When the battalions of the King of France were drawn up, and each lord posted under his proper banner, and informed how they were to act, it was ordered, that all those who were armed with lances should shorten them to the length of five feet, that they might be the more manageable, and that every one should take off his spurs. As the French were on the point of marching to their enemies, the Cardinal de Perigord, who had left Poitiers that morning early, came full gallop up to the king, making a low reverence, and entreated him, with uplifted hands, for the love of God, to halt a moment, that he might speak to him. He thus began: “Most dear sire, you have here with you all the flower of knighthood of your kingdom, against a handful of people, such as the English are, when compared to your army: you may have them upon other terms than by a battle; and it will be more honorable and profitable to you to gain them by these means than to risk such a fine army and such noble persons as you have now with you. I therefore beseech you, in all humility, and by the love of God, that you will permit me to go to the prince, and remonstrate with him on the dangerous situation he is in.” The king answered, “It is very agreeable to us; but make haste back again.”

All this Sunday the cardinal rode from one army to the other, and was very anxious to reconcile the two parties. Many proposals were made. At last they declared that if the Prince of Wales, and one hundred of his knights, did not surrender themselves prisoners to the King of France, he would not allow them to pass on without an engagement. The prince and his army disdained accepting such conditions. The Cardinal de Perigord, not being able by any means to reconcile the king and prince, returned to Poitiers late in the evening. That same day the French kept in their quarters, where they lived at their ease, having plenty of provisions; while the English, on the other hand, were but badly off, nor did they know whither to go for forage, as they were so straitly kept by the French, they could not move without danger. This Sunday they made many mounds and ditches round where the archers were posted, the better to secure them.

On Monday morning the prince and his army were soon in readiness, and as well arrayed as on the former day. The French were also drawn out by sunrise. The cardinal, returning again that morning, imagined that, by his exhortations, he could pacify both parties; but the French told him to return where he pleased, and not attempt bringing them any more treaties or pacifications, else worse might betide him. When the cardinal saw that he labored in vain, he took leave of the King of France, and set out toward the Prince of Wales, to whom he said, “Fair son, exert yourself as much as possible, for there must be a battle: I cannot by any means pacify the King of France.” The prince replied, that such were the intentions of him and his party; “and God defend the right.” The cardinal then took leave of him, and returned to Poitiers.

The arrangement of the prince’s army, in respect to the battalions, was exactly the same as what the three knights before named had related to the King of France, except at this time he had ordered some valiant and intelligent knights to remain on horseback, similar to the battalion of the French marshals, and had also commanded three hundred men at arms, and as many archers on horseback, to post themselves on the right, on a small hill, that was not too steep nor too high; and, by passing over its summit, to get round the wing of the Duke of Normandy’s battalion, who was in person at the foot of it. These were all the alterations the prince had made in his order of battle: he himself was with the main body, in the midst of the vineyards; the whole completely armed, with their horses near them, if there should be occasion for them. They had fortified and enclosed the weaker parts, with their wagons and baggage.

I wish to name some of the most renowned knights who were with the Prince of Wales. There were Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick; John Vere, Earl of Oxford; William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury; Robert Hufford, Earl of Suffolk; Ralph, Lord Stafford, the Earl of Stafford; the Lord Richard Stafford, brother to the Earl; Sir John Chandos; the Lord Reginald Cobham; the Lord Edward Spencer; the Lord James Audley, and his brother the Lord Peter; the Lord Thomas Berkeley (son of the Lord Maurice Berkeley, who died at Calais nine years before); Ralph, Lord Basset, of Drayton; John, Lord Warren (eldest son to John Plantagenet, late Earl of Warren, Strathern, and Surrey, by his first lady, Maude de Hereford); Peter, Lord Mauley, the sixth of the name; the Lord John Willoughby de Eresby; the Lord Bartholomew de Burghersh; the Lord William Felton, and the Lord Thomas Felton his brother; the Lord Thomas Bradestan; Sir Walter Pavely; Sir Stephen Cossington; Sir Matthew Gournay; Sir William de la More, and other English. From Gascony, there were the Lord of Pumiers; the Lord d’Albret; the Captal de Buch; the Lord John de Chaumont; the Lord de l’Esparre; the Lord of Rosen; the Lord of Cousen; the Lord de Montferrand; the Lord de Landulas; the Lord Souldich de la Traine, and many more whom I cannot remember. Of Hainaulters, there were Sir Eustace d’Ambreticourt; the Lord John de Guystelle, and two other strangers; the Lord Daniel Phaselle, and Lord Denys de Morbeque. The whole army of the prince, including every one, did not amount to eight thousand; when the French, counting all sorts of persons, were upward of sixty thousand combatants, among whom were more than three thousand knights.