DEATH OF THE BLACK PRINCE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12585, 5 October 1908, Page 3

DEATH OF THE BLACK PRINCE.

On July 8. 1376, being- Trinity Sunday, which he had always observed with special reverence, Edward, eldest son of Edward 111., king of England, died, and his corpse, after being taken to 'Westminster Palace, was, on September 29, buried with great state in Canterbury Cathedral, where, hanging- over his tomb, may be seen his surcoat, or long flowing overcoat, and his helmet, shield, and gauntlots, or iron gloves. When Llewelyn, the last sovereign Prince of Wales, had, in 1282, been slain in battle by the English, the future Edward 11., being born at Carnarvon, was made by his father Prince of Wales, to celebrate that victory, and to satisfy ,the Welsh. The next heir but one to the English throno. had succeeded to that title, and from the earliest times has been called the Black Prince, the only explanation of which is that before the Battle of Crecy, when he* ,took a leading part in defeating the French on August 26, 1346, his father clothed him in black armour, which he wore on that occasion, and that therefore he afterwards used black armour in the heraldic devices of his crest or coat-of-arms. On September 19, 1364, he won the great battle of Poictiers, when the courtesy with which he treated his captives, John, King of France, and his son, was as chivalrous as his courage. He was therefore created by his father sovereign Prince of Aquitaine, in France, and in 1367, for a short timei, re-established P.edro the Cruel, King of Castile, in Spain, who had been dethroned by his own brother, Henry of Trastamare. The Black Prince had been born to Queen Philippa, at Woodstock^ in Oxfordshire, on June 15, 1330, and was therefore only just forty-six years of age when he died. His son thus became Prince of Wales, and succeeded his grandfather as the weak Richard 11.