that John
had crossed the river near Blois, and was hurrying southwards.
Thereupon the Black Prince turned in the same direction, seeing in this
southward march his best chance of getting to close quarters. The
French host was enormously the superior in numbers, but after Morlaix,
Mauron, and Crecy, mere numerical disparity weighed but lightly on an
English commander.

For some days the armies marched in the same direction in parallel
lines, neither knowing very clearly the exact position of the other. On
September 14 Edward reached Chatelherault on the Vienne. His troops
were weary and war-worn, and his transport inordinately swollen by
spoils. He rested two days at Chatelherault, but was again on the move
on hearing that the enemy was at Chauvigny, situated some twenty miles
higher up the Vienne. Edward at once started in pursuit, only to find
that the French had retired before him to Poitiers, eighteen miles due
west of Chauvigny. Careless of his convoy, he hurried across country in
the hope of catching the elusive enemy, but was only in time to fight a
rear-guard skirmish at a manor named La Chaboterie, on the road from
Chauvigny to Poitiers, on September, 17. That night the English lay in
a wood hard by the scene of action, suffering terribly from want of
water. Next day, Sunday, September 18, Edward pursued the French as
near as he could to Poitiers, halting in battle array within a league
of the town. A further check on his impatience now ensued. Innocent
VI.'s legate, the Cardinal Talleyrand, brother of the Count of
Perigord, who was with the French army, crossed to the rival host with
an offer of mediation. Edward received the cardinal courteously and
spent most of the day in negotiations. But the French showed no
eagerness to bring matters to a conclusion, and as every hour
reinforcements poured into the enemy's camp the scanty patience of the
English was exhausted. They declared that the legate's talk about
saving the effusion of Christian blood was only a blind to gain time,
so that the French might overwhelm them. Edward broke off the
negotiations, and, retiring to a position more remote from the enemy,
passed the night quietly. Early next morning the cardinal again sought
to treat, but this time his offers were rejected. On his withdrawal,
the French attack began.

The topographical details of the battle of Poitiers of September 19,
1356, cannot be determined with certainty. We only know that the place