few English archers present, were mingled with the 300 picked mounted men in first line, but, as the latter charged, their advance masked the fire of the arblasters in the first few seconds, besides leaving the other, dismounted, lines far in rear. Thus the first attack on the Black Prince’s line, which was greatly strengthened by trees and hedges in front of it, was promptly brought to a standstill by the arrows of the archers lining a hedge which overlooked the hollow in front; and the earl of Oxford hastily drawing out a body of archers beyond the defenders left, into the low-lying ground of the Maussion valley, completed their rout by firing up the hollow into their flank. But it was not so easy to deal with the second line of dismounted men-at-arms, led by the dauphin, which was the next to arrive on the French side. The hedge indeed was held, and the assailants, unable to advance beyond the hollow, gave way, but to achieve this the prince had to use all but 400 of his men. Had the third body of the French advanced with equal spirit the battle would probably have ended there and then, but the duke of Orleans, who commanded it, was so demoralized by the retirement of the dauphin’s division that he led his whole force off the field without striking a blow. Thereupon the king himself advanced furiously with the fourth and last line, and as it came on the situation of the English seemed so desperate that the prince was advised to retreat. But his determined courage was unshaken; seeing that this was the last attack he put his reserve into line, and rallying around this nucleus all men who could still fight, he prepared not only to repulse but to counter-attack the French. He dispatched a small force under the Captal de Buch to ride round the flank of the enemy and to appear in their rear at the crisis of the fight. Though a medieval knight, he knew as well as Napoleon at Arcola that when the moral force of both sides has passed its culminating point even a materially insignificant threat serves to turn the balance. And so it fell out. When both lines were fighting hand-to-hand, the fifty horsemen of the Captal de Buch appeared in rear of the French. The front ranks fought on, but the rear of the French melted away rapidly, and at last only a group of the bravest, with King John and his son Philip, a boy of fourteen, in their midst, were left. This band continued their hopeless resistance for a time, but in the end they were killed or captured to a man. The rest of the French army, totally dispersed, was pursued by the victors until nightfall. Two thousand five hundred of the French, 2000 of them knights and men-at-arms, were killed, including the constable, one of the marshals, the standard bearer and six other great lords. The prisoners included the king and his son Philip, the other marshal and 25 great lords, and 1933 knights and men-at-arms as well as 500 others.
POITOU, one of the old provinces of France, which also
formed one of the great military governments of the kingdom,
was bounded on the N. by Brittany, Anjou and Touraine, on
the S. by Angoumois and Aunis; on the E. by Touraine, Berri
and Marche; and on the W. by the ocean. It was divided into
Lower Poitou, which corresponded to the modern department of
La Vendée, and Upper Poitou, now split into the departments
of Deux-Sevres and Vienne. The principal towns in Upper
Poitou were Poitiers the capital, Mirebeau, Chatellerault,
Richelieu, Loudun, Thouars, Mauléon, Parthenay, Niort, &c.;
and in Lower Poitou Fontenay-le-Comté, Maillezais, Lucon
and Roche-sur-Yon. Île d’Yeu or Île-Dieu and Noirmoutier
belonged to the province. Ecclesiastically, Poitou was a diocese
which was broken up in 1317 to form two new dioceses of Lucon
and Maillezais, the seat of the latter was transferred in the 17th
century to La Rochelle. For the administration of justice,
Poitou was attached to the parlement of Paris. After 778 it
formed part of the domain of the counts of Poitiers (q.v.). Poitou
(Poictou, Pictavia) takes its name from the Pictones or Pictavi,
a Gallic nation mentioned by Caesar, Strabo and Ptolemy, and
described by Strabo as separated from the Namnetes on the
north by the Loire. It formed part of the territory known as
Aquitaine (q.v.).
For the history see the Mémoires of the Société des Antiquaires de l’Ouest (1835 sqq.) and the documents published by the Archives historiques du Poitou (1872 sqq.); also the Dictionnaire topographique de la Vienne, by L. Rédet (1881).
POKEBERRY, POKEWEED (from the American-Indian pocan, applied to any plant yielding a red or yellow dye), in botany, the popular name of Phylolacca decandra, a strong-smelling perennial herb, a native of North America, with ovate-lanceolate sharp-pointed leaves, racemes of small greenish-white flowers and flattish berries nearly 12 in. in diameter, which contain a crimson juice. The young asparagus-like shoots are sometimes used as a pot-herb, but the roots are poisonous. The plant is
often cultivated in Europe, and has become naturalized in the Mediterranean region.
POKER, a game at cards. By most writers its origin has been ascribed to Il Frusso, an Italian game of the 15th century, from which the game of Primiera, called in Spain Primero, and La Prime in France, in which country it was elaborated into L’Ambigu or Le Meslé. In England the game was played under the name of Post and Pair, of which the modern Brag is only a variation. But Mr R. F. Foster proves that, though poker is probably a descendant of Primero, and perhaps of a much
more ancient Persian game called As ras, it is not a development of the English Brag, but was introduced from France into the colony of Louisiana, the name being merely an English mispronunciation of Poque, a game described as early as 1718 in the Académie universelle des jeux, and still played in Germany under the name Pochen. The earliest mention of the game in America is in G. B. Zieber’s Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (1843), and it is probable that poker was generally played on the Mississippi steamboats as early as 1830, twenty cards being used, “full-deck poker” with 52 cards being invented later. “Draw-poker” was introduced about 1860.
Poker is played for money stakes, markers or “chips” of different value being used. These are either divided equally among the players, or, more usually, one player acts as banker and sells chips to the other players, redeeming them at the end of the game. There are several varieties of the game, but Draw Poker, played by from 2 to 6 or even 7 persons with a pack of 52 cards, is the most popular. The player who wins the cut for deal shuffles the pack, which is then cut by the player at his right. He then deals five cards, one by one, to each player. If a card is faced during the deal the player must accept it; if two are exposed a new deal must ensue. Before the deal is complete the player at the dealer's left, who is said to hold the age, and is called “the age,” places (or puts up) on the table in front of him half the stake for which he wishes to play. This is called blind. The player at the age's left then looks at his hand and announces whether he will play. If his hand seems too weak he throws his cards away face-down and “drops out” of the game. If he elects to play he puts up his ante, which is twice the amount of the blind. The other players, including the dealer, then either come in, i.e. elect to play, each putting up his ante, or, deeming their hands worthless, drop out. The age, who has the last say, may then himself drop out, forfeiting his half-stake already put up, or he may come in and make good his ante, i.e. put up his unpaid half of the blind. Each player in his turn has the privilege of increasing the stake to any amount not exceeding the limit,[1] which is always agreed upon before the game begins. Thus, if the limit is £1, and the age has put up 6d. as his blind, any player may, when his tum comes to declare whether he will play, say, “I play and make it 10s. (or a sovereign) more to draw cards,” at the same time placing the ante plus 10s. (or a sovereign) in the middle of the table. Thereupon all the other players, each in turn, must see the raise, i.e. pay in the additional sum, or drop out of the game, forfeiting what they have already paid into the pool. The “age” being the last to complete, is in the best position to raise, as a player who has already completed is less likely to sacrifice his stake and withdraw from the game. On the other hand each player
- ↑ “Table stakes” means playing strictly for cash; “unlimited” explains itself, although even when this is the rule a certain high limit is pretty generally observed.
