Editing Edward the Black Prince (section)

=={{anchor|Cognomen|Sobriquet}}Appellation "Black Prince"==
[[File:Edward The Black Prince - Cassell.jpg|thumb|A 19th-century illustration of the Black Prince]]
Edward is often referred to as the "Black Prince".{{sfn|Hunt|1889|p=91}} The first known source to use this [[sobriquet]] was the [[antiquarian|antiquary]] [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]] in the 1530s or early 1540s (about 165 years after Edward's death). Leland mentions it in two manuscript notes of this period, with the implication that it was in relatively widespread use by that date. In one instance, he refers in Latin to "''Edwardi Principis cog: Nigri''" (i.e., "Edward the Prince, [[cognomen]]: The Black"); in the other, in English to "the Blake Prince".<ref>{{harvnb|Barber|1978|p=242}}; and {{harvnb|Leland|1774|pp=307, 479}}</ref> In both instances, Leland is summarising earlier works – respectively, the 14th-century ''Eulogium Historiarum'' and the late 15th-century chronicle attributed to [[John Warkworth]] – but in neither case does the name appear in his source texts. In print, [[Roger Ascham]] in his 1545 ''[[Toxophilus]]'' refers to "ye noble black prince Edward beside Poeters";{{sfn|Ascham|1545|p=40}} while [[Richard Grafton]] in his 1569 ''Chronicle at Large'' uses the name on three occasions, saying that "some writers name him the black prince", and elsewhere that he was "commonly called the black Prince".{{sfn|Grafton|1569|pp=223, 293, 324}} [[Raphael Holinshed]] uses it several times in his 1577 ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles|Chronicles]]'';{{sfn|Holinshed|1577|pp=893, 997, 1001}} and it is also used by [[William Shakespeare]] in his plays ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'' (written c. 1595; Act 2, scene 3) and ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' (c. 1599; Act 2, scene 4). In 1688, it appears in the title of [[Joshua Barnes]]'s ''The History of that Most Victorious Monarch, Edward IIId, King of England and France, and Lord of Ireland, and First Founder of the Most Noble Order of the Garter: Being a Full and Exact Account Of the Life and Death of the said King: Together with That of his Most Renowned Son, Edward, Prince of Wales and of Aquitain, Sirnamed the Black-Prince''.

The origins of the name are uncertain, though many theories have been proposed, falling under two main themes, that it is derived from Edward's black shield (and/or the rumours that he wore black armour), or from his brutal reputation, particularly towards the French in Aquitaine. It was possibly intended as a ''[[double entendre]]'', combining these two meanings.

The black (''[[sable (heraldry)|sable]]'') field of his "shield for peace" is well documented. However, there is no sound evidence that Edward wore black armour, although [[John Harvey (historian)|John Harvey]] (without citing a source) refers to "some rather shadowy evidence that he was described in French as clad at the battle of Crécy ' ''en armure noire en fer bruni'' ' – in black armour of burnished steel".{{sfn|Harvey|1976|p=15}} [[Richard Barber]] suggests that the name's origins may have lain [[Medieval pageant|in pageantry]], in that a tradition may have grown up in the 15th century of representing the prince in black armour. He points out that several chronicles refer to him as Edward IV (the title he would have taken as king had he outlived his father): this name would obviously have become confusing when the actual [[Edward IV]] succeeded in 1461, and this may have been the period when an alternative had to be found.{{sfn|Barber|1978|pp=242–3}}

Edward's reputation for brutality in France is well documented, and it is possible that this is where the title had its origins. French soldier [[Philippe de Mézières]] refers to Edward as the greatest of the "black boars" – those aggressors who had done so much to disrupt relations within Christendom.{{sfn|Green|2007|pp=184–5}} Other French writers made similar associations, and Peter Hoskins reports that an oral tradition of ''L'Homme Noir'', who had passed by with an army, survived in southern France until recent years.{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=57}} In Shakespeare's ''Henry V'', the King of France alludes to "that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales". [[John Speed]] reported in 1611 that the Black Prince was so named "not of his colour, but of his dreaded Acts in battell";{{sfn|Speed|1611|p=567}} a comment echoed in 1642 by [[Thomas Fuller]], who wrote that he was named "from his dreaded acts and not from his complexion".<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Fuller |author-link=Thomas Fuller |title=The Holy State |url=https://archive.org/details/holystate1642full |location=Cambridge |year=1642 |page=[https://archive.org/details/holystate1642full/page/342 342] }}</ref> Joshua Barnes claimed in 1688 that it was from the time of the Battle of Crécy that "the ''French'' began to call [him] ''Le Neoir'', or the ''Black-Prince''", appearing to cite a record of 2 [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] (i.e. 1378–1379); but his reference is insufficiently precise to be traceable.<ref>{{harvnb|Barnes|1688|p=363}}</ref>{{sfn|Hunt|1889|p=92}} However, it is unclear how a French sobriquet might have crossed to England, and Barber finds this derivation of the name "unlikely".{{sfn|Barber|1978|p=243}}