mediator in the quarrels of princes, and though cardinals were
repeatedly charged with missions of peace in all directions, since
the French had caused the overthrow of Boniface VIII. it had no
longer its old influence or its old character. Seated at Avignon,
the Pope was completely in the hands of the French King; while the
rising spirit of freedom, the abuse of crusades which had been
frequently employed against Christian princes, and the infinite
exactions invented by the papal lawyers, had roused the temper of
the people against him. The English Parliament, therefore, was
doing a less difficult thing than the Parliament of Lincoln in
Edward I.’s reign, when it insisted that the mediation specified
in the treaty should be regarded only as that of a private man,
without special authority or sanctity, and coupled even that
modified acceptance of the offer with a strong protest against
provisors. Having thus protested against the Pope, not without
covert allusion to the King’s own connection with him, the people
made grants, which were terribly wanted to save the King from his
impoverished condition. The great Italian house of the Bardi was
ruined by the great advances it made to him; the German merchants
of the Steelyard, the only corporation of German merchants in
London, had got a grant of much of the taxes; the subsidies, as we
have seen, had been paid in raw wool, seized at the rate of £6 the
sack, and sold at £20; the main point of Bishop Stratford’s defence
had been that the enormous interest on the royal loans swallowed up
at once all the money that was collected. But for the timely and
liberal grants of the people the government must apparently have
stopped. Meanwhile, the Pope was preparing his decision; but it was
impossible to expect an honest verdict from him, and though, by the
treaty, Philip should have restored his prisoners, he still kept De
Montfort and others in prison.
[Sidenote: War breaks out again. 1346.]
[Sidenote: Derby hard pressed in Guienne.]
[Sidenote: Edward to relieve him lands in Normandy.]
[Sidenote: Marches towards Calais.]
It was plain that the war would soon be renewed. The Parliament
in the year 1344 made their grants on the express understanding
that this was the case, and that Scotland was waiting to join in
the quarrel. In 1345 the expected event took place. The close
connection between England and Artevelt has been mentioned. It
was of the last importance to the Flemings that England should
help them against their Count, and supply their looms with wool.
Artevelt now offered to make the Prince of Wales Count of Flanders;
and in all probability the attack upon France would have been in
the old direction, had not a quarrel between the weavers and the
fullers in the Flemish towns produced the murder of their great
leader. It was in Gascony that the war actually broke out. Thither
the Earl of Derby,[59] the son of Henry of Lancaster, had been
sent, and he had there won a great victory over the French at
Auberoche. He was soon, however, hard pressed by Philip’s eldest
son, the Duke of Normandy, and driven to stand a siege in the
fortress of Aiguillon, on the Garonne. Meanwhile, a great fleet and
army had been collected, apparently for the purpose of relieving
them. But while sailing down the Channel Edward suddenly changed
his course, it is believed on the advice of Geoffrey of Harcourt, a
French refugee, and landed at La Hogue in Normandy. His object was
to draw the Duke of Normandy northward, and thus to relieve Derby,
while he himself marched through France into Flanders, and joined
his Flemish allies, who had already crossed the French frontiers.
But in executing this manœuvre, Edward found all the bridges over
the Seine broken, and the French King in force upon the other side,
evidently desirous of hemming him in between his own army and that
of his son advancing from the south. It was in vain that Edward
pushed even to the suburbs of Paris, Philip would not be provoked
to break his plan of the campaign. It became absolutely necessary
for Edward to cross the river. A rapid feint upon Paris left the
broken bridge of Poissy open. Edward hurried back, mended the
bridge, and the river was passed.
The tables were now turned. It was the French King who wanted,
Edward who avoided, battle. He pushed on, destroying the country as
he went, till a fresh obstacle met him at the Somme. With Philip
and his vastly superior army immediately in his rear, his position
became critical. A peasant was induced to show him the ford of
Blanchetaque, near Abbeville, where the river could be crossed.
Even that ford was strongly defended, and only won after a sharp
skirmish in the midst of the water. The returning tide checked
the pursuit of the French, and enabled Edward, who had at length
determined to bring matters to a decisive issue, to choose his
ground in the neighbourhood of Cressy.[60] There was fought the
first of that great series of battles, in which the small armies of
the English showed themselves superior to overwhelming numbers of
French.
[Sidenote: Change in the character of the army.]
The cause of this superiority lay partly in the skill of the
English archers, but still more in the practised discipline of
regular volunteer soldiers, when opposed to an army still formed
upon the feudal model. The wars with the Scotch had taught the
English a lesson they had not been slow to learn. Edward I. had
been a soldier of the old school; the strength of his armies had
always consisted in the heavy armed cavalry, in which man and horse
had been laden with defensive armour to the utmost limits of their
capacity; the infantry had been entirely a secondary consideration.
But Wallace had proved at Cambuskenneth, and (even though defeated)
at Falkirk, the power of resistance which resides in firmly
arranged bodies of infantry. Bruce at Bannockburn had shown still
more plainly the weakness of heavy cavalry upon ground not exactly
suited for their particular form of fighting. Edward III.’s chief
claim to greatness as a soldier rests on the readiness and skill
with which he adopted the idea supplied him by Bruce and Wallace.
The difficulties of keeping together a feudal array during a
lengthened foreign campaign, the comparative cheapness of an
equipment of foot-soldiers, the increasing number of freemen not
employed upon the soil, were all likewise inducements to change
the character of the army. The cavalry employed in the French
wars was insignificant in comparison to the infantry. The midland
counties supplied the army with archers, Wales with ordinary
infantry. This change in the army, itself in part the fruit of
social growth, reacted on society. Regular hired troops required
trained commanders; and there thus grew up a class of professional
soldiers, whose existence dealt a heavy blow to the hitherto
unquestioned superiority of the feudal leaders.
[Illustration: CRESSY
_August 26. 1346._
1. Edward III.
2. Northampton & Arundel.
3. Prince of Wales.
4. Genoese.
5. Alençon.
6. Philip VI.
(_From Sprüner._)]
[Sidenote: Battle of Cressy. Aug. 26.]
The hired army of the English, and the professional soldiers who
commanded them, formed a far more efficient body of troops than was
supplied by the feudal levies and noble leaders of the French. The
English were arranged in three divisions, the foremost of which
was nominally commanded by the Prince of Wales. From the summit
of the hill, Edward had a general survey of the field. As usual,
the archers began the battle; their flights of arrows threw the
Genoese crossbow-men, to whom they were opposed, into confusion.
The confusion once begun, the very numbers of the French did but
add to it. The Duke of Alençon, and the Count of Flanders, with
their followers, cut their way through their own troops before they
could reach the English men-at-arms. While these successfully held
their ground, the remaining masses of the French were decimated by
the English arrows, nor could any sufficient support be given to
Alençon. At length, as night closed in, Philip left the field, and
the further disconnected efforts of individual French commanders
were useless. The English could hardly believe their good fortune,
and Edward, fearing a return of their enemies, kept them under
arms during the night. The loss of the French was enormous; the
heralds appointed to examine the field reported the death of eleven
princes, 1200 knights, and 30,000 of inferior rank. The English had
killed considerably more than their own numbers; but their little
army was quite insufficient to advance into France, and Edward,
following his original plan, marched on to the siege of Calais.
[Sidenote: Battle of Neville’s Cross. Oct. 17.]
The battle was on the 26th of August. Already some days before,
Lionel of Clarence, who had been left in command of England, had
summoned troops for the defence of the Scotch border; and Philip
now wrote strongly to David, begging him to make a diversion. David
was not sorry to answer to the call. Cumberland was overrun, and
the Bishopric of Durham; but the English levies, inspirited by
the courageous language of the Queen, and under the joint command
of the Percies and Nevilles, defeated him completely at Neville’s
Cross, David himself being taken prisoner. The battle of Cressy
had relieved the Earl of Derby, who was again overrunning the
south-west of France. The year closed in triumph for the English
arms in all directions.
[Sidenote: Siege of Calais. 1347.]
This year of success was shortly crowned by the fall of Calais.
Edward had attacked that city by way of blockade, shutting his army
round it, and guarding the approaches by the sea with his ships.
All the efforts of the French King to relieve it had been useless,
and the slow process of famine at length obliged its defenders to
surrender. The inhabitants had not been free from the usual crime
of seafaring life at that time--they were the rivals in piracy
of the Cinque Ports and St. Malo. They had but little mercy to
expect from the King. Eustace de St. Pierre, an important citizen,
offered to give himself up, with a certain number of friends, to
bear the first brunt of the King’s anger, hoping thereby to save
his fellow-citizens. Barefooted and bareheaded, with ropes round
their necks, Eustace, with his devoted friends, appeared before the
King. Irritated with the long defence of the town, and their former
misdeeds, Edward would hear of no mercy; it was only at the urgent
prayer of Queen Philippa that the lives of the deputation were
spared. The advantages of the possession of Calais were obvious.
It afforded an excellent entrance into France in the immediate
neighbourhood of the King’s Flemish allies, and supplied him also
with a good central mart for the national commerce, which in the
existing state of trade was a thing much desired. The inhabitants
were therefore given their choice of being French or English; those
who refused to become English were expelled, and their places
occupied by English colonists, and the whole “staple”[61] trade of
England was for a certain number of years confined to this town,
which accordingly became prosperous.
[Sidenote: Truce.]
[Sidenote: The Black Death. 1349.]
It is somewhat strange to observe the smallness of the effect of
the late great victories. Edward seemed no nearer his objects
than before he had won them. The exhaustion of his own kingdom
was almost equal to that of France, and shortly after the fall of
Calais, a truce was made for a few months, and afterwards from time
to time extended. One cause, no doubt, of the general quietness
which prevailed at this time in Europe was the presence of the
Black Death, a terrible scourge, which, after passing over Europe,
reached England in 1349. Its ravages were fearful. It is calculated
that at least a third, if not a half, of the whole population of
England was swept away. Such calculations are based partly upon
the mortality among the clergy: more than one half of the priests
in Yorkshire died, more than two-thirds of the beneficed clergy of
Norfolk. In Norwich alone 60,000 people are said to have perished.
So fearful a plague unavoidably changed the whole relation between
employer and employed, and while famine was threatening the
country, while farms could no longer be worked or harvests gathered
for want of hands, there was a natural disinclination to continue
the war.
[Sidenote: Renewal of the war. 1355.]
It was not, therefore, till the year 1355 that the war was renewed.
Meanwhile, Philip of Valois had died, and been succeeded by his
son John, and at the instigation of the Pope, following his usual
pacific course, in 1354, a treaty had been set on foot. Edward,
regarding his claim to the French throne as hopeless, was willing
to accept a peace, if the French King would give him the province
of Aquitaine in full sovereignty. English plenipotentiaries
appeared at Guisnes ready to conclude the treaty, but the French
envoys then declared that they would never surrender a fragment of
the French sovereignty.
[Sidenote: Destructive march of the Black Prince. 1355.]
Edward had no choice, therefore, but to renew the war. He now
possessed two points whence an attack on France was easy; while he
pushed out from Calais, the Black Prince was to lead an army from
Bordeaux. As so often happened upon the northern frontier, the
operations were without fruit; and the King was hastily recalled
to England by the news that the Scots had surprised Berwick, and
were over the Borders. The Black Prince’s expedition was more
successful. He marched at the foot of the Pyrenees, and all through
Languedoc to Narbonne, and to Carcassonne, plundering and burning
in all directions, destroying in seven weeks more than five hundred
towns or villages. Such brutal and destructive war had indeed
become habitual to the English.
[Illustration: POITIERS.
_September 19. 1356._]
[Sidenote: The Burnt Candlemas.]
[Sidenote: Black Prince’s expedition north. 1356.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Poitiers.]
The King’s return checked the advance of the Scots. Purchasing
the property and rights of Edward Balliol, he advanced into
the country, determined to treat it as a land of rebels. He
systematically destroyed every building, and laid waste the country
for twenty miles from the coast. But his severity was of no avail;
famine again drove him home, and the Scots again hung upon his
retreating forces. The following year the Black Prince attempted
a repetition of his last exploit. But he now pressed northwards,
and had reached the neighbourhood of Poitiers, when the news that
a large French army was near forced upon him the danger of his
situation, thus wholly separated from his base of operations. The
army which threatened him was commanded by King John in person,
and all the French princes were with him. So irresistible did it
seem, that Edward would have listened to any good terms, but John
would hear of nothing but unconditional surrender, and the English,
remembering their success at Cressy, determined to fight. Again,
what was regarded as their extraordinary good fortune, but which
was no doubt their superior organization, secured them complete
victory. On a piece of ground difficult of access, except by a
narrow road exposed to the fire of the archers, and covered by
enclosed country, the hedges of which were lined by the same class
of troops, he awaited the assault of the French. The consequences
can be easily conceived. The heavy armed Frenchmen in the road
formed a target for the arrows; the confined space encumbered with
wounded men and horses made the confusion irremediable. The first
body of the French being thus disposed of, the Black Prince with
his men-at-arms attacked the second, while the third, alarmed by
a flank attack of six hundred English horse whom the Prince had
detached for that purpose, left the field. Between the Prince and
the second body of the French the conflict was a fierce one. It
eventually terminated in the complete victory of the English, and
the capture of King John.
[Sidenote: Release of King David.]
[Sidenote: Peace with Scotland.]
This victory was followed by a truce for two years, and Edward had
time to attend more particularly to the state of his affairs with
regard to Scotland. King David had been a prisoner, honourably
treated, in England since his capture at the battle of Neville’s
Cross. More than once the national party in his country had
attempted to come to terms for his release. His character, however,
was not such as to induce them to be eager on the matter; and
he himself seems to have preferred the comfort of England to
the position of King among his unruly subjects. He had been so
obsequious, that he had twice during these ten years visited
Scotland as Edward’s agent, for the purpose of obtaining, if
possible, the submission of those who were contending for his
throne. But the Stewart, who was the head of the national party,
refused the recognition of English supremacy, and no terms could be
arrived at. In 1354 Edward thought he had gained the success of his
plan. David was to be released for 90,000 marks. As we have seen,
the intervention of the French, followed by the fearful vengeance
of Edward in that expedition which is known as the Burnt Candlemas,
put an end to this treaty. Now, when all hope of help from France
was gone, they renewed their negotiation, and David was at length
released upon the promise of 100,000 marks, in ten yearly payments,
a promise confirmed by the delivery of important hostages. Edward
knew that he was really releasing a willing subject, and that it
was probable that the failure of payment, or the party quarrels of
the country, would before long put the kingdom into his hands.
[Sidenote: Terrible condition of France.]
[Sidenote: Reviving power of the Dauphin. 1359.]
He was, at all events, free to act against France. On the capture
of its King, that country had fallen into the wildest disorder.
The Free Companies, as the hired bodies of soldiery were called,
from which both armies had been recruited, freed from their
engagements, pillaged the helpless country. In their misery the
lower commonalty broke out in fierce insurrections. The people of
Paris, under the Provost of the Merchants, Stephen Marcel, enacted
those scenes of revolution with which that city has been too often
familiar. Wearing the red cap of liberty, the mob burst into the
palace, killed two of the Dauphin’s most trusted counsellors before
his eyes, and drove that Prince to Compiègne. Charles of Navarre,
grandson of Louis X., who was surnamed the Bad, broke from the
prison in which he had been confined, made common cause with the
Parisian mob, roused his tenants in Normandy, where he had much
property, to insurrection, and called in the English King. What
with the Jacquerie,[62] the fierce plunderings of the soldiery, the
attacks of England, and the riot in Paris, the condition of France
was in the last degree terrible. However, the murder of Stephen
Marcel in Paris, and the success of the Dauphin in compelling
Charles the Bad to enter into treaty with him, somewhat changed the
aspect of affairs. Nor would the Dauphin consent to yield any part
of France to his English conquerors.
[Sidenote: Edward again invades France.]
[Sidenote: Want of permanent results induces Edward to make the
peace of Brétigny. 1360.]
Thus the time of truce wore away in useless negotiations. As it
ended, Edward renewed his invasions. Sir Walter Manny poured
with an army of German hirelings over Picardy and Artois. Edward,
accompanied by all his sons except Thomas, whom he left at home as
ruler, pushed into the heart of Champagne, tried in vain to take
Rheims, where he hoped to be crowned, and purchased the neutrality
of the Duke of Burgundy. But, successful and destructive as these
invasions were, they were only vast plundering excursions; there
was little systematic action, no gradual conquest of the country,
no firm basis of operations. The very destruction which they caused
roused the national spirit, and while Edward pushed to Paris,
and tried in vain to excite the Dauphin to a general engagement,
the Norman fleet was ravaging England in the neighbourhood of
Winchelsea. Moreover, the wasted country could not support the
invading armies unassisted by a proper commissariat, and as Edward,
retiring from before Paris, was met by a fearful tempest, which
seems to have forced upon him the difficulties of his position,
he expressed himself ready to listen to the terms of peace which
the envoys of the Legate and the Dauphin offered him. Thus, on the
8th of May, the great peace of Brétigny was made. The terms were,
of course, very favourable to the English. Not only Gascony and
Guienne, but all Poitou, with the counties of Xaintonge, Agen,
Périgord, Limoges, Cahors, Rovergue, Bigorre, and in the north,
Montreuil, Ponthieu, with Calais and Guisnes, were to be the
possessions of the English crown, freed from all feudal claims. In
return, all claim to the crown of France was given up, together
with all claims in Normandy, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, Brittany, and
Flanders. King John was to be liberated on the payment of 3,000,000
pieces of gold.[63] Scotland and Flanders were to be left to
themselves.
[Sidenote: Treaty not carried out. 1364.]
Edward thus appeared, even though he had not made good his claims
to the crown, to have regained and put on a better footing the much
disputed provinces of the south-west. But it was one thing to make
such a treaty and another to secure its being carried out. The very
misery of France produced a reaction. Though King John himself
returned to France to collect it, his enormous ransom was not
forthcoming. The barons of Poitou declared that they would not be
severed from the French crown; while the hatred to the English was
kept alive by the great bands of discharged soldiers, who, joining
themselves to the great Free Companies, swept across France, put
the Pope himself to ransom, and finding no congenial employment
elsewhere, quartered themselves on the people. At the head of
the party who were set against the completion of the treaty was
Charles the Dauphin. His accession upon the death of John, who had
honourably returned to England when he found himself unable to pay
his ransom, marked a change in the national policy of France. Under
the new King, it was managed that the renunciations required by the
treaty should not be carried out. There were other causes also at
work which promised a speedy renewal of the war.
[Sidenote: War in Brittany continues.]
[Sidenote: Affairs of Castile.]
[Sidenote: France and England support the rival claimants.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Navarette.]