ised above the rest, and the prince
himself waited as page upon the French king. John in vain endeavoured
to persuade the prince to be seated; the latter refused, saying, that
it was his pleasure as well as his duty to wait upon one who had shown
himself to be the best and bravest knight in the French army. The
example of the Black Prince was contagious, and the English vied with
each other in generous treatment of their prisoners. All were treated
as friends, and that night an immense number of knights and squires were
admitted to ransom on such terms as had never before been known. The
captors simply required their prisoners to declare in good faith what
they could afford to pay without pressing themselves too hard, "for they
did not wish," they said, "to ransom knights or squires on terms which
would prevent them from maintaining their station in society, from
serving their lords, or from riding forth in arms to advance their name
and honour."

Upon the following morning solemn thanksgivings were offered up on
the field of battle for the glorious victory. Then the English army,
striking its tents, marched back towards Bordeaux. They were unmolested
upon this march, for although the divisions of the Dauphin and the Duke
of Orleans had now reunited, and were immensely superior in numbers to
the English, encumbered as the latter were, moreover, with prisoners and
booty, the tremendous defeat which they had suffered, and still more the
capture of the king, paralysed the French commanders, and the English
reached Bordeaux without striking another blow.

Not long after they reached that city the Cardinal of Perigord and
another legate presented themselves to arrange peace, and these
negotiations went on throughout the winter. The prince had received full
powers from his father, and his demands were very moderate; but in
spite of this no final peace could be arranged, and the result of the
conference was the proclamation of a truce, to last for two years from
the following Easter. During the winter immense numbers of the prisoners
who had gone at large upon patrol, came in and paid their ransoms, as
did the higher nobles who had been taken prisoners, and the whole army
was greatly enriched. At the end of April the prince returned to England
with King John. The procession through the streets of London was a
magnificent one, the citizens vying with each other in decorating their
houses in honour of the victor of Poitiers, wh