He was at the head of forty or fifty thousand men, with his four sons, twenty-six dukes or counts, and nearly all the baronage of France; and such was his confidence in this noble army, that on crossing the Loire he dismissed the burgher forces, "which was madness in him and in those who advised him," said even his contemporaries.

John, even more than his father Philip, was a king of courts, ever surrounded by his nobility, and caring little for his people.

Jealous of the order of the Garter, lately instituted by Edward III.

in honor of the beautiful Countess of Salisbury, John had created, in 1351, by way of following suit, a brotherhood called Our Lady of the Noble House, or of the Star, the knights of which, to the number of five hundred, had to swear, that if they were forced to recoil in a battle they would never yield to the enemy more than four acres of ground, and would be slain rather than retreat.

John was destined to find out before long that neither numbers nor bravery can supply the place of prudence, ability, and discipline.