EDWARD III.—Continued.
How the English gained a sea-fight; how King Edward and his son the
Black Prince won the battle of Crecy; how Calais was taken, and
how Queen Philippa saved the lives of six of the citizens; how the
Black Prince won the battle of Poitiers, and took the King of France
prisoner, and brought him to London.
You have heard, I am sure, that the English are famous for being the
best sailors in the world, and for gaining the greatest victories
when they fight at sea. At the beginning of Edward’s French war he
gained the first very great battle that had been fought at sea by the
English, since the times when they had to drive away the Danes: it
was fought very near a town called Sluys, on the coast of Flanders.
Instead of guns to fire from the ships, they had great stones for the
men to throw at one another when they were near enough, and bows and
arrows to shoot with from a distance. This was indeed a very great
battle; the English and the French never before fought by sea with so
many men and so many and such big ships; and so I have told you of
it.
Besides this sea-fight, there were two great victories won by King
Edward on land, which are among the most glorious that ever have been
gained by the English. The first was the battle of Crecy.
The French had three times as many men as the English at Crecy, so
King Edward knew he must be careful how he placed his army, that it
might not be beaten. And he took care that the soldiers should have a
good night’s rest, and a good breakfast before they began the battle;
so they were fresh, and ready to fight well.
Then the king sent forward his dear son, Edward the Black Prince, who
was only sixteen years old, to begin the fight. It was about three
o’clock in the afternoon, on a hot summer’s day, when the battle
began, and they fought till dark. At one time, some of the gentlemen
near the prince were afraid he would be overcome, and sent to his
father to beg him to come and help him. The king asked if his son
was killed or hurt. “No,” said the messenger. “Then,” said the king,
“he will do well, and I choose him to have the honour of the day
himself.” Soon after this the French began to run away, and it is
dreadful to think how many of them were killed.
Two kings who had come to help the King of France, one of the king’s
brothers, and more French barons, gentlemen, and common soldiers than
I can tell you, were killed. But very few English indeed were slain.
When the King of England met his son at night, after the great battle
of Crecy was won, he took him in his arms and cried, “My brave son!
Go on as you have begun! You are indeed my son, for you have behaved
bravely to-day! You have shown that you are worthy to be a king.”
And I believe that it made King Edward happier to see his son behave
so bravely in the battle, and so modestly afterwards, than even the
winning of that great victory.
A year after the battle of Crecy, the city of Calais, which you know
is in France, on the coast just opposite to Dover, in England, was
taken by Edward.
The people of Calais, who did not wish their town to belong to the
King of England, had defended it almost a year, and would not have
given it up to him at last, if they could have got anything to eat.
But Edward’s soldiers prevented the market people from carrying
bread, or meat, or vegetables, into the city, and many people died of
hunger before the captain would give it up.
I am sorry to tell you that Edward, instead of admiring the citizens
for defending their town so well, was so enraged at them, that he
wanted to have them all hanged; and when his chief officers begged
him not to be cruel to those who had been so faithful to their own
king, he said he would only spare them on condition that six of their
best men should bring him the keys of the city gates, that they must
come bare-headed and bare-footed, with nothing but their shirts on,
and with ropes round their necks, as he meant to hang them at least.
When the people of Calais heard this, the men and women, and even the
children, thought it would almost be better to die of hunger, than
to give up the brave men who had been their companions in all their
misery. Nobody could speak.
At last Eustace de St. Pierre, one of the chief gentlemen in Calais,
offered to be one of the six; then another of the richest citizens,
and then four other gentlemen came forward, and said they would
willingly die to save the rest of the people in Calais. And they took
the keys, and went out of the town in their shirts, bare-headed and
bare-footed, to King Edward’s tent, which was a little way from the
city gates.
Then King Edward called for the headsman, and wanted him to cut off
the heads of those gentlemen directly; but Queen Philippa, who was in
the tent, hearing what the king had ordered, came out suddenly, and
fell upon her knees, and would not get up till the king promised to
spare the lives of the six brave men of Calais. At last Edward, who
loved her very dearly, said, “Dame, I can deny you nothing”; and so
he ordered his soldiers to let the good Eustace de St. Pierre and his
companions go where they pleased, and entirely forgave the citizens
of Calais.
The second great victory which made King Edward’s name so glorious
was that of Poitiers. It was gained about ten years after the battle
of Crecy.
King Philip of France, with whom Edward had quarrelled, was dead, and
his son John, who was called the Good, had become King of France.
Edward went to war again with him, to try to get the kingdom for
himself, and at first he thought he might succeed.
The Black Prince was in France with a small army, and reached a place
near Poitiers before he met the King of France, who had a great army,
with at least five men for every one that was with Edward.
But Prince Edward followed the example his father had set him at the
battle of Crecy: he placed his soldiers very skilfully, and he took
care that they should have rest and food. The battle began early in
the morning, and ended as the battle of Crecy did, by the greater
number of the French running away, and a great many of their best
gentlemen and soldiers being killed.
But the chief thing that happened was, that King John of France and
his youngest son were taken prisoners, and brought to the Black
Prince’s tent, where he was resting himself after the fight. Prince
Edward received King John as kindly as if he had come to pay him a
visit of his own accord. He seated him in his own place, ordered the
best supper he could get to be made ready for him, and waited on the
king at table as carefully as if he had not been his prisoner. Then
he said everything he could to comfort him; and all the time he was
with him he behaved with the greatest kindness and respect.
When Prince Edward brought his prisoner, the King of France, to
London, as there were no carriages then, they rode on horseback into
the city. King John was well dressed, and mounted on a beautiful
white horse which belonged to the prince; while Edward himself rode
by his side upon a black pony to wait upon him and do anything he
might want. And in that manner he went with King John to the palace
belonging to the King of England called the Savoy. King John was set
free when peace was made; but the French never could afford money
enough to pay the English what they asked for letting him go back
to his people. So the good King John came back, to keep his word of
honour, and died in England.
This goodness and gentleness of the Black Prince made everybody love
him. And his bravery in battle, and his wisdom in governing those
parts of France which his father and he had conquered, gave the
English hopes that when he became king he would be as good a king as
his father, and that England would be still happier.
[Illustration: Edward the Black Prince waiting on John, King of
France.]
But the Black Prince died at the age of forty-six, just one year
before his father. His good mother Philippa, had died some years
before. And all the people of England grieved very much. Their good
queen, their favourite prince, and their wise and brave King Edward
the Third, all died while the Black Prince’s son was quite a child.
And though some of the prince’s brothers were brave and clever men,
the people knew, by what had happened in former times, that the
country is never well ruled while the king is too young to govern for
himself.