Editing Battle of Poitiers (section)

===Second attack===
[[File:Battle-poitiers(1356).jpg|alt=A colourful and stylised contemporary depiction of the battle|thumb|{{center|Battle of Poitier, by [[Loyset Liédet]]}}]]

There was no pursuit of the French survivors of the first attack as they retreated. The English were ordered to hold their positions and to take the opportunity to reform, as the next French division was already moving towards them.{{sfn|Rogers|2014|p=379}}{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=187}} This, 4,000 strong, attacked vigorously. The French advanced against the steady fire of the English and Welsh archers, which caused many casualties, and were disordered by the retreating members of the first assault.{{sfn|Green|2013|p=44}} The French had to force their way through the hedge the English were defending, which put them at a disadvantage,{{sfn|Sumption|1999|p=241}} but they closed with the Anglo-Gascons in ferocious [[Hand-to-hand combat|hand-to-hand]] fighting which went on for two hours.{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=187}}

They massed against two gaps in the hedge, on one occasion succeeding in driving back their opponents and breaking through; a force of archers had been deployed to cover this position and their fire cut down the leading Frenchmen, giving the Anglo-Gascons the opportunity to [[counterattack|counter-attack]] and reform their line.{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=187}} Suffolk, aged almost 60, rode behind the Anglo-Gascon line, shouting encouragement, directing reinforcements to threatened points and telling the archers where to direct their fire.{{sfn|Sumption|1999|p=241}}{{sfn|Livingstone|Witzel|2018|p=214}} Throughout the battle the experienced English and Gascon commanders were able to manoeuvre and redeploy their troops in a way the French were not. The French commanders, mostly, carried out their orders and their men fought with reckless bravery, but they were inflexible. The Anglo-Gascons were able to respond in the heat of battle to French threats. Sumption describes this as "remarkable",{{sfn|Sumption|1999|p=246}} David Green refers to "an extremely flexible tactical response".{{sfn|Green|2013|pp=52–53}} The historian Peter Hoskins states that most of the Anglo-Gascons having served together for a year "contributed to the discipline that the Anglo-Gascons displayed" and suggests that the French attack was ineptly handled.{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=192}}

A contemporary French [[chronicler]] described this second attack as "more amazing, harder and more lethal than the others".{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=187}} An English account states "Man fought frenziedly against man, each one striving to bring death to his opponent so that he himself might live."{{sfn|Livingstone|Witzel|2018|p=215}} As the fighting went on, the Black Prince was forced to commit almost all of his reserves to reinforce weak spots.{{sfn|Jones|2019|p=188}} Both sides suffered many casualties.{{sfn|Green|2013|p=44}} Audley was noted for being wounded in the body, head and face, and fighting on for the English.{{sfn|Livingstone|Witzel|2018|p=215}} One of the French joint commanders, Bourbon, was killed, and the Dauphin's standard-bearer was captured.{{sfn|Green|2013|p=44}} The Dauphin was accompanied by two of his brothers, [[Louis I of Anjou|Louis]] and John, and the trio's advisers and bodyguards were perturbed by the intensity of the fighting in their vicinity and forced them to withdraw from the front line to a safer position.{{sfn|Livingstone|Witzel|2018|p=215}} Seeing this, the rest of the division, exhausted after two hours fighting and already demoralised by the death of Bourbon and the loss of the Dauphin's standard, withdrew as well. There was no panic and the disengagement was orderly.{{sfn|Nicolle|2004|p=65}} The senior surviving commanders of the division confirmed the movement and the surviving men-at-arms marched away from the Anglo-Gascons.{{sfn|Sumption|1999|p=241}}

It is unclear if the Anglo-Gascons pursued the French, and if so, to what extent. Some modern historians state that the Anglo-Gascons again remained in their positions, as they had after the repulse of the first French division.{{sfn|Rogers|2014|p=380}}{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|pp=187–188}} Others write of a limited pursuit by individuals breaking ranks{{sfn|Nicolle|2004|pp=65–66}}{{sfn|Green|2013|pp=44–45}} or of a full-blooded one by Warwick's division causing many French casualties.{{sfn|Green|2013|pp=44–45}}{{sfn|Livingstone|Witzel|2018|pp=215–216}} In any event, most of the Anglo-Gascons stood their ground, tended their wounded, knifed the French wounded and stripped their bodies and those of the already dead, and recovered what arrows they could find in the immediate vicinity, including those impaling dead and wounded Frenchmen.{{sfn|Nicolle|2004|p=66}}{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=188}} There were many English and Gascons wounded or dead and those still standing were exhausted from three hours of ferocious and near-continuous fighting.{{sfn|Hoskins|2011|p=187}}