+Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., pp. 206 _et seqq._
(Bohn's Libraries.)
The same year a great sedition arose in Poitou, which subsequently
produced great ruin, and a deadly quarrel, and war, and irreparable
damage; for the Count de la Marche, at the instigation of Isabella, whom
the French call the most impious Jezebel, being his own wife and the
mother of the King of England, lifted up his heel against his lord the
King of France ... and he intimated to the King of England to come to
Poitou, not with any great retinue of English, but armed only with a
large sum of money, and that he would make over to him all his
territories beyond the sea. The King, by the advice of the Poitevins, a
race always ready for treachery, gave credence to his proposals, and
agreed to them, and prepared for his passage, with much treasure, and in
a single vessel, and could not be delayed by either the advice or
entreaties of any of his friends or natural subjects.... When Earl
Richard (the brother of King Henry) saw that there were no means of
turning the King from his design, he agreed to cross the sea with him,
and prepared in a magnificent manner for the passage. And encouraged by
his example, many other nobles prepared to make the passage in company
with the King and the aforesaid Earl. The guardianship of the kingdom,
therefore, being entrusted to Walter, Archbishop of York, because he was
considered a man of singular discretion and fidelity among all the
nobles of the kingdom, the lord the King, accompanied by his Queen, and
by his brother, Earl Richard, with seven other Earls, and about three
hundred knights, embarked on board ship on the fifteenth of May and set
sail, steering his course towards Bordeaux....
About this time, the most pious and accomplished King of France, being
moved by the spirit of mercy and peace, offered the lord the King of
England excellent conditions of peace, because he was his kinsman, and
because the Queen, his wife, was sister of the Queen of England. But the
King of England, being led away by the false promises of the Count de la
Marche, utterly refused them, asserting that he would never reject the
advice of the said Count, whom, according to his usual custom, he called
his father. And immediately, in a rash and hostile manner, he defied the
King of France himself. Therefore the King of France repented of having
thus humbled himself to the King of England, and unfolding the
oriflamme, he made a vigorous attack on all the territories which
belonged to the Count de la Marche; and in a short time the war was so
successful in his hand, that he had crushed his enemies and brought the
war to a wished-for end; for he had already occupied the Castle of
Frontignac, which appeared to the Poitevins to be impregnable, and in it
he took prisoners the son of the Count de la Marche, and a hundred
knights. After that, he took the castle called Movent. And after that,
day by day, he took other castles and cities, and all their inhabitants,
illustrious citizens and knights, voluntarily submitted to his power. At
last he came to a city very rich in vineyards, which is called
Taillebourg, and which rejoices in a river, which is called the Tarente;
and while the King of France was there, the King of England came in
close order of battle to the other side of the river, and the two armies
were so near that they could see one another's flags and standards, and
there the King of England was saved from the danger of a disorderly
battle by the energy of Earl Richard. Accordingly, King Henry fled with
prudence and good fortune, and came to Saintonges; but the King of
France pursued him without delay, and a very fierce battle took place
between the French and English, outside of the city, in which the
French, though against their will, were forced to confess that the
English gained the most honour.
But as the army of the King of France was increasing every day, like a
lake which grows in consequence of torrents which pour into it, a
sedition arose in the city, in consequence of which evil reports got
abroad, and so the King of England fled disgracefully, and retreated
with all expedition to Blaye, where for some days he was detained by
illness. So when the Count de la Marche heard this, being stung with
grief in his heart, he sent the Count of Brittany to the King of France,
to be a mediator and an intercessor for peace. And so, though with great
difficulty, he was admitted to peace by the King of France, on very
severe conditions, being forced to abandon the King of England, after he
had drained him of his treasures and injured his honour. After these
events, Reginald de Pontibus, and (following his example) William,
surnamed the Archbishop, and the Viscount of Thouars, and many other
nobles of Poitou, who nevertheless had craftily, or one might say
treacherously, received all the money of the King of England that they
could get, now flew to shelter themselves under the wing of the King of
France....
Meantime, the King of France, having taken counsel with his nobles,
because he saw that his military enterprises all prospered in his hands,
according to his wishes, proposed to pursue the King of England in a
hostile manner, without losing any time, as far as Blaye, because he
knew that the said King was now deserted by all the forces of the
Poitevins, and deprived of all comfort, and descending rapidly to the
abyss of despair; and from Blaye to Bordeaux, if he departed in that
direction, and to continue the war with unwearied diligence till its
termination. And lo! the Lord, pitying the King, the Lord who giveth
salvation to Kings, when and how He wills, that Henry might not appear
to have recommended himself in vain to the prayers of the men of the
religious Orders on his retreat, threw the hearts of the French, who
were giving way to absurd pride, into confusion, by permitting seeds of
division and dissension to arise among them.... Besides, a great want of
provisions, and especially of water, oppressed their army, which was
numerous, in a miserable manner, so that as their want of all kinds of
food grew greater, they became swoln, and wasted away with sickness, and
being afflicted and exhausted with various miseries, expired. For their
fellow-citizens of the province had closed up the mouths of the wells,
and had polluted and poisoned the rivers and fountains, had ploughed up
the meadows and pasture-lands, and, having driven away the cattle, had
removed to a distance all their supplies and all their crops.
Accordingly, when they drank the waters, both horses and men perished;
and as the dog-days were just at hand, those who were sick lay down, and
speedily died, being destitute of all comfort and rest, and having no
attendance or medicine. And in this way upwards of eighty nobles of the
French army, who were entitled to bear standards, died, and of the
infantry about twenty thousand. And as the King of France at the same
time was very ill, great fear and despair seized upon the French, who
said that the alms of the King of England had undone them. For they were
greatly afraid that their own King, because he was tender and delicate,
and indeed that they themselves, too, might be overwhelmed with sudden
death; and the example of strong men who were overtaken by death
increased their fear.
Therefore, as the fates were adverse to him, the King of France was
compelled to beg a truce of five years from the King of England, being
desirous to return with all speed into France, where he might be able to
enjoy a better climate, and the truce was accordingly, and indeed
joyfully, granted to him when he requested it. Having therefore received
the homage of the nobles of Poitou, and having placed garrisons of his
own natural and loyal subjects in their castles and cities, to command
them, and keep them for him, the King returned to France; and being soon
restored to perfect health, he commanded the men of Poitou, who had been
surrendered on conditions of extremity, to be kept in close custody, and
while there a condition was imposed on them that they should not give
their daughters in marriage, nor go from one city to another, without
leave of the French. Also the Count de la Marche, being accused and
impeached of treason that same year before the King of France, was with
difficulty saved from the infliction of an ignominious death. But he
became a sort of prodigy in the eyes of all men; a sign that is to be
pointed at and ridiculed, and hissed at by all men, because he had so
wickedly betrayed the King of England, who rashly trusted in him. From
that time forth, then, the prodigal anxiety of the King of England was
released from its burdens, though before that time he was accustomed
foolishly to distribute among the Poitevins seven thousand marks every
year, for their shadow of homage and useless service.