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The Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356 CE was the second great battle of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 CE) after Crécy (1346 CE) and, once again, it was the English who won. Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376 CE), son of Edward III of England (r. 1327-1377 CE), masterminded victory largely thanks to the continued domination of the powerful longbow weapon, Edward’s excellent defensive positioning, and the outdated reliance of heavy cavalry by the French leadership. The French king, John the Good, aka John II of France (r. 1350-1364 CE), was captured along with many other knights and their ransoms provided the English treasury with a massive boost. A major consequence of the battle was that it allowed Edward III to keep 25% of France under the 1360 CE Treaty of Brétigny. The battle also cemented the reputation of the Black Prince as one of the greatest of all medieval knights.

King John, confident in his numerical supremacy, opted for an all-out attack on the Black Prince’s position.

In terms of infantry, the better-equipped men-at-arms wore plate armour or stiffened cloth or leather reinforced with metal strips. Ordinary infantry, usually kept in reserve until the cavalry had clashed, had little armour if any and wielded such weapons as pikes, lances, axes, and modified agricultural tools.

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