ENGLAND. 



625 



History. 



Bravery of 

 the Black 

 Prince. 





The Scots 

 defeated, 

 nil their 

 king taken 

 prisoner. 



Siege of Ca- 

 Uis. 



A. D. 1347. 



Truce -with 

 Fiance. 



A. D. 1349. 



Plague in 



I.m.clon. 



to repel the enemy." This confidence of their monarch 

 inspired the prince and his companions with fresh cou- 

 rage ; and young Edward that day performed such feats 

 of valour, as filled even veterans with astonishment. 

 The French cavalry were again thrown into disorder, 

 and their leader slain. Their whole army soon after 

 took to flight, and were pursued without quarter, till 

 darkness saved them from the rage of their enemies. 

 In this battle there fell on the side of the enemy, the 

 Kings of Bohemia and Majorca, the Dukes of Lorraine 

 and Bourbon, the Earls of Flanders, Blois, Vaudemont, 

 and Aumale, with 3(5,000 combatants ; while the loss 

 of the English was very inconsiderable. 



Edward followed up his victory by the siege of Ca- 

 lais, which employed him near a twelvemonth. But 

 while he was engaged in this enterprize, the Scots un- 

 der David Bruce entered Northumberland with an ar- 

 my of 50,000 men, and carried devastation and terror 

 to the gates of Durham. Queen Philippa, in the ab- 

 sence of her husband, undertook the defence of the 

 kingdom, and, with a very inferior force, ventured to 

 give battle to the enemy at Neville's Cross. The Scots 

 were routed with great slaughter, and King David was 

 taken prisoner. The Queen having secured her royal 

 captive in the Tower, proceeded to Calais, and there, 

 by her prudence and humanity, did more for the ho- 

 nour of her husband and of the kingdom, than by the 

 victory which she had so lately won. John of Vienne, 

 the brave governor of Calais, had, during a lengthened 

 siege, resisted all the attempts of the English with the 

 greatest ability and courage. But despairing of relief, 

 and being reduced to the last extremity by famine and 

 fatigue, he offered to surrender the fortress, upon con- 

 dition that Edward would ensure the lives and liberties 

 of its brave dtfenders. Edward had been incensed by 

 their stubborn resistance, and had resolved to take ex- 

 emplary vengeance on them. He was prevailed upon, 

 however, to mitigate his severity ; and only insisted that 

 six of the principal citizens should be delivered up to 

 his resentment, with ropes about their necks, and the 

 keys of their city in their hands. These conditions ap- 

 peared even more hard than their general destruction ; 

 and the inhabitants were lost in despair, when Eustace 

 de St Pierre offered himself the first victim for the safe- 

 ty of his friends. Five others soon followed his exam- 

 ple ; and these heroic men were led like malefactors to 

 the tent of the English monarch. They laid the keys 

 of Calais at his feet, when he gave the barbarous order 

 for their execution. But the intreaties of Philippa saved 

 his memory from disgrace. She obtained the pardon 

 of these gallant burgesses, and having entertained them 

 in her own tent, dismissed them with presents. In 

 order to secure the possession 6f this important for- 

 tress, Edward emptied the town of its inhabitants, and 

 repeopled it with English, which was probably the 

 means of preserving this conquest so long to his suc- 

 cessors. A truce was soon after concluded between the 

 two sovereigns, and Edward returned in triumph to 

 England. 



The general joy occasioned by these successes, how- 

 ever, was on a sudden damped by a destructive pesti- 

 lence, which had discoveredl itself in the north of Asia, 

 and had spread over the whole of Europe. Its malig- 

 nity was such, that wherever it appeared a third of the 

 inhabitants perished ; and in London, during one year, 

 there were buried in Charter-house church-yard 50,000 

 persons. This severe calamity, which afflicted equally 

 the two contending nations, served to prolong the truce; 



VOL. VIII. PART II. 



but scarcely had it subsided, when the flames of war Hwtorjr. 

 again began to rage. V "*" - Y"~ < '' 



John had succeeded his father Philip in the throne of 

 France, but though possessed of many accomplishments, 

 great personal courage, and the nicest sense of honour, 

 he was deficient in foresight and prudence. His king- 

 dom was torn by intestine commotions, which at last 

 kindled into open rebellion. Edward, ever ready to Renewal of 

 take advantage of every disturbance in the rival king- the war with 

 dom, determined to support the French malcontents. France - 

 The Black Prince entered France on the side of Gui- Al D< 1355 ' 

 enne, and ravaged with impunity the whole of Langue- 

 doc, while his father, with a numerous army, overran 

 and plundered the open country between Calais and St 

 Omer. Young Edward, encouraged by his past suc- 

 cess, took the field in the following spring with 19,000 

 men, and attempted to penetrate through France, and 

 join the Duke of Lancaster in Normandy. But finding 

 the bridges on the Loire broken down, he was on the 

 point of returning, when he was intercepted near Poic- 

 tiers by the French monarch, at the head of an army 

 five times his number. Seeing all retreat impracticable, 

 the Prince chose his ground with the most consummate 

 skill, and prepared for battle. But sensible of his des- 

 perate situation, he listened to the mediation of the 

 Cardinal of Perigord, and offered to purchase his retreat, 

 with the cession of all the conquests which he had made 

 in this and the former campaign ; and farther, engaged 

 not to serve against France for seven years. John, how- 

 ever, required that he should surrender himself a pri- 

 soner, with a hundred of his attendants. Edward in- 

 dignantly replied, that, whatever might be his fate, 

 England should never be obliged to pay his ransom. 

 All hopes of accommodation being thus cut off, both 

 sides left their cause to the decision of the sword. The 

 English army was stationed at the extremity of a nar- 

 row defile, covered on each side by hedges, which Ed- 

 ward had lined with archers, through which the enemy 

 must pass before he could take advantage of his num- 

 bers. As the French advanced, they were annoyed on Battle of 

 each side by the English archers, against whom they Poicriers. 

 were unable to retaliate, and were soon thrown into 

 confusion. An ambush of 600 men under Captal dc 

 Buche, also attacked them in the rear, which spread 

 such a panic, that the greatest part of their army took 

 to flight. King John with his division alone, maintain- 

 ed his ground, and attempted to retrieve by his valour 

 the fortune of the day ; but being at last deserted by 

 his cavalry, and spent with fatigue, he was overpower- 

 ed by numbers, and taken prisoner with hisyoungest son, 

 who had been wounded while fighting valiantly in de- 

 fence of his father. The French monarch was received A D 13 . c 

 by the conqueror with every mark of sympathy and re- 

 spect Instead of being puffed up with exultation at 

 his unexpected success, he ascribed his victory not to captivity of 

 his own merit, but to a superior Providence, which con- the French 

 trouls all the efforts and prudence of men; and at a re- king, 

 past which he ordered to be prepared for the royal pri- 

 soner in his own tent, he stood behind the king's chair 

 as if he had been one of his retinue, and repeatedly re- 

 fused to take a place at table. Such unassuming mo- 

 desty and genuine heroism, excited the admiration even 

 of his enemies, and has added more to the glory of his 

 name than all his military achievements. 



The victory of Poictiers was followed by a truce for 

 two years ; and, in the following spring, the Prince of 

 Wales conducted his prisoner to England. They land- 

 ed at Southwark, and entered the capital amidst an im- 



