But I'm going to leave the good duke of Bourbon and noble, worthy Bertrand and all the renowned barons who were returning to King Charles in Paris: I'll tell you in due course of the great and wondrous feats Bertrand accomplished. But first, if it please you, I wish to speak of Chandos, a knight and man of high renown and a loyal servant of the English realm.

Chandos was at Poitiers with a strong garrison of men-at-arms at his command. Close at hand were a number of French strongholds with great towers and many fine captains of high birth. Among them was that loyal champion Kerlouët: for a long while he'd been captain of La Roche-Posay.336 With him were his companions Alain Saisi and worthy Jehan Paien and Henry Boterel and many more: he had around fifty lances,337 I believe, and no more than eighteen archers. Chandos would often visit this fortress to attack it and engage in combat, but he found the French such fierce opponents that he achieved precisely nothing: the French here were stout Bretons, who didn't give a rat's tail338 for the English!

And then one day, the story goes, brave Kerlouët and his men left their tower and stronghold and headed towards Poitiers, pillaging the country round about. They drove off livestock in large numbers, intending to herd them back inside their castle. The men they'd forced to flee went racing to Poitiers to report the theft to Chandos, and he swore by the crucified Christ that Kerlouët would pay dearly for the crime. He called for the horns and trumpets to sound and the English rushed to arms. Around three hundred there were, all vowing the death and destruction of brave and loyal Kerlouët. But nothing but good will befall the man who has God on his side.

Chandos rode from Poitiers with three hundred English troops. Every one was helmeted, had a jack over his hauberk and a stout, sharp-headed lance in hand, and each was mounted on a good horse, grey or bay or black. And all were out to get Kerlouët, who respected them so little and had shown such contempt as to steal their herds from the meadows.