John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter Kent by his wife Joan of Kent, "The Fair Maid of Kent", daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, a son of King Edward I (1272–1307). The Earl of Kent was a title that was created multiple times, including once for Edmund of Woodstock and once for –Thomas– Holland. Joan later married her cousin Edward, the Black Prince, the eldest son and heir apparent of her first cousin King Edward III, by whom she had a son King Richard II, who was thus a half-brother of John Holland. Early in King Richard's reign, Holland was made a Knight
Edward the Black Prince The next year (1356) on another chevauchée he ravaged Auvergne, Limousin, and Berry but failed to take Bourges. He offered terms of peace to King John II of France, who had outflanked him near Poitiers, but refused to surrender himself as the price of their acceptance. This led to the Battle of Poitiers where his army routed the French and took King John prisoner. The year after Poitiers, the Black Prince returned to England. In 1360 he negotiated the treaty of Bretigny. He was created Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony in 1362, but his suzerainty was not recognised by the