The lords and knights of France came not to the assembly in good order, for some came before and some came after in such evil order that one of them did trouble another. When the French king saw the Englishmen his blood changed, and he said to his marshals, "Make the Genoways go on before and begin the battle in the name of God and St. Denis." There were of the Genoways crossbows about fifteen thousand, but they were so weary of going afoot that day a six leagues armed with their crossbows, that they said to their constables : "We be not well ordered to fight this day, for we be not in the case to do any great feats of arms: we have more need of rest." These words came to the earl of Alençon, who said, "A man is well at ease to be charged with such a set of rascals, to be faint and fail now at most need." Also the same season The Genoese there fell a great rain and lightning with terrible thunder, and crossbowmen before the rain there came flying over both battles a great English long against the number of crows for fear of the tempest coming. Then anon bowmen the air began to wax clear, and the sun to shine fair and bright, the which was right in the Frenchmen's eyen and on the Englishmen's backs. When the Genoways were assembled together and began to approach, they uttered very great cries to abash the Englishmen, but they stood still and stirred not for all that; then the Genoways again the second time made a great and a fell cry, and stept forward a little, and the Englishmen. removed not one foot; thirdly again they cried out and then they shot fiercely with their crossbows. Then the English. archers stept forth one pace and let fly their arrows, so wholly and so thick that it seemed snow. When the Genoways felt the arrows piercing through heads, arms, and breasts, many of them did cast down their crossbows and did cut their strings and returned discomfited. When the French king saw them fly away, he said, "Slay these rascals, for they shall let and trouble us without reason." Then ye should have seen the men of arms dash in among them and kill a great number of them; and ever still the Englishmen shot whereas they saw thickest press; the sharp arrows ran into the men of arms and into their horses, and many fell, horse and men, among the Genoways, and when they were down they could not rise The Black his spurs again; the press was so thick that one overthrew another. And also among the Englishmen there were certain rascals that went afoot with great knives, and they went in among the men of arms and slew and murdered many as they lay on the ground, both earls, barons, knights, and squires, whereof the king of England was after displeased, for he had rather they had been taken prisoners. The valiant king of Bohemia, called Charles of Luxembourg, for all that he was nigh blind, when he understood the order of the battle, he said to them about him, “Where is the lord Charles, my son?" His men said, "Sir, we cannot tell; we think he be fighting." Then he said: "Sirs, ye be my men, my companions and friends in this journey. I require you to bring me so far forward that I may strike one stroke with my sword." They said they would do his commandment, and to the intent that they should not lose him in the press, they tied all their reins of their bridles each to the other and set the king before to accomplish his desire, and so they went on their enemies. The lord Charles of Bohemia, his son, who wrote himself king of Almaine and bare the arms, he came in good order to the battle; but when he saw that the matter went awry on their party, he departed, I cannot tell you which way. The king, his father, was so far forward that he strake a stroke with his sword, yea, and more than four, and fought valiantly, and so did his company; and they adventured themselves so forward that they were there all slain, and the next day they were found in the place about the king, and all their horses tied each to the other. ... In the morning, the day of the battle, certain Frenchmen Prince wins and Almains perforce opened the archers of the Prince's battle and came and fought with the men of arms, hand to hand. Then the second battle of the Englishmen came to succor the Prince's battle, the which was time, for they had as then much ado; and they with the Prince sent a messenger to the king who was on a little windmill hill. Then the knight said to the king: "Sir, the earl of Warwick, and the earl of Oxford, Sir Raynold Cobham, and other, such as be about the Prince, your son, are fiercely fought withal and are sorely handled; wherefore they desire you that you and your battle will come and aid them; for if the Frenchmen increase, as they doubt they will, your son and they shall have much ado." Then the king said, "Is my son dead or hurt on the earth felled?" "No, sir," quoth the knight, "but he is hardly matched; wherefore he hath need of your aid." "Well," said the king, "return to him and to them that sent you hither, and say to them that they send no more to me for any adventure that falleth, as long as my son is alive; and also say to them that they suffer him this day to win his spurs ; for if God be pleased, I will this journey be his and the honor thereof, and to them that be about him." Then the knight returned again to them and shewed the king's words, the which greatly encouraged them, and repoined in that they had sent to the king as they did. In the evening the French king, who had left about him no more than a threescore persons, one and other, whereof Sir John of Hainault was one, who had remounted once the king, for his horse was slain with an arrow, then he said to the king, "Sir, depart hence, for it is time; lose not yourself wilfully; if ye have loss at this time, ye shall recover it again another season." And so he took the king's horse by the bridle and led him away in a manner perforce. Then the king rode until he came to the castle of Broye. The gate was closed, because it was by that time dark; then the king called the captain, who came to the walls and said, "Who is it that calleth there this time of night?" Then the king said, "Open your gate quickly, for this is the fortune of France." The captain knew then it was the king, and opened the gate and let down the bridge. Then the king entered, and he had with him but five barons, Sir John of Hainault, Sir Charles of Montgomery, the lord of Beaujeu, the lord d'Aubigny, and the lord of Montsault. The king would not tarry there, but drank and departed thence about midnight, and so rode by such guides as knew the country till he came in the morning to Amiens, and there he rested. This Saturday the Englishmen never departed from their battles for chasing of any man, but kept still their field, and ever defended themselves against all such as came to assail them. This battle ended about evensong time. 139. A tournament at Windsor (1344) II. THE CULMINATION OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD III An idea of the show and gallantry of the tournaments and festivals of this period can be obtained from this description by the chronicler Adam of Murimuth, of a famous gathering at Windsor held by Edward while home on a visit after his first invasion of France, and of the foundation of the order of the Knights of the Garter, which the chronicler fancifully describes as if it were a revival of Arthur's Round Table. In the year 1344 the king, Edward III, ordered a great tournament to be held on the nineteenth day of January in the place of his birth, that is, in the castle of Windsor; and this he caused to be publicly proclaimed a sufficiently long time beforehand as well in foreign parts as in England. He invited to this by his own letters all the ladies of the south of England and the wives of the citizens of London. There assembled in the said castle on Sunday, the twentieth of January, earls, barons, knights, and very many ladies. There the king provided the customary banquet so that the great hall was filled with the ladies, not a single man being present excepting only two knights who had come from France for this occasion. At this banquet there were present two queens, nine countesses, wives of the barons, knights, and citizens, who could not easily be counted, and who had been placed by the king himself in their seats according to rank. The Prince of Wales, the duke of Cornwall, the earls, barons, and knights ate together with the people in a tent and other places where food supplies and all other necessaries had been prepared freely for all without murmur; and in the evening there was dancing. For the three following days the king with nineteen other knights kept a jousting against all who came from without; and the same lord, not on account of royal favor but because of great skill which he showed and because of the good fortune which he had, for three days gained the palm among those at home. A foreign lord, knight of the Order of Stapleton, gained the victory on the first day, on the second Supposed Philip Despenser, on the third John Blount. On the Thursday foundation following the tournament of the sons, the lord king gave a ban- of the Garter quet at which he founded the order of the Round Table, and under a certain form belonging to the said Round Table he received the oaths of certain earls, barons, and knights whom he wished to belong to this said Round Table; and he fixed the day for holding the Round Table for the next day of Pentecost following, giving to all present the right of returning home with their badges of honor. Afterwards he ordered a very fine building to be erected there, in which the said Round Table could meet at the designated time. For the erection of this building he brought in stonecutters, carpenters, and other workmen, ordering wood as well as stone to be procured, sparing neither labor nor expense. The treaty concluded at Bretigny was long and detailed, since it was designed to put an end all excuse for further hostilities. The extracts here given illustrate the humiliations inflicted by the terms of the treaty on the French, who not only were forced to surrender territory to the English kings but to assume a heavy war debt, desert their Scotch allies, and send their nobles as hostages to England. Charles, eldest son of the king of France, regent of the kingdom, duke of Normandy, and dauphin of Vienne, to all those who shall see these letters, greeting. We make known to you that concerning all debates and discussions whatsoever moved and arisen between Monsieur, the king of France, and us, for him and for ourselves and for all those to whom it appertains, on the one part, and the king of England and all those whom it touches on his side, on the other, for the good of the land, it is agreed, the 8th day of May, the year of grace 1360, at Bretigny of Chartres, as follows: first, that the king of England, along with what he holds in Guienne and in Gascony, shall have for himself and his heirs, perpetually and for all time, all the possessions that 140. Ex tracts from the Treaty of Bretigny (1360) |