The Duke of Orleans at Poitiers

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of historical research is the evaluation of <link><url>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_sources</url><label>primary sources</label></link>. These sources rarely paint an entirely accurate picture. In fact, they quite frequently contradict each other. It then falls to the historian to try and discern fact from fiction, but even this effort will usually only lead to a better picture, not the whole truth. The complete, unvarnished truth sadly is lost. We must be satisfied with approximation.

To get at that approximation I have looked into the primary sources relating to the <link><url>http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/B/Battle-of-Poitiers.htm</url><label>Battle of Poitiers</label></link>. This battle, the second of the disastrous French defeats in the <link><url>http://www.worldhistory.com/hundred-years-war.htm</url><label>Hundred Years War</label></link>, was marked by the shameful retreat of the Duke of Orleans and the capture of the French King. In this article my focus is on the first of these French foibles. What really happened to the Duke of Orleans? Did he quit the field directly with all of his men? How are the chroniclers confused over this point? Perhaps my analysis can shed some light on this decisive medieval battle.

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