‘Banners, advance!’ The Battle of Poitiers, 1356

By 1356, the conflict that historians would later call ‘the Hundred Years War’ was already nearly two decades old. On the battlefield, thanks to superior tactics and their powerful new weapon, the longbow, England had dominated, winning battle after battle. But strategically, little had changed since the outbreak of war. France still seemed as powerful as ever, and England was no closer to victory. The situation in Gascony, the English territory in south-western France that included the rich wine region around Bordeaux, was particularly dangerous. An energetic local French commander, the Count of Armagnac, had seized several towns and coerced local Gascon noblemen into abandoning thei