An Anglo-Gascon force under Edward, the Black Prince, conducted a large-scale chevauchée (mounted raid) between 4 August and 2 October 1356 as a part of the Hundred Years' War. The war had broken out in 1337, but a truce and the ravages of the Black Death had restricted the extent of the fighting since 1347. By 1355 the French king, John II, was determined to resume full-scale war. That autumn, while Edward III of England threatened northern France, his son, Edward of Woodstock, later known as the Black Prince, carried out a devastating mounted raid, or chevauchée: an Anglo-Gascon army marched from the English possession of Gascony 675 miles (1,086 km) to Narbonne and back. The French refused battle, despite suffering enormous economic damage.
In 1356 the Black Prince intended to carry out a similar chevauchée, this time as part of a larger strategic operation intended to strike the French from several directions simultaneously. On 4 August 6,000 Anglo-Gascon soldiers headed north from Bergerac towards Bourges, devastating a wide swathe of French territory and sacking many French towns on the way. They hoped to join up with two English forces in the vicinity of the River Loire, but by early September the Anglo-Gascons were facing the much larger French royal army on their own. The Black Prince withdrew towards Gascony; he was prepared to give battle, but only if he could fight on the tactical defensive on ground of his own choosing. John was determined to fight, preferably by cutting the Anglo-Gascons off from their sources of supply and forcing them to attack him in his prepared position. In the end, the French succeeded in cutting off the Prince's army, but then decided to attack it in its prepared defensive position anyway, partly from fear it might slip away, but mostly as a question of honour. This led to the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September.
Between 14,000 and 16,000 French troops, including at least 10,000 men-at-arms, attacked on the morning of 19 September in four separate waves. The Anglo-Gascons defeated each in turn during a long-drawn-out battle. They partially surrounded the final French attack and captured the French King and one of his sons. In total 5,800 Frenchmen were killed and 2,000 to 3,000 men-at-arms captured. The surviving French dispersed while the Anglo-Gascons continued their withdrawal to Gascony. The following spring a two-year truce was agreed and the Black Prince escorted John to London. Negotiations to end the war and ransom John dragged out and Edward launched a further campaign in 1359. During this, both sides compromised and the Treaty of Brétigny was agreed, by which vast areas of France were ceded to England, to be personally ruled by the Black Prince, and John was ransomed for three million gold écu. At the time this seemed to end the war, but the French initiated a resumption of hostilities in 1369 and recaptured most of the territory lost. The war did not end until 1453, with a French victory.
Background
Since the Norman Conquest of 1066, English monarchs had held titles and lands within France, the possession of which made them vassals of the kings of France. Following a series of disagreements between Philip VI of France (r. 1328–1350) and Edward III of England (r. 1327–1377), on 24 May 1337 Philip's Great Council in Paris agreed that the lands held by Edward III in France should be taken back into Philip's hands on the grounds that Edward III was in breach of his obligations as a vassal. This marked the start of the Hundred Years' War, which was to last 116 years.
The only important French possession still held by the English in France was Gascony in the south west. But Gascony was disproportionately important: duty levied by the English Crown on wine from Gascony was more than all other English customs duties combined and by far the largest source of state income. Bordeaux, the capital of Gascony, had a population of more than 50,000, greater than London's, and Bordeaux was possibly richer. Although Gascony was the cause of the war, Edward III was able to spare few resources for its defence. In most campaigning seasons the Gascons had to rely on their own resources and were hard-pressed by the French. Typically the Gascons could field 3,000–6,000 men, the large majority infantry, although up to two-thirds of them would be tied down in garrisoning their fortifications. In 1345 and 1346 Henry, Earl of Lancaster, led a series of successful campaigns in Aquitaine and the combined English and Gascon forces, or Anglo-Gascons, were able to push the focus of the fighting away from the heart of Gascony.
The French port of Calais fell to the English in August 1347 after the Crécy campaign and shortly afterward the Truce of Calais was signed. This was partially the result of both countries being financially exhausted. The same year the Black Death reached northern France and southern England killing a high proportion of the population of Western Europe, and with an even higher death rate in England. This catastrophe, which lasted until 1350, temporarily halted the fighting. The treaty was extended repeatedly over the years; this did not stop ongoing naval clashes, nor small-scale fighting – which was especially fierce in south-west France – nor occasional fighting on a larger scale.
A treaty ending the war was negotiated at Guînes and signed on 6 April 1354. However, the French king, now John II (r. 1350–1364), decided not to ratify it and it did not take effect. It was clear that from the summer of 1355 both sides would be committed to full-scale war. In April 1355 Edward and his council, with the treasury in an unusually favourable financial position, decided to launch offensives that year in both northern France and Gascony. John attempted to strongly garrison his northern towns and fortifications against the expected descent by Edward III, at the same time as assembling a field army; he was unable to, largely because of lack of money.
Black Prince arrives
Edward's eldest son, Edward of Woodstock, later commonly known as the Black Prince, was given the Gascon command and began assembling men, shipping and supplies. He arrived in Bordeaux on 20 September 1355 accompanied by 2,200 English soldiers. The next day he was formally acknowledged as the king's lieutenant in Gascony, with plenipotentiary powers. Gascon nobles reinforced him to a strength of somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 and provided a bridging train and a substantial supply train.
Edward set out on 5 October on a chevauchée, which was a large-scale mounted raid. The Anglo-Gascon force marched from Bordeaux in English-held Gascony 300 miles (500 km) to Narbonne and back to Gascony, devastating a wide swathe of French territory and sacking many French towns on the way. John, Count of Armagnac, who commanded the local French forces, avoided battle, and there was little fighting. While no territory was captured, enormous economic damage was done to France; the modern historian Clifford Rogers concluded "the importance of the economic attrition of the chevauchée can hardly be exaggerated." The expedition returned to Gascony on 2 December having marched 675 miles (1,100 km).
The English component resumed the offensive after Christmas to great effect, and more than 50 French-held towns or fortifications were captured during the following four months, including strategically important towns close to the borders of Gascony, and others more than 80 miles (130 km) away. Local French commanders attempted no countermeasures. Several members of the local French nobility went over to the English; the Black Prince received homage from them on 24 April 1356.
Money and enthusiasm for the war were running out in France. The modern historian Jonathan Sumption describes the French national administration as "fall[ing] apart in jealous acrimony and recrimination". A contemporary chronicler recorded "the King of France was severely hated in his own realm". Arras rebelled and killed loyalists. The major nobles of Normandy refused to pay taxes. On 5 April 1356 John arrested the notoriously treacherous Charles II, king of Navarre, one of the largest landholders in France and another nine of his more outspoken critics; four were summarily executed. Several Norman nobles turned to Edward for assistance.
Seeing an opportunity, Edward diverted an expedition planned for Brittany under Lancaster to Normandy in late June. Lancaster set off with 2,300 men and pillaged and burnt his way eastward across Normandy from the Cotentin. King John moved to Rouen with a much stronger force, hoping to intercept Lancaster. After relieving and re-victualling two besieged fortifications the English stormed and sacked the important town of Verneuil. John pursued, but bungled several opportunities to bring the English to battle and they escaped. In only three weeks' time, the expedition had seized a large amount of loot, including many horses, damage had been done to the French economy and prestige, and new alliances had been cemented, and all this with few casualties. Furthermore, the French King had been distracted from the English preparations for a greater chevauchée from south-west France.
Prelude
The French announced an arrière-ban, a formal call to arms for all able-bodied males, on 14 May. The response was unenthusiastic and the call was repeated in late May and again in early June. The French were so short of cash they were unable to pay wages to those men who did muster. The French army had inherent weaknesses: it consisted of thousands of very small contingents; unaccustomed to cooperating with each other; unknown to their commanders; and of variable health, training and equipment. John's fifteen-year-old son John, Count of Poitiers, was given command of an army in Languedoc, to guard against the Black Prince repeating the previous year's exploits.
The Black Prince received reinforcements of men. Edward is known to have ordered 600 additional longbowmen to be raised in England specifically for Gascony. Horses, food and materiel also arrived during the spring. Ralph, Earl of Stafford, arrived in mid-June 1356 with further reinforcements and supplies, and bearing orders from Edward. The Black Prince called a grand assembly of the Gascon nobility and representatives of the towns, made a show of seeking their advice and when it appeared there was a consensus for war asked for funds with which to prosecute it. In the glow of his recent successes he was granted a tax of one-fifteenth of all of Gascony's movable goods. He thanked the assembly and made a stirring speech encouraging a large turnout for the forthcoming campaign.
The gathering point for the Anglo-Gascon army was Bergerac; the town had good river supply links to Bordeaux and from there the Prince could strike in several directions. The hope was that this would cause the French to divide their forces in an attempt to cover all avenues of attack. In fact there was already a broad plan: three English armies would rendezvous somewhere on the Loire. Edward would march south west from Calais, Lancaster would strike south from Brittany and the Black Prince would move north from Bergerac.
In Normandy John committed his army to re-establishing the siege of Breteuil on 12 July; Breteuil was the last fortification holding out against him in eastern Normandy. The royal army attracted great contemporary praise for its splendour and the high status of many of its participants. However, it made little progress, as Breteuil was well garrisoned and had been resupplied by Lancaster with food for a year. John attempted to mine under the walls, to no avail.
Chevauchée
Heading north
So many Gascons arrived at Bergerac that there was concern the province would not be adequately defended if the French were to counter-attack. So 2,000–3,000 men were detached to remain, under the Seneschal of Gascony, John de Cheverston. The force which set out contained some 6,000 fighting men: 3,000 English and Gascon men-at-arms; 2,000 archers, almost entirely English and Welsh longbowmen; and 1,000 other infantry, predominately Gascons. They were accompanied by approximately 4,000 non-combatants. All the fighting men were mounted, including those who would fight on foot, such as the archers. On 4 August 1356 they headed north. On the 6th they reached Périgueux, which they looted. On 14 August the Anglo-Gascon army crossed the River Vienne, halting on the 15th at Lesterps to rest and repair equipment, having marched 113 miles (182 km) from Bergerac.
The Anglo-Gascon army then separated into three divisions, known as battles, which moved north abreast of each other and began to systematically devastate the countryside. There would be approximately 40 miles (64 km) between the flanking units, enabling them to devastate a band of French territory more than 50 miles (80 km) wide yet be able to unite to face an enemy at approximately a day's notice. They advanced slowly, to facilitate their tasks of looting and destruction. The modern historian David Green has described the progress of the Black Prince's army as "deliberately destructive, extremely brutal ... methodical and sophisticated." Several strong castles were assaulted and captured. The populaces of most towns fled, or surrendered at the first sight of Anglo-Gascon troops. Overall, there was little French resistance, and no field army to prevent the Prince's forces from dispersing widely to maximise their destructive effect on the French countryside.
The main French army remained in Normandy. Despite it being clear Breteuil could be neither stormed nor starved, John felt unable to abandon its siege as this would undermine his prestige as a warrior-king. He declined to march against the Black Prince, declaring the garrison of Breteuil posed a more serious threat. At some point in August an unusually large belfry, or mobile siege tower, was pushed up to the walls of Breteuil and a large assault launched. The defenders set fire to the belfry and repulsed the attack. Sumption describes the French losses in this attack as "terrible" and the entire second siege as "a pointless endeavour". The historian Kenneth Fowler describes the siege as "magnificent but archaic". Eventually John had to give way to the pressure to do something to prevent the destruction being wrought in south-west France. Some time around 20 August he offered the garrison of Breteuil free passage to the Cotentin, a huge bribe, and permission to take their valuables and goods, which persuaded them to vacate the town. The French army promptly marched south, as all available forces were concentrated against the Black Prince.