In the Steps of the Black Prince (Warfare in History #32) - The Road to Poitiers, 1355-1356

Peter Hoskins

BOYE6

2013

280 páginas

9h 20m

ISBN-10: 1843838745

In 1355 the Black Prince took an army to Bordeaux and embarked on two chevauchées (mounted military expeditions, generally characterised by the devastation of the surrounding towns and countryside), which culminated in his decisive victory over King Jean II of France at Poitiers the following year. Using the recorded itineraries as his starting point, the author of this book walked more than 1,300 miles across France, retracing the routes of the armies in search of a greater understanding of the Black Prince's expedition. He followed the 1355 chevauchée from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean and back, and that for 1356 from Aquitaine to the Loire, to the battlefield at Poitiers, and back again to Bordeaux. Drawing on his findings on the ground, a wide range of documentary sources, and the work of local historians, many of whom the author met on his travels, the book provides a unique perspective on the Black Prince's chevauchées of 1355 and 1356 and the battle of Poitiers, one of the greatest English triumphs of the Hundred Years War, demonstrating in particular the impact of the landscape on the campaigns.