The Battle of Poitiers 1356 (13 page)

34 Tomb of Sir Michael and Lady de la Pole, Wingfield, Suffolk. Michael de la Pole,
c
.1330–89, fought with the Black Prince in the Reims campaign and during the rearguard action defending the principality of Aquitaine. He was present at the siege of Limoges in 1370. On 6 August 1385 he was created earl of Suffolk, a remarkable rise in fortune for the descendant of a wool merchant. However, as a favourite of Richard II he became a target for the Appellants in 1387 and fled to Paris. He was buried alongside his wife, Katherine, the daughter of John Wingfield, the Black Prince’s business manager.

35 Plantagenet/Valois Geneaology

36 The
Grand Chevaucheé
, 1355

37 The Black Prince's Military Campaigns

38 The raid of 1356

In 1364, on the return of King John to England, he was ordered with Sir Alan Buxhull and Sir Richard Pembridge to receive him at Dover and conduct him to Eltham and the Savoy palace. On 4 April 1369 Lord Burghersh made his will at Hendine and he died the next day. He was buried at Walsingham.

Sir John Chandos d. 1370
¹⁵

He came from a Derbyshire family and was the son of Thomas Chandos, sheriff of Herefordshire and a descendant of Robert Chandos who came over with the Conqueror. He was closely associated with the Black Prince from an early age and became his most eminent companion in arms. His early military experiences were probably on the continent and he may have been at the siege of Cambrai in 1337. However, he returned to England and fought in the Scottish campaigns and was knighted by Edward III at Boroughmuir in 1339. He probably was in the service of the king around this time and he later served as the king’s chamberlain although he was a part of the prince’s entourage at times from 1337–9. In 1340 he fought at Sluys and was alongside the prince in the first division at Crécy as a consequence of which he was among the founder knights of the Order of the Garter.

He was a leading figure in the 1355 campaign. During the hiatus before the 1356
chevauchée
, he was based at Brassac and involved in raiding the country around Agen. He was in command of the scouts in advance of the main army when it rode in 1356. He fought at Poitiers where he may have saved the Black Prince’s life. He was rewarded with a grant of 600 gold crowns, from the revenues of Marmande as well as an additional annuity of £40 per year.

During the Reims campaign, for which he returned to the service of Edward III and as such was described as a king’s knight in December 1359, he attacked Cernay-en-Domnois, Autry and Manre with Lancaster and Gaunt. He was a party to the negotiations at Longjumeau in April 1360, which led to the treaty of Brétigny. In this year also he was created a banneret, although he would not display his banner until 1367. He became warden of Barfleur on 22 August 1360 and the king’s lieutenant and captain-general in France for the transfer of lands after the treaty and later constable of Aquitaine. He became vicomte of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte on 30 July 1361 and, perhaps as a result of his newly acquired interests in Normandy, on 29 October 1361, he was granted a pension by Charles of Navarre.

He also had other interests in accordance with his knightly status and had something of a reputation as a huntsman as no less an authority than Gaston Fébus requested to see his dogs while negotiating the status of his estates with the Black Prince. One or two of Sir John’s minstrels were hired by Louis d’Anjou after his death.

He became involved in the Brittany question in 1364 and on 24 February was with the prince at Poitiers seeking an agreement over the issue. He was later, possibly as a result of this, called to Brittany by Jean de Montfort. He was commander of the victorious forces at Auray in 1364 where he captured the vicomte de Fou and du Guesclin who was ransomed for 100,000 crowns. Du Guesclin remained his prisoner for some time at least until the late autumn of 1365.

He tried to prevent English involvement in du Guesclin’s army which deposed Pedro but probably also argued against the wisdom of the prince’s participation in Iberian affairs. In spite of his objections he led the first party over the Pyrenees. At Nájera, he and Gaunt commanded the vanguard and again he captured du Guesclin. Chandos argued that after Auray du Guesclin had sworn never to take up arms against the prince again. Bertrand argued that he fought against Pedro not Edward. The story is highly reminiscent of that concerning Audrehem and may be confused with it.
¹⁶

He may have gone into retirement in Normandy after the return to Aquitaine or following a disagreement about the imposition of the fouage. However, he soon returned and was appointed captain of Montaubon and seneschal of Poitou (1369) to face the renewed French attacks. He was involved in a siege at Compeyne in June 1369 and fatally wounded in a skirmish at Lussac. He died at Chauvigny on 1 January 1370 and was buried at Mortemer. His estates fell to his sisters Elizabeth and Eleanor and his niece Isabella.

Geoffroi de Charny
¹⁷

Charny was a younger son of Jean de Charny and Margueritte de Joinville, a daughter of the famous friend and chronicler of (St) Louis XI. He was probably born in the first decade of the fourteenth century and first came to prominence in 1337 in his first major campaign in south west France fighting under Raoul, count of Eu. With the opening of the Hundred Years War and Edward III’s campaigns in Flanders and the north Charny was sent to Tournai and in 1340 he was involved in the defence of the town. Later he fought in Brittany and at the battle of Morlaix where he was captured by Richard Talbot and then purchased by the earl of Northampton who soon ransomed him. He was knighted by 1343 and in 1345 joined the futile crusade of Humbert II, dauphin of Viennois to Smyrna in Anatolia. He returned in the following year but did not fight at Crécy since he was involved in the siege of Aiguillon under the command of the duke of Normandy, the future King Jean II.

Charny was closely involved in a scheme to recapture Calais by bribing the captain of the citadel, Aimery de Pavia. However, he informed Edward III and with the Black Prince and others, the town was reinforced and Charny’s plan failed and he was captured once more. He was clearly considered very valuable to the new king of France, Jean who contributed 12,000 écus towards his ransom. It was at this time that Jean began the formation of the Company of the Star of which Charny was a leading member and for which he was commissioned to write a series of chivalric works.

He became Captain General of the Wars of Picardy and the Frontiers of Normandy and had already been awarded the ultimate honour of bearing the Oriflamme in 1347 as he would again in 1355. It was accorded only to the ‘most worthy and most adept warrior’. He was occupied in numerous diplomatic missions before his last campaign. He died fighting to the last alongside his king at the battle of Poitiers. He was buried first at Poitiers and later reinterred in 1370 in the church of the Celestines in Paris where he was laid to rest with another bearer of the Oriflamme, Marshal Audrehem.

Sir Alan Cheyne
¹⁸

Cheyne first came to attention on 6 October 1349 when he was granted the wardship and marriage of Elizabeth, the heiress of one Thomas Praers. His career was of a somewhat mixed character and involved charges of burglary on 25 October 1352 and also patronage from the Black Prince with whom he found service as a yeoman. He married Joan, the step-daughter of William Praers, presumably related to his ward. His military skill must have been considerable as he was one of the prince’s bodyguards at Poitiers and by this time he may have acquired greater status in the household with the title of knight bachelor. In recognition of his Gascon service he was granted a £40 life annuity in Easter 1357.

Following the Reims campaign his annuity was increased to 100 marks and the continuing favour of the prince is evident from gifts of items of game and his appointment as constable of Beeston castle on 24 April 1363. To this was added the office of constable of Rhuddlan on 13 December 1366 for which he was paid £40 a year. He still held the post in 1385 and Richard confirmed his father’s grants on 26 March 1377 and later once again as king. These may, at least initially, have been sinecure offices since he was probably a member of the prince’s household in Aquitaine. Whether he participated in the Spanish expedition is uncertain. He was certainly summoned to the muster at Northampton in 1369 with two esquires.

Jean de Clermont
¹⁹

The son of Raoul, lord of Thorigny and Jeanne de Chambly he saw service under the count of Eu in Flanders and Hainault in 1340 and then with the duke of Normandy in Avignon and Languedoc. He was rewarded on 3 November 1346 with the lordships of Boomont and Chantilly. As marshal of France (appointed in November 1352), he was sent with the duke of Bourbon to negotiate with the English and was later appointed the king’s lieutenant in Poitou, Saintonge, the Angoumois and lands between the Loire and the Dordogne. At Poitiers, his argument with Audrehem led to the disruption of the opening cavalry charge and also to his death.