Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/101

Edward being commanded by Warwick and Suffolk, the second by himself, and the rear by Salisbury and Oxford. The French were drawn up in four divisions, one behind the other, and so lost much of the advantage of their superior numbers. In front of his first line and on either side of the narrow lane that led to his position the prince stationed his archers, who were well protected by hedges, and posted a kind of ambush of three hundred men-at-arms and three hundred mounted archers, who were to fall on the flank of the second battle of the enemy, commanded by the Duke of Normandy. At daybreak on the 19th the prince addressed his little army, and the fight began. An attempt was made by three hundred picked men-at-arms to ride through the narrow lane and force the English position, but they were shot down by the archers. A body of Germans and the first division of the army which followed were thrown into disorder; then the English force in ambush charged the second division on the flank, and as it began to waver the English men-at-arms mounted their horses, which they had kept near them, and charged down the hill. The prince kept Chandos by his side, and his friend did him good service in the fray [see ]. As they prepared to charge he cried: 'John, get forward; you shall not see me turn my back this day, but I will be ever with the foremost,' and then he shouted to his banner-bearer, 'Banner, advance, in the name of God and St. George!' All the French except the advance guard fought on foot, and the division of the Duke of Normandy, already wavering, could not stand against the English charge and fled in disorder. The next division, under the Duke of Orleans, also fled, though not so shamefully, but the rear, under the king in person, fought with much gallantry. The prince, 'who had the courage of a lion, took great delight that day in the fight.' The combat lasted till a little after 3 ., and the French, who were utterly defeated, left eleven thousand dead on the field, of whom 2,426 were men of gentle birth. Nearly a hundred counts, barons, and bannerets and two thousand men-at-arms, besides many others, were made prisoners, and the king and his youngest son, Philip were among those who were taken. The English loss was not large. When the king was brought to him the prince received him with respect, helped him to take off his armour, and entertained him and the greater part of the princes and barons who had been made prisoners at supper. He served at the kings table and would not sit down with him, declaring that 'he was not worthy to sit at table with so great a king

or so valiant a man,' and speaking many comfortable words to him, for which the French praised him highly (, v. 64, 288). The next day the prince continued his retreat on Bordeaux; he marched warily, but no one ventured to attack him. At Bordeaux, which he reached on 2 Oct., he was received with much rejoicing, and he and his men tarried there through the winter and wasted in festivities the immense spoil they had gathered. On 23 March 1357 he concluded a two years' truce, for he wished to return home. The Gascon lords were unwilling that the king should be carried off to England, and he gave them a hundred thousand crowns to silence their murmurs. He left the country under the government of four Gascon lords and arrived in England on 4 May, after a voyage of eleven days, landing at Plymouth (, c. 2615; Eulogium, iii. 227;, i. 283; Fœdera, iii. 348, not at Sandwich as , v. 82). When he entered London in triumph on the 24th, the king, his prisoner, rode a fine white charger, while he was mounted on a little black hackney. Judged by modern ideas the prince's show of humility appears affected, and the Florentine chronicler remarks that the honour done to King John must have increased the misery of the captive and magnified the glory of King Edward; but this comment argues a refinement of feeling which neither Englishmen nor Frenchmen of that day had probably attained (, vii. c. 66).

After his return to England the prince took part in the many festivals and tournaments of his father's court, and in May 1359 he and the king and other challengers held the lists at a joust proclaimed at London by the mayor and sheriff's, and, to the great delight of the citizens, the king appeared as the mayor and the prince as the senior sheriff (, p. 564). Festivities of this sort and the lavish gifts he bestowed on his friends brought him into debt, and on 27 Aug., when a new expedition into France was being prepared, the king granted that if he fell his executors should have his whole estate for four years for the payment of his debts (Fœdera, iii, 445). In October he sailed with the king to Calais, and led a division of the army during the campaign that followed [see under ]. At its close he took the principal part on the English side in negotiating the treaty of Bretigny, and the preliminary truce arranged at Chartres on 7 May 1360 was drawn up by proctors acting in his name and the name of the regent of France (ib. iii. 486;, l. 1539). He probably did not return to England until after his father (, ii. 223 n.), who landed at Rye on 