The Battle of Poitiers 1356

by Green, David

  The men-at-arms, comprising, in the main, the broad ranks of the aristocracy and a number of professional soldiers were armed similarly in England and France. Apart from the small cavalry detachments led by Clermont and Audrehem, the French fought on foot in order to counter the attacks of Anglo-Welsh archers.

  Similarly the Anglo-Gascon force fought on foot but had access to the horses which had carried the bulk of the army from Bordeaux to Poitiers. Some of these were remounted in the later stages of the battle and led in an encircling manoeuvre by the captal de Buch and possibly James Audley.

  An English or French knight did not fight alone, he was part of a small group who served his needs and protected him. Usually this took the following form:

  English: (described as a lance), comprising a knight, man-at-arms and two mounted archers (fought on foot)

  French: man-at-arms, an esquire, three mounted archers and a hobelar (light cavalryman)

  Armour: Mixture of chain-mail, cuir-bouilli (hardened leather), and half-plate.

  Armour was undergoing a considerable evolution in this period. The wargamer may wish to arm the more experienced and affluent troops with the more ‘modern’ styles.

  An aketon or simplified hauberk provided padding and a securing place for metal plates and areas of chain mail which protected the articulated parts and extended beyond the lower edge of the jupon. This was worn under a breast-plate which was beginning to replace the mail hauberk. This possibly had a corresponding rear plate. The plate was topped with a surcoat or jupon (more tightly fitting, shorter garment generally without sleeves, although not in the case of the Black Prince’s displayed above his tomb in Canterbury cathedral).

  Protection for lower limbs advanced from chain mail to pour point (thickly quilted fabric) through to splinted armour (full plate or white armour by the end of the 14th century).

  Feet were covered by mail or articulated sollerets.

  Helmet: two types - helm and bascinet

  Helm – one piece, reinforced at the front (some with visors developing in middle years of 14th century), becoming more domed/pointed. Worn over a mail hood and a padded cap.

  Bascinet – often with exaggerated visor (pig-faced/snout-faced) with a curtain of mail (camail) to sides and rear.

  Shield – heater-shaped, becoming smaller over the course of the fourteenth century (wood covered with leather, displaying coat of arms)

  Tables and the Battlefield

  Terrain

  See battle plans.

  Initial distance between forces should be 500+ metres

  Figure Size/Scale and Colouring

  25 mm figures - 50:1

  10/15 mm figures – 25:1

  Uniforms on both sides were rare with the notable exception of the green and white checks worn by troops from Cheshire. However, the soldiers may have carried some indication of their recruiting captain, possibly adopting heraldic colours, e.g. Arundel’s troops wearing red and white. During Edward I’s Welsh wars, English troops wore an armband bearing the cross of St George.

  Summary Tables

  It may be useful for the purposes of replaying the battle or reworking the battle under differing conditions to construct tables of combatants by troop type to the nearest 50 or 100. Players may wish to distinguish between men-at-arms, esquires, knights banneret, knights bachelor etc. and to attribute elite or veteran status to the remaining men-at-arms and archers. Such decisions will influence the ‘skill levels’ of each figure/troop grouping.

  The following categories may be useful:

  Section: vanguard, rearguard, centre/1st, 2nd, 3rd division etc.

  Troop Type: men-at-arms, archers, crossbowmen, light infantry etc.

  Troop Class: Elite, regular, militia/levy

  Armour: light, heavy, none, shield

  Weapons: sword, longbow, crossbow, halberd, lance etc.

  Infantry/Cavalry.

  For example:

  Further Reading

  Primary Sources

  Chronicles and Contemporary Texts

  For a description of the route of the 1356 chevauchée from Bergerac see the Eulogium Historiarum, iii, ed. F.S. Haydon, London, 1863.

  On the battle of Poitiers itself see The Anonimalle Chronicle, ed.V.H. Galbraith, Manchester, 1927 which contains unique details of the encounter.

  Geoffrey Le Baker, Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke, 1305-56, ed. E.M. Thompson, Oxford, 1889 also provides a full account and includes an exhortation made by the prince to his men before the battle.

  The verse biography of the prince’s life written c.1380 by Chandos Herald recounts the battle and details the preliminary negotiations although it is most valuable for the Castilian campaign of 1367. Translations are available in the editions by M. Pope and E. Lodge, Life of the Black Prince by the Herald of Sir John Chandos, Oxford, 1910 and R. Barber, The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince, Woodbridge, 1986. The most recent edition is D.B. Tyson, Vie du Prince Noir, Tübingen, 1975.

  The Chronicles of Jean Froissart provide a key insight into the mentality of the fourteenth century Anglo-French aristocracy. There are numerous editions:

  Chroniques, ed. Simeon Luce (SHF), Paris, 1870-present.

  Oeuvres, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, Brussels, 1867-77.

  The most recent, although heavily expurgated translation into English is G. Brereton, Froissart: Chronicles, Harmondsworth, repr. 1978.

  For a contemporary guide to chivalry probably written for the Order of the Star see The Book of Chivalry of Geoffroi de Charny, ed. and trans. R. Kaueper and E. Kennedy, Philadelphia, 1996.

  See also Christine de Pizan, The Book of Arms and Deeds of Chivalry, trans. Sumner Willard, ed. Charity Cannon Willard, Pennsylvania, 1999.

  Collections of Sources in Translation

  C. Allmand, Society at War. The Experience of England and France During the Hundred Years War, Edinburgh, 1973, repr. Woodbridge, 1998.

  R. Barber, The Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince, Woodbridge, 1986.

  Clifford J. Rogers, The Wars of Edward III: Sources and Interpretation, Woodbridge, 1999 (also contains a selection of important articles on the early stages of the Hundred Years War).

  A.R. Myers, ed., English Historical Documents, iv, 1327-1485, London, 1969.

  Administrative and Governmental Records

  Thomas Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae etc., London, 1708-9; rev. ed. A. Clarke, F. Holbroke and J. Coley, 4 vols in 7 parts (Record Commission), 1816-69.

  Calendar of Close Rolls, Calendar of Patent Rolls, Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem.

  The Parliament Rolls of Medieval England, 1275–1504, ed. Chris Given-Wilson et al., Woodbridge, 2005.

  For the household and estate of the Black Prince see The Register of Edward the Black Prince, ed. M.C.B. Dawes, 4 vols, London, 1930-3.

  Biographies of the Black Prince

  Richard Barber, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, Woodbridge, 1978.

  Barbara Emerson, The Black Prince, London, 1976.

  M. Dupuy, Le Prince Noir, Paris, 1970.

  David Green, The Black Prince, Stroud, 2001.

  David Green, Edward the Black Prince: Power in Medieval Europe, Harlow, 2007.

  John Harvey, The Black Prince and his Age, London, 1976.

  J. Moisant, Le Prince Noir en Aquitaine, 1355–6, 1362–70, Paris, 1894.

  Military Studies

  Andrew Ayton, Knights and Warhorses: Military Service and the English Aristocracy under Edward III, Woodbridge, 1994.

  Andrew Ayton and J.L. Price ed., The Medieval Military Revolution: State and Society in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, London and New York, 1995.

  J. Barnie, War in Medieval Society: Social Values and the Hundred Years War, 1337–99, London, 1974.

  Jim Bradbury, The Medieval Siege, Woodbridge, 1992.

  A.H. Burne, The Crécy War: A Military History of the Hundred Years War from 1337 to the Peace of Brétigny, 1360, London, 1955.

  Philippe Contamine, G
uerre, état et société à la fin du Moyen ge. Etudes sur les armées des rois de France, 1337-1494, Paris, 1972; War in the Middle Ages (trans. Michael Jones), Oxford, 1987.

  Anne Curry and Michael Hughes, ed., Arms, Armour and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, Woodbridge, 1994.

  Kenneth Fowler, Medieval Mercenaries, London, 2000.

  H.J. Hewitt, The Black Prince’s Expedition of 1355–1357, Manchester, 1958; The Organization of War under Edward III, 1338–62, Manchester, 1966.

  Maurice Keen ed., Medieval Warfare: A History, Oxford, 1999.

  Michael Prestwich, Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages. The English Experience, New Haven, 1996.

  A.E. Prince, ‘The Strength of English Armies in the Reign of Edward III’, EHR, xlvi (1931), 353-71.

  Clifford J. Rogers, ‘The Military Revolution of the Hundred Years’ War’, Journal of Military History, 57 (1993), 241-78; War Cruel and Sharp: English Strategy under Edward III, 1327–1360, Woodbridge, 2000.

  Matthew Strickland, ed. Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval Britain and France: Proceedings of the 1995 Harlaxton Symposium, Stamford, 1998.

  J.M. Tourneur-Aumont, La bataille de Poitiers (1356) et la construction de la France, Paris, 1940.

  T.F. Tout, ‘Some Neglected Fights Between Crécy and Poitiers’, EHR, xx (1905), 726–30.

  Nicholas Wright, Knights and Peasants. The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside, Woodbridge, 1998.

  Archery and the Longbow

  M. Bennett, ‘The Development of Battle Tactics in the Hundred Years War’, Arms, Armies and Fortifications, ed. Curry and Hughes, 1-20.

  Jim Bradbury, The Medieval Archer, New York, 1985.

  Claude Gaier, ‘L’invincibilité anglaise et le grande arc après la guerre de cents ans: un mythe tenace’, Tijdschrift voor gescheidenis, 91 (1978), 378-85

  Robert Hardy, The Longbow, Cambridge, 1976.

  John Keegan, Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme, Harmondsworth, 1978, 78-116.

  Clifford J. Rogers, ‘The Efficacy of the English Longbow: A Reply to Kelly DeVries, War in History, 5:2 (1998), 233-42.

  Matthew Strickland and Robert Hardy, The Great Warbow: From Hastings to the Mary Rose, Stroud, 2005.

  General Studies

  C. Allmand, The Hundred Years War: England and France at War, c.1300–c.1450, Cambridge, 1988.

  F. Autrand, Charles V, le sage, Paris, 1994.

  J. Bothwell ed., The Age of Edward III, Woodbridge, 2001.

  Pierre Capra, ‘Les bases sociales du pouvoir anglo-gascon au milieu du xive siècle’, Le Moyen Age, 4ème sér. 30 (1975), 273-99; ‘L’évolution de l’administration anglo-gasconne au milieu du xive siècle’, Bordeaux et les Iles britanniques du xiiie au xxe siècle, [Actes du colloque franco-britannique tenu à York, 1973], Bordeaux, 1975, 19-25.

  Anne Curry, The Hundred Years War, Houndmills, 1993.

  R. Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V, 5 vols, Paris, 1909-31.

  Jean Favier, La Guerre de Cent Ans, Paris, 1980.

  C. Given-Wilson, The Royal Household and the King’s Affinity: Service, Politics and Finance, 1360–1413, New Haven and London, 1986; The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages, London, 1987.

  H.J. Hewitt, Cheshire under the Three Edwards, Chester, 1967.

  M. Keen, England in the Later Middle Ages, London, 1973.

  Margaret Wade Labarge, Gascony. England’s First Colony 1204–1453, London, 1980.

  W.M. Ormrod, The Reign of Edward III. Crown and Political Society in England 1327-77, New Haven and London, 1990.

  M. Prestwich, The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272–1377, 2nd ed. London, 2003; Plantagenet England, 1225–1360, Oxford, 2005.

  Jonathan Sumption, The Hundred Years War, I: Trial by Battle, London, 1990; The Hundred Years War, II: Trial by Fire, London, 1999.

  S.L. Waugh, England in the Reign of Edward III, Cambridge, 1991.

  Chivalry and Ransoms

  D’A.J.D. Boulton, The Knights of the Crown. The Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe 1325–1520, 2nd ed., Woodbridge, 2000.

  Hugh Collins, The Order of the Garter, 1348–1461: Chivalry and Politics in Late Medieval England, Oxford, 2000.

  C. Given-Wilson and F. Beriac, ‘Edward III’s Prisoners of War: The Battle of Poitiers and its Context’, EHR, cxvi (2001), 802-33.

  Chris Given-Wilson and Françoise Bériac-Lainé, Les prisonniers de la bataille de Poitiers, Paris, 2002.

  R.W. Kaeuper, Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe, Oxford, 1999.

  M. Keen, The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages, London, 1965.

  M. Keen, Chivalry, New Haven and London, 1984; Origins of the English Gentleman: Heraldry, Chivalry and Gentility in Medieval England, c.1300–c.1500, Stroud, 2002.

  J. Vale, Edward III and Chivalry: Chivalric Society and its Context, 1270–1350, Woodbridge, 1982.

  M. Vale, War and Chivalry:Aristocratic Culture in England, France and Burgundy at the End of the Middle Ages, London, 1981; The Princely Court: Medieval Courts and Culture in North-West Europe 1270–1380, Oxford, 2001.

  Abbreviations

  BL British Library

  BPR The Register of Edward the Black Prince Preserved in the Public Record Office, ed. M.C.B. Dawes, 4 vols, London, 1930-33.

  CCR Calendar of Close Rolls

  CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls

  CIPM Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem

  EHR English Historical Review

  GEC G.E. Cockayne, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland,Great Britain and the United Kingdom, 13 vols in 14, repr. Gloucester, 2000

  Henxteworth Day-book or journale of Sir John Henxteworth, Duchy of Cornwall Record Office

  PRO Public Record Office (now The National Archives, Kew, London)

  Rymer Thomas Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae etc, London, 1708-9, rev. ed., A. Clark, F. Holbroke and J. Coley, 4 vols in 7 parts (Record Commission), 1816-69.

  SHF Société de l’histoire de France

  TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society

  VCH Victoria County History

  Notes

  Introduction: The Black Prince and the Hundred Years War

  1The most recent biography of Edward of Woodstock is David Green, The Black Prince, Stroud, 2001. The prince’s life is evaluated in a wider context in David Green, Edward the Black Prince: Power in Medieval Europe, Harlow, 2007.

  Chapter One: The Grande Chevauchée of 1355

  1BPR, iv, 143-5; H.J. Hewitt, The Black Prince’s Expedition of 1355-57, Manchester, 1958, 21, 24. A.E. Prince, ‘The Strength of English Armies in the Reign of Edward III’, EHR, xlvi (1931), 353-71, estimated the men-at-arms brought by the chief captains to be as follows: Warwick, 120; Suffolk, 60; Salisbury, about 55; Cobham, 30; Lisle, 60. H.J. Hewitt, numbered Lisle’s retinue as 20 knights, 39 esquires and 40 mounted archers, citing PRO E372/200/7: The Organisation of War Under Edward III, Manchester, 1966, 35. In addition, Oxford may have had a contingent of 60 men-at-arms. All manuscript references hereafter will be to the Public Record Office unless stated otherwise.

  2BPR, iii, 204-5, 214-16.

  3Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 15, 17; R. Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V, (5 vols), Paris, 1909-31, i, 124 n. 4.

  4BPR, ii, 77; iv, 143-5; Clifford J. Rogers, War Cruel and Sharp: English Strategy Under Edward III, 1327-1360, Woodbridge, 2000, 295 and n. 48; G.L. Harriss, King, Parliament and Public Finance, Oxford, 1975, 344-5. For the prince’s appointment and duties as lieutenant see Rymer, III, i, 307, 312.

  5R. Barber, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. A Biography of the Black Prince, Woodbridge, 1978, 113-14, 276.

  6Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 22-3, 80-1, 123; Delachenal, Charles V, i, 220-1.

  7BPR, iv, 157, 166-7.

  8Barber, Edward, 114.

  9C61/67/29; 8 Mar. 1355, CCR, 1354-60, 256; Rymer, III, i, 298-9, 302, 307-10, 323, 325. BPR, iv, 158, 160, 166; Thomas Carte, Catalogu
e des rôles Gascons, Normans et Français dans les archives de la Tour de Londres, 2 vols, London and Paris, 1746, i, 134.

  10C61/67/5; Kenneth Fowler, The King’s Lieutenant: Henry of Grosmont, First Duke of Lancaster, London, 1969, 147; B. Emerson, The Black Prince, London, 1976, 90. For a tentative list of the ships arrested for the prince’s use see Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 40-2. This excludes the Saint Mary cog of Winchelsea which, at 200 tons, was the largest ship in the fleet, E61/76/4; T.J. Runyan, ‘Ships and Mariners in Later Medieval England’, Journal of British Studies, 16:2 (1977), 2 n. 3. By 8 May, 44 ships were at Southampton for the prince’s use, E101/26/37. Ships were arrested for Warwick’s departure from 10 Mar. 1355, C61/67/14.

  11BPR, ii, 80-8; ibid., iii, 212-6; ibid., iv, 78, 158, 161; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 26.

  12Pierre Capra, ‘Le séjour du Prince Noir, lieutenant du Roi, à l’Archévêché de Bordeaux (20 Septembre 1355 - 11 Avril 1357)’, Revue historique du Bordeaux et du département Gironde, NS 7 (1958), 246-7; Margaret Wade Labarge, Gascony. England’s First Colony, 1204-1453, London, 1980, 136-7; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 37. For the text of the oath and a list of witnesses see Henri Barckhausen ed., Livre de Coutumes, (Archives Municipales de Bordeaux), 1890, 439-44, 487.

  13The term was used in the context of the Black Death by Jean Favier, La Guerre de Cent Ans, Paris, 1980.

  14CIPM, x, no. 258; GEC, viii, 73-6; Jonathan Sumption, The Hundred Years War, ii. Trial by Fire, London, 1999, 175-6.

  15A.H. Burne, The Crécy War: A Military History of the Hundred Years War from 1337 to the Peace of Brétigny, 1360, London, 1955, 252; Henri Denifle, La guerre de cent ans et la désolation des églises, monasteres et hospitaux en France, Paris, 1902, ii, 86. See also Pierre Tucoo-Chala, Gaston Fébus et la vicomté de Béarn (1343-1391), Bordeaux, 1959, 70. If not before, the prince and Gaston met on 17 Nov., Geoffrey Le Baker, Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke, 1303-56, ed. E.M. Thompson, Oxford, 1889, 128, 135, 138; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 45; Delachenal, Charles V, i, 128 n.1.