All that thou seis't and readest is Divine Learning thus vs'd is water turn'd to wine Well may wee then despaire to draw his minde View heere the case i' th' Booke the Jewell finde T. Câ—â—â—â— sculpsit THE LIFE AND DEATH Of the Thrice Noble and Illustrious EDVVARD Surnamed The Black Prince SON to our Victorious King EDWARD the Third By whom he was made the First Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the GARTER By SAMUEL CLARK sometime Pastor of St. Bennet Fink London LONDON Printed for William Birch at the Blew Bible at the lower-End of Cheap-side at the Corner of Bucklers-bury 1673. The Life and Death of EDVVARD Surnamed The Black Prince THIS Edward was the eldest Son of that victorious Prince King Edward the third His Mother was the fair Philippa Daughter to William Earl of Henault and Holland who was delivered of this her first born Son at Woodstock July 15. Anno Christi 1329. and in the third year of his Fathers Reign He was afterwards created Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitain and Cornwall and Earl of Chester He was also Earl of Kent in right of his Wife Joan the most admired Beauty of that Age Daughter of Edmund Earl of Kent Brother by the Fathers side to King Edward the second King Edward was very solicitous in the Education of this his Son and provided him choice Tutors to train him up both in Arts and Armes And among others Walter Burley a Doctor of Divinity brought up in Merton-Colledge in Oxford who wrote many excellent Treatises in Natural and Moral Philosophy for his great Fame in Learning had the Honour to be one of the Instructers of this hopeful Prince When he was but 15 years old his Father King Edward passing over into France with a great and gallant Army took this his Son along with him making him a Souldier before he was grown to be a Man But it seems he longed to try what Metal his Son was made of in the bud and haply he was loth to omit any thing that might give countenance and credit to this Battel wherein two Kingdoms were laid at the stake Anno Christi 1345. our King Edward was upon the Sea in a Fleet of above a Thousand Sail and landed in Normandy His Land-Forces were about two Thousand five Hundred Horse and his Foot thirty Thousand most of them Archers Making pittifull havock in Normandy he marched up almost to the very Walls of Paris Philip the French King had not slept all this while but had raised and brought together one of the bravest Armies that ever France had seen consisting of about a Hundred or sixscore Thousand fighting men King Edward loaden and rich with Spoils seemed not unwilling to retreat But they were now in the heart of their Enemies Country between the two good Rivers of Sein and Some And it was judged meet by our King to seek a passage out of these straits and this Enquiry was interpreted by the enemy to be a kind of flight and King Edward was willing to nourish this conceit in them The River of Some between Abeville and the Sea was at low-water fordable and Gravelly ground whereof our King was informed by a French Prisoner whom they had taken But the French King well acquainted with his own Country had set a Guard upon that Pass of a Thousand Horse and above six Thousand Foot under the Conduct of one Gundamar du Foy a Norman Lord of special note King Edward coming to this place plunges into the Ford crying out He that loves me let him follow me as resolving either to pass or die These words and such a President so inflamed his Army that the passage was won and du Foy defeated almost before he was fought with the incomparable courage and resolution of the English appaling him and carried back to King Philip sewer by two Thousand then he carried with him besides the terror which his retreat brought along with it And if the English were before unappaled now much more they resolved to live and die with such a Sovereign Now was King Edward neer unto Crescie in the County of Ponthieu lying between the Rivers of Some and Anthy a place which unquestionably belonged to him in the right of his Mother where he was carefull to provide the best he could for his safety and defence King Philip being enraged for the late defeat precipitates to the Battle wherein the Great and Just God intended to scourge the Pride and sins of France being the rather induced thereto by his confidence in his numerous and gallant Army who were ready to tread upon one anothers heels till the view of the English Colours and Battel put them to a stand King Edward having called upon God for his gracious Aid and Assistance full of Heroick Assuredness without the least perturbation divided his Army into three Battalia's The first was disposed into the forme of an Hearse where the Archers stood in the Front and the Men of Arms stood in the bottom And this was led by the Young Lion of Wales our brave Prince Edward to whose Assistance the King joyned some of his Prime and most experienced Captains as Beauchamp Earle of Warwick Godfrey of Harecourt the Lords Thomas Holland Richard Stafford John Chandois Robert Nevil La'ware Bourchier Clifford Cobham c. And many other Knights and Gentlemen to the number of eight hundred men at Arms two thousand Archers and a thousand Welch-men In the second were the Earles of Northampton and Arundel the Lords Rosse Willoughby Basset St. Albine c. with eight hundred Men at Armes and twelve hundred Archers In the third was the King himself having about him seven hundred Men at Armes and three thousand Archers with the residue of his Nobles and People The battel thus ordered our King mounted upon a white Hobby rode from rank to rank to view them and with quickning words encouraged them that bravely they should stand to and fight for his Right and Honour And he closed the battels at their backs as if he meant to barricado up their way from flying which he did by plashing and felling of Trees and placing his Carriages there and all his other Impediments He commanded all men also to dismount and to leave their horses behind them and thus all ways and means of flight being taken away the Necessity doubtless did double their Courages The French King Philip had with him Iohn of Luxenbourg King of Bohemia the King of Majorca the Duke of Alanson his Brother Charles de Bloys the Kings Nephew Ralph Duke of Lorrain the Duke of Savoy the Earles of Flanders Nevers Sancerre with many other Dukes Earles Barons and Gentlemen bearing Arms and those not only French but Almains Dutch and others And just the Night before the Battel there came to the French Army Anne of Savoy with a thousand men at Arms so that all things seemed to elate the Pride of the French and to fit them for destruction The
and near being troden to Death had not the Lord Iohn of Henault Earle of Beaumont rescued and remounted him The French also about him out of a loyal desire of his preservation almost against his will conveyed him out of the Field who rather seemed desirous to end his dayes in so Noble company The King being departed out of the Field and the matter being divulged in both the Armies it soon put a period to this bloody medly wherin as yet none were taken to mercy but all were put to the Sword The French King himself with a small Company got to Bray in the night and approaching the walls and the Guard asking who was there He answered The Fortune of France By his Voice he was known and thereupon received into the Town with the Tears and Lamentations of his People The rest of his Army sought to save themselves by flight whom the English warily fighting upon the defensive and loth to hazard so glorious a Victory by breaking their rancks to pursue the enemy too far in the night which was now come on suffered them to be followed only by their own feares contenting themselves to make good their ground by standing still upon their Guard according to the Rules of true Martial Discipline knowing that there were so many of the Enemy escaped as might yet serve to overwhelm their weary Army with their multitude Our King Edward seeing the Coast for the present cleared of all his Enemies came down from the Hill with his intire Battel towards his Victorious Son and most affectionatly embracing and kissing him said Fair Son God send you good perseverance to such prosperous beginnings You have acquitted your self right Nobly and are well worthy to have a Kingdom intrusted with your Government for your Valor To which the most noble and Magnanimous of Princes replyed with silence most humbly falling on his Knees at the feet of his triumphant Father As for other things concerning this famous Victory I refer my Reader to my Narrative of it in the Life and Death of King Edward the third contenting my self here only to describe it so far forth as our Noble Prince was therein a prime Actor and without which I could not have given a just Account of his life Immediately after this Victory our King marched with his Army through France and sat down before Calice But as the splendor of the Sun darkens the stars so did the Presence of the Father obscure the Actions and Vertues of the Son that I read no more of him till the year 1355. At which time our King was informed that John the now King of France his father Philip being dead had given the Dutchy of Aquitain to Charles the Dolphin whereupon King Edward being much incensed conferred the same upon his own Son the Prince of Wales commanding him to defend his right therein with the Sword against his Adversaries He was also appointed by Parliament to go into Gascoin with a thousand Men at Arms two thousand Archers and a great number of Welch-men who accompanied their Prince And in Iune following he set forward with three hundred Sail of ships attended with the Earls of Warwick Suffolk Salisbury and Oxford and the Lords Chandois Audley Beufort Lile with Sir Robert Knowls Sir Francis Hall with many others With these arriving in Aquitain he betook himself to do things worthy of his Name and courage He did wonders in France For with his Victorious Army he recovered multitudes of Towns and Prisoners He entred Guienne passed over Languedoc to Tholouse Narbone Bruges without any encounter sacks spoiles and destroyes where he goes and loaden with Booties returns to Burdeaux In the mean time the French King gathered all the Power he possibly could and the Prince the Winter being spent sets forth upon a new Expedition He had in his Army about eight Thousand brave expert and well Disciplined Souldiers and with them he advanced through Perigort and Limosin into the bosom of France even up to the very Gates of Bruges in Bery the terrour of his Name flying before to his great advantage Thus satisfied for the present he wheeled about with purpose to return by Remorantine in Blasois which Town he took and so through the Country of Tourain Poictou and Xantoyn to his chief City of Burdeaux But Iohn King of France having assembled a great and compleat Army followed close and about the City of Poictiers overtook our invincible Prince Where the Armies with the odds of six to one against the English drew near each other two Cardinals sent from Pope Clement mediated as they had done before to take up the quarrel But the French King supposing that he had his enemy now at his mercy would accept of no other conditions but that the Prince should deliver him four Hostages and as vanquished render up himself and his Army to his discretion The Prince was content to restore unto him all the places which he had taken from him but without prejudice to his Honour wherein he said he stood accountable to his Father and his Country But the French King would abate nothing of his former demands as being assured of the Victory as he supposed and thereupon was ready instantly to set upon the Prince who seeing himself reduced to this strait took wha advantage he could of the ground and by his diligence got the benefit of certain Vines Shrubs and bushes upon that part where he was like to be assaulted whereby to pester and intangle the French Horse which he saw was ready to come furiously upon him The success answered his expectation For the Cavalry of his enemie in their full carrier were so intangled and incumbred among the Vines that the Princes Archers galled and annoyed them at their pleasure For the French King to give the honour of the Day to his Cavalry made use of them only without the help of his Infantry Hence it was that they being disordered and put to rout his whole Army came to be utterly defeated Here if ever the Prince and his English gave full proof of their Valour and undaunted courage never giveing over till they had wholly routed all the three French Battels the least of which exceeded all the Princes numbers The King himself fighting Valiantly and Philip his youngest Son who by such his boldness and zeal defended his distressed Father as it purchased unto him the Honourable Surname of Hardy were taken Prisoners Those of the Princes side whose Valour and great deeds was most conspicuous were the Earles of Warwick Suffolk Salisbury Oxford and Stafford The Lords Chandois Cobham Spencer Audley Berkley Basset c. and of Gascoin Subjects to the Crown of England The Capital de Beuf The Lords Lumier Chaumont with others of inferior Title but not of unequal Valour Among others Iames Lord Audley wan immortal Renown at this bloody Battel in which he received many Wounds and was rewarded by the Noble Prince with a Gift of five Hundred Marks Land
in Fee-simple in England which he divided among his four Esquires who had stood by him in all the fury and brunt of the Battel Hereupon the Prince asked him if he accepted not of his Gift He answered That these men had deserved it as well as himself and needed it more With which reply the Prince was so well pleased that he gave five Hundred Marks more in the same kind A rare Example where desert in the Subject and reward in the Prince strove which should be the greater This Lord Audley having vowed to be formost in the Fight made good his words accordingly It was the misfortune or rather the Glory of the French Nobles in these disasterous times that the loss fell ever heavily upon them For in this great overthrow and Carnage by their own confession there fell fifty and two Lords and about seaventeen Hundred Knights Esquires and Gentlemen that bore Coats of Arms Among the Knights were fifty two Bannerets The chief among the slain were Peter of Bourbon Duke of Athens The high Constable of France Iohn de Clermont Marshal Ieffery de Charmy High Chamberlain The Bishop of Chalons the Lords of Landas of Pons and of Chambly Sir Reginald Camian who that day carried the Auriflamb was slain also and as many others as made up the former number And of the common Soldiers there died about six Thousand So wonderfully did the great God of Battels sight for the English in those Days There escaped from this bloody Battel three of the French Kings Sons for he brought them all with him Charles Prince of Dauphin Lewis afterwards Duke of Anjou and Iohn Duke of Barry all of them great Actors in the times following The French Prisoners taken were John King of France and Philip his Son afterwards Duke of Burgoine The Arch-bishop of Sens James of Bourbon Earle of Ponthieu John of Artoys Earle of Eu Charles his Brother Earle of Longuevil Charles Earle of Vendosm The Earles Tankervile Salbruch Nassaw Dampmartin La Roch The Counts of Vaudemont Estampes and Iohn de Ceintre accounted the best Knight of France and many other great Lords and about two Thousand Knights Esquires and Gentlemen that bore Coats of Arms. And in this Expedition the English took an Hundred Ensigns But here great contention arose between many who should be the man that took King Iohn Prisoner The Prince wisely commanded them to forbear till they came into England where the matter being heard it was adjudged by King John's own Testimony that one Sir Denis Morbeck of St. Omers had taken him Prisoner for which service the Prince rewarded him with a Thousand Marks And now though King Iohn had the hard hap to fall into the hands of an Enemie yet he had the happiness to fall into the hands of a Noble Enemy For Prince Edward having conquered his Person by force of battel now strove to overcome his minde by his humble deportment expressing himself in a Language so ponderous humble grave and natural and yet so stately as none but the best Soul adorned with the best education was able to have performed And the next Day causing the Chaplains and the other Priests in the Army to celebrate Divine Service he put off from himself the whole Glory of Victory and most devoutly gave it unto God After which in the sight and hearing of the Prisoners he highly commended and heartily thanked his Souldiers with speeches full of life and affections sealing his words to every one with bountifull large fees as his present meanes would permit Mr. May in his Edward the third sets forth this Battel excellently in these words The first hot Charge The valiant Lord renowned Audley gave Who to perform a Noble vow in Deeds Almost the Prowess of a Man Exceeds And like the stroak of Joves resistless Thunder Shoots forth and breaks the strongest Ranks asunder Here in the thickest throng of Enemies Like Thracian Mars himself Black Edward plyes Deaths fatal task Here Noble Warwick gives A furious onset There brave Suffolk strives T' out go the formost Emulations fire Is kindled now and blazes high Desire Of Honour drowns all other Passions there Not in the Chiefs alone Each Soldier In that small Army feels bright Honours flame And labours to maintain his proper Fame Ne're was a Battel through all parts so fought Nor such high wonders by an handfull wrought White Victory that soar'd above beheld How every English hand throughout the Field Was stain'd with Blood Amaz'd to see the Day And that so few should carry her away The Fields no more their verdure can retain Enforced now to take their Purple stain And be obscur'd with slaughter while the wounds Of France manure her own unhappy Grounds Where mixed with Plebeian Funerals Her greatest Princes die There Bourbon falls And Marshal Clermont welters in his gore There Noble Charney's beaten down that bore The Standard Royal that sad Day Here dies Athens Great Duke There Valiant Eustace lyes Who as a badg of highest Honour wore A Chaplet of bright Pearls that had before Won by King Edward in a skirmish neer To Callice he was taken Prisoner As testimony of his Prowess shew'd Bin by that Royal Enemie bestow'd Great are the French Battalia 's and in room Of those that fall so oft fresh Souldiers come So oft the bloody Fight 's renewed that now The English weary with subduing grow And 'gin to faint oppress'd with odds so great When lo to make the Victory compleat Six hundred Bowmen whom to that intent Before the battel the brave Prince had sent Abroad well mounted now come thundring o're The Field and charge the French behind so sore As with confusion did distract them quite And now an Execution not a Fight Ensues All routed that great Army flies A Prey to their pursuing Enemies What his disheartned battel Orleans Forsakes the Field with him the Heir of France Young Charles of Normandy and thousands moe Not overthrown but frighted by the foe Nor are the English tho' enow to gain The day enow in number to maintain So great a chase And not so well suffice To follow as subdue their enemies Nor yet which more declar'd the Conquest sent From Heaven alone to strike astonishment In over-weening Mortals and to show Without that help how little Man can do Are all the English Conquerors in the Field Enow to take so many French as yield Nor to receive the Prisoners that come Tho' some in fields are Ransom'd and sent home Yet more from thence are Captive born away Then are the Hands that won so great a Day c. And now though King John had the unhappiness to fall into the hands of an enemy yet that which alleviated his affliction was that he fell into the hands of a Noble Enemy for Prince Edward used him with such respect and observance that he could not finde much difference between his captivity and liberty Mr. May gives us this Narrative of it The chase together