In the Steps of the Black Prince: The Road to Poitiers, 1355–1356 by Peter Hoskins (review)

As the title promises, Peter Hoskins’s In the Steps of the Black Prince delivers a detailed analysis of Edward of Woodstock’s 1355 and 1356 chevauchées into France, culminating as they did in the English victory outside Poitiers. This edition follows the 2011 hardback publication and contains some additional findings.

The book is divided into five parts: Part I – Prologue; Part II – The Chevauchée in the Languedoc, October to December 1355; Part III – Interlude; Part IV – The Poitiers Chevauchée, August to October 1356; and Part V – Epilogue. Two appendices each deal with one of the two separate chevauchées, detailing the probable distances travelled between each resting point. The work is well referenced with endnotes and a comprehensive index, and the bibliography is neatly divided into unpublished/published primary, and secondary sources, making it easy to access wanted information.

The main sections – II to IV – divide the Black Prince’s progress in France into stages, beginning (5 October 1355) and ending (2 October 1356) in Bordeaux, moving through every significant stage in between, and concluding with the battle at Poitiers. The epilogue sums up the political ramifications of the Black Prince’s efforts.

Hoskins clearly has a distinct fondness for his topic; his dedication to walking the route as so many in the Black Prince’s army would have done shows not only his enthusiasm for his topic, but also prompts the realisation that we can sometimes forget the physicality of our historical subjects. The result of this quite physical approach to analysing the Prince’s movements is a book that brings the Black Prince’s chevauchées to life. Details such as fords, gradients, forests, and townships are brought to life with Hoskins’s detailed analysis of the modern terrain (much of which remains unchanged since the fourteenth century) along with both historical and modern maps. Whenever possible, he has taken contemporary material into account, often comparing differing versions with the terrain, to come to a conclusion as to the path taken, which town was actually referred to, or even at which point along a river was the most feasible for the baggage train crossing. His reconstruction of the paths of the chevauchées, using his immediate experience of the terrain has also helped to clear up some of the mysteries surrounding town names.

In the Steps of the Black Prince is a solid addition to the Warfare in History series, but will also be appealing to a broader audience. Hoskins’s attention to detail brings the fourteenth-century chevauchées to life, allowing tantalising glimpses into the social and physical aspects at play among the men. This is an enjoyable and informative work.