CHAP. LI.
KING CHARLES OF FRANCE CONQUERS BORDEAUX AND THE BORDELOIS A SECOND TIME.
During the time of the war in Flanders, the king of France was with a large army in the Bordelois, which the English had lately reconquered. The commander of the English was a most valiant knight and long renowned in arms, called sir John Talbot earl of Shrewsbury, who had made war on France upward of twenty-four years. He had been the king's prisoner when he regained Rouen; and out of his generosity, and respect for such valour, the king had remitted his ransom. The king also made him very rich presents in gold, silver, and horses, when he learnt that Talbot intended visiting Rome in the jubilee year, namely, 1450.
Nevertheless, on his return from Rome to England, he again engaged in war, and found means to recover from the king of France the city of Bordeaux, which had shown him such honour, and the country round. It was indeed commonly reported at the time, that the inhabitants of the Bordelois most willingly surrendered to the English from their disgust at king Charles, who, since his conquest, had imposed upon them heavier taxes, and that his officers had treated them with more harshness than they had been accustomed to when under the government of the English.