In the late Middle Ages, the battles are rare and constitute the very exception. Poitiers is that marks the transition from knightly war and one conducted by professional paid troops. The largest contingent is still formed by feudal lifted, but the Black Death mowed part of the generation "mobilized". The knight, heavy rider, is in the spotlight, especially the French side. Chivalrous writings, like those of Geoffrey Charny, extol the prowess to accomplish and dishonor of the leak Truthful make a knight opponent, however, is quite acceptable. The orders of chivalry, as the order of the Star created by John II, are there to avoid accusations of cowardice which had FUSED after Crecy. Other writings however are already more "realistic" and advocate leak if necessary. But the knight's supremacy is already challenged by the infantryman, whose role is affirmed on the battlefield. The English have the benefit of having formed a body equipped archers longbow and the famous moving horse; the French have no equivalent in throwing weapons. The battles of the fourteenth century are much more deadly: the defeated army is properly destroyed. The tactics are similar, despite some occasional innovations. The Englishman looked for the decisive battle (Crecy) but now prefers rides; the French at Poitiers continues in the first option before Charles V chooses a prudent defensive. Since the Battle of Sluys, the Englishman has control of the Channel, which facilitates his passage from England. The clergy support each camp and there are high-ranking clerics in both armies.
The origin of the conflict lies in particular in the ownership of Aquitaine, who returns to the English, but is challenged by the French, even if the Gascon, in the end, instead find themselves in the first camp. On the question of the sovereignty of the King of France, that shatters the conflict in 1337, is grafted the problem of Flanders. Edward III took the opportunity to claim the throne of France, argument from pure propaganda but will solidify over time. England is now a more coherent and homogeneous kingdom the kingdom of France, despite the disproportion of forces. The Scottish alliance has not enabled France to reverse the situation: the English, while containing the Scots, led to their army. We find however many Scottish contingents French side. The war breaks out headlong while in 1341 the conflict for the succession of Brittany. The year 1346 was disastrous: in addition to Crecy, the Scots are defeated by the English. Then came the plague, the English rides and death of Philip VI in 1350. He is succeeded John II, probably less than has incapable says, courageous but limited intelligence and influenced by his advisors. The problems continue in 1350-1351, and Jean II is facing a new opponent: Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, which first imposed concessions, after the assassination of the king's friend, Charles of Spain, in January 1354. In 1355, Jean II no longer has the financial means to conduct the war, when Edward III agrees with Charles the Bad for a double attack in Normandy and Aquitaine. But the King of Navarre is failing: the king of England then lets his son, the famous Black Prince, accompanied by his mentor John Chandos, lead a devastating ride in Aquitaine, a kind of repetition of that coming in 1356.
The Dauphin Charles, seduced by Charles the Bad and his advisor Robert Rooster begins to plot against his father. Jean II manages to return his son but the King of Navarre control the Duchy of Normandy, which is normally the preserve of the dolphin. On April 5, 1356, Jean II achieves a coup in Rouen, thrown the King of Navarre in prison and kill or imprison its main faithful. John II is facing the alliance of Navarra son, Philip, with the English, and the threat of the Black Prince rides in Aquitaine. The Lancastrian army landed in Normandy in June and Jean II, lack of money, has an army to oppose the English threat: so it cuts through Normandy, where the first battles are inconclusive.
The Prince of Wales was finally released Aquitaine in July 1356, but not for a ride: he must take with reverse the French Army, with 8 to 10 000 men, half of Gascons. In late August, it is on the Cher, having failed to seize the son of the King of France, Jean, Bourges. Back in Paris, Jean II wins Chartres September 1, where gathers a motley army of 15 to 30 000 men. The king dismisses pedestrians to stay mobile; the military command did not suitable however, divided between many leaders. The Black Prince then made a U-turn, takes Romorantin, bute to Tours, bypasses the obstacle, closely followed by the French army that tries to outflank it. On 17 September, the British army out of Chatellerault, while the French have gone before; a French party was defeated, taken by surprise. The next day, near Poitiers, the English seek a defensive site for a battle they feel imminent: it will be well defended a height naturally.
The numbers involved are probably lower than Crecy. 12,000 men against French side may 8000 English. The French are arranged in three successive battles, even if the knights fighting on foot to many: that of the dolphins and the king's son, the duke of Orleans and the king read himself with his son Philip, the younger. The three English battles, they are online: on the left, the earls of Warwick and Oxford; those on the right of Salisbury and Suffolk; in the center, in the background, the Black Prince. A reserve cavalry led by Thane of Buch is at the artery. Archers are on the flanks. The French scouts have properly assessed the size and power of the English defensive system: the French decided to scatter the archers with a small troop surge to open the way for armed men who fight on foot. English side, the Black Prince supported the retired but not the principal leaders, that grow in the battle. Cardinal Perigord tried one last negotiation in vain while the English rest and reinforce their lines. Chandos and Marshal de Clermont, who discover they have the same coat of arms, will inveigh through the lines. The English started the next day, 19 September, by a simulated retirement that drives French to attack. Two groups of horsemen commanded by the marshals Audrehem and Clermont attacked the two English wings in vain, they are overcome by the archers. The battle of the Dolphin rises to the attack. The battle lasted nearly two hours. After fierce hand-to-body, the French were finally driven back; the Dauphin and his brothers leave the battlefield, probably at the initiative of their escort who feared for their lives, but the incident giving rise to malicious rumors. The retreat of the Battle of the dolphin throws the disorder in that of Orleans in turn happens to rub the English. King John II nevertheless decides to give her battle: the English, short arrows, resume their horses to load on the slope, while the Thane of Buch makes a turning movement with 160 men to take with reverse the French. The noose is tightening around the King John II; Geoffroy de Charny, who carries the banner, is killed near him. Jean II finally went to a knight of Artois, Denis Morbecque, past the English. Everything is done en early afternoon. The bodies are mostly on the battlefield. The Black Prince receives a delirious reception at Bordeaux; the news of the victory is known in England in early October.
For France, the results are catastrophic: in 2500 killed probable (we do not know the exact English side losses) are added 2500 3 000 prisoners, not least. The ransoms, 300,000 books outside of King John and his son go bleeding the kingdom of France. Paradoxically, the king-knight Jean II grew out of defeat: his courage enhances his person, even if theorists criticize the commitment of the king directly on the battlefield, a lesson will not forget his son Charles. This is the nobility which is criticized; for columnists, defeat is primarily moral and social, not military. This caste signet failed. Historians have done justice to these value judgments: the English have chosen the field, their archers were devastating, the French have canceled their numerical advantage by choosing to fight in three successive battles, the English have a better bonding system and their army is simply more coherent, consistent, disciplined. Charles returned to Paris, facing the challenge of the bourgeois, soon led by the provost Etienne Marcel, who will impose a kingdom Reform Order 1357. No king, prisoner, the kingdom of France becomes ungovernable.
The very existence of the kingdom is now in play. The general states are reluctant to pay the enormous ransom of John II. Charles the Bad, released from prison by his followers, returned to Normandy and then to Paris, with British support, is essential to the Dauphin via Etienne Marcel and Robert Le Coq. In February 1358, he massacred before his eyes Marshals Clermont and Conflans. The dolphin then rallied the nobility, worried bourgeois ideas, and begins to lay siege around the capital. Then breaks out north of Paris a real peasant whose citizens are tempted to enjoy. Noble side, however, solidarity prevails: Charles the Bad, supporters of the dolphin, those Englishmen sometimes fight together to liquidate the peasant insurrection. Etienne Marcel, who wanted to open the doors of Paris in Navarre, was killed on 31 July. But the dolphin must shut himself up in Paris, for lack of money to loosen the vise. In March 1359, John II signed the Treaty of London, who in exchange for his release against a huge ransom of 4 million ECU, yields half the kingdom to the English. As the French refuse to accept, Edward III raised an army of 10,000 men landed in France in October and march on Reims. He arrived in the city in December, as the winter is particularly harsh and the French lock themselves in the fortified cities, Edward III can take place. The seat is lifted in January 1360 and the English king turns around Paris until Beauce. After some devastation and terrible hailstorm that struck his army, negotiations are opened in May in Brétigny. Jean II ransom was reduced to ECU 3 million, and territorial losses to a quarter of the kingdom. Edward renounced the crown of France. The Treaty of Brétigny sanctioned the victory of Plantagenet in the first phase of the conflict.
A succinct bibliography (three and a half pages) appears at the end of the book. Georges Minois manages to deliver in the format of the collection, rather restrictive, a synthesis of a finally treated little battle, in French, of the Hundred Years War. For cons, the description of the battle itself finally takes up little space (40 pages and some over 200) within the book. Historian spend a lot more time to trace the origins of the conflict and its development up to Poitiers (which also probably cuts his own book on the Hundred Years War) and less on the military, states and companies involved, which is relatively partly shipped, like that of the consequences, either. Another problem of G. Minois, bibliography: although here it is deliberately reduced, we feel it is quite dated, as I had already seen in his Charlemagne. Missing references in French and in English on the likely war in the late Middle Ages in France and England. The work is classic, maybe a little too much.
