English forces triumph at Poitiers

The French king is taken captive to London, where he develops a taste for English life

Thebattle of Poitiers has gone down in history as one of England’s greatest victories over France, and the day when the English heir to the throne captured the French king.

For weeks Edward III’s 26-year-old son – also Edward, and known as the Black Prince – had been conducting a scorched-earth terror campaign north of Aquitaine. By the time the Black Prince reached Tours, he had been cornered by a much larger army under the French king John II, and after peace talks broke down, battle was joined in earnest.

For the French, what happened that day in September was a disaster. Their crossbowmen could not possibly compete with the English longbowmen, whose arrows rained down in a storm of death. Not only were large numbers of French nobles slaughtered, but in the chaos, John himself was surrounded and taken prisoner. The remarkable thing, though, is what happened next.

That night, even as his men lay dying, John was taken to the Black Prince’s red silken tent, where he was treated with great honour.

Conveyed to England, John was kept in the Tower of London, where he was permitted to keep pets and horses, as well as an astrologer and even his own musical troupe.

Eventually, after his countrymen had paid a gigantic ransom of 3 million crowns, John was allowed to return home. But the French king had enjoyed his time in London so much that, eight years later, with France in virtual anarchy, he decided to pack in being a king, and retired to… England.