The Battle of Poitiers 1356 (10 page)

Sir Baldwin Bereford

Bereford was one of a small number of men retained by the prince for life. This grant was made on 1 October 1367, probably after Baldwin had returned with the prince from Spain. He had regularly served with the Black Prince, as part of the 1355–6 expedition and he also fought on the Reims campaign. He was among the prince’s household when he left to take up the principality of Aquitaine in 1363 and, in 1369, he was included on the Northampton muster role which noted that he would be accompanied by six men-at-arms and six archers. After the prince’s death, Bereford went on to serve Richard II. In his will, dated 4 December 1405, he requested to be buried in Chacumb priory and left bequests to a number of churches and religious institutions.

Sir Baldwin Botetourt

Botetourt was master of the prince’s great horses and he was stationed at Calais by 1351. He was one of the prince’s chief advisors and a member of his bodyguard at Poitiers. For his services he was rewarded with Newport manor, Essex at a rose rent as well as grants of £100 and £40 a year. In 1358 he was appointed to have the keeping of the park and warren of Buckden and Spaldwick, Hunts, and also the chase of Rising. His friendship with the prince is further marked by the gift of two pipes of wine on 1 June 1358. During the Reims campaign he attacked Cormicy with Burghersh.
¹²

Gautier IV de Brienne
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His father had acquired the title of duke of Athens on the death of his cousin Guy de la Roche but this was lost on his death on 15 March 1311. Gautier was a refugee at the court of Naples from a very young age. He married the niece of King Robert, Marguerite d’Anjou-Tarente. He was involved in campaigns to try and regain his inheritance from 1331 but these were unsuccessful. By 1338 he had become lieutenant of King Philippe of France in Thiérache and was thus involved in the first major campaign of the Hundred Years War. He remained closely involved with Italian politics and in 1341 he was offered authority over Florence and Pisa as dictator although this did not last long and he retired to Boulogne. His second wife, Jeanne de Brienne d’Eu was descended from an eminent family including kings of Jerusalem and emperors of Constantinople among her predecessors. He again returned to try and establish his influence in Italy but was once more unsuccessful and by 1355 was again in France where Jean II was to appoint him constable of the army on 6 May 1356. This was the office he held at Poitiers, where he died.

Sir Bartholomew Burghersh, the younger
¹⁴

He was born into a tradition of royal service in or around 1323, the second son and heir, after the death of his elder brother Henry, of Bartholomew Lord Burghersh and Elizabeth Verdon. His uncle Henry was bishop of Lincoln and chancellor of England. Of his early childhood little is recorded but, aged about 12, he married Cicely the daughter and heir of Richard Weyland on 10 May 1335. They were to have one daughter, Elizabeth, who married Edward Lord Despenser. His military career began four years later when Bartholomew accompanied his father to Flanders. He continued to serve under arms in the expedition to Brittany in 1342. In 1346 he shared in the victory at Crécy where he attended the young Prince of Wales and later saw action at the siege of Calais. By this time he had also received the rank of banneret.

His service was recognised in 1348 when he was named among the founder members of the Order of the Garter. A return to military service was not long delayed and during 1349 he was involved in action in Gascony and in 1350 he fought at Winchelsea. His military links with the prince were followed by administrative appointments: in 1351 he became steward and constable of Wallingford and St Vallery and on 26 October 1353 he was appointed justice of Chester.

On 24 June 1354, Burghersh with his cousin, Sir Walter Paveley obtained letters of attorney after signalling their intention to go to the Holy Land although it is most unlikely that this undertaking was fulfilled. John Gildesburgh was his squire and it was through this association that John entered the Black Prince’s service.

Burghersh was a major figure in the 1355–6 campaigns during which he captured the count of Ventadour and sold him to the king for 10,000 marks. However, in the next major expedition of 1359–60, Bartholomew was among Edward III’s staff, and in the course of the expedition he captured Henry Vaulx. In December, during the siege, he was involved in raiding around Cormicy, east of Reims. After the failure of that siege and the subsequent one at Paris he was party to the compromise of the treaty of Brétigny to which, on 24 October 1360, he swore observance at Calais.

1 Tomb of the Black Prince, Canterbury cathedral.

3 Misericord – showing heraldic devices of the Black Prince and the duke of Brittany, King’s Lynn, Norfolk. The Hundred Years War brought many conflicts and struggles within its orbit, the contest for the duchy of Brittany being one of these. The Black Prince and several of his retinue including John Chandos were closely involved in support of Jean de Montfort against the Valois-sponsored candidate, Charles de Blois. The arms of the prince and Montfort are here seen together on a misericord in the church of St Margaret, King’s Lynn. After the prince’s death, Montfort was granted his property in Lynn and the nearby estate of Castle Rising.

2 Tomb of Sir William Kerdeston, Reepham, Norfolk. Kerdeston was one of the Black Prince’s Norfolk retainers. He fought as a banneret in the vanguard at Crécy and brought reinforcements to the siege of Calais in 1347. He was also MP for Norfolk between 1337 and 1344 and again in 1360. He died on 14 August 1361. His tomb shows the knight lying in a slightly contorted manner on rocks and boulders. This may reflect some changes in funerary monuments after the Black Death, revealing the painful nature of life, but it is possible that this is a more romantic image showing the chivalric adventurer lost in a mythical forest.

4 Sunday – Initial Dispositions.

5 The Attack of the Marshals.

6 The Dauphin’s Attack.

7 The Final Clash.