Battle of Poitiers The Battle of Poitiers was a major battle of the Hundred Years ' War between England and France . The battle occurred on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers , France . Preceded by the Battle of Crécy in 1346 , and followed by the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 , it was the second of the three great English victories of the war . Background . Edward , Prince of Wales ( later known as the Black Prince ) , the eldest son of King Edward III , began a great " chevauchée " on 8 August 1356 . He conducted many scorched earth raids northwards from the English base in Aquitaine , in an effort to bolster his troops in central France , as well as to raid and ravage the countryside . His forces met little resistance , burning numerous towns to the ground and living off the land , until they reached the Loire River at Tours . They were unable to take the castle or burn the town due to a heavy downpour . This delay allowed John II , King of France , to attempt to catch Edward ' s army . The King , who had been besieging Breteuil in Normandy arranged the bulk of his army at Chartres to the north of the besieged Tours , dismissing approximately 15 , 000 – 20 , 000 of his lower - quality infantry to increase the speed of his forces . Negotiations prior to the Battle of Poitiers . There were negotiations before the battle of Poitiers that are recorded in the writings of the life of Sir John Chandos . He records the final moments of a meeting of both sides in an effort to avoid the bloody conflict at Poitiers . The extraordinary narrative occurred just before that battle and reads as follows : Nobles and men - at - arms who fought with the Black Prince . Jean Froissart states these men as fighting as Poitiers : Earl of Warwick , the Earl of Suffolk ; Earl of Salisbury , Earl of Oxford , Raynold Cobham , Lord Spencer , Lord James Audley , Lord Peter his brother , Lord Berkeley , Lord Basset , Lord Warin , Lord Delaware , Lord Manne , Lord Willoughby , Lord Bartholomew de Burghersh , Lord of Felton , Lord Richard of Pembroke , Lord Stephen of Cosington ; Lord Bradetane and other Englishmen ; Lord of Pommiers from Gascon , Lord of Languiran , the captal of Buch , Lord John of Caumont , Lord de Lesparre , Lord of Rauzan , Lord of Condon , Lord of Montferrand , the Lord of Landiras , Lord Soudic of Latrau and other ( men - at - arms ) ; from Hainowes , Lord Eustace d ' Aubrecicourt ; Lord John of Ghistelles , and two other strangers , Lord Daniel Pasele and Lord Denis of Amposta , a fortress in Catalonia . Edward le Despencer , 1st Baron le Despencer also fought at Poitiers under The Black Prince . Sir Thomas Felton fought not only at Poitiers but also at the Battle of Crécy . One of the chief commanders at both Crécy and Poitiers was John de Vere , Earl of Oxford , mentioned above . Another account states that John of Ghistelles perished at the Battle of Crécy . Nobles and men - at - arms who fought with King Jean II at , or just prior to , the battle . Froissart describes , with less specificity in this passage , some of the nobles that were assembled at , or just prior to the Battle : The Englishmen were coasted by certain expert knights of France , who always made report to the king what the Englishmen did . The king came to the Haye in Touraine and his men had passed the river of Loire , some at the bridge of Orléans and some at Meung , at Saumur , at Blois , and at Tours and other places : they were in number a twenty thousand men of arms beside other . He estimates there were a twenty - six dukes and earls ( Counts ) and more than sixscore banners , and the four sons of the king , Duke Charles of Normandy , the Duke Louis , the Duke of Anjou , and John , Duke of Berry , and lord Philip . The French army also included a contingent of Scots commanded by Sir William Douglas . Douglas fought in the King ' s own Battle , but when the fight seemed over Douglas was dragged by his men from the melee . Froissart states that " . . . the Earl Douglas of Scotland , who fought a season valiantly , but when he saw the discomfiture he departed and saved himself ; for in no wise would he be taken by the Englishmen , he would rather there be slain " . Others who were either killed or captured at the actual Battle were as follows : King Jean II ; Prince Philip ( youngest son and progenitor of the House of Valois - Burgundy ) , Geoffroi de Charny , carrier of the Oriflamme , Peter I , Duke of Bourbon , Walter VI , Count of Brienne and Constable of France , Jean de Clermont , Marshal of France , Arnoul d ' Audrehem , the Count of Eu , the Count of Marche and Ponthieu Jacques de Bourbon taken prisoner at the Battle and died 1361 , the Count of Étampes , the Count of Tancarville , the Count of Dammartin , the Count of Joinville , Guillaume de Melun , Archbishop of Sens . The battle . At the beginning of the battle , the English removed their baggage train leading the French to think they were about to retreat which provoked a hasty charge by the French knights against the archers . According to Froissart , the English attacked the enemy , especially the horses , with a shower of arrows . Geoffrey the Baker writes that the French armour was invulnerable to the English arrows , that the arrowheads either skidded off the armour or shattered on impact . Given the following actions of the archers , it seems likely Baker was correct . The armour on the horses was weaker on the sides and back , so the archers moved to the sides of the cavalry and shot the horses in the flanks . This was a popular method of stopping a cavalry charge , as a falling horse often destroyed the cohesion of the enemy ' s line . The results were devastating . The Dauphin attacked Salisbury and pressed his advance in spite of heavy shot by the English archers and complications of running into the retreating vanguard of Clermont ' s force . Green suggests that the Dauphin had thousands of troops with him in this phase of the attack . He advanced to the English lines but ultimately fell back . The French were unable to penetrate the protective hedge the English were using . This phase of the attack lasted about two hours . This cavalry attack was followed by infantry attack . The Dauphin ' s infantry engaged in heavy fighting , but withdrew to regroup . The next wave of infantry under Orléans , seeing that the Dauphin ' s men were not attacking , turned back and panicked . This stranded the forces led by the King himself . This was a formidable fighting force , and the English archers were running very low on arrows ; the archers joined the infantry in the fight and some of both groups mounted horses to form an improvised cavalry . At about this time , King John sent two sons from the battlefield . His youngest son , Philip , stayed with him and fought at his side in the final phase of the battle . When the Dauphin and other sons withdrew , the duke of Orléans also withdrew . Combat was hard , but the Black Prince still had a mobile reserve hidden in the woods , commanded by Jean de Grailly , the Captal de Buch ; which was able to circle around and attack the French in the flank and rear . The French were fearful of encirclement and attempted to flee . King John was captured with his immediate entourage only after a memorable resistance . Amongst the notable captured or killed according to Froissart were : The capture of the French king . Froissart again gives us a vivid description of the capture of King Jean II and his youngest son in this passage : Aftermath of the battle . As Edward , the Black Prince , wrote shortly afterward in a letter to the people of London : See also Ransom of King John II of France . Aftermath in France . Jean de Venette , a Carmelite friar and medieval chronicler vividly describes the chaos in France which he states he himself witnessed , after the time of this Battle . He states : Jean is referring here not only to the French Nobles , but to the Companies who also plundered the peasants and Churches .