EAN 9781843838746

In 1355 the Black Prince took an army to Bordeaux and embarked on two chevauchees (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 chevauchee 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.