112 



GUERNSEY HISTORY. 



THE INVASION OP YVAIN DE GALLES, 1372. 



If of the earlier invasions of Guernsey we have scanty 

 details it is the reverse with that of Yvain de Galles in 1372. 

 The difficulty in this case is to decide which is the most 

 correct of a number of circumstantial accounts differing from 

 each other on many points. We have first Froissart's 

 account ; second, that of the author of the Chronique des 

 quatre premiers Valois, and third, oiir only Guernsey chronicle, 

 the ballad of La descente des Saragousais. Of these, I am 

 inclined to think the most accurate is the account given in 

 the Chronique des quatre premiers Valois, for its details agree 

 on many points with those of our Guernsey ballad. According 

 to M. Leopold Delisle, its author is far more accurate than 

 Froissart, in his account of events in Normandy at this 

 period, particularly on the campaigns in the Cotentin, and the 

 siege of the Castle of St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte, on which 

 Froissart is very unreliable, many of his statements being 

 contradicted by documentary evidence. As regards the 

 political situation in our immediate neighbourhood in Nor- 

 mandy, little had changed since the previous invasion of 1356. 

 The English were still masters of the principal strongholds of 

 the Cotentin, but the French had become more aggressive, and 

 were gradually forcing them back, and even attempting 

 to besiege the Castle of St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte. 



Early in the year 1372, Charles le Sage ordered the 

 equipment of a naval expedition to harass the English. For 

 this purpose fourteen barges and other vessels were assembled 

 at Harfleur under the command of Yvain de Galles and 

 Morelet de Mommor (de Montmaur). Yvain was the son of 

 a Welsh prince who had been executed by Edward III. He 

 w r as one of the " disinherited," consequently, filled with hatred 

 towards the English, he had taken service under their enemy 

 the king of France. His force consisted of six hundred men- 

 at-arms, besides the sailors of the fleet. Froissart states that 

 they were in all 4,000 men, but this number is probably greatly 

 exaggerated. Early in the spring of 1372, probably about 

 the first week in May, Yvain set sail from Harfleur and 

 directed his course towards Guernsey. The people of the 

 island had been informed of his preparations and had urgently 

 requested reinforcements from the English captain of St. 

 Sauveur-le-Vicomte, who sent them forty men-at-arms and 

 about the same number of archers. On their arrival in 

 the island precautions were taken to protect the town and 

 harbour. The French fleet arrived aud anchored in Vazon 

 Bay. According to our Guernsey account, J ohn Letocq, who 



