The true cause of death for Edward the Black Prince, who is known as the greatest English soldier and passed away in 1376 at the age of 45, remains a mystery. Well, it is commonly believed he died of chronic dysentery, but a military expert thinks it could have been something else.
According to an expert in military health writing in the journal BMJ Military Health, the disease that likely killed Edward the Black Prince – the heir apparent to the English throne in the mid-1300s and widely accepted as the greatest English soldier ever to have lived – was probably not chronic dysentery, as is commonly believed.
But regardless of the possible causes—malaria, brucellosis, inflammatory bowel disease, complications from a single bout of dysentery, eating unpasteurized dairy products and raw meat, or complications from malaria—the illness changed the trajectory of English history, according to Dr. James Robert Anderson of the 21 Engineer Regiment.
Dr. Anderson notes that the fate of the Black Prince, who was constantly engaged in warfare and exposed to violence from the age of 16, has been repeated throughout history, with diseases rather than battle injuries often causing the most loss of life during times of conflict.
Despite the fact that Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, was in charge of several military operations, he never suffered a significant injury. However, he suffered from a chronic disease, the severity of which fluctuated over the course of almost 9 years until eventually claiming his life in 1376, when he was 45 years old.
His untimely death shaped the direction of English history since his 10-year-old son became king upon his father’s passing. The author says that young King Richard II was later deposed and killed, which led to more than a century of chaos, including the Wars of the Roses and the rise of the Tudors.
The author speculates that the Black Prince’s sickness began after his triumph in the Spanish Battle of Nájera in 1367. According to a chronicle, “dysentery and other diseases” may have caused up to 80% of his army’s deaths.
Many accounts of the Black Prince’s death suggest that he passed away due to chronic dysentery, possibly the amoebic form, which was prevalent in medieval Europe.
The author says that amoebic dysentery can cause long-term problems like scarring inside the body (amoeboma), inflammation and ulceration of the intestines (colitis), and extreme inflammation and swelling of the bowel (toxic megacolon, which can be fatal).
The author wonders if he would have been well enough to join a ship carrying warriors bound for conflict in France in 1372 if he had amoebic dysentery, which has signs of persistent diarrhea.
Surviving a single episode of dysentery might have serious consequences, especially considering that paratyphoid, a newly discovered type of dysentery that is similar to typhoid but is caused by a different insect, was circulating in 1367.
The author says that this could have led to long-term health problems like anemia, kidney damage, liver abscess, and/or reactive arthritis.
An additional risk in the hot Spanish campaign was dehydration from a lack of water. According to him, this might have led to kidney stones, which would make sense given a fluctuating condition that lasted several years.
The author suggests that inflammatory bowel disease could be another possibility for the Black Prince’s condition, as it could explain his relapsing-remitting symptoms and gradual deterioration.
As the author notes, brucellosis was widespread in medieval Europe, and its vectors (dairy products and raw meat) were often quarantined for the nobility during military expeditions. It may cause repeated fevers, joint and heart inflammation, and persistent tiredness symptoms.
Malaria was another prevalent illness in medieval Europe, and according to the author, it may cause multiorgan failure and death. Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, myalgia (muscle aches and pains), gastrointestinal issues, lethargy, and chronic anemia.
“This would fit the fluctuating nature of his illness and the decline towards the end of his life. Any anaemia would not have been helped by the purging and venesection [blood letting] treatments of the time,” he writes.
“There are several diverse infections or inflammatory conditions that may have led to [the Black Prince’s] demise…
“However, chronic dysentery is probably unlikely,” he adds.
“Even in modern conflicts and war zones, disease has caused enormous morbidity and loss of life, something that has remained consistent for centuries. Efforts to protect and treat deployed forces are as important now as in the 1370s,” he concludes.
Source: 10.1136/military-2022-002282
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