600 
ENGLAND. 
fet was deferred till tlie next morning, for which both 
tides waited in anxious fufpence. 
It was during this interval that the prince of Wales 
fhewed himfelf worthy of conqueft. Being now to fight 
for honour, liberty, and life, a gain (1 an army eight times 
the number of his own, he drew up his troops with that 
cotffummate judgment which neither age nor experience 
could have furpalfed. His ground was ehofen in a fmall 
inclining plain, furrounded with woods, vineyards, hedges, 
and hollow ways, and acceffible only by one narrow defile 
in his front. Behind the vineyard he placed fix hundred 
men in ambufii, with directions to make a circuit, and 
fall on the enemy’s rear as foon as' the battle began. 
He lined the hedges on both fides of the defile with his 
bed archers, and placed a ftrong body of the fame troops 
at the head of it, in the front of. his army. The reft of 
his forces were formed into three lines; the van com¬ 
manded by the earl of Warwick, the main body by the 
prince himfelf, and the rear by the earls of Salilbury and 
Suffolk. As foon as thefe difpofitions were-, made, the 
prince mounted his horfe, and, riding gently along the 
lines,'with a countenance in which modefty, goodnefs, 
and fortitude, were ftrongly depidted, he addrefted him¬ 
felf to every corps, exhorting them to fight valiantly for 
their king and country, ajfuring them, that victory did 
not depend on numbers, but on the will of Heaven ; 
that, for his own part, he was determined to conquer or 
die ; and that England never ftiould have his ranfom to 
pay. 
The French army, drawn up alfo in three lines, the 
firft commanded by the duke of Orleans, the king’s bro¬ 
ther; the fecond by the dauphin, with his two.brothers 
Louis and John ; the third by the king, attended by his 
voungeftj'on Philip, advanced to the charge. The battle 
was begun by three hundred ehofen men in complete ar¬ 
mour, and nobly mounted, who were ordered to pafs the 
defile, to d i Hi pate the body of archers at the head of it, 
and make way for the reft of the army. They obeyed 
thefe orders with great refolution ; but one half of them 
fell in tlie palfage, and tire other was cut in pieces at the 
outlet. A great body of men at arms, on foot, then en¬ 
tered the defile, commanded by the marfhals Clermont 
aNd Arid rechan ; but the former of thefe generals being 
killed, and tire latter taken prifoner, and many of their 
men flSjn by the archers who lined the hedges, and by 
the firft line of the Englifh army, the reft fell back with 
great terror and precipitation, and threw the whole firft 
line of the French army into confufion. Tire fecond line, 
commanded by tlie dauphin, then advanced to the charge; 
but at that inftant the Englilh archers and men at arms 
ilfuing from the ambufeade, made a moft furious attack 
upon their flank fo unexpectedly, that they were feized 
with a panic, and began to fly. The noblemen who had 
the charge of the dauphin and his two brothers, anxious 
for their fafety, carried them off the field ; upon which 
that whole line difbanded, and fled on all fides. The prince 
of Wales and the other Englifti generals obferving the con- 
fufion and flight of their numerous enemies, and determin¬ 
ing not to give them time to recover from their confterna- 
tion, mounted on horfeback with their followers, and ruffl¬ 
ing out into the plain, completed the diforder. They firft: 
encountered and killed the duke of Athenes, conftable of 
France, and diHi;fated his brigade; and then, falling up¬ 
on a great body of German horfe, they put them to flight, 
after killing the counts Sarbruck and Nydo, two of their 
leaders, and taking the count of Naflau, their other gene¬ 
ral, prifoner. The king of France himfelf made the ut- 
moft efforts to retrieve by his perfonal valour what his 
rafhnefs had forfeited ; but his fingle courage was unable 
to ftop that confternation which became general through 
liis army ; and his cavalry foon flying, he found himfelf 
totally expofed to the enemy’s fury. He law His nobles 
falling round him, valiantly fighting in his defence, and 
his youngeft fon wounded by his fide. At length, fpent 
with fatigue; and defpairing of luccefs, he thought of 
yielding himfelf a prifoner ; and frequently cried out 
that he was ready to deliver himfelf to his coufin the 
prince of Wales. The honour of taking him, however, 
was referved for a much more ignoble hand ; he was 
feized by Dennis 'de Morbec, a knight of Artois, who 
had been obliged to fly his country for murder. 
The fuccels oT this memorable day was chiefly owing 
to the valour.and conduit of the Black Prince ; but his 
moderation in vidtory was a- nobler triumph than had 
ever graced any former conqueror. He came forth to 
meet the royal captive with an air of complacent modef¬ 
ty ; he adminifteted every confolation to him under his 
misfortunes, and foftened the anguifh of His feelings, by 
reminding him that he had done every thing in tlie power 
of magnanimity and heroifm, to enfure a vittory : and at 
table the prince actually refufed to fit down, but (food 
behind the king’s chair, declaring that it beft became him 
to have the honour of waiting upon fo illuftrious a mo¬ 
narch. In April following, A. D. 1357, tlie prince con¬ 
ducted his royal prifoner through London, attended by 
an infinite concourfe of people of all ranks and ftations. 
His modefty upon this occafion was not lefs than before ; 
the king of France was clad in royal apparel, and mount¬ 
ed on a white fteed, diftinguiflied by its fize and beauty ; 
while the prince himfelf rode by his lide upon a meaner- 
horfe, and in plain attire. 
Two kings, prifoners in tlie fame court, and at tlie fame 
time, were conlidered as glorious achievements, unparal¬ 
leled in tlie European world ; but all that England gain¬ 
ed by them was glory. Whatever was won in France, 
with all the dangers of war, and tlie expence of prepara¬ 
tion, was fuccefiively, and in a manner ftlently, loft, with¬ 
out the mortification of a defeat. It may be eafily fup- 
poled', that the treaties which were made with the captive 
kings were highly advantageous to the conquerors ; but 
thefe treaties were no longer obferved than while the 
Englifti had it in their power to enforce obedience on the 
fpot. It is true that John held to his engagements as far 
as he was able ; but, by being a prifoner, He loft his au¬ 
thority, and his misfortunes had rendered him contemp¬ 
tible at home. The dauphin, and the ftates of France, 
rejefted the treaties he had been induced to fign ; and 
prepared, in good earneft, to repel the meditated inva'- 
fionis of the conqueror; who, in 1338, palled over to the 
continent with a numerous army, to enforce tlie treaty 
figned by tlie captive king. But all the conliderable 
towns were put in a pofture of defence ; and every thing 
valuable was fecured in fortified places. It was in vain, 
therefore, that Edward tried to allure the dauphin to ha¬ 
zard a battle, by fending him a defiance ; it was impofli- 
b!e to make that cautious prince change ,the plan of his 
operations ; it was in vain that Edward alleged the obli¬ 
gation of the treaties which had been figned at London; 
and to no purpofe that he plundered the country round 
to provoke an engagement. Thus tired out, he at length 
thought fit to liften to equitable terms of peace, which 
was concluded upon condition that king John (liould be 
reftored to liberty, on paying a ranfom of about a million 
and a half of our money. It was ftipulated that Edward 
lhould for ever renounce all claim to the kingdom of 
France; and ftiould only remain pofteffed of the territo- 
tories of PoiCtou, Saintonge, l’Agenois, Perigord, the Li- 
moulin, Quercy, Rouergu:, 1 ’ Angoumois, and other dif- 
trifts in that quarter ; together with Calais, Guifnes, 
Montreuil, and the county of Ponlhieu, on the other fide 
of France: tome other ftipulations were made in favour 
of the allies of England, and forty hoftages were fe.nt to 
the court of London, as a fecurity for the execution of 
thefe conditions. 
Upon John’s return to France, he found himfelf very 
ill able to conqply with thole terms of peace that had 
been juft concluded. He was without finances, at the 
head of an exhaufted ftate ; his foldiers without difei- 
pline, and his.people without fubordination. Such was 
the ftate of that wretched kingdom, upon’the return of 
