's father.--Reason for the
name.--Situation of Crecy.--Nature of Edward's claim to the crown
of France.--The Salic law.--Reason for it.--Edward's case.--Edward
raises an army and sets out for France.--Map.--The army reaches
Rouen.--Progress of the army.--Arrival at Amiens.--Progress of the
two armies down the Somme.--Edward's anxiety about crossing the
river.--Danger from the tide.--Edward posts himself at Crecy.--Plan
of the battle.--The Black Prince in command.--Picture of the Genoese
archer.--Philip gets out of patience.--The rain.--The battle.--More
difficulty with the archers.--They send for help for the Prince of
Wales.--Flight of the King of France from the field of battle.--Account
of the old King of Bohemia.--Origin of the motto and device of the
Prince of Wales.--Fate of Calais.--The six citizens.--Margaret of
Calais.--John of Gaunt.

The father of King Richard the Second was a celebrated Prince of
Wales, known in history as the Black Prince. The Black Prince, as his
title Prince of Wales implies, was the oldest son of the King of
England. His father was Edward the Third. The Black Prince was, of
course, heir to the crown, and he would have been king had it not
happened that he died before his father. Consequently, when at last
his father, King Edward, died, Richard, who was the oldest son of the
prince, and, of course, the grandson of the king, succeeded to the
throne, although he was at that time only ten years old.

The Christian name of the Black Prince was Edward. He was called the
Black Prince on account of the color of his armor. The knights and
warriors of those days were often named in this way from some
peculiarity in their armor.

Edward, being the oldest son of the king his father, was Prince of
Wales. He was often called the Prince of Wales, and often simply
Prince Edward; but, inasmuch as there were several successive
Edwards, each of whom was in his youth the Prince of Wales, neither of
those titles alone would be a sufficiently distinctive appellation for
the purposes of history. This Edward accordingly, as he became very
celebrated in his day, and inasmuch as, on account of his dying before
his father, he never became any thing more than Prince of Wales, is
known in history almost exclusively by the title of the Black Prince.

But, although he never attained to a higher title than that of prince,
he still lived to a very mature age. He was more than forty years old
when he died. He, how