The Great Battle Of Poitiers
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For your general knowledge, the battle of poitiers was fought at eight o'clock on the 19 of September 1356 . The battle was fought between the English and the French during the hundred years war, a struggle for the French crown that lasted for about 120 years.
Leading up to the battle
Having noticed that French resistance was getting stronger and that King Johns large army was following close behind, the Prince of Wales started to retreat down the southbank of the Loire towards the safety of the English owned city of Bordeaux. Meanwhile, king John was also heading south and was gaining masses of men as he marched. The two armies continued marching South until the Prince of Wales, Also known as the Black Prince, discovered that the huge French army under king John was s few miles ahead of his army in battle formation. The Black Prince had no choice but to prepare for battle.
The English Tactics and Strategy
The first day of the battle was the 18th of September which was a Sunday, so no fighting could take place because Sunday was a holy day. Throughout the whole day, the English improved there positioning and formed a bearer of hedgerows. Also on this day, there was much peace attempts but all of them were quickly rejected. The English army probably numbered around 6500 men, and like the battle of Crecy most of them were archers. The vanguard was commanded by the earls of Warwick and Salisbury, the Black Prince commanded the center, and the earls of Salisbury and Suffork commanded the rearguard. Even though the Black Prince is given much credit for defeating king John in this battle, he had at his side, and whom was personally advising him throughout the battle, ;ord Chandos and James Audley.
The French Tactics and Strategy
Some reports state that the French had up to 60,000 men, but a more reasonable number would be around 35,000. The French army was commanded by two marshals and contained a Scottish regiment that was lead by Sir William Douglas. The French army was divided up into three divisions, the first was lead by lord Duaphin, the second was lead by Orleans and the third by King john himself and a small force of 300 German knights. The men-at-arms and all the knights were dismounted except for the German calvary.
The Battle
The first engagement of the war took place at about eight o’clock in the morning of the 19th of September 1356 when the French, commanded by Lord Clermont and Lord Audrehem, had a ferocious charge with there 300, German, mounted knights. At first the knights were organized and bunched together but as soon as they were in range, they were mowed down by a storm of English arrows. Very quickly the German knights fell out of formations and were easily destroyed when they reached the English line. As a result to the first engagement, Lord Clermont was killed and Lord Audrehem was captured. Following the defeat of the German calvary, Lord Dauphin and his 2,000 mounted knights and men-at-arms charged the English position. By time the Dauphin reached the English line, many of his men were killed by the archers. The English proved to overpower the Dauphin and his men retreated from the field in great disorder. Once Orleans noticed the dauphins retreat his men also fled the battle field.

At this time, the English have fought off two out of the three French divisions and they were sure that they had one the battle. The Prince was even getting his knights mounted and ready to go pursuit the fleeing French, when the biggest French division, lead by King John, of 8,000 entered the field. While the Prince was pondering on what to do, his adviser, Lord Chandos, suggested that he mount all his knights and charge King Johns huge force. This was a very brilliant Idea because at this time King Johns force had not Archery nor Calvary coverage. The Prince quickly took Chandos’s advice and had one calvary unit attack King Johns flank and have the rest charge the center. King Johns force quickly fell to the mounted knights and his men fled the field just as Orleans and the Dauphins army did earlier in the battle.

Aftermath
1. The Prince sent a personal letter to his father, the king of England, stating that the French lost over 3,000 men and the English lost no more then 40.

2. The King of France was captured

3. Much of France went into disorder because of the absence of there king

4. England became very rich because of the high ransoms they set on there captives

I would highly recommend that you download the slide show if you have the Powerpoint software on your computer (you probably do)

Download the slide show

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