The Battle of Poitiers 1356

by Green, David

  16Barber, Edward, 119; Sumption, Hundred Years War, ii, 181-4; Emerson, Black Prince, 94, 97-8; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 69, 76; J.M. Touneur-Aumont, La bataille de Poitiers (1356) et la construction de la France, Paris, 1940, 65. Delachenal, Charles V, i, 127-8.

  17Clifford J. Rogers, ‘Edward III and the Dialectics of Strategy’, TRHS, 6th ser., 4 (1994), 100-1.

  18Robert of Avesbury, De gestis mirabilis regis Edwardi tertii, ed. E.M. Thompson, 1889, 445-7; R. Barber, ed., Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince, Woodbridge, 1986, 53.

  19Françoise Lehoux, Jean de France, duc de Berri. Sa vie. Son action politique (1340-1416), Paris, 1966, i, 57; Pierre-Clément Timbal, La Guerre de Cent Ans vue à travers les registres du Parlement, 1337-1369, Paris, 1961, 108-9.

  Chapter Two: Winter/Spring 1355-6 Defence and Preparation

  1Sumption, Hundred Years War, ii, 190.

  2See K. Fowler, ‘Letters and Dispatches of the Fourteenth Century’, Guerre et société en France, en Angleterre et en Bourgogne XIVe-XVe siècles, ed. Philippe Contamine, Charles Giry-Deloison et Maurice Keen, Lille, 1991, 77-8, 80, nn. 69-76; A.K. McHardy, ‘Some Reflections on Edward III’s Use of Propaganda’, The Age of Edward III, ed. J. Bothwell, Woodbridge, 2001, 171-92.

  3C61/68/4; C66/68/4; 24 Oct. 1356, BPR, iv, 192; John of Reading, Chronica Johannis de Reading et Anonymi Cantuarensis 1346-1367, ed. James Tait, Manchester, 1914, 120; Avesbury, 437, 439.

  4Register of John de Trillek, Bishop of Hereford (A.D. 1344-1361) ed. Joseph H. Parry, Hereford, 1910-12, 242; Jean Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. K. de Lettenhove, Brussels, 1867-77, xviii, 389-92; Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483, ed. E. Tyrrell and N.H. Nicolas, London, 1827, 204-8; Delachenal, Charles V, ii, 381-4; Life and Campaigns, ed. Barber, 57-9.

  5Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, v, 528-9; Chartulary of Winchester Cathedral, ed. A.W. Goodman, Winchester, 1927, 159-61, no. 370, 162-4, no. 371; Fowler, ‘Letters and Dispatches’, 77-8; Delachenal, Charles V, i, 205-6; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 79.

  67 Feb. 1356, Rymer, III, i, 322; Henxteworth ff. 13, 21, 25.

  715, 26 Mar. 1356, BPR, iii, 224, 225; Rymer, III, i, 315; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 21.

  8C61/70/4; 71/7; Burne, Crécy War, 276; Barber, Edward, 129-30; Emerson, Black Prince, 102; Capra, ‘Le séjour du Prince Noir’, 245.

  9Nicholas Wright, Knights and Peasants. The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside, Woodbridge, 1998, 34-5.

  10Sumption, Hundred Years War, ii, 193.

  Chapter Three: The Campaign of 1356

  1PRO E36/278/88; BPR, iv, 145; Rymer, III, i, 325, 333; Fowler, King’s Lieutenant, 153-5.

  2Barber, Edward, 131-2; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 102.

  3Delachenal, Charles V, i, 192-7; Robert Hardy, ‘The Longbow’, Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War, ed. A. Curry and M. Hughes, Woodbridge, 1994, 163; P.J. Morgan, War and Society in Medieval Cheshire, 1277-1403, Manchester, 1987,111, 113.

  4On French military recruitment and organization see Philippe Contamine, Guerre, état et société à la fin du moyen âge. Études sur les armées des rois de France, 1337-1494, Paris, 1972, 26-64.

  5Denifle, La désolation, ii, 112-21; Fowler, King’s Lieutenant, 154; Emerson, Black Prince, 108-9.

  6Letter to the mayor, aldermen and commons of London, 22 October, Life and Campaigns, ed. Barber, 57.

  7Jean Froissart, Chroniques, ed. S. Luce, (SHF), Paris, 1870-, v, 414-16; Delachenal, Charles V, i, 190, 225-6; Barber, Edward, 134, 136-7; Burne, Crécy War, 276-8; Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 104, 107-9; Labarge, Gascony, 139-41.

  Chapter Four: The Battle of Poitiers

  1Chronique de règnes de Jean II et de Charles V, ed. R. Delachenal (SHF), Paris, 1910, 72.

  2Life and Campaigns, ed. Barber, 58.

  3Le Baker, Chronicon, 147; Rogers, War Cruel and Sharp, 379 and n. 160.

  4Hewitt, Black Prince’s Expedition, 121; Delachenal, Charles V, i, 222 and n. 3. It may well be the case that only about half of Orléans’ soldiers departed with him although a number of the survivors from earlier attacks joined him, Rogers, War Cruel and Sharp, 380.

  5The fall of a standard indicated defeat on the battlefield both in reality and iconographically as in the Breslau Froissart manuscript: Laurence Harf-Lancner, ‘The Illustration of Book 1 of Froissart’s Chroniques’, Froissart Across the Genres, ed. Donald Maddox and Sara-Sturm-Maddox, Gainesville, 1998, 238.

  6Froissart’s Chronicles, ed. and trans. J. Jolliffe, London, 1967, 175; Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, v, 461, 463.

  7The maps are based on 3615 IGN (No. 1727 E. Poitiers -4- Série Bleue). The positioning of the hedge and ditch and the extent of the wood and marsh/es are conjectural.

  8Clifford J. Rogers ed., The Wars of Edward III: Sources and Interpretations, Woodbridge, 1999, 163-4; Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, xviii, 385-7; Life and Campaigns, ed. Barber, 57-9.

  9Wars of Edward III, ed. Rogers, 165-6.

  10Life and Campaigns, ed. Barber, 75-6.

  11Froissart: Chronicles, ed. and trans. Brereton, 128; Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Luce, v, 21-2.

  12Contamine, Guerre, état et société, 45, 175. It was not the only such attack on the French aristocracy, see BL Cotton Caligula D III f. 33; Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, xviii, 388.

  13Delachenal, Charles V, i, 220. N.B. according to Le Baker, Chronicon, 151, French crossbows at Poitiers did considerable damage.

  14M. Bennett, ‘The Development of Battle Tactics in the Hundred Years War’, Arms, Armies and Fortifications ed. Curry and Hughes, 7-9 and n. 18.

  Chapter Five: Aftermath

  1For what follows see C. Given-Wilson and F. Beriac, ‘Edward III’s Prisoners of War: The Battle of Poitiers and its Context’, EHR, cxvi (2001), 802-33; Given-Wilson, Royal Household, 87.

  2D’A.J.D. Boulton, The Knights of the Crown. The Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe 1325-1520, 2nd ed., Woodbridge, 2000, 96-166 (on the Garter), 167-210 (on the Star) esp. 191-3. See also Hugh Collins, The Order of the Garter, 1348-1461: Chivalry and Politics in Late Medieval England, Oxford, 2000. For Mauron see Le Baker, Chronicon, 120: he states only 45 were captured or killed. Walter Bentley and Robert Knolles commanded the English forces.

  3Anonimalle Chronicle, 40-1; Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Luce, v, 82-3.

  4Wright, Knights and Peasants, 51.

  5Rymer, III, ii, 1; A.R. Myers ed., English Historical Documents, iv, 1327-1485, London, 1969, 103-8.

  Conclusion: Poitiers, the Black Prince and his Military Retinue

  1Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Luce, v, 42.

  2Nigel Saul, Death, Art and Memory in Medieval England. The Cobham Family and their Monuments, 1300-1500, Oxford, 2001, 160.

  3Saul, Death, Art and Memory, 149-68.

  4Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Luce, v, 60.

  5Matteo Villani, Historia Universalis, ed. L.A. Muratori, 1729, 419.

  6Jean Favier, La Guerre de Cent Ans, Paris, 1980, 212.

  7Anne Curry, ‘Richard II and the War with France’, The Reign of Richard II, ed. Gwilym Dodd, Stroud, 2000, 35. For the conception of the Hundred Years War as a war of three treaties see Anne Curry, The Hundred Years War, Houndmills, 1993, 152-5.

  Appendix: Dramatis Personae

  1For biographical collections see George F. Beltz, Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, London, 1841; G. Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia ou état des officiers royaux des bailliages et des sénéchaussées de 1328 à 1515, Paris, 1942; R.H. Fritze and William B. Robison, ed., Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272-1485, Connecticut and London, 2002; R.A. Griffiths, ed., The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages: The Structure and Personnel of Government, i: South Wales, 1277-1536, Cardiff, 1972; N.H. Nicolas, The Controversy between Sir Richard Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor in the Court of Chivalry, 2 vols, London, 1832; P.H.W. Booth and A. Carr, ed., The Account of Master John de Brunham the Younger, Chamberlain o
f Chester of the Revenues of the Counties of Chester and Flint 1361-62, (Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire), 1991; J. Roskell, L. Clarke and C. Rawcliffe, ed., History of Parliament, 1386-1421, 4 vols, Stroud, 1993; Dictionaire de biographie française, Paris, 1933; Dictionary of National Biography, 63 vols, London, 1885-1900. For further details on the members of the Black Prince’s household and retinue where full references are given see David S. Green, ‘The Household and Military Retinue of Edward the Black Prince’, Unpub. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham, 1998; ‘The Military Personnel of Edward the Black Prince’, Medieval Prosopography, 21 (2000), 133-52; ‘The Later Retinue of Edward the Black Prince’, Nottingham Medieval Studies, xliv (2000), 141-51; ‘Politics and Service with Edward the Black Prince’, Age of Edward III, ed. Bothwell, 53-68.

  2Gabriel Loirette, ‘Arnaud-Amanieu, sire d’Albret et ses rapports avec la monarchie française pendant le règne de Charles V (1336-80)’, Annales du Midi, xlii (1931), 5-39; Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed. Pope and Lodge, 237.

  3Knighton’s Chronicle, 1337-96, ed. G. Martin, Oxford, 1995, 22; see also Adam Murimuth, Continuatio Chronicarum, ed. E.M. Thompson, London, 1889, 121; Sumption, Hundred Years’ War, ii, 330-8; M. Dupuy, Le Prince Noir, Paris, 1970, 298.

  4Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed. Pope and Lodge, 237; M. Keen, The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages, London, 1965, 84. This included service at the siege of Limoges, Froissart: Chronicles, ed. G. Brereton, Harmondsworth, repr. 1978, 176, 219, 227.

  5 Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia, iv, 527; Beltz, Memorials, 182-7; Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed. Pope and Lodge, 237-8.

  6DBF, iii, 655-8; Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia, v, 233.

  7Dupuy, Prince Noir, 307; Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, 238.

  8Thanks to Michael Jones for providing his notes on James Audley for the forthcoming DNB. See also Griffiths, Principality, 114, 210, 553; Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed. Pope and Lodge, 238; Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia, iv, 474.

  9DBF, iv, iv, 458-9.

  10Beltz, Memorials, 159-62; GEC, ii, 3-6.

  11Knighton’s Chronicle, ed. Martin, 60-4, 142, 144; BPR, iv, 338; Barber, Edward, 114; W.M. Ormrod, The Reign of Edward III. Crown and Political Society in England, 1327-1377, New Haven and London, 1990, 103.

  12Knighton’s Chronicle, ed. Martin, 172; Barber, Edward, 143, 153, 162.

  13DBF, viii, 298-9.

  14Barber Edward, 162; DNB, iv, 43-4.

  15DNB, x, 43-4; Given-Wilson, Household and Affinity, 72; Le Baker, Chronicon, 136, 140, 298; Froissart, Chroniques, vi, ed. Luce, lxviii, 150; Chroniques des quatre premiers Valois (1327-1393), ed. S. Luce (SHF), Paris, 1862, 159, 172; Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia, iv, 474. For the battle at Lussac bridge see Chronique Normande du XIVe siècle, ed. E. et A. Molinier (SHF), Paris, 1882, 194.

  16Chandos said ‘ ‘Dan Bertran, quant je vous prins en Bretaigne, vous jurastes que vous ne vous armeriez point contr le prince, si le roy de France ou ses freres n’avoient guerre contre le prince ou contre le roy d’Angleterre.’ Lors respondi monseigneur Bertran à monseigneur Jehan de Chandos, present le prince disant: ‘A Dieu le vou, ja dittes vous veoir! Mais monseigneur le prince n’a cy point de guerre; ains s’est armé du parti du roy Petre...’, Chronique des quatre premiers Valois, 181.

  17R. Kaeuper and E. Kennedy, The Book of Chivalry of Geoffroi de Charny: Text, Context and Translation, Philadelphia, 1996.

  18Booth and Carr, Account of Master John de Brunham, 128.

  19DBF, viii, 1490-1.

  20It is possible that he was the son and heir of another Reginald as suggested by John Wickham Fraser, ‘Notices of the Family of Cobham of Sterborough Castle, Lingfield, Surrey’, Surrey Archaeological Collections, ii (1894), 119; Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed. Pope and Lodge, 243; Barber, Edward, 114, 170; Saul, Death, Art and Memory, 124-36.

  21E101/28/8; L. Mirot et E. Déprez, ‘Les ambassades anglaises pendant la guerre de cent ans’ Bibliotheque des ecoles des chartes, lxx (1899), 27, 28, 32; Rymer, III, i, 504.

  22For further details see VCH, Oxon, vi, 60, 69, 334-6; Griffiths, Principality, 229-30.

  23 BPR, iv, 133; Denholm-Young, Country Gentry, 128.

  24Beltz, Memorials, 140-2; CIPM, xiv, 214-27, no. 209; Lincoln Archives Office Reg. xii, fo. 163.

  25DNB, vi, 1173-4; Beltz, Memorials, 274-9; Dupuy, Prince Noir, 307; GEC, v, 292-3 and n. E.

  26DNB account conflates William II and William III. See also Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia, iv, 474; S. Luce, Histoire de Bertrand Du Guesclin et son époque: La jeunesse de Bertrand (1320-1364), Paris, 1896, 405-6; Delachenal, Charles V, ii, 355 n. 3; Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, xxi, 187.

  27 Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed. Pope and Lodge, 84-7, 158-9.

  28Chronicle of Jean de Venette, ed. and trans. J. Birdsall and R.A. Newhall, New York, 1953, 138.

  29The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421, ed. C. Given-Wilson, Oxford, 1997, 73 and n. 6, also see ‘Annales Ricardi Secundi et Henrici Quarti’, Johannis de Trokelowe et Anon Chronica et Annales, ed. H.T. Riley (Rolls Ser.), London, 1866, 287-8; Gallia Regia, iii, 541; iv, 474; v, 289 no. 20079; Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed., Pope and Lodge, 246.

  30Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed., Pope and Lodge, 247; Dupont-Ferrier, Gallia Regia, iii, 510-11.

  31Beltz, Memorials, 28-33; Chandos Herald, Life of the Black Prince, ed., Pope and Lodge, 241; Jean le Bel, Chronique, ed. J. Viard et E. Déprez, Paris, 1904-5, ii, 260-2; 137-8; Chronicle of Jean de Venette, 262-3.

  32Chronicle of Jean de Venette, 121-2, 134, 295; Delachenal, Charles V, iii, 38-60.

  33Griffiths, Principality, 119, 122;VCH, Berks; 298, 331; iv, 239; BPR, iii; 198-9, 383; iv, 285, 364; CCR, 1369-74; 68; Roskell et al., History of Parliament, iii, 517-19.

  34Beltz, Memorials, 65-8.

  35Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, iii, 197.

  36It is uncertain if he fought in the prince’s division at Crécy as suggested by J. Vale, Edward III and Chivalry: Chivalric Society and its Context, 1270-1350, Woodbridge, 1982,153.

  37In 1364 he received Garter robes, of which there is a picture in a St Alban’s manuscript, S.M. Newton, Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince. A Study of the Years 1340-1365, Woodbridge, 1988, 45.

  38On 24 Oct. 1362 (see 7 May 1360) Edward III appointed Richard Stafford, John Chandos, Stephen Cosington, Nigel Loryng, Richard Totesham, Adam Hoghton and William Felton ‘to crave, receive and retain’ those lands, as required by the treaty of Brétigny, CCR, 1360-4, 359. There is a further reference to his appointment as the king’s deputy in France dated 1 July 1362, ibid., 1364-8, 128.

  39Froissart, Oeuvres, ed. Lettenhove, vi, 394.

  40DNB, xiii, 661-2; Booth and Carr, Account of Master John de Brunham, 169-70; GEC, xi, 388-90.

  41Griffiths, Principality, 105; T.F. Tout, Chapters in the Administrative History of Mediaeval England. The Wardrobe, the Chamber and the Small Seal, Manchester, 1920-33, iii, 296, 327-8; ibid., v, 390 n. 2, 439-40; Booth and Carr, Account of Master John de Brunham, 175; DNB, liii, 456-8; v, 390.

  42Scrope-Grosvenor, 240-3.

  4310 Mar. 1353, BPR, ii, 45-6.

  44GEC, xii, pt. 1, 429-32; pt. 2, 151.

  45GEC, x, 222-4.

  46This was argued against by Bernard de la Troy, whose statement was witnessed by Clisson, Montague, Burghersh, Robert Holland, Thomas Roos and Brocas, BL Cotton Caligula D III f. 102.

  47Booth states that he joined the prince shortly after the Black Death, The Financial Administration of the Lordship and County of Cheshire, 1272-1377, (Chetham Society, 3rd ser., xxviii, 1981), 74. Tout notes him as steward from c.1350 and governor of the prince’s business from at least 29 Sept. 1358 until his death in 1361, Chapters, v, 387, 391, 433, 440.

  Note on Illustrations

  The illustrations are intended to be both representational and acknowledge the style and character of illuminations in (near) contemp
orary manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, such as the Grandes Chroniques, the Chroniques of Jean Froissart, and Gaston Fébus’ Livre de chasse. The colouring and the decorative nature of the manuscripts have been particular influences. Readers are directed towards the very fine online collection held by the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, for examples of these rich, atmospheric, and detailed works.

  Medieval tapestries such as the Angers Apocalypse and the Lady and the Unicorn (Musée de Cluny) have also influenced the illustrations in terms of texture and means of composition. Further sources have included monumental effigies and brasses. In addition to a range of scholarly literature regarding arms and armour, re-enactments demonstrating the uses of medieval weaponry undertaken by the Royal Armouries have been considered.

  Kate Green originally trained as a fine artist at Exeter College of Art and Design and later studied Illustration at Chelsea College of Art and the University of Central England, where she gained a masters degree. She currently works as a decorative artist and book illustrator and has exhibited widely in the UK and Ireland.

  List of Illustrations

  All illustrations courtesy of David Green unless otherwise stated

  1Tomb of the Black Prince, Canterbury cathedral. TA CD Green, Black Prince.

  2Tomb of Sir William Kerdeston, Reepham, Norfolk. Copyright Andrew Midgeley

  3Misericord. Copyright Andrew Midgeley.

  4Sunday – Initial Dispositions.

  5The Attack of the Marshals.

  6The Dauphin’s Attack.

  7The Final Clash.

  8Tomb of Sir Hugh Calveley, Bunbury church, Cheshire.

  9Henry of Grosmont

  10Mounted men-at-arms. Copyright Kate Green.

  11Chevauchée. Copyright Kate Green

  12Archers and infantry. Copyright Kate Green