Aquitaine When Edward III decided to resume the war with France in 1355, he ordered Edward to lead an army into
Aquitaine while he acted with the King of Navarre in Normandy, and the Duke of Lancaster defended
John of Montfort in
Brittany. Edward was accompanied by some of the Gascon lords. On 10 July, the king appointed Edward his lieutenant in Gascony, and gave him powers to act in his stead and to receive homages. Edward left London for
Plymouth on 30 June, was stopped there by contrary winds, and set sail on 8 September with about 300 ships, along with four earls—Thomas Beauchamp; John de Vere;
William Ufford, Earl of Suffolk; and
William Montagu, Earl of Salisbury—and in command of 1,000 men-at-arms, 2,000 archers, and many Welsh foot soldiers. At
Bordeaux, the Gascon lords received him with much rejoicing. It was decided to make a short campaign before the winter, and on 10 October, he set out with 1,500 lances, 2,000 archers, and 3,000 light foot. Whatever plan the king may have formed during the summer, Edward's expedition was purely for sacking the area. After brutally attacking the counties of Juliac,
Armagnac,
Astarac, and part of
Comminges, he crossed the
Garonne at Sainte-Marie, north of
Toulouse—which was occupied by
John I, Count of Armagnac, and a large force. The count refused to allow the garrison to make a
sortie, and Edward went on into the
Lauragais. His troops stormed and burnt
Montgiscard, killing many residents, and captured and pillaged
Avignonet and
Castelnaudary. The only castle to resist the English was
Montgey. Its
châtelaine defended its walls by pouring beehives onto the attackers, who fled in panic.
Carcassonne was taken and sacked, but Edward did not take the citadel, which was fortified and favorably located. Ourmes (or Homps, near
Narbonne) and
Trèbes bought off his army. He sacked Narbonne, and then wanted to attack the citadel for loot, but decided against it after hearing it was well defended. While there a messenger came to him from the papal court, urging him to allow negotiations for peace. He replied that he could do nothing without knowing his father's will. From Narbonne, he marched back to Bordeaux. The Count of Armagnac tried to intercept him, but as a group of French soldiers had been defeated in a skirmish near Toulouse, the rest of the army retreated into the city, and Edward returned to Bordeaux with his spoils. The expedition lasted eight weeks. The next month, before 21 January 1356, the leaders under his command attacked five towns and seventeen castles.
Battle of Poitiers On 6 July 1356, Edward set out on another expedition, intending to pass through France to Normandy, and then aid his father's Norman allies, the party headed by the King of Navarre and French noble
Geoffroy d'Harcourt. In Normandy, he expected his father to meet him. He crossed the
Dordogne river at
Bergerac on 4 August and rode through
Auvergne,
Limousin, and
Berry, plundering and burning until he came to
Bourges, where he burnt the suburbs, but failed to take the city. He then turned west, and made an unsuccessful attack on
Issoudun on 25–27 August. Meanwhile, John II gathered a large force at
Chartres, from which he could defend the passages of the
Loire river, and sent troops to fortresses that seemed prone to an attack. From Issoudun, Edward returned to his former line of march and took
Vierzon. There, he learned that he could not cross the Loire or meet up with Lancaster, who was then in Brittany. He decided to return to Bordeaux by way of Poitiers, and after executing most of the garrison of the castle of Vierzon, he set out on 29 August towards
Romorantin. Some French knights who skirmished with the English advanced guard retreated into Romorantin, and Edward asked to go to them. He visited the fortress to inspect it, and sent English knight
John Chandos to summon the garrison to surrender. The place was defended by Boucicault and other leaders, and on their refusal to surrender, he assaulted it on 31 August. The siege lasted three days, and the prince, enraged at the death of a friend, declared that he would not leave the place without its capture. Finally, he set fire to the roofs of the fortress by using
Greek fire, reduced it on 3 September. On 5 September, Edward proceeded to march through Berry. On 9 September, John II, who had gathered a large force, crossed the Loire at Blois and pursued them. When the king was at
Loches on 12 September, he had as many as 20,000 men-at-arms, and with these and other forces he advanced to
Chauvigny. On 16 and 17 September his army crossed the
Vienne. Meanwhile, Edward was marching almost parallel to the French and at a few miles away. From 14 to 16 September he was at
Châtellerault, and on the 17th, as he was marching towards Poitiers, some French men-at-arms skirmished with his advance guard, pursued them up to the main body of his army, and were all killed or taken prisoner. The French king had outstripped him, and his retreat was cut off by an army at least 50,000 strong, while Edward had about 7,500 men. Lancaster had tried to come to his aid, but was stopped by the French at
Pont-de-Cé. When Edward learned that the French army was between him and Poitiers, he took up a position on high ground southeast of the city, in the
commune of Beauvoir, and stayed the night there. On 18 September, Cardinal
Hélie Talleyrand tried to make peace. Edward was willing to come to terms, and offered to cede all towns and castles he had conquered, to set free all prisoners, and not to serve against the King of France for seven years, besides, reportedly, offering a payment of 100,000 francs. King
John II of France, however, was persuaded to demand that Edward and a hundred of his knights surrender as prisoners. Edward did not agree. The cardinal's negotiations were protracted to help the French, as John needed time for further reinforcements to join his army. Considering the position of Edward, it seems likely that the French might have destroyed his army by surrounding it with a portion of their men, and thus either starving it, or forcing it to leave its station, and fight in the open, despite certain defeat. John made a mistake in allowing Edward respite during the negotiations, during which he employed his army in strengthening its position. The English front was covered by vines and hedges; on its left and rear was the ravine of the Miausson river and a good deal of broken ground, and its right was flanked by the wood and abbey of
Nouaillé. For a day, the army dug trenches and built fences to make a kind of entrenched camp, as at Crécy. Edward drew up his men in three divisions, the first being commanded by the Earls of Warwick and Suffolk, the second by himself, and the rear by
Salisbury and
Oxford. The French were drawn up in four divisions, one behind the other, and so lost much of the advantage of their superior numbers. In front of his first line, and on either side of the narrow lane that led to his position, Edward stationed his archers, who were protected by hedges, and detached a force of 300 men-at-arms and 300 mounted archers who were to fall on the flank of the second enemy division, commanded by the
Dauphin,
Charles, Duke of Normandy. On 19 September, the battle began. Three hundred selected men-at-arms attempted to ride through the narrow lane and force the English position but were shot down by the archers. A body of Germans and the first division of the army which followed were thrown into disorder; then the English force in ambush charged the second division on the flank, and as it began to waver the English men-at-arms mounted their horses, and charged down the hill. Edward kept Chandos by his side, and the latter helped Edward in the battle. All the French soldiers, except the advance guard, fought on foot, and the division of the Duke of Normandy, already weakened, was forced by the English charge to flee in disorder. The next division, under
Philip, Duke of Orléans, also fled, but the rear under John II did not break. The French forces were fully routed and left 11,000 dead on the field. Nearly 100 counts, barons, and
bannerets, as well as 2,000 men-at-arms were made prisoners, and the king and his youngest son Philip were among those who were taken. The English losses were not large. after the Battle of Poitiers'' (1788) by Benjamin West|300x300px When John II was brought to him, Edward received him with respect, and at supper, entertained him and the others who were made prisoners. The next day, Edward continued his retreat towards Bordeaux; his armies were unharmed on the way there. At Bordeaux, which they reached on 2 October, Edward was received kindly, and he and his men stayed there for the winter. They wasted a large part of the gold and silver they had gathered in their campaign on feasts and celebrations. On 23 March 1357, Edward concluded a two years' truce, for he wished to return home. The Gascon lords were unwilling to see John II be carried off to England, and Edward gave them 100,000 crowns to silence their dissent. He left the country under the government of four Gascon lords, and arrived in England on 4 May, landing at Plymouth. He entered London in triumph on 24 May, with John as his prisoner.
England, tournaments and debts After his return to England, Edward took part in the many festivals and tournaments of his father's court, and in May 1359, he, the king, and other challengers held the lists at a joust proclaimed at London by the mayor and sheriffs. To the citizens' delight, the king appeared as the mayor and the prince as the senior sheriff. Such festivities, and the lavish gifts he gave his friends, brought him into debt. On 27 August, when a new expedition into France was being prepared, the king granted that if he fell, his executors should have his whole estate for four years for the payment of his debts. besieging
Reims during the
Reims campaign|left
Reims campaign In October 1359, Edward sailed with his father to Calais and led a division of the army during the Reims campaign. Near the campaign's end, he took the principal part on the English side in negotiating the
Treaty of Brétigny, and the preliminary truce arranged at Chartres on 7 May 1360 was drawn up by proctors acting in his name and the name of Charles, Duke of Normandy, the regent of France. He probably did not return to England until his father landed at
Rye on 18 May. He and his father went to Calais on 9 October to assist with the liberation of King John and the treaty's ratification. He rode with John to Boulogne. He returned with King Edward to England at the beginning of November.
Marriage to Joan In spring 1361, Edward married his half-first cousin once removed
Joan, Countess of Kent, daughter of
Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent (younger son of Edward I, and
Margaret, daughter of
Philip III of France) and widow of
Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, with whom she had five children. The wedding was performed in secret, without the knowledge of Prince Edward's parents. The marriage is believed to be a love match, as Prince of Wales acted without his father's approval, and Joan was an older widow, which did not make her ideal candidate for a future queen and mother of next royal heir; additionally, Joan was an English noblewoman, which made her an unusual choice of bride for the future king, as there had not recently been a domestic queen in England. Because Edward and Joan were related in the third degree, and since Edward was the godfather of Joan's eldest son
Thomas a dispensation was needed to make their marriage valid. It was eventually obtained from
Pope Innocent VI. While the couple's wedding earlier that year was
declared null, Edward and his chosen bride were allowed to have a second ceremony, that was performed by
Simon Islip Archbishop of Canterbury at
Windsor on 10 October 1361.
Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony by Edward III , found in
Montpensier, France, in 1866, and now held in the
Louvre On 19 July 1362, Edward III granted Prince Edward all his dominions in Aquitaine and Gascony, to be held as a principality by liege homage on payment of an ounce of gold each year, together with the title of Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony. For the rest of the year he prepared for his departure to the principality, and after Christmas, he received the king and his court at Berkhamsted, left his parents, and the following February, sailed with Joan and all his household for Gascony, landing at
La Rochelle. At La Rochelle the prince was met by John Chandos, the king's lieutenant, and proceeded with him to Poitiers, where he received the homage of the lords of
Poitou and
Saintonge; he then rode to various cities, and finally to Bordeaux, where from 9 to 30 July, he received the homage of the lords of Gascony. He received them graciously, and resided often at Bordeaux and
Angoulême. The prince appointed Chandos constable of
Guyenne, and gave the knights of his household profitable offices. Their extravagance displeased the people. Many of the Gascon lords were dissatisfied at being handed over to the dominion of the English, at the favouritism Edward displayed towards his own countrymen, and at the extravagance they displayed.
Arnaud Amanieu, Lord of Albret, and others were ready to help the French cause, and
Gaston III, Count of Foix, though he visited the prince on his first arrival, was loyal to the French; in 1365, he refused to do homage for
Bearn. The duke of Normandy, having been crowned as the French king Charles V in April 1364, encouraged this dissatisfaction. In April 1363 Edward mediated between the Counts of Foix and Armagnac, who had for a long time been at war with each other. He also attempted in February 1364 to mediate between
Charles of Blois and John of Montfort, rivals for the
Duchy of Brittany. Both appeared before him at Poitiers, but his mediation was unsuccessful. In May 1363, Edward entertained King
Peter I of Cyprus at Angoulême, and held a tournament there. Meanwhile, he and his lords declined to join Peter's proposed
crusade. In the summer, the Lord of Albret was at Paris, and his forces, alongside other Gascon lords, defended the French Normandy against the party of Navarre. Meanwhile, war resumed in Brittany; the prince allowed Chandos to raise and lead a force to aid the party of Montfort. Chandos won the
Battle of Auray against the French on 29 September 1364. At this time the French countryside was continually being harried by roving bands of unemployed mercenaries, known as
free companies or
routiers, primarily composed of former English and Gascon soldiers. Edward was suspected of encouraging or allowing this. Because of their origins, these companies left Aquitaine untouched. On 14 November 1364, Edward III called upon him to end the pillagings. == Spanish campaign (1365–67) ==