King John was considered by many as a rash ruler, much in the same style as the feudal kings who came before which by then was becoming outdated, who alienated his nobles through arbitrary justice and elevated associates that were sometimes considered questionable. After a three-year break, the Hundred Years' War with England resumed in 1355, with Edward, The Black Prince, leading an English-Gascon army in a violent raid across southwestern France. After checking an English incursion into Normandy, John led an army of about 16,000 men to the south, crossing the Loire river in September 1356 with the goal of outflanking the Prince's 8,000 soldiers at Poitiers. Rejecting advice from one captain to surround and starve the Prince, a tactic Edward feared, John attacked the strong enemy position. In the subsequent Battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356), English archery all but annihilated the French cavalry, and John was captured. Charles led a battalion at Poitiers that withdrew early in the struggle; whether the order came from John (as he later claimed), or whether Charles himself ordered the withdrawal, is unclear.