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CHAP. power, being held to render the renunciation binding on the other. There is proof in Rymer that Edward did appoint commissioners; but owing either to the non-appearance of the French, or of some other neglect or omission, the formal renunciation did not take place.*

Special pleadings or legal cavils were, however, unworthy of great monarchs in a case like this. Suspension of hostilities and consequent peace were avowedly granted by Edward in the career of victory, the French nobles suing for it, and the English king yielding from commiseration and remorse at the horrors of war. That peace, as Edward told his parliament, had been "favourable and profitable to the kingdom of France." For Charles, therefore, to take all the advantage of peace, to avert the perils of war whilst the English king was in the prime of his health, force, and success, and at the same time to recruit his own strength, resources, and armies, and then when he found the English off their guard, their princes in sinking health, and the opportunity favourable, to point out a flaw in the treaty, and, not contented with this flaw, support it by the most barefaced falsehood †,-this was conduct disgraceful to the prince, unworthy of the nation, and calculated to excite that indignant feeling, that sense of being duped rather than conquered, which urged the English nation and its future kings to the impolitic and unfortunate resolution of renewing at once the war and the claim of the British monarch to the throne of France.

The chicane by which the treaty was declared invalid was worthily followed up by the insult of summoning

*The circumstances of the case cannot be more clearly or more fairly stated than by Hallam. Middle Ages, chap. i. part ii.

The French Court of Peers declared, in direct contradiction of record and fact, that the sovereignty of the French crown, and its right of jurisdiction over the ceded pro

vinces, were expressly reserved in the treaty of peace. "One cannot comprehend," fairly and justly observes Mr. Henri Martin, "the aim of so flagrant a lie, when there were abundance of valid, or at least of specious, reasons to allege for the rupture of the treaty of peace."

the victor of Crecy and Poitiers to appear and answer before the court of peers the complaint of his Gascon subjects. The prince answered indignantly that he would obey the summons, and come to Paris at the head of 60,000 lances. The messengers who brought the offensive summons were at first allowed to depart in peace; but, on the prince learning that they were taking their way, not back to Paris, but were proceeding on some errand to the Duke of Anjou, in Languedoc, the chief provoker of the war, he sent and had them arrested. Soon after the Counts of Comminges and Perigord committed the first act of hostilities, by waylaying the English seneschal of Rouergue, and overwhelming his small escort.

King Edward, on learning the summons of the King of France to his son, was still reluctant to believe that war was seriously meditated; and Charles was anxious to uphold him in this opinion until he had completed the corruption of the citizens of Abbeville. But no sooner had the townsfolk of Ponthieu been by bribery and promises brought to consent to receive French troops within their walls, than Charles flung off the mask and sent a valet over the channel to declare war. At the same time with the messenger arrived the news that the French had obtained possession of Abbeville, Rue, Crotoy, and the towns of Ponthieu, which were Edward's, not merely by the treaty of Bretigny, but by hereditary right.

One of the measures by which Charles had preluded the war was the conclusion of a treaty with King Henry of Castille, by which that prince engaged to equip and send to sea a certain number of vessels, the French king stipulating to fit out a proportionate number of ships. Charles, therefore, prepared a naval force at Harfleur, which he vaunted was for the invasion of England. As his policy, however, was never to fight a battle, it is difficult to believe that he seriously meditated invasion;

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CHAP. but he hoped, that by making himself master of the sea, he might intercept any succour that Edward should send to the relief of Aquitaine. The Earls of Cambridge and of Pembroke, however, went thither by Brittany, while the Duke of Lancaster, with about 1000 men-atarms, landed at Calais, and advanced towards St. Omer; on learning which, the French, to the number of 3000, broke up from Honfleur, and abandoned their mock invasion of England, which seemed merely to furnish Edward with a topic to alarm and excite his subjects, then but indifferent to French menaces or conquests. At the same time an expedition to Wales, under James Wynne, in which Charles had expended 100,000 livres, also came to nought. The 3000 men collected at Harfleur were led by the Duke of Burgundy against the Duke of Lancaster, opposite whom they encamped at Tournehem, near Guines. But as Charles gave orders that no battle should be fought, the Duke of Burgundy at last broke up his army. The Duke of Lancaster took advantage of this to march through Ponthieu, cross the Somme at the ford of Blanchtaque, and follow the coast to Harfleur. His intention was to burn the French fleet that had been equipped there. But the Count de St. Pol had flung himself into the town with a considerable force; and the Duke of Lancaster subsequently retired by the way he came to Calais, a French army accompanying but not daring to attack him. On the Garonne the year passed in skirmishes and surprises. The Duke of Berry at the head of the forces of Auvergne, the Duke of Anjou leading those of Languedoc, pressed upon the Prince of Wales, who had by no means sufficient force to oppose them. His most formidable enemy was the Archbishop of Toulouse, who came to Cahors and preached to the inhabitants so eloquently respecting the justice of the French king's cause, that he not only caused it, but sixty other towns and strongholds, to desert the Eng

lish and receive the Duke of Berry's troops. His
eloquence was great; but his listeners, says Froissart,
being more French than English, came greatly in
aid of his reasoning."
Charles himself was more an
adept at the ecclesiastical than the chivalric mode of
fighting. For he, too, and the queen made continual
processions with the clergy, shoeless and barefoot,
praying God to relieve France out of its long tribu-
lation. Edward also appointed a bishop to preach to
the people and demonstrate how wrong the King of
France had been in renewing the war. Whether
owing to ecclesiastical fervour or military skill, the
French had much the best of the campaign. The
Prince of Wales, unable to mount on horseback, could
no longer take the field; and the gallant Chandos,
whose ascendancy alone kept the Poitevins faithful,
was accidentally slain in a skirmish. He wore a
long embroidered garment over his armour, on which
he trod, and which caused him to stumble. A French
esquire seized the opportunity to strike him a sword-
blow beneath the brow, which Chandos did not see,
being blind of that eye. Clifford stood over and de-
fended the body of the hero, whose death was lamented
by both French and English. "For a hundred years,"
says Froissart, "there was no one amongst the English
so full of courtesy and of noble virtue. The French
greatly regretted that he had not been made captive
rather than slain, for he was so full of wisdom and re-
nown that he would have found means to bring about
a peace. The English, however, lost more by his death
than the French, for had he lived he would have re-
covered all their losses in Guienne."

In December, 1369, after that a campaign had exhausted his resources, Charles assembled his estates of churchmen, nobles, and townsfolk, to explain to them the cause of the war, and to demand their aid. Edward had convoked his parliament at the commencement of

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the war, and had re-assumed the arms and title of the King of France by their advice. The estates granted Charles the duty of twelve deniers the livre on sales, and a duty on Burgundy wine entering Paris. They voted also the gabelle, and four francs for each hearth within walled towns, one and a half for hearths elsewhere. With these funds Charles raised no large army, but merely enabled his brother to continue the war of invasion and conquest in Aquitaine, whilst he himself preserved a defensive attitude in the north. On the Belgian frontier hostilities broke out between the Duke of Brabant, who held for France, and the Dukes of Gueldres and Juliers, who opposed him. An action ensued, in which the Duke of Brabant was defeated and the Count of St. Pol slain. Edward sent the greater number of the troops which he could muster, under the Duke of Lancaster, to the Prince of Wales. Robert Knollis undertook, in 1370, with 1500 horse and 4000 archers, one of those marauding expeditions into France, which, it is almost needless to say, met with no resistance. Knollis went from Calais in July, proceeded by St. Omer to Arras, from thence to Rheims and Troyes, plundering and destroying as he marched. He burnt the suburbs of Arras and the town of Roye. He ransomed many other places, and thereby enriched himself to the great discontent of Edward. Having sufficiently ravaged Champagne, the English commander turned and followed the course of the Yonne to Paris, occupying Corbeil and Villejuif. Knollis marched thence to the walls of Paris, before which he remained five days, burning Arcueil, Gentilly, and the palace of the Bicêtre. Charles had 1200 men-at-arms within the walls, as well as a host of armed citizens; but, says Cuvellier

"Le bon roi Charlon qui regna sagement N'avait mis conseil de faire issir sa gent."

The king would not allow his partisans to go forth to combat, and Knollis, therefore, pursued his way south