+Source.+--_Annals of Dunstable_, pp. 49-50. (_Annales Monastici_, vol.
iii.--Rolls Series.)
Meanwhile the Earl of Chester laid siege to the Castle of Mount Sorel
with the King's army; but the Barons, who had been delaying in London,
set out with the Count of Perche, the Marshal of France, and a thousand
men, granted to them by Louis, and proceeded innocently enough as far as
Dunstable, but thereafter devastated everything, sparing not even widows
and churches. They forced the Earl to raise the siege of the
above-mentioned castle, and then, after changing its garrison, and
renewing its stock of provisions, they continued on their way to
Lincoln, where, joining Gilbert de Gaunt and other Barons there present,
they besieged the Castle of Lincoln, which was gallantly defended by a
noble lady, Nicola by name. But some days afterwards, the legate, with
William Marshal and the Bishops, Earls, and other partisans of the King,
wearing white crosses on the breasts of their tunics reached Newark in
pursuit; the legate advanced no further, but delegated to the Bishop of
Winchester his duties of absolving the loyal subjects of the King from
their sins, and of encouraging them to make a bold stand. When the
King's party approached Lincoln from the west, the Barons who were
within drew up their line of battle and placed their scaling-ladders
outside the city on the west side; but when they perceived the Royalists
coming on with a powerful force, they adopted some coward's base
counsel, and began to retreat within the city, being pursued by the
royal army up to the gate and walls which give on the north. A brave
knight, Fawkes de Breauté, who had been admitted by a guard into the
castle through the postern gate, assaulted the Barons in the rear;
whereupon they, seeing themselves attacked from both sides, left the
walls, and descending towards Wigford, turned their weapons against
Fawkes. But Simon de Peschi, with Henry Braybrook and eighty thousand
Frenchmen, fled, and proceeded to London by way of Lynn and St. Edmunds.
Meanwhile the royal troops entered the city from every side, and, coming
up with the Count of Perche defending himself gallantly in a churchyard,
killed him, having first put his horse to death. Then the citizens,
seized with panic, took to flight and perished in great numbers in the
rivers. All the Barons were taken prisoners, one after another, and the
city was given over to plunder, the victors even despoiling the
churches, heedless of the divine favours bestowed on them. Many foot
soldiers, also--Frenchmen especially--were seized here and there as they
fled towards London and put to death by the peasants. Those who were
taken became the prisoners of their captors; of these, all, except a few
who delayed paying any penalty until peace was signed, ransomed
themselves. Louis, when he heard what had happened to his men at
Lincoln, burned his huts and gave up the siege (of Dover); then he came
to London, and sent to France for reinforcements.