directly provoked it by his abettal of the Scotch, and Philip's predecessors had given the most ample and just cause to the representatives and heirs of the Plantagenets to seek to recover the provinces of which they had been despoiled. Had this spoliation, it may be repeated, been the result of conquest and of a fair and open struggle, the English kings might have been prepared to abide by it; but as it had notoriously been the result of treachery and chicane and the taking advantage, by crafty French princes, of the imbecility of English ones, a monarch of spirit and talent, like Edward, could not but have been prompted to vindicate the rights of his family. The war once resolved on, Edward put forward his claim to the throne of France, as he brought forth every other weapon and element of force. It was well calculated both to incite the English noblesse to aid him, and such of the French nobles as were jealous of Philip to take English service without appearing traitors. The Flemings themselves seem to have been much influenced by this last motive. It was they who pressed Edward to assume the arms and bearing of King of France: he, indeed, avowed in some of his public documents, that he did so at the request of his friends and allies the Flemings. But notwithstanding his public assumption of the crown and title of King of France, Edward showed himself ever ready to waive the pretensions to it, on the condition that more or less of the continental possessions of his family were ceded to him, not in vassalage, but in full sovereignty.

French writers are, in general, enthusiastic admirers of the exclusively male succession to the throne, which was at this time established, and which all Edward's efforts could not shake. They attribute to it much of the unity and grandeur of the monarchy. Yet these great results might have been attained, without continuing the royal line of descent in one family, which had the disastrous effects of nursing the princes of France

CHAP.

X.

X.

in overweening and unearthly ideas of their dignity and absolute rights, and contributed greatly to establish an oriental despotism in one of the feudal countries of the West. Another consequence of the Salic law was to accumulate upon the head of the reigning monarch all the sins of his predecessors and ancestors, through many centuries and generations, until the people rose and wreaked a vengeance for such accumulated crimes of despotism, with an extreme and extravagant fury, which proscribed humanity for a time, and rendered even freedom itself impossible for a long interval.

Edward the Third's assumption of the crown of France, which seemed not only drawing the sword, but flinging away the scabbard, was a promise to the Flemings that he would wage the "great war," and chiefly through their means and in behalf of their interests. For this purpose he prepared a great expedition, whilst his Queen Philippa spent the winter at Ghent among the good citizens, in order to encourage and attach them to England. But while Edward won the Flemings, his German allies grew lukewarm. He had learned in the last campaign to mistrust their sincerity: they now offered to make peace with France; but Philip rejected their offer, and sent troops to ravage Hainault.

In 1340, Edward had collected a formidable army on board a navy equally numerous. Philip directed his efforts to intercept this expedition, and to muster a fleet capable of performing so important a service. He took into pay great numbers of Genoese officers and seamen; granted the Normans several boons and privileges to induce them to fit out ships, and with these they surprised and burned Southampton, whilst the English visited Eu with equal severity. But on the other hand, the French captured two of their largest vessels, called the "Christopher" and the "Edouarda," in a naval engagement that lasted all day, and cost the lives of a thousand men. In June, Edward sailed from the

Thames with his army for the Scheldt, not expecting indeed to fight a naval combat, for there was a number of the ladies of his court on board. But on approaching l'Ecluse, he perceived the King of France's fleet covering the whole strait with their masts, manned by 40,000 Normans and Genoese, under the command of the admirals Behuchet and Barbavere. Edward's martial ire rose at the sight, and he determined to attack them, however superior in numbers. When the Genoese admiral saw the English fleet approach to attack, he recommended the French to cut cables and fight the battle in the open sea. Behuchet refused. Edward at each side of every great ship which bore his menat-arms, placed lighter vessels full of archers, and keeping ships in reserve to supply the place of those injured or obliged to retreat, he bore down to the attack. The first aim of the English was their own large vessel, the "Christopher," captured the previous year. This they mastered, slaying all on board, and filling it with their own archers. In the midst of the action, which was fiercely contested, the Flemings came to the support of the English, and the day terminated in the total defeat of the French fleet, its capture and destruction. The French fought desperately; but their vessels being crowded, and having no room to manœuvre, they were first overwhelmed by the missiles, slaughtered in a hand-to-hand fight, and great numbers in striving to escape to shore were drowned. One of the French admirals perished in the action, the other was hanged after it; Barbavere, the Genoese commander, escaped.

This first naval battle between the two nations very much raised the confidence of the English and the alacrity of the Flemings. Edward had not only a larger army of his own than in the previous campaign, together with the troops of the German allies, but, in addition, 40,000 Flemings under Arteveld, besides those of West Flanders,

CHAP.

X.

CHAP.

X.

who proceeded in the direction of St. Omer. This immense host, instead of marching to meet and overwhelm the French king, sate down before Tournay.

Edward sent from thence a challenge to Philip of Valois, as he styled him, to decide their quarrel by single combat, or by an encounter of a hundred knights on either side. Philip replied, on the last day of July, "That such a title could not be addressed to him; that the writer was his liege, and had no right to enter his dominions. He promised to cast the intruder out of the kingdom without loss of time; and that, as to the Flemings, he was confident they would rally to their own lord." Philip marched to the neighbourhood of Tournay with an army as formidable as that which he brought in the preceding year; but neither party were prepared to engage in a general action. The French hesitated to attack, and eleven weeks' siege made no impression upon Tournay. Robert d'Artois, who commanded the armed citizens of West Flanders, led them against St. Omer, not with the hope of capturing that important town, but for purposes of pillage and devastation. The Flemings were thus engaged in plundering one of the suburbs, when the French within, issuing by another gate, came round and surprised them in the rear, routing and slaying them as they fled, to the number of 4000. This disaster made such an impression on the army of West Flanders, that a panic scized it on the following morning, and all fled and dispersed to their homes.

If the campaign of the preceding year had taught Edward how little was to be expected from the Walloon or the German, he learnt this year that even the redoubtable Flemings would not enable him either to conquer France or to reduce Philip to just and reasonable terms. He therefore consented that Jeanne de Valois, sister of Philip and Countess of Hainault, should seek to bring about an accommodation. Her

efforts led to a six months' truce, consented to in order that plenipotentiaries from both monarchs might treat for the conclusion of a more definitive peace.

The belligerents had scarcely suspended hostilities on the northern frontier of France, when a quarrel arose in another quarter, giving equal facilities for English interference, and offering to Edward more sincere, zealous, and martial allies than the Flemings had proved, whether knights or artisans. John, Duke of Brittany, had, with a feudal contingent, joined King Philip's army in the vicinity of Tournay: in returning from this expedition he expired at Caen, in the spring of 1341. This duke, who died without issue, was the eldest son of Arthur, Duke of Brittany and Marie de Limoges; a second son by the same marriage was called Guy, who left a daughter, Jeanne. By a later marriage with Yolande, Countess of Montfort, Duke Arthur had a third son, John, Count of Montfort, who, as the only male heir, claimed the duchy. The late duke, who hated his step-brother, had always treated his niece Jeanne as his heir, and she had been married to Charles of Blois, son of a sister of King Philip. The duke, however, left no testament, made no dying declaration, and had not consulted the States of Brittany. John of Montfort no sooner learned his brother's death than he hurried to Nantes, the capital, and was acknowledged by the citizens and people of the environs, who did him homage. John of Montfort then proceeded to Limoges, to which he certainly had no right, and where, on that account, perhaps, the late duke had kept his treasure; this he obtained, as well as his recognition by the citizens of that town. He had in the meantime summoned the nobles of Brittany to meet him at Nantes, where he proposed holding a solemn court with his duchess, the sister of the Count of Flanders. The Breton noblesse hesitated which side they would take in the disputed succession. Charles of Blois hastened to Paris to im

CHAP.

X.