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Poitiers 1356: The Capture Of A King (Campaign)

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With Poitiers 1356, Osprey's Campaign series has now covered all the "classic" battles of the Hundred Years War (the other titles are Crecy, Agincourt and Orleans). Osprey's medieval expert Dr. David Nicolle provides an excellent summary of the Black Prince's raid into France in 1356 and the resultant Battle of Poitiers. As usual, Nicolle's work is erudite, if a bit short on humanity and military insight.


Dr. Nicolle begins Poitiers 1356 with a very good introduction that outlines how the English had established themselves in southwest France in Gascony, and the impact of the Black Death on military operations. The author explains how the English launched deep penetration raids from their coastal enclaves; the raids were designed to disrupt the French economy and to undermine the legitimacy of the French monarchy. It was the raid in 1356 by the heir to the English throne, the Black Prince, that led to the Battle of Poitiers. In the section on opposing commanders, the author provides capsule biographies on the Black Prince and five other English leaders, and the French King John II and five other French leaders. The section on opposing armies is a bit overly brief, providing only the barest details on the composition of either army (while Nicolle notes that estimates vary widely on the size of the French army, it would have been nice if he had provided some information on what these varying opinions said). Whatever the size of the French army, it is clear that the armies of Poitiers were smaller than previous armies in the Hundred Years War, primarily due to the Black Death. While Nicolle notes that the Black Prince's army was a mix of English and local Gascon mercenaries, he gives no clue as to the relative balance (how much was Gascon?). The author also outlines in the section on opposing plans that while the Black Prince sought to avoid battle, the French king's primary intent was to cut off and destroy the enemy invaders in a large battle.


Dr. Nicolle spends about twenty pages describing the Black Prince's raid from Bordeaux deep into central France, the gathering of the French army and its pursuit. It is clear that the French demonstrated superior operational art in outmaneuvering the English and cutting off their retreat near Poitiers. Although poor reconnaissance undermined the French tactical operations, the English were brought to battle according to the French operational plan. The author then spends about thirty pages describing the tactical conduct of the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356. As Nicolle describes it, the Anglo-Gascons selected a good defensive position (with their backs to the woods blocking retreat?) behind a solid hedgerow and with flanks anchored on impassable marshes. The French had learned a few lessons from earlier defeats at the hands of English longbows so they elected to launch a massive frontal attack with three divisions in echelon of dismounted men-at-arms. The main attack was preceded by two unplanned cavalry charges on the flanks which were repulsed. In short, the first echelon was defeated and withdrew, the second echelon left the field without orders and the third echelon (with the French king) launched a final surge into the English line. Unlike Crecy, Poitiers had a considerable amount of close combat and the French came close to achieving at least a draw if not a victory. However, the Anglo-Gascon counterattack shattered the third echelon and captured the French king. Nicolle is a bit vague on losses: he notes that the French suffered about 3,000 dead and over 2,000 captured but does not mention Anglo-Gascon losses (other sources suggest about 2,000 killed and wounded or about 25% casualties, which indicates a fairly close battle). By any measure, Poitiers was a major military disaster for France.


Poitiers 1356 includes five 2-D maps (France from 1346-1355; Operations in France, January-August 1356; the French Assemble; the French Pursuit; France from Poitiers to the Treaty of Brétigny, 1360), three 3-D "Birds Eye View" maps (the French Mounted Charges; Attack of the French Main Body; the Anglo-Gascon counterattack) and three color battle scenes (the looting of Vierzon; English longbow men at Poitiers; the capture of King John II). Unfortunately, much of the tactical action is hidden in the crease of the full-page 3-D maps - a common problem with Osprey maps - and a zoomed-in 2-D map would have been better to display Anglo-Gascon dispositions behind the hedge. Like most Medieval battles, Poitiers was fought in a very small area and these 3-D maps are better designed for "larger" battles of the 18th or 19th Century (keeping in mind that no Medieval tactical weapons had ranges beyond a few hundred meters). The battle scenes by Graham Turner are excellent, but it would have been better to have an "action" scene of the French attack at Poitiers rather than the relatively bland scene of English looting. Dr. Nicolle also provides an excellent bibliography and good notes on the battlefield today.

Dr. David Nicolle is undoubtebly one of Osprey's most credible authors, an authority in his own right. In his newest installment, Poitiers 1356, he brings us a solid histroy lesson not unlike his many other titles.

In my opinon, I believe Poitiers was one of his better books (Ive read about seven of his books). He presents easy-to-understand, flowing material (albiet dry) about the background events leading to this battle. At the time of Poitiers, France was decimated by the Plauge, and Nicolle goes as far to say that almost half of France's population where wiped out because of it. The new King John II (the French king who's captured) had a herculean task of keeping his country together, as well as fighting off the English who didn't spare France a day of mercy, plauge or no plauge.

But this book's main asset is the style in which Nicolle shows eyewitness accounts. This book is loaded with them, greatly harmonizing the author's common dryness in the book with colourful first-hand images. Nicolle nevers says a single truly colourful line in the whole book, leaving it to Froissart and other eyewitnesses to do the job for him (which they do marvelously).
The most touching of these accounts is written by Froissart, being the King's surrendur to an English-employed French Knight: "..it fortunatley happened that this knight...said in good French, 'Sire, sire, surrendur yourself.' The King, who found himself very disagreeably situated, turneding to him asked, 'To whom shall I surrender myslef? Where is my cousin, the Prince of Wales? If I could see him I would like to speak to him.' 'Sire.' replied Sir Denis, 'he is not here, but surrendur yourself to me, and I will lead you to him.' 'Who are you?' said the King. 'Sire, I am sir Denis de Morbeke, a knight from Artois; but I serve the King of England because I cannot belong to France, having forfeited all I possesed there.' The King thus gave him his right hand glove, and said, 'I surrendur myself to you.'

The one major flaw in this book is the editing; on a few of the 2D maps there are some major errors concerning dates (such as the error that the French army marched 40 miles in less than a day on the map when it only did ten in the reading). It threw me off for some minutes until I got a bearing of the situation by reading that section over and over again.

The maps are great, the material interesting and flowing, and the accounts of the battle are excellent. Just keep an eye out for the map errors...highly recommended!

An excellent detailed study of the events leading up to the Black Prince's summer 1356 chevauchee, the first two months of the raid itself, the battle of Poitiers, and its aftermath.

Just how were the English and their European allies able to pull off another victory to rival the previous one at Crecy.This book gives a general mechanical explanation with the Black Prince choosing advantageous ground where there was a major forest behind him(called a hedge);hence John the 2nd's superior French numbers couldn't be used to effect an encirclement.Also Prince Edward's placing of his archers where they could get a clean shot at the virtually unprotected sides and rumps of the French cavalry.Little details which when added up brought on a big victory.I recommend this book along with Sumptions.550 page work on Poitier for a more complete understanding of the campaign.
The book by Jonathan Sumption gives a detailed explanation of the differences between the command structure of both armies.The English according to Sumption,were more experienced working as a team and were more adept at managing their allied forces. The French on the other hand,were more individualistic and their alliance was very shaky.From the Sumption book you get a clearer picture of the confusion brought on by the imcompetent French command structure.From my read of Poitier,it's main importance is France's realization that if they don't come together there won't be a France at all,just a bunch of local municipalities fighting over table scraps with a wealthy elite caring little about who rules "on paper",France or England.Little difference.
The book has excellent overhead 2d views and you can see how the English outsmart the French forces once again as they did at Crecy,and as they will do at Agincourt in 1415.But watch out cause one of those decades the French finally put aside their squabbling and get it right.As in all osprey pubs,great artwork and photography.get ready for some empty saddles.

Dr. Nicolle does an excellent job of revealing the personalities, reasons, weapons and tactics which explain this overwhelming victory for the English. He has personally walked over nearly every part of the battlefield, mapping it and troop movements with his own hand. The book is perhaps the best source of information on the battle of Poitiers, specifically, and on medieval warfare in general.

John II, King of France, left at the head of the sole remaining echelon of the French army after a morning of confusion, failure, and outright error, chose to charge a superior force in a strong defensive position, tactical suicide, because he felt that duty demanded it. This rash decision is of a piece with an earlier argument between French Marshals Audrehem (who urged immediate attack on Warwick) and Clermont (who advocated caution) at the very beginning of the battle. Audrehem questioned Clermont's courage and that settled the issue. The attack was a disaster and the collapse of that side set the day's catastrophic events in motion. 1356 was a different time - and the values of chivalry and the ethos of the valiant warrior no matter what the realities of the battlefield were in full effect.

There are many wonderful (and a few not so wonderful) Osprey titles, but this is one of my favorites. Poitiers has it all: a high medieval battle of armored knights of momentous historical importance and with enough historical sources to allow the tactics to be determined with a degree of confidence. Osprey titles focus on the weapons, armies, strategies and tactics, rather than the wider historical or cultural context. It is telling that some of them have "gaming the battle" sections at the end (although this one does not). It's military history for people who game historic battles. These are thin, profusely illustrated volumes, loaded with maps displaying the routes the armies traveled, contemporary art displaying the armor and weapons used in the battle, and a few excellent paintings displaying the action. Poitiers 1356 has three Graham Turner illustrations; a scene of looting, English longbow archers in action, and the moment of King John II's capture. I would have hoped for more - but these are atmospheric and excellent. David Nicolle is dry and unemotional - but his tone is perfectly appropriate here and his narrative sense and liberal use of quotes from original sources brings the action alive. Here is a taste:

"Geoffrey le Baker's description of the resulting massacre remains one of the most graphic in the history of medieval warfare. 'Then the standards wavered and the standard-bearers fell. Some were trampled, their innards torn open, others spat out their own teeth. Many were struck fast to the ground, impaled. Not a few lost whole arms as they stood there...'"

Fierce. This title has plenty of such original source material and it adds tremendously.

The battle at Poitiers happened because Edward the Black Prince (crown prince of King Edward III of England) mounted a successful raid deep into the heart of France. This was part of a sustained campaign of raiding by the English - undermining the Feudal bond of trust in the French aristocracy and inflicting significant economic damage. French king John II - was at pains to corner and destroy Edward's force. He conducted a masterful pursuit and brought his quarry to battle. The English, however, picked their defensive site very well (with the famous "hedge" screening the English from cavalry assault and favoring range weapons) and used their strengths (i.e. the longbow and their courageous and valiant Gascon allies) to full effect. Of particular merit is the Gascon leader, Jean III de Grailly, the Captal de Buch, who led the looting, took part in many minor actions leading to the battle, and then executed the critical flanking maneuver that crushed King John II's formation at the conclusion. The Captal was richly rewarded by the Black Prince afterward - and deservedly so.

In the end, the disaster of Poitiers set the French royal cause back a generation. However the French eventually won and the real effect of Poitiers was partly to teach the French a lesson they would eventually profit from and give Edward III false hope of holding the crown of France - leading to a greatly prolonged 100 years war.