The danger was great. For two years the Black Prince and his army of
foragers had held France at their mercy, plundering to their hearts'
content. The year before, the young prince had led his army up the
Garonne into--as an ancient chronicler tells us--"what was before one of
the fat countries of the world, the people good and simple, who did not
know what war was; indeed, no war had been waged against them till the
prince came. The English and Gascons found the country full and gay,
the rooms adorned with carpets and draperies, the caskets and chests
full of fair jewels. But nothing was safe from these robbers. They, and
especially the Gascons, who are very greedy, carried off everything."
When they reached Bordeaux their horses were "so laden with spoils that
they could hardly move."
Again the prince had led his army of freebooters through France, but he
was not to march out again with the same impunity as before. King John,
who had just come to the throne, hastily gathered an army and marched to
his country's relief. On the night named, the Black Prince, marching
briskly forward with his small force of about eight thousand men, found
himself suddenly in face of an overwhelming array of not less than sixty
thousand of the best fighting blood of France.
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