ustrated; namely, a copy of the letter from Edward the
Black Prince to the Mayor, Aldermen and Comonalty of London,
acquainting them with the achievement of the battle of Poictiers. This
important record, which has never before been printed, occurs among
the archives of the city, in a contemporary MS. entitled Letter G.
fol. 53^{b}. and was, there can be little doubt, entered into that
volume soon after the receipt of the original.

The greater part of the Prince's letter is occupied by the detail of
the proceedings of the army for some days previous to the battle, and
in describing the efforts of the Cardinal Peregort to produce a peace
or truce between the kings of France and England; whilst the conflict
itself is mentioned in a few words. Independently of the particulars
of the English forces and their rencontres with the enemy which this
letter so minutely relates, its most important statement is that of
the precise day when the battle took place, for historians have
differed materially upon the point. The Prince, however, expressly
says that it occurred on the eve of the feast of St. Matthew, i.e. the
20th of September. His letter was dated at Bordeaux on the 22nd of the
following month, and was sent to the Mayor of London by the Prince's
chamberlain Sir Neel Loring; and the manner in which he refers the
Mayor and Citizens to that distinguished knight for further
information, cannot fail to be noticed, from its great similarity to
the conclusion of a modern military dispatch. Another feature of this
and other documents of the same nature in early periods, is the great
simplicity and modesty with which they are written. An expression of
gratitude to God alone interrupts the unadorned narrative; and the
defeat of an army infinitely superior in numbers, and the capture of
one of the most powerful sovereigns of the times together with his
eldest son, are thus laconically related: "The battle took place on
the eve of St. Matthew; and, praise be to God, the enemy were
discomfited, and the king and his son were taken, and great numbers of
other people taken and slain." To present as many contemporary
documents as could be collected relative to this memorable event, two
other letters are introduced, as well as the affidavit of an
individual who claimed to have been the person to whom king John of
France surrendered himself.

One of the letters alluded to, which is printed in the _Archaeologia_,
vol. i. p. 213, is also fr