Free The Battle of Poitiers 1356 by David Green Page B

of Paris.
    He rode with the Black Prince to Spain in 1367 and was a leading figure in the large reconnaissance force to spy out the enemy. He was described by Chandos Herald as lion-hearted and caring ‘not two cherries for death’. 27 By contrast Jean de Venette painted a somewhat different picture of the man, ‘a valiant and noble knight, of good counsel, prudent and devout’ 28 He founded a Carmelite house at Poitiers with Chandos. He was killed in a skirmish at Ariñez, before Nájera on 19 March 1367.
    Sir Baldwin Freville 29
    There is a danger of conflating the careers of Baldwin II (15 August 1317–75) and III (1350/1–1387). Baldwin II first married Ida, the daughter of John 1st lord Clinton of Maxstoke and secondly Joan Dugdale. He served the Black Prince as seneschal of Saintonge. Baldwin III married first, Elizabeth, daughter of John Botetourt and secondly Joyce (her sister). He claimed the office of king’s champion at the coronation of Richard II but after a protracted dispute lost the title and office to John Dymoke who had taken up the Marmion claim through marriage.
    Freville may have been abroad fighting in Brittany under the command of Walter Manny when his father died on 2 October 1343. Baldwin was at least twenty-six at the time. He inherited estates throughout the country. He fought at Crécy in the retinue of William Clinton, earl of Huntingdon and later served with Lancaster.
    He fought at Poitiers and was subsequently retained for life by the prince at £40 year. In accordance with his indenture he fought for the prince in the Reims campaign. Under the prince’s regime in Aquitaine he served initially as seneschal of Saintonge and the Limousin. On the death of William Felton in 1367 he became seneschal of Poitou, and in 1369, seneschal of Saintonge. He was probably involved in the Spanish expedition himself and after the resumption of the war he fought under Knolles, Chandos and Pembroke and was at La Rochelle when it surrendered. He appears to have been captured after this as William Elmham offered to pay his ransom. He died on 6 January 1387.
    Sir Mathew Gournay 1310–1406? 30
    Despite being the son of one of the murderers of the Black Prince’s grandfather, Gournay seems to have enjoyed a relatively close relationship with Edward. He served at Crécy and Poitiers before playing a leading role with the Free Companies for which he suffered imprisonment in the Tower. He witnessed the treaty of Brétigny and fought at Auray. In 1365 he accompanied du Guesclin to Spain to take the throne of Castile from Pedro. During this time he lent 11,000 florins to Enrique of Trastamara for campaign expenses in return for a promised annuity of 1,000 florins. He also befriended the king of Aragon who granted him 2,000 florins a year. His association with that country continued when in 1371 he purchased a castle there from Hugh Calveley while both were stationed in Bordeaux. He remained with the prince after the return from Nájera until 1370. In 1378 he was appointed commander of the garrison at Dax and in the following year seneschal of the Landes, an office he held until 1381 and was re-granted in 1405. In 1381 he played a major role in Cambridge’s expedition to Portugal.
    Jean de Grailly, captal de Buch 31
    His family were the hereditary proprietors of a fort, 14 leagues from Bordeaux now called ‘La Tête de Buch’. The lands were in the Médoc, west of Bordeaux reaching to Castillon-sur-Dordogne. The captalate had many privileges in the parlement, city and suburbs of Bordeaux. Jean was the son of Jean and Blanch de Foix and also the cousin of Gaston Fébus. In 1343 he inherited the title. In 1348 he was named a founder knight of the order of Garter possibly as a result of the vital subsidiary action in which he was involved in Gascony during the Crécy campaign. In November 1350 he married Rose d’Albret, the legitimated daughter of Bertrand. He fought with the prince in the 1355–6 campaign during