Poitiers: the Black Prince captures John II of France
September 1356
Edward of Woodstock, with maybe seven thousand men, lured the French royal army onto a constricted vineyard slope south of Poitiers. Longbows did the rest. King John was taken alive along with his youngest son Philip. The ransom would crush French royal finance and trigger years of peasant revolt and political collapse.
In context
Also in 1356 (3 other events on record)
- Golden Bull regulates imperial elections · Europe · Politics
- Hanseatic Diet at Lübeck formalizes cooperation · Europe · Politics
- Earthquake destroys Basel · Europe · Disaster
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in War
Era
Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources