When King John of France had re-conquered all the towns and castles in Lower Normandy, which belonged to the King of Navarre, whom he detained in prison, he returned to the city of Paris. He had not been long there before he heard that the Prince of Wales, with his whole army, had invaded his kingdom,[23] and was advancing toward the fertile country of Berry. When this was told him, the king said, with an oath, that he would immediately set out after him, and give him battle wherever he should find him. He issued out a special summons to all nobles and others who held fiefs under him, that they should not, under any pretence whatever, absent themselves without incurring his highest displeasure, but, immediately on the receipt of these letters, set out to meet him on the borders of Touraine and Blois; for he was determined to fight the English. The king, to hasten the business, marched from Paris,--for he had at this time a large body of men at arms in the field,--and went to Chartres, to gain more certain intelligence of the enemy. He remained there some time; and great crowds of troops and men at arms came to him from the different countries of Auvergne, Berry, Burgundy, Lorraine, Hainault, Vermandois, Picardy, Brittany, and Normandy. They passed through the town on their arrival, to show their musters, and took up their quarters in the fields, according to the orders of the two marshals, the Lord John de Clermont and Lord Arnold d’Andreghen. The king gave orders for all the towns in Anjou, Poitou, Maine, and Touraine, to be well garrisoned, and provided with all things,--especially those on the borders, by which it was hoped the English would pass,--that they might be enclosed, and cut off from any subsistence for themselves and horses. In spite of this, however, the prince, who had with him two thousand men at arms and six thousand archers, rode on at his ease, and collected everywhere provisions in plenty. They found the country of Auvergne, which they had entered and overrun, very rich, and all things in great abundance; but they would not stop there, as they were desirous of combating their enemies.