Hello everyone and welcome to the history of England, episode 112 on the crest of a wave.

And welcome back everyone, I hope you had a great Christmas, New Year and all that sort

of thing.

I am delighted to inform you that we all had a good one here, far too much drinking

and eating but hey, it's a feast, so why not?

You have very probably forgotten where we'd got to, after all it's pretty much a month

since I've been on the air, so just to remind you.

The Black Prince has just recorded one of the greatest ever feats of English arms on the

field of Puatier.

So on the 10th of October then, John Lacoc, Jeffrey Hamlin and Thomas the Messenger arrived

at the Court of King Edward in Great Haste, in Great Excitement and gave great news.

There'd been a great battle.

The Black Prince had been victorious, oh and look, here's the helmet and sir coat of the

King of France and you know why I've got them, because by the way the King of France has

been captured.

Well you could not have imagined such a result and a cloud of euphoria rose over England.

It rose over Bordeaux in Gascini to boot.

Poor old King John came in a procession into the city and everyone came to point and stare.

Sparrow thought for poor old John, he'll spend a fair proportion of the rest of his life

in a gilded cage being poked at through the bars, treated with every courtesy no doubt,

but every day must have hurt like hell.

Meanwhile Charles de Blois had been released from the tower by Edward for a whopping ransom

...