THE OUTBREAK OF WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE (1293).
Source.—Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle, vol. ii., pp. 40 et seqq. (English Historical Society Publications.)
In the year of our Lord 1293 a shameful quarrel arose between the English seamen of the Cinque Ports and French seamen from Normandy, in this wise. A certain ship from the Cinque Ports touched at a port in Normandy and remained there several days; one day two sailors from this vessel were going to draw pure water from a spring in the neighbourhood, when they chanced to meet some Norman sailors, who so irritated them that they had recourse to abuse and then to blows; finally weapons were drawn, and one of them was killed; the other fled, and betook himself with his companions to the ship, where he told what had happened and how the Normans were hard in pursuit. They sailed out on to the high seas, hoping there at least to escape, but the enemy followed so as to capture them. Evading their pursuers with difficulty, they told the news to the seamen in the Cinque Ports, and besought aid; nor did the rage of the Normans abate; for they secured reinforcements, and sought out English vessels on the seas. They happened on one occasion to fall in with six English ships, which they attacked; two of them they destroyed, hanging the men with dogs to the yard-arm, and thus sailed over the seas, making no difference between a dog and an Englishman. When tidings of this event were brought to the men of the Cinque Ports by those who had escaped, they straightway gathered together, and, grimly resolving to avenge the insult, sought out their enemies.
(A fierce naval engagement followed, in which the English were victorious.)
When Philip, King of France, received the news of this battle, although his brother Charles had been the cause of it, he sent to the King of England messengers who vehemently demanded that reparation should be made, that those responsible for the engagement should be given up for punishment, and that a great sum of money should be paid as compensation for loss to his merchants. To these demands our King prudently answered that he would reply through his own agents; and, by their mouth, asked the King of France, as his relative and lord, to appoint a day and place, where they might both agree to be present, to deliberate on the matter in a friendly fashion, and to do further whatever the state of the case demanded. The King of France did not accept this proposal, but, with the advice of his Barons, commanded the King of England, by writ, to appear in his Court on a certain day to answer for the above-mentioned damages. When the English King did not appear on the day appointed, it was decided and ordained by the Court of the King of France that he should be disseised of all his lands beyond the seas, and should be summoned to appear on another day, under pain of forfeiture of his whole continental possessions.
The King of England, fearing a disturbance—having been warned to that effect by some of his friends—did not come in person, but sent his brother, the lord Edmund, Earl of Leicester, on each occasion, with letters empowering him to do whatever was required by justice. When the latter appeared with a sufficient mandate on behalf of the King of England, the French Barons did not receive him, but in the Royal Court adjudged Gascony, and all the lands of the King of England, forfeited for contempt. The lord Edmund himself, then, in hope of peace, carried on divers negotiations with the King of France; so that it was commonly said that our King would marry the sister of the King of France, and by that means a settlement be arrived at. Meanwhile the Seneschal of the King of England in Gascony refused to allow the officers of the King of France to enter in to take possession of the Duchy, and a great dispute took place; thereupon the King of France, summoning the lord Edmund to his presence, asked him, as a friend and as the mediator on behalf of peace, to allow him to possess himself of four or five cities only—Bordeaux, Bayonne, Langon, and Marmande—and this in the hope of peace, for he said he could not sign a treaty of peace unless his Barons saw the sentence of their Court carried into effect; he promised, on his honour as a King, that complete peace would follow if this request were granted. Edmund, saying that he could not dare to take it upon himself so to do, asked to be allowed to seek the opinion and consent of the King of England himself. Edward, placing full reliance on his brother's words, replied by letters patent to the effect that he was content with and would abide by whatever his brother thought should be done regarding the matter in his name. When these letters had been received and reported to the King of France, the King promised in all good faith, and by his word as a King, that he would restore everything in full peace after a short time, according to his vow. Edmund, guilelessly trusting him, and ensnared by the royal promise, did not demand security, believing that the royal word must be of more value than any safeguard whatever; and he wrote immediately to the Seneschal of Gascony, ordering him to give seisin of the cities to the officers of the King of France. Thereupon the French introduced into Gascony first a few men, then a large number, by stealth, and finally a great army, openly. The lord Edmund, being informed of this, and fearing rebellion, asked the King of France to remember his promise and to forbid it; but the King replied: "Wait a little, until the forty days have passed, when I shall restore all." When that time was completed, the lord Edmund again brought the matter before him, only to receive the immediate reply that a decision of his Court and judgment by twelve peers could not be revoked without their consent; then, changing his attitude to one of scorn, Philip departed.
The lord Edmund ... secretly and in haste left the Court, and, coming to England to his brother the King, recounted everything in order, not without great anguish of mind, saying that he had been guilty of folly and self-deception. But the King, although disturbed in mind by the news, yet gently comforted his brother, and, hastily summoning his nobles and John, King of Scotland, held a Parliament at London, in which he narrated in their presence the whole course of events, and sought their advice and assistance, saying that he himself intended, even had he no greater following than one boy and one horse, to prosecute his rights to the death, and to take vengeance on Philip for his insults; but the magnates replied unanimously that they would follow him to life or to death.... The King, thus secure of assistance from his own subjects, sent two brethren of the Order of Friars Preachers with letters of presentation to the King of France, to renounce his homage to the said King.