Poitiers (pwä′tyā̇′), a city of France, occupying the summit and slopes of a hill at whose base flow Clain and Boivre Rivers. Before the French Revolution it had a large number of religious edifices, which even yet are quite numerous. Within and about the city are numerous Roman and Celtic remains, and here, in 1882, the remains of an entire Gallo-Roman town were discovered, with temple, baths and streets spread over 14 acres. In the vicinity of Poitiers Alaric II, the Visigoth was defeated and slain by Clovis in 507, and between Poitiers and Tours Charles Martel won his great victory in 732 over the Saracens under Abd-ur-Rahman. On Sept. 19, 1356, about five miles north of the city, Edward the Black Prince, with only 12,000 or 14,000 English and Gascon troops, defeated about 60,000 of the troops of King John of France, killing 11,000 and taking more than 2,000 prisoners. Population 39,302.