The Battle of Taillebourg, a major medieval battle fought in July 1242, was the decisive engagement of the Saintonge War. It pitted a French Capetian army under the command of King Louis IX, also known as Saint Louis, and his younger brother Alphonse of Poitiers, against forces led by King Henry III of England, his brother Richard of Cornwall and their stepfather Hugh X of Lusignan. The battle was fought on the bridge built over the river Charente, a point of strategic importance on the route between northern and southern France. Later it was fought near the city of Saintes. The English and their allies were routed and disgracefully beaten, and were forced to make peace but the mild and pious King of France contented himself of leaving things as they had been before the war. The battle put down the Poitevin revolt and marked the end of Henry III's hopes of restoring the Angevin Empire, which had collapsed during his father's reign. Prelude By the terms of his will, Louis VIII had given the title of Count of Poitou to his younger son Alphonse. In June 1241, Louis IX held a plenary court at Saumur in Anjou and announced that Alphonse, having come of age, was ready to come into possession. Many nobles from Aquitaine attended the court, among them Isabella of Angoulême and her husband, the Count of La Marche, Hugh de Lusignan. After the meeting at Saumur, Louis went to Poitiers to install his brother ceremonially as the Count of Poitiers. The Lusignans were firmly against Capetian authority in the region. Isabella was particularly frustrated that her son, the Earl of Cornwall and brother to King Henry III of England, had not received the title at Poitiers. Shortly after his arrival at Poitiers, Louis learned that Hugh, Count of La Marche, had assembled an army at the nearby town of Lusignan. Talks between Louis and Alphonse and Hugh and Isabella did not resolve the dispute. In April 1242, Louis assembled a force at Chinon that some contemporaries estimated at around 50,000 men (but credibly estimated at 25,000 men by modern historians) consisting of knights, men-at-arms, and foot soldiers. They captured a multitude of rebel castles. On 20 May, King Henry III of England arrived at Royan and joined the rebelling French nobles, forming an army that modern estimates number at around 30,000 men, and which varied in