ABSTRACT
Froissart, the Black Prince was a figure of universal significance, not notably English in his personality and culture. The chivalrous way of life which, for the chronicler, he for the most part worthily exemplified was an international code related to religious ideals and canon law, systems uninhibited by a sense of nationality. One of these ideals was that of the crusade, which, as Dr A. Luttrell has shown, revived strongly in English noble circles in the 1360s, embracing some of Gaunt's acquaintance and age group, notably his close friend the earl of Hereford. Gaunt's sense of Englishness and his universalism were not, in his eyes, irreconcilable: they were both related to his dynastic status. He sometimes included among his titles that of 'son of the king of England'. He saw himself as a leading member of a royal family whose sovereign status and power were rooted in England, but which had historic roles to play in Christendom at large.
