Pons de Castillon

The arms of Pons de Castillon. Pons was one of the many lords of Gascony who fled into exile in England when the French invaded the duchy in 1294. This lent King Edward a handy pool of extra fighting men, who were then thrown into service in Flanders and Scotland.

At the battle of Falkirk Pons led a conroi of seventeen Gascon knights and sergeants and one rather incongruous Welshman, John de Galeys. Of these, twelve lost their horses in the battle. Since Pons served in the king's bataille, this can only mean the king's own battalion had to go into action, implying Falkirk was an even more desperately fought action that previously thought.

After the shattering French defeat at Courtrai in 1302, Pons was one of 112 Gascon exiles who sailed home from Portsmouth at the head of an army. He afterwards helped the seneschal, John de Havering, to put down private wars in the duchy.