24 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book I. 



Par la force de son destrier, 

 Qui en mains lieux lui fu mestier, 

 Ce fu Arondel le courant ; 

 N'est meilleur ou firmament." 



It seems that the Earl of Arundel's ^ horse subsequently- 

 passed into the possession of Sir Alured de Vere, from whom 

 it was purchased by Richard ^ soon after his accession to the 

 crown for a sum equal to about ^^4000 in our money, as 

 appears by a writ of Privy Seal dated April 5th, 1378.* 



2 Richard Fitzalan, 14th Earl OF Arundel, is said to 

 have been the first issue of his father's second marriage with 

 Eleanor Beaumont, and was probably born about the year 

 1346. He was a Knight of the Garter, and held various 

 important offices of state, particularly that of Lord High 

 Admiral of England. In the spring of 1387, the earl put 

 to sea with a powerful force, and if a series of brilliant suc- 

 cesses could have atoned for the political crimes into which 

 he afterwards suffered himself to be betrayed, the splendour 

 of his present achievements might fairly have vindicated him 

 in the eyes of the world. His first exploit was to capture a 

 large convoy of French, Spanish, and Flemish merchantmen, 

 numbering over a hundred sail, which he intercepted in its 

 return from Rochelle. To disencumber himself of the im- 

 mense booty he had acquired, he returned to harbour with 

 upwards of a hundred sail, which he had taken, and a quantity 

 of wine, according to one historian of no less than nineteen 

 thousand tuns. Froissart informs us that, in consequence of 

 this capture, the best wine was for several months sold in 

 London at fourpence the gallon. After refitting his vessels, 

 he once more embarked for the French coast ; and, having 

 thrown provisions into the town of Brest, then besieged by 

 the Duke of Bretagne, sailed to Sluys, destroyed and captured 

 the vessels in the harbour, and laid waste to the country to 

 a distance of more than ten leagues. This terminated his 

 operations until the following spring, when they were renewed 

 with equal success on the western coast of France ; and 



* Issue Roll, Michaelmas, i Rich. II., Manuscript P. R. O. 



