CHAP. XX. DUKE OF LANCASTER SENT TO NORMANDY. 373

The Norman nobles King of and ally

defy the

France

When Philip of Navarre and Godfrey of Harcourt A.D. 1356. heard of this treacherous outrage, they, and more than twenty other nobles of Normandy, sent their defiance to King John, "calling himself King of France," put their castles in order, and prepared to defend themselves. Philip and Godfrey then went over to land, to secure the friendship of Edward, who just returned from his Scotch campaign.

Eng

themselves

with the

had

King of

England.

They presented themselves before him at Sheen, and offered to put him in possession of the various castles in Normandy belonging to the King of Navarre and the Count of Harcourt, if he would grant them help. My cousin, the Duke of Lancaster," said Edward, "is on the frontiers of Brittany; I will write to him Edward and order him to join you with all his men, to make promises good war against your enemies." Having received Norman this promise, they quickly departed from England, and sailed for Cherbourg to meet the Duke. On Har

1 Robert of Avesbury, who gives a minute account (p. 245, &c.) of the joint expedition of the Duke of Lancaster and the Norman nobles, which bears the impress of truth, agrees with Froissart in stating that both Philip and Godfrey were present with it. Their statement is however of, at least, doubtful correctness. If Philip and Godfrey went to England, they cannot have arrived there before June 24th, as that is the date of their letters of safe conduct (Rymer, vol. iii. p. 331); but, according to Avesbury, they left Cherbourg with the Duke of Lancaster on or before the 22nd. The whole of Froissart's story of the interview with Edward, and of the statement of both Froissart and Avesbury that Philip and Godfrey were present with the Duke's army, falls therefore, apparently, to the ground; but it is more probable that there is some error as to the date of their coming, than that the account given by Froissart and Avesbury, which in the main agree, is incorrect on that point. It may be that Philip went alone to England, and that Godfrey remained in Normandy; for, on the one hand, the visit of Philip to England

to help the

nobles.

A.D. 1356. court's arrival at St. Sauveur le Vicomte, the Duke of Lancaster, on July the 18th, received his recognition of Edward as his feudal superior, and his homage for the fiefs he held in Cotentin.1

The Duke of Lancaster marches

from Brittany to join them.

The Duke of Lancaster had sailed from England for Normandy on June 1st, accompanied by the claimant to the Duchy of Brittany, John of Montfort, son of the gallant Duchess. His forces consisted of 500 men-at-arms and 800 bowmen. The object of this expedition was to assist De Montfort in the recovery of his duchy; but it had landed in Normandy, on account of its greater proximity to England. The Duke entered Brittany, but had no sooner done so, than he received orders from Edward, to join the nobles of Normandy, and assist them in the recovery of their fortresses. He accordingly marched from Pont Orson to Cherbourg, where he was met by Philip and The allies Godfrey, with 100 soldiers of the country, and by Sir Robert Knolles, who brought with him, from the garNormandy risons of Brittany, 300 men-at-arms and 500 bowmen.

march

through

The united forces marched from Cherbourg to Montebourg; thence, on June 22nd, to Carentan; on the 24th by St. Lo to Thury on the Orne; on the 26th to Frosseye;2 on the 27th by Caen to Argentyne ;3 on the 28th by the bridge of Corbon on the Vie to Lisieux;

is rendered almost unquestionable by the existence of a letter of safe conduct for his return from England, dated August 20th, and on the other, there is presumptive evidence of the presence (Rymer, vol. iii. p. 338) of Godfrey with the expedition, in the fact of his doing homage to the Duke of Lancaster for the King of England, at St. Sauveur le Vicomte on July 18th (Rymer, p. 332), shortly after the return of the Duke from l'Aigle.

1 Rymer, vol. iii. p. 332.

2 This place cannot now be identified. Buchon.

3 Probably Angences, on the Meance. Ibid.

CHAP. XX. RETREAT OF THE DUKE OF LANCASTER. 375

and, on the 29th, to Pont Audemer, a castle belonging A.D. 1355. to the King of Navarre, which was then under siege. The siege was abandoned, on the approach of the allies; they remained there, to repair the damages done by the besiegers, till July 2nd, and then marched to the Abbey of Bec-herlewin. On the 3rd they proceeded to Conches, attacked the castle and set it on fire, and, marching the next day to Breteuil, the siege of which they raised, went on the same day to the as far as relief of Verneuil.

Verneuil, and then

Here, the Duke of Lancaster heard of the approach retreat. of the French, with a vastly superior force, commanded by the King in person, who had declared, that he would not return to Paris, until he had fought the English, "if they dared to wait for him." He therefore thought it prudent, to beat his retreat towards Cherbourg, and reached l'Aigle on July 8th, when he was overtaken by the French. In order to avoid the necessity of fighting with such odds against him, he The retreated during the night, leaving a small body of pursue horsemen posted behind the hedges, so as to present the the appearance of his army being still in position; English when the King of France discovered the trick, it was without fighting. too late for pursuit. The Duke of Lancaster, Philip of Navarre, and the greater part of the army went to Cherbourg; the others escaped to their own towns.1

I have been thus minute in relating the details of this campaign, which I have taken from Avesbury (p. 245, &c.), first, on account of the difficulty of reconciling the statements of Avesbury and Froissart with the documents showing the probability of Philip and Godfrey being in England at the time those writers state they were in Normandy, and to justify, by showing the exactness of Avesbury's statements, my belief in his account; and secondly, on account of another singular discrepancy between

French

them, but

escape

A.D. 1356.

Duke of

Shortly after this, the campaign in Normandy having come to an end, the Duke of Lancaster reLancaster turned to Brittany, to resume the campaign in that Brittany. country, of which, on August 8th, Edward, in the name of himself and John of Montfort, appointed him Captain.1

returns to

the narratives of Froissart and Avesbury. Froissart gives no account whatever of the progress of the allies from Cherbourg to Verneuil, but says that they gathered their forces together at Evreux (several days' march from Cherbourg), and that they marched thence to Vernon, Acquigny and Pacy, and so on up to the city of Rouen, of which they burned the suburbs. From thence he describes their retreat to l'Aigle and Cherbourg. The exactness of the dates given by Avesbury induces me to prefer his account.

1 Rymer, vol. iii. P. 335.

CHAP. XXI. KING MARCHES AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 377

CHAPTER XXI.

THE BATTLE OF POITIERS.

returns to

after seven

WHEN the Duke of Lancaster retreated from l'Aigle, A.D.1356. the King of France continued his endeavours, to King of obtain complete possession of Normandy. He first France returned to Evreux, and besieged it. The town Evreux, made a strong resistance, but after a time was forced to surrender, and the French then attacked the city, which was well defended with walls and ditches. After some trouble, this also was compelled and takes it to yield; but the castle still resisted, and seven weeks weeks. elapsed, before the King obtained possession of it. The French then went on to Breteuil, the siege of He then which is remarkable, as being the first occasion, on Breteuil which the use of cannons is mentioned by Froissart, about although, as already stated, they were certainly used 21st. at the siege of Calais. He says, "the garrison were provided with cannons throwing fire and great bolts to destroy everything;" and he adds, that the fire was Greek fire. Earl Douglas of Scotland, and Henry of Trastamare, one of the illegitimate sons of Alphonso XI. by Leonora de Guzman, fought on the side of the French during this siege.

besieges

of the

While the King of France was thus endeavouring Progress to obtain possession of Normandy, Prince Edward Prince of had set out on the campaign, which was crowned by the victory at Poitiers, and was ravaging the central

Wales;