Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine

To attempt to write a biography of Edward 'the Black Prince', a legendary paragon of chivalry, without turning first to the chronicler of chivalry par excellence, Jean Froissart, may seem self-defeating, particularly as there is so little light to be shed on the prince's character from other sources. But the classic stories of the school textbooks and romantic histories have held sway for too long without being challenged, and I have therefore tried to work outwards from accounts and 'official' chronicles to arrive at an account of Edward, prince of Wales and Aquitaine, and in particular of the group of men who were his companions-in-arms. Space and time have not allowed me to do as much work on the latter as I would have wished, but I hope that I have been able to show both the prince and his father as part of a close-knit, brilliant group of knights rather than as isolated figures, and to capture something of the prince's life as a great baron and as an almost sovereign ruler in Aquitaine. - Preface.