Cressy and Poictiers: The Story of the Black Prince's Page

by John G. Edgar

CONTENTS

CHAPTER		PAGE
[I.]	Introduction	1
[II.]	The Falcon in Gracechurch	2
[III.]	Winning the Peacock	6
[IV.]	At my Grandsire's Homestead	10
[V.]	Jack Fletcher	14
[VI.]	War with France	19
[VII.]	Windsor Castle	25
[VIII.]	Edward the Black Prince	29
[IX.]	King Edward's Defiance	36
[X.]	The Voyage	40
[XI.]	March of the Invaders	43
[XII.]	A Snare	45
[XIII.]	The Broken Bridges	49
[XIV.]	A Rush for Liberty	50
[XV.]	Hunting a King	55
[XVI.]	Gobin Agace	58
[XVII.]	How we Forded the Somme	61
[XVIII.]	The Eve of Battle	64
[XIX.]	The Battle of Cressy	66
[XX.]	My Adventures at Cressy	72
[XXI.]	At La Broyes	79
[XXII.]	The Siege of Calais	83
[XXIII.]	My Release	87
[XXIV.]	The Falcon Revisited	90
[XXV.]	The Crisis	98
[XXVI.]	The Eve of Battle	102
[XXVII.]	Face to Face	106
[XXVIII.]	Neville's Cross	109
[XXVIX.]	Royalty in a Rage	113
[XXX.]	At Calais	118
[XXXI.]	The Luck of John Copeland	121
[XXXII.]	Arrivals	126
[XXXIII.]	No Road	131
[XXXIV.]	Surrender of Calais	135
[XXXV.]	A Runaway Bridegroom	140
[XXXVI.]	How Calais was Repeopled	142
[XXXVII.]	A Mysterious Visit	146
[XXXVIII.]	Calais in Peril	150
[XXXIX.]	The Lords De Ov	154
[XL.]	Too Late	159
[XLI.]	How Calais was Saved	162
[XLII.]	A Princess in Peril	168
[XLIII.]	The Plague of Florence	173
[XLIV.]	John, King of France	176
[XLV.]	Renewal of the War	180
[XLVI.]	A Town Lost and Won	184
[XLVII.]	"A Douglas!"	189
[XLVIII.]	Burnt Candlemas	194
[XLIX.]	Our Captivity	197
[L.]	Chased by Bloodhounds	204
[LI.]	At Bordeaux	211
[LII.]	The Prince in Black Armour	214
[LIII.]	The Incursion	217
[LIV.]	The Coming Foe	221
[LV.]	An Unwelcome Discovery	224
[LVI.]	Poictiers	227
[LVII.]	Sunday Morning	229
[LVIII.]	The Peace-maker	233
[LIX.]	Chandos and Clermont	236
[LX.]	The Array of the English	239
[LXI.]	Rout of the Marshals	242
[LXII.]	The Prince in the Battle	244
[LXIII.]	Adventures in the Field	248
[LXIV.]	A Royal Captive	251
[LXV.]	How I Rescued my worst Enemy	254
[LXVI.]	The Scots at Poictiers	256
[LXVII.]	The Victors and the Vanquished	259
[LXVIII.]	The March to Bordeaux	261
[LXIX.]	The Prince and his Captive	264
[LXX.]	Death of Queen Isabel	268
[LXXI.]	What Befell Lord De Ov	272
[LXXII.]	Marriage of the Black Prince	274
[LXXIII.]	The Challenge	278
[LXXIV.]	Trial by Battle	281
[LXXV.]	Glory and the Grave	283

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[CHAPTER I]
INTRODUCTION

In the fourteenth century, when the population of England was estimated at two millions—when our railways were bridle-roads and our cornfields forests, and when the capital was a little town enclosed by an old Roman fortified wall, with towers and turrets—no festival, save Christmas and May Day, was regarded with more interest than Midsummer Eve, or the vigil of St. John the Baptist.