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 wages. For a year or two it seemed as if society would come to an end.

Then, slowly, things got a little better, but, as you shall hear, there was a fierce rebellion of the peasants in the next reign. Edward III’s last years were unhappy. His son, the Black Prince, governed Aquitaine, and was beguiled by a Spanish scoundrel, called King Pedro, to interfere in a Spanish civil war. Wherever the Prince and his archers fought they won, but his army suffered dreadfully from the climate. A new King of France took the opportunity to renew the great war (1369). His captains had been learning tactics from their English foes by the simple process of being beaten till they understood how to hit back, and slowly and patiently began to win back castles and frontier provinces in Aquitaine. The Black Prince, sore stricken with fever, turned every now and then, like a dying leopard, and tore his victorious foes, but in vain. He died In 1376; and his father, King Edward, worn out with hard battles and also with luxurious living between campaigns, died in the next year. The heir was little Richard, son of the Black Prince, aged eleven. Two greedy and unscrupulous uncles, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, were glaring at the boy and at each other. So the great reign closed in gloom and fear for the future.