THE FRENCH WARS 



to the superior build of the Spanish ships, and the fact that their piratical 

 cruises had given them very good experience of this sort of fighting, 

 things were not going any too well with the English, and it was only by 

 taking an enemy ship that drowning was avoided on more than one 

 occasion. According to Walsingham twenty-six Spanish ships were 

 taken and others sunk, but the number varies in the different authorities. 

 Edward III used the action many times when he wanted money from the 

 merchants and claimed to be their special protector. This battle is 

 known either as the Battle of Winchelsea or " I'Espagnols sur Mer." 



Winchelsea, 1360. 



It has already been pointed out that Edward III did not understand 

 the real elements of sea power, and this was shown in 1360 when he 

 indulged in a useless military parade in France and left the Channel open 

 to any stray marauder. The result was that by constantly threatening a 

 descent the French held up trade and did infinite harm, and then 

 suddenly attacked Winchelsea, which they sacked in the most terrible 

 circumstances. The Cinque Ports force took some of their ships, but 

 the balance was very much in their favour. The result was panic 

 legislation of a hurried and generally futile description, and a general 

 fortification of the coasts. 



The Battle of La Rochelle. 



After his early triumphs and with intervals of panic, Edward III 

 allowed the fleet to get in a very bad way and practically everything 

 naval was neglected. La Rochelle was besieged by the French, and in 

 April, 1372, the Earl of Pembroke led a hastily collected naval expedi- 

 tion to the relief of the town. France had the aid of a big Spanish fleet, 

 and it may be noted that this fleet is one of the first at sea to be mentioned 

 as using cannon. Pembroke was quite ready to receive his superior 

 enemy, but at the end of the first day's fighting he had been very hard 

 put to it to avoid a disaster, while the inhabitants of La Rochelle refused 

 to come out to his assistance although the action was fought within a 

 short distance of the town. Next day the Spanish fleet contrived to 

 surround the English entirely, and after a particularly bloody battle our 

 fleet was entirely wiped out. The loss of Guienne was one of the results 

 of the disaster. 



Evan's Fleet. 



The French at this time were not particular where they got their 

 allies at sea — nor were the English for that matter — and gave employ- 

 ment to a Welsh pirate named Evan, whom they supplied with three 

 thousand men and fitted out with a fleet at Harfleur. He seems to have 

 been a man of considerable ability, and would almost certainly have 

 taken the Channel Islands had he not been recalled to assist in the 

 blockade of La Rochelle, in whose reduction he assisted very materially. 



Jean de Vienne. 



In the year 1373 England had her first reason to dread the name of 

 Jean de Vienne, a young French corsair, who had already made a con- 



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