St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XX.

  POITIERS.

  After the great sea-fight at the end of August, 1350, England had peacefor some years. Philip of France had died a week before that battle, andhad been succeeded by his son John, Duke of Normandy. Upon the part ofboth countries there was an indisposition to renew the war, for theirpower had been vastly crippled by the devastations of the plague. Thiswas followed by great distress and scarcity, owing to the want of laborto till the fields. The truce was therefore continued from time to time;the pope strove to convert the truce into a permanent peace, and on the28th of August, 1354, a number of the prelates and barons of England,with full power to arrange terms of peace, went to Avignon, where theywere met by the French representatives. The powers committed to theEnglish commissioners show that Edward was at this time really desirousof making a permanent peace with France; but the French ambassadorsraised numerous and unexpected difficulties, and after lengthenednegotiations the conference was broken off.

  The truce came to an end in June, 1355, and great preparations weremade on both sides for the war. The King of England strained everyeffort to furnish and equip an army which was to proceed with the BlackPrince to Aquitaine, of which province his father had appointed himgovernor, and in November the prince sailed for Bordeaux with theadvance-guard of his force. Sir Walter Somers accompanied him. Duringthe years which had passed since the plague he had resided principallyupon his estates, and had the satisfaction of seeing that his tenantsescaped the distress which was general through the country. He had beenin the habit of repairing to London to take part in the tournaments andother festivities; but both he and Edith preferred the quiet countrylife to a continued residence at court. Two sons had now been born tohim, and fond as he was of the excitement and adventure of war, it waswith deep regret that he obeyed the royal summons, and left his housewith his retainers, consisting of twenty men-at-arms and thirty archers,to join the prince.

  Upon the Black Prince's landing at Bordeaux he was joined by the Gasconlords, the vassals of the English crown, and for three months marchedthrough and ravaged the districts adjoining, the French army, althoughgreatly superior in force, offering no effectual resistance. Many townswere taken, and he returned at Christmas to Bordeaux after a campaignattended by a series of unbroken successes.

  The following spring the war recommenced, and a diversion was effectedby the Duke of Lancaster, who was in command of Brittany, joining hisforces with those of the King of Navarre and many of the nobles ofNormandy, while King Edward crossed to Calais and kept a portion of theFrench army occupied there. The Black Prince, leaving the principal partof his forces under the command of the Earl of Albret to guard theterritory already acquired against the attack of the French army underthe Count of Armagnac, marched with two thousand picked men-at-arms andsix thousand archers into Auvergne, and thence turning into Berry,marched to the gates of Bourges.

  The King of France was now thoroughly alarmed, and issued a general callto all his vassals to assemble on the Loire. The Prince of Wales,finding immense bodies of men closing in around him, fell back slowly,capturing and leveling to the ground the strong castle of Romorentin.

  The King of France was now hastening forward, accompanied by his foursons, one hundred and forty nobles with banners, twenty thousandmen-at-arms, and an immense force of infantry. Vast accessions of forcesjoined him each day, and on the 17th of September he occupied a positionbetween the Black Prince and Guienne. The first intimation that eitherthe Black Prince or the King of France had of their close proximity toeach other was an accidental meeting between a small foraging force ofthe English and three hundred French horse, under the command of theCounts of Auxerre and Joigny, the Marshal of Burgundy, and the Lord ofChatillon. The French hotly pursued the little English party, and onemerging from some low bushes found themselves in the midst of theEnglish camp, where all were taken prisoners. From them the Black Princelearned that the King of France was within a day's march.

  The prince dispatched the Captal de Buch with two hundred men-at-arms toreconnoiter the force and position of the enemy, and these coming uponthe rear of the French army just as they were about to enter Poitiers,dashed among them and took some prisoners. The King of France thus firstlearned that the enemy he was searching for was actually six miles inhis rear. The Captal de Buch and his companions returned to the BlackPrince, and confirmed the information obtained from the prisoners thatthe King of France, with an army at least eight times as strong as hisown, lay between him and Poitiers.

  The position appeared well-nigh desperate, but the prince and his mostexperienced knights at once reconnoitered the country to choose the bestground upon which to do battle. An excellent position was chosen. Itconsisted of rising ground commanding the country toward Poitiers, andnaturally defended by the hedges of a vineyard. It was only accessiblefrom Poitiers by a sunken road flanked by banks and fences, and but wideenough to admit of four horsemen riding abreast along it. The ground oneither side of this hollow way was rough and broken so as to impede themovements even of infantry, and to render the maneuvers of a large bodyof cavalry nearly impracticable. On the left of the position was alittle hamlet called Maupertuis. Here on the night of Saturday, the 17thof September, the prince encamped, and early next morning made hisdispositions for the battle. His whole force was dismounted and occupiedthe high ground; a strong body of archers lined the hedges on eitherside of the sunken road; the main body of archers were drawn up in theirusual formation on the hillside, their front covered by the hedge of thevineyard, while behind them the men-at-arms were drawn up.

  The King of France divided his army into three divisions, eachconsisting of sixteen thousand mounted men-at-arms besides infantry,commanded respectively by the Duke of Orleans, the king's brother, thedauphin, and the king himself. With the two royal princes were the mostexperienced of the French commanders. In the mean time De Ribaumont,with three other French knights, reconnoitered the English position, andon their return with their report strongly advised that as large bodiesof cavalry would be quite useless owing to the nature of the ground, thewhole force should dismount, except three hundred picked men destined tobreak the line of English archers and a small body of German horse toact as a reserve.

  Just as the King of France was about to give orders for the advance, theCardinal of Perigord arrived in his camp, anxious to stop, if possible,the effusion of blood. He hurried to the King of France.

  "You have here, sire," he said, "the flower of all the chivalry of yourrealm assembled against a mere handful of English, and it will be farmore honorable and profitable for you to have them in your power withoutbattle than to risk such a noble array in uncertain strife. I pray you,then, in the name of God, to let me ride on to the Prince of Wales, toshow him his peril, and to exhort him to peace."

  "Willingly, my lord," the king replied; "but above all things be quick."

  The cardinal at once hastened to the English camp; he found the BlackPrince in the midst of his knights ready for battle, but by no meansunwilling to listen to proposals for peace. His position was indeed mostperilous. In his face was an enormously superior army, and he was,moreover, threatened by famine; even during the two preceding days hisarmy had suffered from a great scarcity of forage, and its provisionswere almost wholly exhausted. The French force was sufficiently numerousto blockade him in his camp, and he knew that did they adopt that coursehe must surrender unconditionally, since were he forced to sally out andattack the French no valor could compensate for the immense disparity ofnumbers. He therefore replied at once to the cardinal's application thathe was ready to listen to any terms by which his honor and that of hiscompanions would be preserved.

  The cardinal returned to the King of France, and with much entreatysucceeded in obtaining a truce until sunrise on the following morning.The soldiers returned to their tents, and the cardinal rode backward andforward between the armies, beseeching the King of France to moderatehis demands, and the Black Prince to submit to the evil fortune wh
ichhad befallen him; but on the one side the king looked upon the victorycertain, and on the other the Black Prince thought that there was atleast a hope of success should the French attack him. All, therefore,that the cardinal could obtain from him was an offer to resign all hehad captured in his expedition, towns, castles, and prisoners, and totake an oath not to bear arms again against France for seven years. Thisproposal fell so far short of the demands of the French king thatpacification soon appeared hopeless.

  Early on the Monday morning the cardinal once more sought the presenceof the French king, but found John inflexible; while some of theleaders, who had viewed with the strongest disapproval his efforts tosnatch what they regarded as certain victory from their hands, gave hima peremptory warning not to show himself again in their lines.

  The prelate then bore the news of his failure to the Prince of Wales."Fair son," he said, "do the best you can, for you must needs fight, asI can find no means of peace or amnesty with the King of France."

  "Be it so, good father," the prince replied; "it is our full resolve tofight, and God will aid the right."

  The delay which had occurred had not been without advantages for theBritish army, although the shortness of provisions was greatly felt.Every effort had been made to strengthen the position. Deep trenches hadbeen dug and palisades erected around it, and the carts and baggagetrain had all been moved round so as to form a protection on the weakestside of the camp, where also a rampart had been constructed.

  Upon a careful examination of the ground it was found that the hill onthe right side of the camp was less difficult than had been supposed,and that the dismounted men-at-arms who lay at its foot under thecommand of the dauphin would find little difficulty in climbing it tothe assault. The prince therefore gave orders that three hundredmen-at-arms and three hundred mounted archers should make a circuit fromthe rear round the base of the hill, in order to pour in upon the flankof the dauphin's division as soon as they became disordered in theascent. The nature of the ground concealed this maneuver from theenemies' view, and the Captal de Buch, who was in command of the party,gained unperceived the cover of a wooded ravine within a few hundredyards of the left flank of the enemy. By the time that all thesedispositions were complete the huge French array was moving forward. TheBlack Prince, surrounded by his knights, viewed them approaching.

  "Fair lords," he said, "though we be so few against that mighty power ofenemies, let us not be dismayed, for strength and victory lie not inmultitudes, but in those to whom God give them. If he will the day beours, then the highest glory of this world will be given to us. If wedie, I have the noble lord, my father, and two fair brothers, and youhave each of you many a good friend who will avenge us well; thus, then,I pray you fight well this day, and if it please God and St. George Iwill also do the part of a good knight."

  The prince then chose Sir John Chandos and Sir James Audley to remain byhis side during the conflict in order to afford him counsel in case ofneed. Audley, however, pleaded a vow which he had made long before, tobe the first in battle should he ever be engaged under the command ofthe King of England or any of his children. The prince at once accededto his request to be allowed to fight in the van, and Audley,accompanied by four chosen squires, took his place in front of theEnglish line of battle. Not far from him, also in advance of the line,was Sir Eustace d'Ambrecicourt on horseback, also eager to distinguishhimself.

  As Sir James rode off the prince turned to Walter. "As Audley must needsfight as a knight-errant, Sir Walter Somers, do you take your place bymy side, for there is no more valiant knight in my army than you haveoften proved yourself to be."

  Three hundred chosen French men-at-arms, mounted on the strongesthorses, covered with steel armor, led the way under the command of theMarechals d'Audeham and De Clermont; while behind them were a large bodyof German cavalry under the Counts of Nassau, Saarbruck, and Nidau, tosupport them in their attack on the English archers. On the right wasthe Duke of Orleans with sixteen thousand men-at-arms; on the left thedauphin and his two brothers with an equal force; while King Johnhimself led on the rear-guard.

  When the three hundred _elite_ of the French army reached the narrow waybetween the hedges, knowing that these were lined with archers theycharged through at a gallop to fall upon the main body of bowmencovering the front of the English men-at-arms. The moment they werefairly in the hollow road the British archers rose on either side totheir feet and poured such a flight of arrows among them that in aninstant all was confusion and disarray. Through every joint and creviceof the armor of knights and horses the arrows found their way, and thelane was almost choked with the bodies of men and horses. A considerablenumber, nevertheless, made their way through and approached the firstline of archers beyond.

  Here they were met by Sir James Audley, who, with his four squires,plunged into their ranks and overthrew the Marechal d'Audeham, and thenfought his way onward. Regardless of the rest of the battle he pressedever forward, until at the end of the day, wounded in a hundred placesand fainting from loss of blood, he fell from his horse almost at thegates of Poitiers, and was borne from the field by the four faithfulsquires who had fought beside him throughout the day.

  Less fortunate was Sir Eustace d'Ambrecicourt, who spurred headlong uponthe German cavalry. A German knight rode out to meet him, and in theshock both were dishorsed, but before Sir Eustace could recover his seathe was borne down to the ground by four others of the enemy, and wasbound and carried captive to the rear.

  In the mean time the English archers kept up their incessant hail ofarrows upon the band under the French marshals. The English men-at-armspassed through the gaps purposely left in the line of archers and droveback the front rank of the enemy upon those following, chasing themheadlong down the hollow road again. The few survivors of the Frenchforce, galloping back, carried confusion into the advancing division ofthe dauphin. Before order was restored the Captal de Buch with his sixhundred men issued forth from his place of concealment and chargedimpetuously down on the left flank of the dauphin.

  The French, shaken in front by the retreat of their advance-guard, werethrown into extreme confusion by this sudden and unexpected charge. Thehorse archers with the captal poured their arrows into the mass, whilethe shafts of the main body of the archers on the hill hailed upon themwithout ceasing.

  The rumor spread among those in the French rear, who were unable to seewhat was going forward, that the day was already lost, and many began tofly. Sir John Chandos marked the confusion which had set in, and heexclaimed to the prince:

  "Now, sir, ride forward, and the day is yours. Let us charge right overupon your adversary, the King of France, for there lies the labor andthe feat of the day. Well do I know that his great courage will neverlet him fly, but, God willing, he shall be well encountered."

  "Forward, then, John Chandos," replied the prince. "You shall not see metread one step back, but ever in advance. Bear on my banner. God and St.George be with us!"

  The horses of the English force were all held in readiness by theirattendants close in their rear. Every man sprang into his saddle, andwith leveled lances the army bore down the hill against the enemy, whilethe Captal de Buch forced his way through the struggling ranks of theFrench to join them.

  To these two parties were opposed the whole of the German cavalry, thedivision of the dauphin, now thinned by flight, and a strong force underthe Constable de Brienne, Duke of Athens. The first charge of theEnglish was directed against the Germans, the remains of the marshal'sforces, and that commanded by the constable. The two bodies of cavalrymet with a tremendous shock, raising their respective war-cries, "DenisMount Joye!" and "St. George Guyenne!" Lances were shivered, and horsesand men rolled over, but the German horse were borne down in everydirection by the charge of the English chivalry. The Counts of Nassauand Saarbruck were taken, and the rest driven down the hill in utterconfusion. The division of the Duke of Orleans, a little further downthe hill to the right, were seized with a sudden panic, and sixteen
thousand men-at-arms, together with their commander, fled withoutstriking a blow.

  Having routed the French and German cavalry in advance, the English nowfell upon the dauphin's division. This had been already confused by theattacks of the Captal de Buch, and when its leaders beheld the completerout of the marshals and the Germans, and saw the victorious forcegalloping down upon them, the responsibility attached to the charge ofthe three young princes overcame their firmness. The Lords of Landas,Vaudenay, and St. Venant, thinking the battle lost, hurried the princesfrom the field, surrounded by eight hundred lances, determined to placethem at a secure distance, and then to return and fight beside the king.

  The retreat of the princes at once disorganized the force, but thoughmany fled a number of the nobles remained scattered over the fieldfighting in separate bodies with their own retainers gathered undertheir banners. Gradually these fell back and took post on the left ofthe French king's division. The constable and the Duke of Bourbon witha large body of knights and men-at-arms also opposed a firm front to theadvance of the English.

  The king saw with indignation one of his divisions defeated and theother in coward flight, but his forces were still vastly superior tothose of the English, and ordering his men to dismount, he prepared toreceive their onset. The English now gathered their forces, which hadbeen scattered in combat, and again advanced to the fight. The archersas usual heralded this advance with showers of arrows, which shook theranks of the French and opened the way for the cavalry. These dashed in,and the ranks of the two armies became mixed, and each man fought handto hand. The French king fought on foot with immense valor and bravery,as did his nobles. The Dukes of Bourbon and Athens, the Lords of Landas,Argenton, Chambery, Joinville, and many others stood and died near theking.

  Gradually the English drove back their foes. The French forces becamecut up into groups or confined into narrow spaces. Knight after knightfell around the king. De Ribaumont fell near him. Jeffrey de Charny,who, as one of the most valiant knights in the army, had been chosen tobear the French standard, the oriflamme, never left his sovereign'sside, and as long as the sacred banner floated over his head John wouldnot believe the day was lost. At length, however, Jeffrey de Charny waskilled, and the oriflamme fell. John, surrounded on every side by foeswho pressed forward to make him prisoner, still kept clear the spaceimmediately around himself and his little son with his battle-ax; but atlast he saw that further resistance would only entail the death of both,and he then surrendered to Denis de Montbec, a knight of Artois.

  The battle was now virtually over. The French banners and pennons haddisappeared, and nothing was seen save the dead and dying, groups ofprisoners, and parties of fugitives flying over the country. Chandos nowadvised the prince to halt. His banner was pitched on the summit of alittle mound. The trumpets blew to recall the army from the pursuit, andthe prince, taking off his helmet, drank with the little body of knightswho accompanied him some wine brought from his former encampment.

  The two marshals of the English army, the Earls of Warwick and Suffolk,were among the first to return at the call of the trumpet. Hearing thatKing John had certainly not left the field of battle, though they knewnot whether he was dead or taken, the prince at once dispatched the Earlof Warwick and Lord Cobham to find and protect him if still alive. Theysoon came upon a mass of men-at-arms, seemingly engaged in an angryquarrel. On riding up they found that the object of strife was the Kingof France, who had been snatched from the hands of Montbec, and wasbeing claimed by a score of men as his prisoner. The Earl of Warwickand Lord Cobham instantly made their way through the mass, anddismounting, saluted the captive monarch with the deepest reverence, andkeeping back the multitude led him to the Prince of Wales. The latterbent his knee before the king, and calling for wine, presented the cupwith his own hands to the unfortunate monarch.

  The battle was over by noon, but it was evening before all the pursuingparties returned, and the result of the victory was then fully known.With less than eight thousand men the English had conquered far morethan sixty thousand. On the English side two thousand men-at-arms andfifteen hundred archers had fallen. Upon the French side eleven thousandmen-at-arms, besides an immense number of footmen, had been killed. Aking, a prince, an archbishop, thirteen counts, sixty-six barons, andmore than two thousand knights were prisoners in the hands of theEnglish, with a number of other soldiers, who raised the number ofcaptives to double that of their conquerors. All the baggage of theFrench army was taken, and as the barons of France had marched to thefield feeling certain of victory, and the rich armor of the prisonersbecame immediately the property of the captors, immense stores ofvaluable ornaments of all kinds, especially jeweled baldrics, enrichedthe meanest soldier among the conquerors.

  The helmet which the French king had worn, which bore a small coronet ofgold beneath the crest, was delivered to the Prince of Wales, who sentit off at once to his father as the best trophy of the battle he couldoffer him.

  Its receipt was the first intimation which Edward III. received of thegreat victory.

  As the prince had no means of providing for the immense number ofprisoners, the greater portion were set at liberty upon their taking anoath to present themselves at Bordeaux by the ensuing Christmas in ordereither to pay the ransom appointed or to again yield themselves asprisoners.

  Immediately the battle was over Edward sent for the gallant Sir JamesAudley, who was brought to him on his litter by his esquires, and theprince, after warmly congratulating him on the honor that he had thatday won as the bravest knight in the army, assigned him an annuity offive hundred marks a year.

  No sooner was Audley taken to his own tent than he called round himseveral of his nearest relations and friends, and then and there madeover to his four gallant attendants, without power of recall, the giftwhich the prince had bestowed upon him. The prince was not to beoutdone, however, in liberality, and on hearing that Audley had assignedhis present to the brave men who had so gallantly supported him in thefight, he presented Sir James with another annuity of six hundred marksa year.