Edward the Black Prince of Cornwall in 1337. He was guardian of the kingdom in his father's absence in 1338, 1340, and 1342. He was created Prince of Wales in 1343 and knighted by his father at La Hogne in 1346. In 1346 Prince Edward commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy, his father intentionally leaving him to win the battle. He took part in Edward III's 1349 Calais expedition. In 1355 he was appointed the king's lieutenant in Gascony, and ordered to lead an army into Aquitaine on a chevauchée, during which he pillaged Avignonet and Castelnaudary, sacked Carcassonne, and plundered Narbonne.
Edward the Black Prince he returned to England, leaving John in charge of Sir Walter Manny and three other knights. He accompanied his father to Calais on 9 October to assist at the liberation of King John and the ratification of the treaty. He rode with John to Boulogne, where he made his offering in the Church of the Virgin. He returned with King Edward to England at the beginning of November. On 10 October 1361 the prince, now in his 31st year, married his cousin Joan, countess of Kent, daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, younger son of Edward I, and