Baltic
Dry Index. 1294 - Brent
Crude 43.15
Spot
Gold 1951
Covid-19
cases 12/09/20 World 28,554,007
Deaths
927,493
Covid-19
cases 19/09/20 World 30,563,439
Deaths
956,341
The Siege of
Paris (1870–71) Starts. The siege of Paris , lasting from 19 September
1870 to 28 January 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian
forces, led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of
the German
Empire as well as the Paris Commune .
More
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Paris_(1870%E2%80%9371)
Are
we in the calm before the storm? Well possibly.
Covid-19
is surging again, and we haven’t yet entered the northern hemisphere flu
season. Europe seems about to repeat March – May. Lock downs next? Hopefully
not.
The
employment recovery seems to be stalling in America, with the threat of more
unemployment to come after the November 3rd election.
President
Trump, cruising unaided to a one term defeat, now has a chance to stamp his
legacy on the Supreme Court. Will he take the opportunity to put an extreme
right Justice on the court, the way President Clinton placed extreme left
Justice Ginsburg on the court?
If
he does, US politics over the rest of his term will be interesting!
With
the increasing prospect of a Biden-Harris Democrat Socialist presidency next
year, the markets will soon have to start factoring in re-distributive wealth
taxes, universal basic income, more regulations, and the like. Valuations will soon
face an intense period of adjustment.
In
hurricane/storm news, the Gulf of Mexico has another tropical storm with the
potential to become a hurricane. The Atlantic has 4 tropical cyclones at
present so the next few weeks could easily be disruptive.
A
“hard Brexit” looms for GB and the rump-EU.
All
in all, we probably are in the calm before the storm.
Equities sink on virus angst,
Fed aftermath; gold, yen rise September 18, 20201:01
AM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets
slid on Friday as investors sought direction after this week’s U.S. Federal
Reserve meeting and a jump in coronavirus cases in Europe rattled sentiment,
while gold rose and safe-haven buying lifted the Japanese yen.
The dollar posted its fifth straight day of
declines against the yen as Japan’s monetary policy of yield curve control
pushes up real interest rates.
U.S. technology-related stocks reversed
early gains on Wall Street to extend their losses to a third day, while the
S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted a third straight week of declines.
The big tech names that have fueled the U.S.
rally from a pandemic-induced slump in March - Apple Inc AAPL.O MSFT.O AMZN.O GOOGL.O
Rising coronavirus cases and a dim economic
outlook weighed on sentiment. The biggest threat to the euro zone economy is a
resurgent pandemic, according to a Reuters poll of economists, who say growth
and inflation are more likely to cause negative surprises in the coming year
than positive ones.
European countries from Denmark to Greece
announced new restrictions on Friday to curb surging coronavirus infections in
some of their largest cities, while Britain was reported to be considering a
new national lockdown.
“The COVID-19 infection rate in Europe has
gotten pretty bad,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt
Investments in Atlanta. “The implications are that it’s difficult to curtail
the virus.”
---- On Wall Street, the S&P 500 .SPX .IXIC .DJI
For the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.65%,
the Dow slipped 0.03% and the Nasdaq declined 0.56%.
More
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-global-markets/equities-sink-on-virus-angst-fed-aftermath-gold-yen-rise-idUKKBN269006
U.S. labour market recovery
stalling; housing market presses ahead September 17, 20201:41 By Lucia
Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of
Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell less than expected
last week and applications for the prior period were revised up, suggesting the
labour market recovery had shifted into low gear amid fading fiscal stimulus.
The weekly
jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday, the most timely
data on the economy’s health, also showed nearly 30 million people were on
unemployment benefits at the end of August, laying bare both the continuing
economic and human devastation six months after the COVID-19 pandemic started
in the United States.
The Federal
Reserve on Wednesday vowed to keep interest rates near zero for a long time,
noting that the coronavirus “will continue to weigh on economic activity” in
the near term and “poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the
medium term.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said more fiscal support was likely to be
needed for the economy.
“With nearly
30 million people unemployed and the ongoing failure of politicians to deliver
additional needed fiscal stimulus, the climb out of the pandemic downturn is
likely to be slower and more damaging to long-term growth than it should have
been,” said Ron Temple, head of U.S. equity at Lazard Asset Management in New
York.
Initial
claims for state unemployment benefits fell 33,000 to a seasonally adjusted
860,000 for the week ended Sept. 12. Data for the prior week was revised to
show 9,000 more applications received than previously reported.
Economists
polled by Reuters had forecast 850,000 applications in the latest week.
Unadjusted
claims dropped 75,974 to 790,021 last week. Economists prefer the unadjusted
claims number given earlier difficulties adjusting the claims data for seasonal
fluctuations because of the economic shock caused by the coronavirus crisis.
A total
658,737 applications were received for the government-funded pandemic
unemployment assistance last week. The PUA is for the self-employed, gig
workers and others who do not qualify for the regular state unemployment
programs. Altogether, 1.45 million people filed claims last week.
The claims
report also showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial
week of aid declined 916,000 to 12.628 million in the week ending Sept. 5.
Economists attributed the drop in the so-called continuing claims to people
exhausting their eligibility for benefits, which are limited to 26 weeks in
most states.
The number
of people on a government-funded program that provides up to 13 additional
weeks of benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular unemployment
compensation increased 104,683 to 1.5 million in the week ending Aug. 29.
---- A $600 weekly unemployment benefits
supplement ended in July and was replaced with a $300 weekly subsidy, which is
not available in all states and is expected to run out of funding this month. A
program to help businesses with wages lapsed in August, while $25 billion in
government assistance for airline payrolls expires this month.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2681Y1?il=0
US billionaires' wealth grew
by $845 billion during the first six months of the pandemic Saloni Sardana Sep. 17,
2020, 05:39 PM
The richest
people in the United States have become $845 billion wealthier during the first
six months of the pandemic, with likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Warren
Buffett all registering big increases, a report said Thursday.
The
Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning think-tank, and Americans for Tax
Fairness (ATF) said the total net worth of 643 of the nation's richest people
rose from $2.95 trillion to $3.8 trillion between March 18 and September 15.
The calculations are based on data using Forbes' annual billionaires report and
real-time Forbes data.
That marks a
29% increase from the rough date at which coronavirus lockdowns started and
financial markets went into free-fall. The stock market has since recovered,
with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting record highs, but Covid-19 has
killed nearly 200,000 Americans and the economy is still mired in
recession.
---- Bezos, the chief executive of leading online
retailer Amazon, has undoubtedly been the biggest beneficiary of the pandemic.
His wealth rose by $73.2 billion to $113 billion. Amazon shares have gained 40%
this year, as the company racked up billions in online orders for anything from
groceries to exercise bikes from consumers who were confined to their
homes.
Musk, the
founder and CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, is a close second. His wealth
has ballooned by $67.4 billion, or 274%. Tesla has been one of the top
performing blue-chip stocks this year and, after gaining nearly 90% in value
over the last 12 months.
Markets have benefited from a period of rock-bottom
interest rates as the Fed poured stimulus worth trillions to help the economy
ride out the pandemic.
The S&P 500 for example has risen by 34% since touching
multi-year lows in March.
More
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/us-billionaires-wealth-net-worth-pandemic-covid-billion-2020-9-1029599756#
Asean, China, Japan, South
Korea financial leaders redouble efforts to focus on coronavirus recovery Finance ministers and central
bank governors from the Asean+3 group said they will use all available policy
tools to support a sustained recovery The Covid-19 pandemic has
triggered deep downturns in regional economies, disrupted global trade and
supply chains, and increased market volatility
Published: 4:46pm, 18 Sep, 2020
Financial leaders from China, Japan,
South Korea and Southeast Asia vowed on Friday to redouble their efforts to
help the region recover economically from the novel coronavirus
and to defend a multilateral system
of trade and investment.
“We will
remain vigilant to the continued downside risks … We are taking steps to reduce
vulnerabilities to these risks and are determined to continue to use all
available policy tools to support the sustained recovery,” they said in a joint
statement.
“We will
remain resolute in our commitment to uphold an open and rule-based multilateral
trade and investment system, and strengthen regional integration and
cooperation.”
The statement followed the annual
meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors from China, Japan,
South Korea and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( Asean ).
The meetings
were held via teleconference on the sidelines of the annual gathering of the
Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The
coronavirus pandemic has triggered deep downturns in regional economies,
disrupted global trade and supply chains, and increased market volatility in
Asia and beyond, prompting authorities to enact large economic stimulus
programmes.
Recognising
the risk that unwinding such large stimulus plans could destabilise financial
markets, the ministers from Japan, South Korea, China and Asean, a group known
as Asean+3, addressed how they will exit from the crisis measures.
“We will
carefully measure the appropriate timing of the exit from these pandemic
measures in accordance with the economic and pandemic situation of each
member,” the Asean+3 leaders said.
Highlighting
worries about the risks of a hit to market liquidity, Japan and Malaysia on
Friday signed a bilateral currency swap arrangement that enables authorities to
swap up to US$3 billion of their currencies.
More
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3102094/asean-china-japan-south-korea-financial-leaders-redouble
Tropical Storm Beta forms in
the Gulf of Mexico, shattering records Sept. 17, 2020 / 7:33 PM / Updated Sept.
18, 2020 at 5:39 PM
Sept. 17
(UPI) -- After churning out Tropical Storm Wilfred and Subtropical Storm Alpha,
the hyperactive Atlantic continues to generate more named storms with the
formation of Tropical Storm Beta.
Forming
Friday afternoon, Beta had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, and forecasters
warn there is potential for the system to intensify into a hurricane while over
the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The Atlantic once again became hyperactive on Friday with
four tropical cyclones churning at once. Just on Monday, there were five
tropical cyclones spinning simultaneously for the first time since Sept. 10-12,
1971. That number dropped to four Tuesday after Rene dissipated, leaving
Paulette, Sally, Teddy and Vicky for a time. As of 4 p.m. CDT Friday, Major Hurricane Teddy Tropical Storm Wilfred Subtropical Storm Alpha Tropical Storm Beta
This new storm has claimed the second letter in the Greek
alphabet.
More
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/09/18/Tropical-Storm-Beta-forms-in-the-Gulf-of-Mexico-shattering-records/1441600385220/
Finally, Toronto’s white elephant? Will people return
with the snow? But what if they don’t?
Toronto’s PATH is a dead zone,
even as some workers trickle back to office buildings Rachelle Younglai
Published 1 September 2020
Before the
pandemic struck, crowds of downtown office workers would swarm in and out of
Toronto’s main train station twice each weekday, a mass of humanity so thick
that trying to walk against the stream earned the nickname “salmoning.”
These crowds
are now a distant memory and the network of underground tunnels – known as the
PATH – that connects the skyscrapers and transit has fallen eerily quiet.
During
lunchtime this week, many of the restaurants in the food courts throughout the
PATH were closed. Staff, security guards and cleaners outnumbered patrons. At
one food court, every restaurant was shut except for a fast-food Shanghai 360
and a coffee shop. There were decals on the floor directing traffic and showing
people where to wait in line for the food. But no one was waiting.
At a Tim
Hortons, four masked staff stood behind the counter, while one served the sole
customer. Some of the seating was blocked off in an attempt to observe
physical-distancing requirements. But only a handful of people were using
tables, including two workers on a break.
The pandemic
has hit fashion retailers, restaurants and their commercial landlords
particularly hard, and perhaps nowhere more so than the PATH, which is highly
reliant on the office economy and public transportation users. Tunnels are a
hard sell for people worried about being inside. And while many of Toronto’s
above-ground restaurants have been able to create makeshift patios, food courts
buried under the financial district don’t have that option.
More
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-torontos-path-is-a-dead-zone-even-as-some-workers-trickle-back-to/
Covid-19 Corner This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
WHO Says Europe Is Headed Into
Another Potential Pandemic Crisis "We have a very serious situation unfolding before us."
September
18, 2020
Experts say that “pandemic fatigue” is causing numbers of
confirmed cases of COVID-19 to surge in parts of Europe, CNBC
reports
Numbers are rising in both France and Spain. In some
instances, the number of new cases is outpacing peak numbers back in April.
Both countries even surpassed the per capita-adjusted numbers in the US.
Officials suspect France’s return to tourism — particularly
allowing foreign tourists to come visit — is at least partially to blame, as
well as Spain’s rush to reopen its doors.
“We have a very serious situation unfolding before us,” the
World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said on
Thursday, the BBC
reports
“There are some worrying trends that we’re starting to see,”
Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases unit, said Wednesday,
as quoted by CNBC .
“What is really worrying I think for us is that we’re not
only seeing an increase in the case numbers, but we’re seeing an increase in
the hospitalizations,” she added. “We’re seeing increases in ICUs.”
Several US states are also seeing a surge, according to
recent reports. Officials have warned that this autumn
could look especially bad
“We haven’t even started to hit the flu season yet so we’re
worried that these increasing numbers of hospitalization and ICU are really
going to overburden an already burdened system,” Van Kerhove told
CNN
More
https://futurism.com/neoscope/who-europe-potential-pandemic-crisis?mc_cid=e9d91beea7&utm_term=0_03cd0a26cd-e9d91beea7-247582573&utm_medium=email&mc_eid=f4cd094325&utm_source=The%20Future%20Is&utm_campaign=e9d91beea7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_09_18_06_21
French Virus Surge Highlights
New European Lockdown Threat By Rudy
Ruitenberg Laura
Millan Lombrana Sotiris
Nikas
September 17, 2020, 12:49 PM EDT Updated on September 18,
2020, 6:52 AM EDT
France’s
daily coronavirus cases rose to the highest since the end of lockdown in May,
as European infections continue a steady advance and raise the prospect of a
return to the tighter restrictions that crippled activity in the second
quarter.
The jump in
French infections of more than 10,000 on Thursday was the most eye-catching
figure among increases elsewhere in Europe, with new cases in Germany gaining
Friday by more than 2,000, the most since late April. Portugal on Thursday
reported the most new infections in five months, with 770, while Spanish cases
rose at a slower pace than the previous day but still by more than 4,500.
Health
officials blame the increase on social gatherings, especially among younger
people, and on travelers bringing the virus back from vacation. The upward
trend threatens to derail Europe’s tentative revival, should governments be
forced to further tighten restrictions on movement.
The Travel
and Leisure Stoxx 600 Index slid more than 3% on Friday, making it the worst-performing
subgroup in the broader European stock gauge. The biggest losers were airlines,
with International Consolidated Airlines Group SA and EasyJet Plc down 11.6%
and 8.3% respectively. Whitbread Plc, an operator of U.K. hotels and
restaurants, dropped 4.4% following reports that the government is discussing
limiting opening hours of hospitality businesses or closing some.
More
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-17/french-health-minister-warns-virus-spread-is-again-very-active?srnd=premium-europe
Roche says its drugs reduce
ventilator need for COVID-19 patients September 18, 20207:22 AM
ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche's ROG.S Actermra/Roactemra
drugs reduces the likelihood patients with COVID-19 related pneumonia need
mechanical ventilation, the company said on Friday.
Hospital patients taking the drug were 44%
less likely to need ventilators or die, the company said, citing the results of
its Empacta phase III study conducted in several countries including the United
States.
Roche said it would share the results of its
trial with health authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The news is
a boost for Roche after an attempt to retool the rheumatoid arthritis drug
Actemra/RoActemra to treat patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 related
pneumonia failed in a late-stage trial.
Its Covacta
trial did not meet its primary end-point of improved clinical status in
patients with COVID-19 associated pneumonia, or the key secondary end-point of
reduced patient mortality, the company said in July.
“The EMPACTA
trial demonstrated that Actemra/RoActemra can reduce the need for mechanical
ventilation in patients with COVID-19 associated pneumonia, an important
outcome in this serious disease,” said Levi Garraway, Roche’s chief medical
officer and head of global product development.
The study is
the first global phase III COVID-19 clinical trial using patients from minority
racial and ethnic groups, Roche said, adding this group are often
underrepresented in clinical studies and have been disproportionately affected
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The majority
were Hispanic, along with significant representation from black and native
American populations, the company said.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-roche/roche-says-its-drugs-reduce-ventilator-need-for-covid-19-patients-idUKKBN2690RN?feedType=nl&feedName=ukmorningdigest&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018%20Template:%20UK%20MORNING%20DIGEST%202020-09-18&utm_term=NEW:%20UK%20Morning%20Digest
Vitamin D deficiency increases
COVID-19 risk by more than 50% Sept. 17, 2020 / 3:25 PM
Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Vitamin D deficiency increases a person's risk for getting infected
with COVID-19
by more than 50%, research published Thursday in the journal PLOS ONE found.
In a study of more than 190,000 people who had been
screened for COVID-19, nearly 13% of those with lower-than-recommended levels
of the nutrient tested positive for the coronavirus, the data showed.
Conversely, just over 8% of those with "adequate"
vitamin D levels and 6% of those with high levels had COVID-19, according to
the researchers.
Overall, the researchers found people with
"deficient" levels of vitamin D were at 54% higher risk of having the
coronavirus.
RELATED Vitamin
D deficiency raises COVID-19 infection risk by 77%, study finds
"Simply going to your local pharmacy, purchasing a
vitamin D supplement and taking it as directed can significantly reduce your
risk for getting this deadly disease," study co-author Dr. Michael F.
Holick told UPI.
"That's as good, if not better, than what any
potential vaccine will do in terms of protection," said Holick, a
professor of physiology, biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston
University.
More
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/09/17/Vitamin-D-deficiency-increases-COVID-19-risk-by-more-than-50/1751600361571/
Next, some very useful vaccine
links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most
informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World Health Organization -
Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines . https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine
Tracker . https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford Website . https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
FDA information . https://www.fda.gov/media/139638/download
Regulatory Focus COVID-19
vaccine tracker . https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
https://rt.live/
Covid19info.live
https://wuflu.live/
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, and science in general, I’ve
added this section. Updates as they get reported.
The Mozart Effect: Study
affirms classical music reduces epileptic seizures By Rich
Haridy
September 14, 2020
A new systemic review has examined a dozen
studies into the effect of Mozart’s music on epilepsy, finding the classical
piano music may reduce the frequency of seizures. The review rekindles an idea
that has circulated since the early 1990s, labelled the Mozart Effect,
suggesting listening to certain classical music can make you smarter.
The origins of the Mozart
Effect
In early 1993, psychologist Francis Rauscher conducted a
small experiment with a cohort of students at the University of California,
Irvine. Thirty-six students had their spatial reasoning skills tested on three
occasions. Each test was immediately preceded by a different aural
intervention: 10 minutes of silence, 10 minutes of vocal guided relaxation, and
10 minutes of listening to Mozart’s Sonata for two pianos in D major, KV 448.
The surprising results found the students’ spatial
reasoning IQ scores were, on average, almost 10 points higher when tested after
listening to the Mozart music, compared to the two other interventions. The
results were published in a modest correspondence in the journal Nature
Pretty quickly Rauscher’s work took on a life of its own,
barreling from media report to media report with headlines hyperbolically
reporting how scientists had shown listening to Mozart objectively makes a
person smarter. Rauscher’s quite narrow little experiment had blown up into
classic story of scientific misrepresentation.
---- Over the subsequent years, many researchers have tried
to replicate Rauscher’s findings and the results have been mixed. Rauscher still affirms her original conclusions, but stresses her
findings were highly specific, and had nothing to do with improving general
intelligence.
The wave of research on the subject over the past couple of
decades may have effectively debunked the Mozart Effect in relation
to improving general intelligence, but some studies have found an unexpected
association with epilepsy. A
2001 review found there is little data to suggest specific pieces of
Mozart’s music have an effect on general intelligence, however, the review did
call the beneficial effect on patients with epilepsy “impressive.”
A new review
published in the journal Clinical Neuropsychology is offering the most
up-to-date round-ups on the link between Mozart and epilepsy. Gianluca Sesso,
one of the authors on the newly published meta-analysis, says research has
notably grown over the past few years, with a number of novel studies finding
listening to Mozart daily can significantly reduce the frequency of epileptic
seizures.
"This
isn't the first such review of the effect of Mozart's music on epilepsy, but
there has been a flow of new research in the last few years, so it was time to
stand back and look at the overall picture,” says Sesso. “The design of the
studies varies, for example some people look at a single listening session,
others at daily listening sessions, so it's not easy to form a conclusion.”
Sesso
focused on 12 studies, mostly conducted over the past decade. The studies
included in the meta-analysis are admittedly very heterogenous, with a variety
of different protocols and outcomes. However, Sesso suggests the consistent
improvements in epilepsy outcomes across the differing studies affirms the
hypothesis that music conveys some kind of beneficial effect on reducing
seizure frequency.
The new
meta-analysis calculates that listening to Mozart’s music can potentially
reduce seizure frequency between 31 and 66 percent. The effect size varies depending
on the patient and the music choice. Since Rauscher’s influential experiment,
most researchers have concentrated on Mozart’s Sonata for two pianos in D
major, KV 448, but Sesso notes there is evidence other Mozart compositions are
effective, particularly Mozart’s piano sonata in C major K545.
More
https://newatlas.com/science/mozart-effect-metastudy-music-reduces-epileptic-seizures/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f5ef05b8ec-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_09_15_08_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-f5ef05b8ec-90625829
This weekend’s musical diversion. The
mostly unheard music of Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. I don’t fancy
landing on that airstrip from either direction. And if successful, take offs,
forget it!!!! J.E. PRINZ von SACHSEN-WEIMAR:
Violin Concero No.3 in E minor, Thüringer Bach Collegium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOal1Nsjpsc
Prince
Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar (German : Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar )[1] Johann Ernst III, Duke of
Saxe-Weimar . Despite his early death he is remembered as a collector and commissioner
of music and as a composer , some of whose concertos were
arranged for harpsichord or organ by Johann Sebastian Bach , who was court organist
in Weimar at the time.
More
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Johann_Ernst_of_Saxe-Weimar
This weekends number problem solution.
How to survive a suicidal circle! (My answer: Don’t join.)
The Josephus Problem –
Numberphile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCsD3ZGzMgE
US
Politics Betting Odds https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/us-politics
Battle of Poitiers
The Black
Prince’s great victory on 19th September 1356 over the French King John Commanders
at the Battle of Poitiers : The Black Prince against King John I of France.
Size of the
armies at the Battle of Poitiers : The Black Prince’s army numbered some 7,000 knights,
men-at-arms and archers.
Numbers in
the French army are uncertain but were probably around 35,000, although
Froissart gives the size of the French army as 60,000. The French army
comprised a contingent of Scots commanded by Sir William Douglas.
---- In early September 1356 King John
reached the Loire with his large army, just as the Black Prince turned back
towards Bordeaux. The French army marched hard and overtook the unsuspecting
English force at Poitiers on Sunday 18th September 1356.
The local prelate, Cardinal Talleyrand de
Périgord, attempted to broker terms of settlement between the two armies; but
the Black Prince’s offer of handing over all the booty he had taken on his
“chevauchée” and maintaining a truce for 7 years was unacceptable to King John
who considered the English would have little chance against his overwhelming
army, and the French demand that the Black Prince surrender himself and his
army was unacceptable to the English. The two armies prepared for battle.
---- The French army broke up, many leaving the field,
while the more stalwart knights fought hard in isolated groups. A mass of
fugitives made for Poitiers pursued by the mounted Gascons to be slaughtered
outside the closed city gates.
King John
found himself alone with his 14 years old younger son Philip fighting an
overwhelming force of Gascons and English. Eventually the king agreed to
surrender.
The battle
won, the English army gave itself up to pillaging the vanquished French knights
and the lavish French camp.
More
https://www.britishbattles.com/one-hundred-years-war/battle-of-poitiers/
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