THE BLACK PRINCE by Michael Jones
The story of the Black Prince has a strong narrative and powerful human interest: It unfolds at a time of great turmoil with Medieval Europe reeling from plague and war. The Black Prince (the oldest son of King Edward III) emerges as a brilliant,charismatic war leader. He wins astounding victories against the French and inspires great devotion from his soldiers.
He marries for love, courting Joan of Kent, whom the chronicler Jean Froissart called ‘the most beautiful woman in Europe’. At the pinnacle of his fame, he rules over a glittering court in the south-west of France.
But there are clouds on the horizon. A troubled father-son relationship emerges, with King Edward III proud his son’s achievements but also envious of them. An expedition to restore the aptly named Pedro the Cruel to the throne of Castile is forced upon the Black Prince by his father. His army has to cross the Pyrenees in the middle of winter. The campaign is militarily successful but bankrupts the Prince’s
treasury.
On his return, the Black Prince is forced to levy taxes on his French lands. Some of its noblemen go into revolt – supported by the wily French king, Charles V, and the Prince falls ill. Suffering from increasing bouts of anger and frustration, he is carried to his last military action – the siege of Limoges – on a stretcher.
The Prince is forced to return home to England because of ill health. With the kingdom fractured by dissent, his contemporaries cling to an idealised picture of the man and warrior.
Michael Jones’s The Black Prince (UK hardback, July 2017; paperback July 2018; Head of Zeus; USA hardback, May 2018, Pegasus) has been well reviewed in both the UK and the USA and was one of the BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year for 2017. Michael was consultant for a short BBC documentary on the Prince.
‘Michael Jones superbly brings to life the campaigns and battles… The hero and the villain were one man and Jones does justice to this complexity’ The Times
‘An informed and insightful biography’ Wall Street Journal
www.michaeljoneshistorian.com
