noon
If , as the chronicler tells us , one-fourth of his soldiers had shown the same bravery as he did , the fortunes of the day would have been vastly different ; but though personally brave , he was no genius in war , and his fatal determination to fight the battle on foot was a gross blunder in military tactics . Even when he and his division were being charged by the Prince of Wales at full gallop , at the head of two thousand lances , the men all flushed with victory , John made his own men dismount , and himself did the same , fighting with his axe like a common soldier ; whilst his little son Philip crouched behind him , narrowly watching his assailants , and crying out words of warning to his father as he saw blows dealt at him from right or left . The French were driven back to the very gates of Poitiers , where a great slaughter ensued ; for those gates were now shut against them , and they had nowhere else to fly . The battle had begun early in the morning , and by noon the trumpets were sounding to recall the English from the pursuit of their flying foes . Such a victory and such vast numbers of noble prisoners almost bewildered even the victors themselves ; and the Prince was anxious to assemble his knights once more about him , to learn some of the details of the issue of the day . That the French King had either been killed or made prisoner appeared certain , for it was confidently asserted that he had not left the field ; but for some time the confusion was so great that it was impossible to ascertain what had actually happened , and the Prince , who had gone to his tent to take some refreshment after the labours of the day , had others than his high-born prisoners to think for . `` Who has seen Sir James Audley -- gallant Sir James ? ''