‘Let the boy earn his spurs!’

The English commander at the battle of Crecy in 1346 was Edward the Black Prince, then just sixteen. The enemy greatly outnumbered his forces, and were led by France’s most experienced captains. Edward’s men struggled to hold their own, but even so Edward’s father, King Edward III, watching from a hill, made no move to help his son.

Alarmed for the Prince, two English noblemen begged the King to come to his son’s aid, but he refused to leave his hill, saying that he fully expected the boy to earn his honour as a knight. This vote of confidence emboldened the English, and soon afterwards the Black Prince put the French to flight.

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