After progressing through the England age group ranks, Hartley, 23, was the only National League One player chosen to tour New Zealand in 2008 and made his full international debut against the Pacific Islanders later that year.

He has been involved in every England match day squad since and now has 16 caps to his name.

Hartley has also passed the 100-appearance mark for Northampton, which came in the Heineken Cup trip to Treviso in December and is looking forward to many more in the black, green and gold.

"Captaining this club makes me prouder than I can possibly explain so there was never any danger of me not re-signing," he said. "Saints have supported me, stood by me, helped me to grow up and Jim (Mallinder) and Dorian (West) very publicly put a huge amount of faith in me by making me the captain of the club and I want to repay that trust and support.

"It's also incredibly important for my development that I spend the next few years playing for a serious rugby-town team run by top coaches, alongside fantastic players, challenging for domestic silverware and playing regular Heineken Cup rugby and this season especially Saints are ticking all of those boxes and more.

"This is a really exciting place to be right now. The club's on the verge of very big things and I think my role going forwards is pretty clear - keep learning, keep improving, keep performing, keep winning, keep doing my best to lead by example and to keep rewarding the faith shown in me by my coaches."