was the heroic Edward, usually denominated the Black Prince
from the color of his armor. This prince espoused his cousin Joan,
commonly called the "fair maid of Kent," daughter and heir of his uncle,
the earl of Kent, who was beheaded in the beginning of this reign. She
was first married to Sir Thomas Holland, by whom she had children.
By the prince of Wales she had a son, Richard, who alone survived his
father.

The second son of King Edward (for we pass over such as died in their
childhood) was Lionel, duke of Clarence, who was first married to
Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter and heir of the earl of Ulster, by whom
he left only one daughter, married to Edmund Mortimer, earl of Marche.
Lionel espoused in second marriage Violante, the daughter of the duke of
Milan,[*] and died in Italy soon after the consummation of his nuptials,
without leaving any posterity by that princess. Of all the family, he
resembled most his father and elder brother in his noble qualities.

Edward's third son was John of Gaunt, so called from the place of his
birth: he was created duke of Lancaster; and from him sprang that branch
which afterwards possessed the the crown. The fourth son of this royal
family was Edmund created earl of Cambridge by his father, and duke of
York by his nephew. The fifth son was Thomas, who received the title of
earl of Buckingham from his father, and that of duke of Glocester from
his nephew. In order to prevent confusion, we shall always distinguish
these two princes by the titles of York and Glocester, even before they
were advanced to them.

There were also several princesses born to Edward by Philippa; to wit,
Isabella, Joan, Mary, and Margaret, who espoused, in the order of their
names, Ingelram de Coucy, earl of Bedford, Alphonso, king of Castile,
John of Mountfort, duke of Brittany, and John Hastings, earl of
Pembroke. The princess Joan died at Bordeaux before the consummation of
her marriage.

It is remarked by an elegant historian,[**] that conquerors though
usually the bane of bunian kind, proved often, in those feudal limes,
the most indulgent of sovereigns: they stood most in need of supplies
from their people; and not being able to compel them by force to submit
to the necessary impositions, they were obliged to make them some
compensation, by equitable laws and popular concessions.

* Rymer, vol. vi. p. 564.

** Dr. Robertson's Hist. of Scot. book i.

This remark is, in some measure, th