FRA 
felf, with the flower of his forces, purfued the retreating 
footfteps of the king of England from St. Omer’s to Hef- 
din ; at this place John defied his rival to a pitched bat¬ 
tle ; but Edward, fcarcely noticing the bravado, continued 
his march to Calais, and embarked for England. 
The expences of the war had exhauded the coffers of 
the king of France; and in an afTembly of the dates at 
Paris, he explained the didreffed fituation of his affairs, 
and implored their afliffance for the defence of the king¬ 
dom. The (fates general confented to maintain, during 
the continuance of the war, 30,000 men; to revive the 
duty on fait which had been abolifhed on the death of 
Philip ; and added a variety of other impods, to flip ply 
the exigencies of government ; but with the fpirit of 
freemen, and a prudent jealoufy of the crown, they ap¬ 
pointed a committee of their o-.vn members to take care 
that the money thus levied was appropriated folely to the 
public fervice. The fatisfaflion which John might have 
received from thefe fupplies, was interrupted by the in¬ 
trigues of the king of Navarre, and by the revolt of 
Geoffrey dTIarcourt, in Normandy. His nephew, the 
count of Harcourt, had been beheaded, when the king of 
Navarre was betrayed by the dauphin, as noticed above. 
Geoffrey himfelf foon after fell in an unfuccefsful fkirmifh; 
but thefe gleams of profperity were overcad by the intel¬ 
ligence that the prince of Wales, in 1356, had marched 
from Bourdeaux with an army of 12,000 men, and after 
ravaging the Agenois, Quercy, and the Limoufin, had 
entered the province of Berry. John, immediately pene¬ 
trating the defign of that prince to join the mal-contents 
in Normandy, caufed the bridges of the Loire to be 
broken down, and the fords to be carefully guarded. 
With an army of 60,000 men he prepared to furround and 
punidi the radi invaders; and near Poibtiers he deferied 
his enemy : the precipitate courage of John and his 
hod difdained to avail themfelvcs of the prudent ufe of 
their numbers, which might have intercepted the provi- 
fions of the Englifh, and have compelled them to furren- 
der without driking a blow. Even when determined on 
battle, they delayed the necelfary meafures for attack, 
through the interpofition of the cardinal of Perigord, who 
had hadened to prevent, by his mediation, the effudon of 
Chridian blood. But his efforts were ineffectual : Ed¬ 
ward indeed od'ered to purchafe a retreat by ceding all the 
conqueds which he had made during this and the former 
campaign ; and dipulated not to bear arms againd France 
during the courfe of feven years: but John infided that 
the prince of Wales himfelf, with an hundred of his at¬ 
tendants, diould yield themfelves his prifoners ; a prize 
which he vainly expefted the king of England would be 
glad to ranfom by the reditution of Calais. 
The language of negociation was no longer to be en¬ 
dured by the Englifh army, and Edward diligently em¬ 
ployed this fiiort refpite to fortify his poll. The fird line 
of the French was commanded by the duke of Orleans, 
the king’s brother ; the fecond, by the dauphin, attended 
fey his two younger brothers ; and the third, by the king 
himfelf, who was accompanied by Philip, his fourth 
fon, then only fourteen years of age. The conflict was 
long, fierce, and bloody ; but the ardour of the Englifh 
was it relidible, and Edward III. on that day appeared in¬ 
vincible. Deferted at length on every fide, fpent with 
fatigue, and overwhelmed by numbers, the unfortunate 
king of France loudly exclaimed, “ Where is my coufin, 
the prince of Wales?” Informed that the Black Prince 
was at a didance, he threw down his gauntlet, and yielded 
himfelf a prifoner to Dennis de Morbec, a knight of Ar¬ 
ras. King John was received by the viCtor with every 
mark of generous relpeCt; and during a repad which was 
prepared foon after the battle, the prince of Wales ferved 
at the royal captive’s table, as if he had been one of his 
retinue. Edward conveyed his royal prifoner to England, 
and his reception at the court of London was a repetition 
©f the fame refpeCtful treatment that he had already ex¬ 
perienced, and his confinement was alleviated by every 
Yol. VII. No. 45$p 
N C E. 
exertion of courteous humanity. See the article Eng¬ 
land, vol. vi. p. 599-601. 
Thq battle of PoiCtiers inflicted a deep wound on the 
profperity of France, which was highly inflamed by the 
intefiine commotions of that country. During the ab- 
fence and captivity of the king, the dauphin a (Turned 
the reins of government; but his inexperienced ybuth 
expofed his authority to infult ; and the afTembly of the 
dates embraced the opportunity to limit the power of 
their prince, to impeach the former mifeonduft of his 
miniders, and to reindate the king of Navarre. The mi. 
fery of France was alfo heightened by a new and unex¬ 
pected evil : the peafants, always oppreffed, and now 
wholly unprotected, felt the pangs of want, fharpened by 
the derifion of their fuperiors. In 1357 they rofe in my¬ 
riads to avenge their wrongs; the cadles of the nobility 
were con fumed with fire, or levelled to the ground ; their 
wives and daughters were ravifhed or murdered ; and the 
favage fury of the rude mob beheld with pleafure their 
former lords expire under the mod excruciating tdfmeii'ts. 
The chiefs and nobles at length afTembled for their mutual 
defence. The duke of Orleans cut off 10,000 in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Paris ; the king of Navarre put to the 
fword 12,000, with their principal leader, William 
Caillet; 9000of them had befieged in Meaux the confort 
of the dauphin, and three other ladies of fuperier qua¬ 
lity ; but in an age of chivalry the defence of the fair 
was the chief glory of the brave ; the Captal of Buche, 
though in the fervice of king Edward, dew to the pro¬ 
tection of thefe trembling dames. His gallantry was 
fuecefsful; the peafants were routed with cruel (laugh¬ 
ter; and, amidd the ravages of war, we are pleafed to 
difeern an union of oppofite intereds to promote the pub¬ 
lic good. 
John, to regain his freedom, fubferibed a peace, in 
135S, which redored to Edward all the provinces that 
had been poffeffed by Henry If. and his two fons, and 
annexed them to England without the obligation of 
homage or fealty. But thefe terms, which would have 
difmembered for ever his kingdom, being eventually re¬ 
jected by the dauphin and the dates-general, Edward, in 
1 359> c ad anchor before Calais, with a fleet of x 100 fail ; 
brought into the field an army of 100,000 men: and again 
affumed the title of king of France. 
The dauphin, unable to meet his enemy in llie field, 
contented himfelf with putting the mod conliderable 
towns in a podure of defence, chofe his dation at Paris, 
and allowed the Englidi to extend their ravages over the 
open country. They had already penetrated through 
Picardy into Champagne ; and Edward, defirous of being 
crowned at Rheims, laid fiege to that city. But after 
wading his drength in the ineffectual enterprife during 
feven weeks, he was obliged to retire. From Champagne, 
which was already defolated, Edward directed his march 
into Burgundy, and pillaged Tonerre, Gaillon, and Ava¬ 
lon ; but the duke of Burgundy redeemed his country 
from the impending ruin by the payment of 100,coo 
marks; a fimilar compofition prefervea Nivernois ; and 
the king of England then appeared before the gates of 
Paris. The prudence of the dauphin had however, pro¬ 
vided that city with magazines which defied the attacks 
of famine ; and Edward reltnquiflted the idea of attempt¬ 
ing it by frorm. 
A dreadful temped, to which the army'of Edward was 
feverely expofed in the fields round Chartres, in 1360, is 
liippofed to have inclined that monarch towards a peace. 
But in the refolutions of the king of England we are to 
look for motives more charaCteriftic than thofe of f'uper- 
flition. All his victories had not procured a (ingle parti- 
zan to his claim of fucceflion ; the king of Navarre was 
his moft dangerous rival ; and the caution pf the dauphin 
precluded him from the hopes he had obtained from the 
battles of Crecy and PoiCtiers. Under thefe circum- 
fiances conferences were opened between the French and 
Englifli commidioners at Bretigny in the Chartraine, and 
§ I- pease 
