Poitiers 1356: The Black Prince's Hidden Flank Attack Captures King John

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In 1355 Edward the Black Prince arrived in Bordeaux as his father's lieutenant, defending Gascony and its lucrative wine trade. With a force that grew from about 2,200 to 6,000 men, he rode a 675 mile chevauchée to Narbonne and back, burning crops, mills and towns to prove King John II could not protect his taxpayers. In 1356 he raided again across a 50 mile front and took 50 towns. John, facing rebellion from nobles such as Charles the Bad, dismissed his slower infantry, crossed the Vienne at Chauvigny and cut off the English route back to Bordeaux, trapping Edward near Poitiers without food or water for his horses.

Through the papal envoy Cardinal Talleyrand, Edward offered to return his prisoners and plunder and accept a seven year truce, using written permission from Edward III. John refused. On September 19, 1356, about 6,000 dismounted Anglo-Gascons faced 14,000 to 16,000 French in four waves. Archers shot horses in the flanks as French cavalry bogged in a marsh, and the Dauphin Charles fought for two hours on foot. When the king himself advanced, Edward ordered a charge and sent the Captal de Buch with 160 mounted men around a hill into the French rear. The French line collapsed and John II was captured with his son Philip.

• Edward's men dug disguised pits and used thick hedges to funnel and slow the French charges.
• The Duke of Orléans led about 3,200 fresh men off the field without fighting, spreading confusion through the French army.
• John II unfurled the Oriflamme, the red banner that signaled no quarter and no ransom.
• Out of arrows, English longbowmen threw down their bows and took up daggers and hand axes.
• The 1360 Treaty of Brétigny set John's ransom at three million gold écus, roughly equal to England's annual economy.