A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

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.

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.

War in Brittany continues.

Affairs of Castile.

France and England support the rival claimants.

Battle of Navarette.

By the treaty it had been expressly stipulated that the quarrel between De Montfort and Charles de Blois might be continued, though it was added, that whichever party conquered was bound to swear fealty to France. Du Guesclin, a soldier of a different class from the ordinary feudal leaders who had risen to eminence during the late wars, was sent to support the claims of Charles. The news of his arrival was at once followed by a similar step on the part of the English. Chandos, an English general, marched from Guienne to support De Montfort. A battle was fought at Auray, in which De Montfort’s party were successful, and Charles de Blois killed. The Free Companies too, of which the best known are those of Calverley and Knowles, still ravaged France, and were a constant cause of complaint. The English themselves had to take part against them, but at length the means taken by King Charles to rid his kingdom of this burden again brought the French and English into contact. The provinces of the south-west of France had been erected into the independent duchy of Aquitaine, and given to the Black Prince, who held his court at Bordeaux. Thither, when driven from his country, Pedro the Cruel, of Castile, betook himself. This king had secured his throne by a series of murders. His natural brother, Henry of Trastamare, had fled and taken refuge with the French King. When Pedro carried his cruelty to the pitch of putting to death his wife, Blanche de Bourbon, a French princess, the court of France had determined to assist Henry to dethrone his brother, and had intrusted Du Guesclin with the duty of enlisting the Free Companies for this purpose. His attempt had been successful; Pedro had taken flight, Henry had ascended the throne. But Pedro, as a fugitive king, found ready support at the hands of the Black Prince, thoroughly imbued with the false chivalry of the day. It was whispered to the Free Companies that their loved commander had an expedition on foot. In numbers they deserted from the French army, and gathered round the Black Prince, who was thus enabled to cross the Pyrenees at Roncesvalles at the head of 30,000 men. The rival armies met at Navarette. The French were completely beaten, Du Guesclin taken prisoner.

Taxation in Aquitaine.