Posted on 05/14/2020 12:18:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...The blackest stain upon Edward's reputation is the sack of the French town of Limoges in September 1370... the Bishop of Limoges, Johan de Cross - a friend of Edward's and godfather to his son - betrayed the prince and defected to the French. He welcomed a garrison into part of the town, and held it against the English.
According to the chronicler Jean Froissart, Edward was incensed at the news and stormed it...
"It was a most melancholy business - for all ranks, ages and sexes cast themselves on their knees before the prince, begging for mercy; but he was so inflamed with passion and revenge that he listened to none, but all were put to the sword. Upwards of 3,000 men, women and children were put to death that day."
...But now, a previously unknown letter written by the prince... was discovered by French historian Dr Guilhem Pepin in a Spanish archive... describes how he took several high ranking prisoners in the attack, including the bishop of Limoges and Roger de Beaufort, the brother of Pope Gregory XI.
Crucially, however, Edward refers to the number of prisoners he took in the town. "He specifies that he took 200 knights and men-at-arms prisoner," says Pepin. "When we compare this new evidence with other sources, it becomes very significant."
One source, the Chandos Herald, says there were 300 men garrisoning the town. "We also have a contemporary, local source written at the abbey Saint-Martial of Limoges, which says there were around 300 fatalities in total in the city," says Pepin.
"So, when this evidence is combined, it seems that 100 soldiers and 200 civilians were killed, as opposed to Froissart's claim of 3,000 innocents."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Britains Real Monarch with Tony Robinson
Sounds like mostly the traitors were executed.
Edward is supposed to be a great-uncle of mine. His brother John of Gaunt is my 17th great-grandfather with Katherine Swynford.
The Black Prince was a fine battle captain well liked by his men and a popular figure in England. His forces looted and plundered across France in the same manner all armies did then. At Limoges he was carried in a litter to the site. He may have been dying from either abdominal cancer or diabetes , considering the sketchy description of his final illness. Whatever it was it was painful and protracted. His insistence on being at the site of the siege says a great deal about his soldierly qualities.
Sounds like a good way of takin’ care of business.
“According to the chronicler Jean Froissart...”
Sounds like this guy would be at home on CNN.
That is a pretty impressive lineage you have there.
I have read Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror many times and highly recommend it. Brings the 100 Years War to life.
So let me see.
Is this article about Edward the III, Shakespeare’s ultimate murdering bad guy?
And from whence did Edward the Longshanks appear? - (Edward the ____) - another Edwardian bad guy.
Another example of what AG Barr recently said, that history is written by the victors. In this case by Froissart.
Yeah, if it's actually true, but you have to take the hints you get on Ancestry.com. They use other people's trees to share those hints with you, and they're not 100% accurate. One thing going for me is that my DNA shows 59% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe. There's a lot of Dutch in there. My Dad was born in Holland in 1904, but there's Dutch, and quite a bit of Germanic Empire in there too, on my mother's side. She was born in Canada. Nobody knew about the Dutch or German on her side, nor the small amounts pf Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, and Norway mixed in.
So he was a Democrat.
I meant to say you have to take the Ancestry.com hints with a grain of sand. Never finished the sentence properly.
This one has been called one of the worst movies ever made. That's a pretty big collection though.
King Richard and the Crusaders, 1954, trailer
King Richard and the Crusaders (Preview Clip)
Froissart was a liar and perhaps a state propagandist.
Joan, Countess of Kent, known to history as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the mother of King Richard II of England, her son by her third husband Edward the Black Prince, son and heir apparent of King Edward III.
(from the wiki-wacky) It's good to be, King, it's also not bad to be Prince. :^)
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