XXXIV. 1372. home. able to make any port in France. Edward III. CHAP. saw that it was impossible to reach Thouars by the day appointed, and resolved to re- He returns turn home. Perhaps, according to the superstition of the times, the adverse winds. with which they contended, were considered as a declaration of heaven against their undertaking. It may be believed that if John of Gaunt, a young prince of high spirit, in perfect health, and only thirty-two years of age, had had the sole command, so mighty a preparation would not have returned thus ingloriously into harbour. But the old king was broken in health, afflicted at the incurable infirmity of his eldest son, had retired from the direction of public affairs, and was sunk in mind by the repeated miscarriages of his arms. Thus the obstinacy and frowardness of his age set a seal upon the loss of those provinces in France, which his prowess and vigour had formerly acquired. * Froissart, ubi supra. CHAP. XXXV. EXPEDITION OF THE KING OF CASTILLE.-TRUCE CHAP. 1373. Grand THE last campaign of this eventful and disastrous war was in the year 1373. The march of king of Castille now resumed the plan in the English which he had already engaged, of a march France, through France. He saw how desperate the through state of the English affairs in that country had become, and felt that there was no other remedy in his power. A war of sieges for the recovery of Aquitaine would probably, according to the maxims of war which now obtain, have been unadvisable; but in the period of which we are treating it was altogether impossible. Neither the revenues of XXXV. our kings, nor the conditions on which their CHAP. armies served in the field, would allow it. The English commander, at the head of thirty thousand men, commenced his expedition from Calais, and directed his march through Artois, Picardy, Champagne, Burgundy, the Lyonnois, Auvergne and Limousin, concluding this extensive course, which occupied a period of between three and four months, at Bourdeaux. Though the French armies had been continually improving, in courage, and by means of the growing unanimity of every part of the kingdom, and though they were commanded by Du Guesclin, who is said to have been the first consummate general that had appeared in Europe, yet the king of Castille suffered little molestation in his march, and sustained no other losses (though these were by no means inconsiderable) than seemed unavoidably attendant upon so vast an undertaking. He hoped by so galling an insult to have pro 1373. Froissart, Chap. cccxvi, cccxvii. CHAP. Voked the French to a battle; but this was by XXXV. 1373. Negocia tions. no means accordant to the disposition of Charles V. If he failed in this, he at least pleased himself with the idea that the plan of his campaign was what no other general hostile to France had ever executed, conceiving that, by so comprehensive an undertaking, if the issue of the war must be unfortunate, he should best preserve it from the appearance of dishonour. The English army reached Bourdeaux in the beginning of November. This was the last considerable attempt on the part of Edward III. against the dominions of France. Negociations for peace were soon after opened between the two crowns; and, particularly during the greater part of the year 1375, conferences were held at Bruges, between the king of Castille and the duke of Burgundy, younger brother to the king of France. But these led to no perfect conclusion. Edward III, indignant at the scan Froissart, Chap. cccxx, cccxxii. XXXV. 1373. dalous and dishonourable way in which the CHAP. war had begun, could not prevail upon himself to entertain any other terms than those of the treaty of Bretigni ; while Charles V. was disposed to dictate like a conqueror, to retain all the acquisitions he had made, and to insist upon the demolition of Calais, the possession of which by the English he viewed with great impatience, as affording them at all times a ready entrance for invading his dominions. Bayonne and Bourdeaux, two capital towns which we still possessed to the south-west of France, made no part of the subject of these discussions: the sovereign of that country did not yet think the English sufficiently humbled to resign such valuable possessions. Peace between two sovereigns, whose ideas were at present so discordant from each other, being impossible, the only expedient which offered in its place was that of a truce. This was accordingly resorted to, and after Truce be- tween and |
