The Prince of Wales and his army kept advancing without meeting any obstacle; and, having passed through Poitou and Saintonge, came to Blaye, where he crossed the Garonne, and arrived in the good city of Bordeaux. It is not possible to relate all the feasts and entertainments which the citizens and clergy of Bordeaux made for the prince, and with what joy they received him and the King of France. The prince conducted the king to the monastery of St. Andrew, where they were both lodged; the king on one side, and the prince on the other. The prince purchased from the barons, knights, and squires of Gascony the ransoms of the greater part of the French earls who were there, and paid ready money for them. There were many meetings and disputes among the knights and squires of Gascony, and others, relative to the capture of the King of France. On this account Denys de Morbeque truly and by right of arms claimed him. He challenged another squire of Gascony, named Bernard de Trouttes, who had declared that he had an equal right to him. There was much disputing between them before the prince and the barons present; and, as they had engaged to fight each other, the prince put them under an arrest until they should be arrived in England, and forbade any thing more being said on the subject till they were in the presence of the king his father. However, as the King of France gave every assistance to Sir Denys in support of his claim, and leaned more to him than to any of the other claimants, the prince ordered two thousand nobles to be given privately to Sir Denys in order to enable him the better to support his rank.
Soon after the prince’s arrival at Bordeaux the Cardinal de Perigord came thither, as, it was said, ambassador from the pope. It was upward of a fortnight before the prince would speak to him, on account of the castellan of Amposta and his people having been engaged against him at the battle of Poitiers. The prince believed that the cardinal had sent them thither; but the cardinal, through the means of his relations, the Lord of Chaumont, the Lord of Montferrant, and the Captal of Buch, gave such good reasons for his conduct to the prince, that he admitted him to an audience. Having obtained this, he exculpated himself so clearly that the prince and his council were satisfied, and he regained the place he before held in the prince’s affection. All his people were set at liberty at moderate ransoms: the castellan’s amounted to ten thousand francs, which he paid. The cardinal soon after began to touch upon the deliverance of King John; but I shall say little on that head, as nothing was done in the business. The prince, with his Gascons and English, remained all that winter at Bordeaux, where was much feasting and merriment; and they foolishly expended the gold and silver they had gained. In England also there were great rejoicings when the news arrived of the affair of Poitiers and of the defeat of the French; solemn thanksgivings were offered up in all the churches, and bonfires made in every town and village. Those knights and squires who returned to England after having been in this battle were honored in preference to any others.
CHAPTER LXXXIV.
The Prince of Wales conducts the King of France from Bordeaux to England.
WHEN the season was sufficiently advanced, and every thing was ready for the prince’s departure, he sent for the great barons of Gascony. He then informed them of his intention of going to England; that he should take some of them with him, and the rest he should leave in different parts of the province to guard the frontiers against the French, and should put all the cities and castles under their management, as if they were their own property. After this he nominated four of them as governors of the country until his return,—the Lords d’Albret, de l’Esparre, de Pumiers, and de Rosem. This being done, the prince embarked on board a handsome ship, and took with him a great many Gascons: among them were the Captal de Buch, Sir Aymery de Tarse, the Lord de Tarse, the Lord de Landuras, the Lord de Mucident, the Souldich de la Trane, and many others.
The King of France was in a ship by himself, in order that he might be more at his ease. In the fleet there were five hundred men at arms and two thousand archers to guard against any accidents at sea, and also because the prince had been informed before he left Bordeaux that the three estates who then governed France had raised two large armies, which were posted in Normandy and at Crotoy to meet the English and to carry off the king; but they saw nothing of them. They were eleven days and nights at sea; and on the twelfth they arrived at Sandwich, where they disembarked, and took up their quarters in the town and neighborhood. They remained there two days to refresh themselves, and on the third set out and came to Canterbury.
When the King of England was informed of their arrival, he gave orders for the citizens of London to make such preparations as were suitable to receive so great a prince as the King of France; upon which they all dressed themselves very richly in companies, and the different manufactories of cloth appeared with various pageants. The king and prince remained one day at Canterbury, where they made their offerings to the shrine of St. Thomas. On the morrow they rode to Rochester, where they reposed themselves. The third day they came to Dartford, and the fourth to London, where they were received with every honor and distinction, as indeed they had been by all the chief towns on their road.
The King of France, as he rode through London, was mounted on a white steed with very rich furniture, and the Prince of Wales on a little black hackney by his side. He rode through London, thus accompanied, to the palace of the Savoy, which was part of the inheritance of the Duke of Lancaster. There the King of France kept his household for some time; and there he was visited by the King and Queen of England, who often entertained him sumptuously, and afterwards were very frequent in their visits, consoling him all in their power. The Cardinals de Perigord and St. Vital soon after came to England by command of Pope Innocent VI. They endeavored to make peace between the two kingdoms, which they labored hard to effect, but without success. However, by some fortunate means they procured a truce between the two kings and their allies, to last until St. John the Baptist’s Day, 1359. The Lord Philip de Navarre and his allies, the Countess of Montfort, and the Duchy of Brittany, were excluded from this truce.
Shortly afterwards the King of France and all his household were removed from the Palace of Savoy to Windsor Castle, where he was permitted to hunt and hawk, and take what other diversions he pleased in that neighborhood, as well as the Lord Philip his son. The rest of the French lords remained at London; but they visited the king as often as they pleased, and were prisoners on their parole of honor.
CHAPTER LXXXV.
The Archpriest assembles a Company of Men at Arms.—He is much honored at Avignon.
ABOUT this period,[26] a knight named Sir Arnold de Cervole, but more commonly called the archpriest, collected a large body of men at arms, who came from all parts, seeing that their pay would not be continued in France, and that, since the capture of the king, there was not any probability of their gaining more in that country. They marched first into Provence, where they took many strong towns and castles, and ruined the country by their robberies, as far as Avignon. Pope Innocent VI., who resided in Avignon, was much alarmed, as not knowing what might be the intentions of the archpriest, the leader of these forces; and for fear of personal insult he and the cardinals kept their household armed day and night. When the archpriest and his troops had pillaged all the country, the pope and clergy entered into treaty with him. Having received proper security, he and the greater part of his people entered Avignon, where he was received with as much respect as if he had been son to the King of France. He dined many times with the pope and cardinals, who gave him absolution from all his sins; and at his departure they presented him with forty thousand crowns to distribute among his companions. These men therefore marched away to different places, following, however, the directions of the archpriest.