The seeming after the fact politicization of the battle hundreds of years later interesting. On the "French" side it turns from a fair fight between good men to honarable nobles defending the peasants from foreign mercenaries, and on the "English" side it's remembered as a loss inflicted partially due to dirty tricks by the "French".

> According to the visitors' guide to the Chateau de Josselin "As evening fell that day, the victor, Captain de Beaumanoir, returned the prisoners to Josselin and had them executed."

Yeouch

Edit: Or maybe not? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32956302

I'm guessing the visitors' guide is a placard at the castle or something? Can't find any notes about it online, and googling the quote only brings me the wiki article and this comment. There should be a better citation for that quote.

Brittanica also states the article was purchased and not fact checked yet, but at least it has an author who seems credible. Still wish original sources of info were mentioned in either case.

Earliest thing translated to English I can find is wiki's [16], a translation of a 14c poem. It mentions capturing them and some parole, but not execution or ransoming (unless ransoms were part of their parole. Looking it up, at the time parole would have meant an agreement to be let free but never again engage in combat).

Either way it looks like Sir Robert Knolles went on to lead an assault on Northern France 19 years later. so that's at least one who wasn't executed.

> But few upon the English side the combat now sustain,

> For some are captives on parole, and others have been slain.

> Sir Robert Knolles and Calverley are in great jeopardy, And so is giant Bélifort, despite his bravery.

> Vainly they struggle on. -- Tis o’er with every squire and knight

> Who came that day in company with Pembroke to the fight.

> John Plesington, Helcoq, Repefort, and Richard de La Lande,

> With more to Josselin now are ta’en by Beaumanoir’s command.

Also this bit is neat. We are indeed talking about it more than 300 years later

> Three hundred years hereafter -- nay, a thousand! -- they shall hear Of this Combat of the Thirty, which, I ween, was without peer.

[16] https://web.archive.org/web/20121105020628/http://www.nipiss...

It's also playable in Age of Empires 4 heh.

I played through that mission and was thinking "Wow, they must be taking huge liberties with the historical accuracy these days. There's no way this actually happened."

Well, shows what I know.