] At last the bowmen had only the
arrows they snatched from the bodies of the dead and dying, and when
these were exhausted, they were reduced to throwing stones at their
foes, or to struggle in the _melee_, with sword and buckler, side by
side with the men-at-arms. But the Black Prince from his hill had
watched the course of the encounter, and at the right moment, when his
friends were almost worn out, marched down, and made the fight more
even. Before joining himself in the engagement, Edward had ordered the
Captal de Buch, the best of his Gascons, to lead a little band, under
cover of the hill, round the French position and attack the enemy in the
rear. At first the Anglo-Gascon army was discouraged, thinking that the
captal had fled, but they still fought on. Suddenly the captal and his
men assaulted the French rear. This settled the hard fought day.
Surrounded on every side, the French perished in their ranks or
surrendered in despair. King John was taken prisoner, fighting
desperately to the last, and with him was captured his youngest son
Philip, the future Duke of Burgundy, a boy of twelve, whose epithet of
"the Bold" was earned by his precocious valour in the struggle. Before
nightfall the English host had sole possession of the field, and the
best fought, best directed, and most important of the battles of the war
ended in the complete triumph of the invaders.

[1] _Eulogium Hist._, iii., 225.

As after Crecy, the victors were too weak to continue the campaign.
Next day they began their slow march back to their base. On October 2
Edward reached Libourne, and a few days later conducted the captive
king into the Gascon capital. They were soon followed by the Cardinal
Talleyrand on whose insistence the prince agreed to resume
negotiations. On March 23, 1357, a truce to last until 1359 was
arranged at Bordeaux. On May 24 the prince led the vanquished king
through the streets of London.

The English, weary of the burden of war, strove to use their advantages
to procure a stable peace. Though Charles of Blois was released, he was
muzzled for the future, and when John joined his ally David Bruce in
the Tower, it was the obvious game of Edward to exact terms from his
prisoners. David's spirit was broken, and he was glad to accept a
treaty sealed in October, 1357, at Berwick, by which he was released
for a ransom of 100,000 marks, to be paid by ten yearly instalments.
The task was harder for a poor country like