§ 1. King Edward III., by a charter dated Pomfret, March 18, in the seventh year of his reign (January 25, 1333, to January 24, 1334), gave the earldom of Chester to Edward the Black Prince, together with the castles of Chester, Beston, Rothlan, and Flint, and all the king's lands there; and also the cantred and lands of Englefield, the castle of Hope, the manors of Hopedale and Fordsham, and the advowson of the cathedral church of St. Asaph, and the temporalities of the bishoprics of Chester and St. Asaph.

King Edward III., in a parliament held at Westminster in the fifteenth year of his reign (a.d. January 25,1341, to January 24,1342), created Edward earl of Chester, his eldest son, Prince of Wales, and invested him by putting a wreath around his head, a gold ring upon also bestowed upon him the Principality and all the manors, lordships, castles and lands owned therein by the king, including the confiscated lands and other property taken by Edward I. from Rhys ab Maredudd, and all voidances of ecclesiastical offices, customs, prisages, &c, ‘to have and to hold the same unto the said prince and his heirs, kings of England.’ From these words, Dodridge infers that the right to the Principality merged in the crown when each succeeding prince of Wales became king, and that a new creation was necessary to every heir-apparent.