The Battle of Poitiers 18 September 1356         

                               Jean II                                                                                                   Edward the Black Prince

Poitiers was a victory of English strategic defense over French military ineptitude and of the commoner armed with a      longbow over the French knight. It was a resounding defeat for the forces of chivalry. It was the second great victory for the English in the Hundred Year's War, the first being Crecy.

In 1356 Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III was leading a chevachee through the area north of Bordeaux. This was an extended raid following a scorched earth policy, aimed at depriving the French king of the ability of his population to support him. It was aimed at attacking the king through his people, rather than directly.

Jean le Bon, a generally ineffective king known more his commitment to chivalry than his ability to govern and lead, gathered a force of about 16 - 20,000 and caught up with Edward at Poitiers. Edward was not keen on a battle, being seriously outnumbered and having all the plunder of his raid, which he wanted to get back to Bordeaux. Never the less, Edward was forced to take a defensive position that allowed his forces their best chance. His primary advantage was the presence of soldiers armed with longbows. These were not particularly familiar to the French and had a much higher rate of fire than the French crossbow. Edward also had good military advice in the person of John Chandos, and capable leadership by the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick

The English had chosen a terrain that allowed them good cover in the face of a French advance, and forced the French to approach through a narrow gap in the hedges, creating a funnel into which they could concentrate their longbow fire power. The French aligned themselves in three divisions, lead by a smaller fourth party under the Marshall of France. The English were trying to withdraw when the attack commenced. They instead stood and fought.

The lead French element, accompanied by German mercenaries, took to the field and suffered heavy casualties. The first main French battle group, led by the Dauphin, attacked and seriously pressed the English before they (the French) withdrew. The second battle group, led by the Duke d'Orlean and the king's brother, withdrew from the field instead of attacking. This left the king, as head of the third battle group, to attack. As they pressed their attack, they faced an English attack from the rear led by Captal de Buch. This demoralized the French and their attack broke. Survivors fled the field but the king was captured. The rout encouraged the English to pursue the French to Poitiers itself, where a number who got too enthusiastic and too far in front of their own troops and were captured themselves. The image is of Jean le Bon during the battle (Journal de la Bourgogne (108)

Among those captured by the French was Signe's collateral ancestor Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley. "He was born about 1330 (aged eight at time of marraige). He was a commander in Gascony in 1355 and distinguished himself ..(at Poitiers).. where he was severely wounded and taken prisoner, ransomed for L1000. ...(He)... died at Berkeley castle at age 37 on 3 June 1368 from wounds received earlier at Poitiers." (Fares .22)

Most of the captured knights were held for ransom, and King Jean spent several years in London as the French tried to raise his ransom. France was shaken by the defeat and entered a period of internal chaos before Charles V, Jean's son, emerged as the effective ruler.

*Thomas de Beauchamp, 3rd Earl of Warick, is Signe's direct ancestor. From Burkes' Peerages (p.30), at Poitiers "he fought so long and so stoutly that his hand was galled with the exercise of his sword and pole-axe; he personally took William de Melleun, archbishop of Sens, prisoner, for whose ransom he obtained 8,000 marks."