CHANDOS, SIR JOHN

died Jan. 1, 1370, Mortemer, France English military captain, soldier of fortune, and a founding member of the Order of the Garter (1349). Chandos was a lifelong follower and companion of Edward the Black Prince, fighting under him at Crcy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and Njera (1367). Given the lands of the Viscount de Saint-Sauveur in the Cotentin, Chandos was made constable of Guyenne in 1362 and was seneschal of Poitou from 1360 to 1372. He had administrative talent and was esteemed by friend and foe as an honourable negotiator. His great rival, the French captain Bertrand du Guesclin, was among his admirers. Wounded in a skirmish at Lussac-les-Chteaux near Poitiers, Chandos died at Mortemer. His herald wrote a biography of Edward that is a valuable source of contemporary information; the manuscript has been translated as The Black Prince (1842).