The Black Prince
  55mm (2") high x 154mm (6") long x 65mm (2.5") wide

Edward Plantagenet of Woodstock, 1330 - 1376

By the frequent display of arms and armour Prince Edward Plantagenet of Woodstock was the very embodiment of a knight in the Age of Chivalry; displaying courage, courtesy, valour and honour in equal measure as he cut his way through massed ranks of the enemy year after year. This long and consistently successful career in mayhem began at the age of sixteen at the Battle of Crecy, and the title he eventually achieved, that of 'The Black Prince', may have been awarded not because of the black suit of armour he wore but because of his thoroughly black personality: a possessor of black moods and a doer of black deeds.

It was perhaps remarkable that with a life devoted to such carnage Edward should die diseased, bloated and fly-blown but peacefully in his bed. He predeceased his father, King Edward III by only a year and thus never achieved his Coronation: probably a good thing for England as his heroic deeds seem to have been confined to the Field of Battle and the Tournament: in times of peace and idleness he was cruel, arrogant and feckless and it may be assumed that in his slippery, blood-soaked hands the ship of state would have been quickly wrecked in an orgy of self indulgent feasts, jousting, fancy clothes and trouble making.

This piece is modelled from the Prince's tomb in Canterbury Cathedral and shows him in full battle armour with the 'coat of arms' of England: the three lions passant and the fleurs de lys embroidered on his 'surcoat'.

Edward, to modern eyes, might appear a bit of a psychopathic loony - as a hero of fourteenth century England, however, people loved him.

 

These castings are designed, sculpted and manufactured in England, using resin-bonded marble, bronze and Cotswold stone. Modern moulding techniques faithfully reproduce the intricate and painstaking work of the sculptor whilst giving the appearance of real carved stone or sculpted terracotta. The resin sculptures are weatherproof, the plaques having a hole drilled in the back for easy hanging