The Black Prince and the Capture of a King: Poitiers 1356 - Witzel, Morgen

\n\nBLACK PRINCE AND THE CAPTURE OF A KING: POITIERS 1356\n\nBLACK PRINCE AND THE CAPTURE OF A KING: POITIERS 1356\n\nThe Battle of Poitiers was a major English victory in the Hundred Years\u2019 War Edward, the Black Prince, led an army of English, Welsh, Breton and Gascon troops. The French were heavily defeated; an English counterattack captured King John of France, along with his youngest son, and much of the French nobility who were present.\n\nThe capture of a king in the course of a battle was a relatively rare event. This, the climactic event of the Black Prince\u2019s first campaign as commander, came at the end of nearly a year of campaigning across the southwest of France.\n\nThe battle of Poitiers in 1356 is less well known than more famous clashes such as Agincourt, however, Poitiers was no less dramatic, and equally important in terms of the course of the Hundred Years War. The capture of King Jean brought France to the brink of total defeat, and led to one of the;