of Aquitaine, newly enlarged under the Treaty of Bretigny. Based in Bordeaux, the prince held a lavish court and tried to govern a large region with local nobles who were not always loyal. In 1367 he led an army into Spain, winning at Najera, though the cost left him in debt and ill. The hearth tax to pay for it was resented, and by 1368 and 1369 Gascon lords were appealing to the French king, who reopened the war. The sack of Limoges in 1370 came during this struggle.
Illness and return
The prince’s health deteriorated after the Spanish campaign. Sources describe a long illness, sometimes thought to be dysentery, though the exact cause is not known. By 1370 he was ill enough to travel by litter. The same year his elder son died, which was a heavy blow to the family. In January 1371 he gave up Aquitaine and sailed for England, leaving the war to his brothers, including John of Gaunt.
The last years
Back in England he was often an invalid. He still took part in public life, and in 1376 he supported the “Good Parliament,” which attacked royal ministers and favorites who were seen as corrupt. His father was growing old, and the prince was widely viewed as the hope of those who wanted reform. He died on 8 June 1376, aged 45, on Trinity Sunday.
He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, close to the Canterbury shrine of Thomas Becket, in a tomb that still stands. Hanging above it are replicas of the armor and accoutrements traditionally linked to him, while the originals have been kept in safe storage.
Why he never became king
Since the prince died before his father, he never reigned. Edward III died in June 1377, and the crown went to the prince’s ten-year-old son, who became Richard II. The young king’s reign saw the Peasants Revolt of 1381 and, in time, the deposition that brought a new dynasty to the throne. Historians sometimes speculate about what England might have been like under an experienced warrior king, but the question cannot be answered. His brother, John of Gaunt, held great influence during Richard’s early years, and the family’s rivalries were an important part of later politics.
A note on sources
Much of what we know comes from chronicles, royal accounts and the prince’s own register, which survives in part. These sources give a fairly detailed picture of his movements and household, though they say less about his thoughts. Stories about his personality, such as his supposed courtesy, come mainly from admiring writers and should be read with care.