The Life & Feats of Arms of Edward the Black Prince

Chandos Herald, Francisque Michel (Editor)

J.G. Fotheringham, London, 1883

[Interesting provenance, previously owned by Don Antonio Canovas del Castillo.] Bound in black leather over violet boards. Gilt seal embossed on front board. Hardcover. Shelf wear. Edges chipped. Corners bumped. Gutters starting. Bookplate of Canovas on verso. Scattered marginalia. xx, 392 pages : illustrations (facsimile) ; 28 cm. 

"The Life was written in verse in Anglo-Norman somewhere between 1376 and 1387. The poem was originally untitled. Many believe that the Life was written for Richard II, the Black Prince's son, but the lack of a dedication to him makes it unlikely. Chandos Herald came from Hainault, as did Edward III's queen, Philippa, and the other great (English) historian of the fourteenth century, Jean Froissart. When he wrote his own history, Froissart used Chandos Herald as a source. When Sir John Chandos died in 1370, the herald entered royal service and was made king of arms of England by Richard II at his coronation in 1377. No one seems quite sure what a king of arms was, but it seems to have been some kind of super herald. Almost half of his poem is taken up with the Spanish campaign of 1367, which included the Prince's victory at the battle of Najera. It's an accurate account, since the herald was present. His account is corroborated by a version from the opposing side. It is possible that Chandos Herald only intended to write about the Spanish campaign and then revised his plan after the death of the Black Prince in 1376. Some of the details of the Prince's earlier life in the poem are very vague. It's unlikely the herald was at the battles of Crecy or Poitiers. From his description of the battle of Poitiers it seems that it took place before he was in Sir John's service. When Chandos Herald wrote his poem it was already an old-fashioned way of telling history, as he admitted himself at the beginning of the text. His objective was to write about good and chivalrous deeds, of the kind carried out by the Black Prince who, shortly after his death, became the personification of everything that had once been good about England. This was in contrast to what was going on during his son's reign. The herald didn't want to write about shameful deeds and refused to list the French knights who fled the field at Crecy." - April Munday 

Don Antonio Canovas del Castillo (1828–1897) was a Spanish politician and historian known principally for serving six terms as Prime Minister and his overarching role as 'architect' of the regime that ensued with the 1874 restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. He died in office at the hands of an anarchist, Michele Angiolillo. Leader of the Liberal-Conservative Party, also known more simply as the Conservative Party, the name of Canovas became symbolic of the alternate succession in the Restoration regime along with Praxedes Mateo Sagasta's. 

This is an oversized or heavy book, which requires additional postage for international delivery outside the US.