Reviews for Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine A Biography of the Black Prince

The average rating for Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine A Biography of the Black Prince based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-11-22 00:00:00 Brett Bolek More readable than Goodman's JOHN OF GAUNT, fewer specific data. Richard Barber complains that there is very little to tell the character of Prince Edward -- since he isn't relying on Froissart for good and sufficient reasons. He does point out that the best-known personal stories about Prince Edward weren't mentioned until long after the prince's death. That's the story of his massacre of Limoges, which Barber dismisses as unbased propaganda; and the title The Black Prince, which doesn't show up until the reign of Edward IV almost a hundred years later. That leaves us, outside of the financial rolls, knowing only Edward's love of battle and dislike of diplomacy. Those can be seen by his actions and business letters. However, what is left for Barber to report appears to be reliable. He finishes with a report of the prince's legend, and again dismisses that as not an accurate picture of the prince. Basically, this biography gives no sense of the prince's personality for most of his life, until his late marriage to Joan the Fair Maid of Kent.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-08-17 00:00:00 Dennis Lachase Richard Barber’s biography of the Black Prince is a solid, scholarly work that, unfortunately, is rather dry and dense. It is packed full of data and lends itself more to being a political/military biography than a biography of the man. Part of that may be linked to the limited evidence available – Barber discounts much of Froissart as unreliable and there is little remaining to build up an image of the Prince. As such, Barber concludes that there is little one can say about the Prince’s character besides he liked campaigning and had little patience for diplomacy – though there are little moments where Barber seems to hint at more, such as the mention of the Prince standing silent and ashamed after the Battle of Crecy or his Lollard sympathies. At times, the Prince gets lost in Barber’s narrative simply because there’s not much evidence of what he, personally, was doing. It’s also worth noting that the biography was first published in 1978 and is dated in parts, particularly around the discussions of Edward II and the Prince’s illness. Barber’s main goal in his biography was to strip away the legends that have sprung up around the Prince and look at contemporary evidence for his life and personality. Unfortunately, what remains is so little that there is no real spark of life in Barber’s account. For me, the most serious flaw in this text is that the writing itself is dry and dense and makes reading it a chore. For those with an interest in learning about the Prince, I’d recommend starting with Michael Jones’s The Black Prince as an engaging, readable and more recent account of the Prince’s life. But Barber’s Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine is still worthwhile reading for those who want to supplement their reading about the Prince or a more scholarly approach.