Sir John Chandos

Sir John Chandos , d. 1370, English soldier and administrator of English territories in France. A friend of Edward the Black Prince, he won distinction in the Hundred Years War by his bravery at Poitiers (1356) and by his capture (1364) of Bertrand Du Guesclin at Auray. He was made constable of Guienne in 1362 and senechal of Poitiers in 1365. In the Spanish campaign of the Black Prince he again defeated and captured (1367) Du Guesclin at Nájera. He was mortally wounded in a battle with Gascon nobles at Lussac, near Poitiers.

Chandos, Sir John (d. 1370). Chandos rose to prominence by military service, being present at the opening campaign of the Hundred Years War in 1339, at Crécy, and at the sea battle off Winchelsea in 1350. He became one of Edward the Black Prince's most trusted friends, serving on the chevauchée of 1355 and at Poitiers. Following the failure of the campaign of 1359, he was involved in negotiations leading to the treaties of Brétigny and Calais, but peace with France did not end his military activity. In 1364, leading the army of John IV, duke of Brittany, at the battle of Auray, he defeated and killed the rival claimant, Charles de Blois, and captured Bertrand du Guesclin. Three years later, he commanded the right flank at the Black Prince's victory at Najerà. When war reopened in 1369, he was seneschal of Poitou. Wounded in an engagement at Lussac on 31 December 1369, he died, unmarried, the following day.

Anne Curry