Michael Jones

He's known as Edward of Woodstock from the palace where he was born.

That nickname comes later in the 16th century.

But yes, the power of this is that Edward has a lot of sons.

They all behave themselves.

And

The oldest, Edward of Woodstock, who we'll call the Black Prince because that's how he's known, he's being groomed for power from the beginning.

So there is stability and real closeness and a sense of shared identity, although without wanting to do a spoiler alert, later on it's going to go a bit wrong.

But in the early stages, early to middle stages, it's the dynamic duo.

Totally.

It is very exciting.

Of course, we need to remember that Edward is making this claim through his mother, who he has pushed into exile.

But nevertheless, he's making a claim from her.

That claim originally existed from 1328, when the succession dispute in France was opened.

The interesting thing is it's left on one side.

And the fact that Edward chooses to kind of activate it in 1337 is because he's basically tired of being bossed around by the French, both in Gascony, where he has to render homage, and also French interference in Scotland.

So he takes the initiative.

And for someone like the Black Prince, that would have been pretty exciting.

And absolutely, he's going to be a big part of the story.

I like it.

And of course, that's how medieval people saw things, that if you were young and lusty from a fecund point of view, you're also up for the fight.