1. A name given (apparently by 16th-c. chroniclers) to the eldest son of Edward III. [As to the origin of the appellation, many guesses are current, but published sources afford no evidence.]
1563. Grafton, Chron. (1569), 324. Edward prince of Wales, who was called the blacke Prince.
1587. Holinshed, Hist. Eng., 348 b.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. iv. 56. All our Princes captiu’d, by the hand Of that black Name, Edward, black Prince of Wales.
1611. Speed, Theat. Gt. Brit., IX. xii. an. 1329. By-named (not of his colour, but of his dreaded acts in battell) the Blacke Prince.
1688. J. Barnes, Hist. Edw. III., I. iii. § 5. 46. Sirnamed by the French le Neoir, or the Black-Prince.
[But cf. 1724. Coste, Ess. de Montaigne, I. i. (1836), I. 3, note. Edouard, prince de Galles, que les Anglois nomment communément the black prince.]
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1770), II. xvi. 513. Denominated the Black Prince, from the colour of his armour.
a. 1854. E. M. Stewart, Lond. City T. Q. Phillipa, xvi. 139. The surcoat of black velvet emblazoned with three white ostrich feathers, and the motto ‘Ich Dien,’ which gave rise to the epithet of the Black Prince.
† 2. The prince of darkness, the devil. Obs.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., 7. To entitle those Browne sectaries of the Blacke Prince, with the name of traytors.
