682 FRA 
peace was at laft concluded on the following conditions: 
That king John, as his ranfom, fliould pay by inftalments 
three millions of crowns of gold : that Edward fliould 
renounce all claim to the crown of France, and the pro¬ 
vinces of Normandy, Maine, Touraine, and Anjou ; and 
fliould receive in exchange the provinces of Poiftou, 
Saintonge, 1 ’ Agenois,Perigort, the Limoufin,Quercy, Ro- 
vergue, l’Angoumois; with Calais, Guifnes, Montreuil, 
and the county of Pontbieu. That tliefe provinces, as 
well as that of Guienne, fliould be ceded to the crown of 
England free from feudal homage ; that the king of Na¬ 
varre fliould be reftored to his honours and elt ites ; that 
the two monarchs fliould mutually renounce their confe¬ 
deracy with the Flemings and Scots ; that the houfes of 
Blois and Mountfort fliould fubmit their claims to the 
arbitration of the two kings; and that forty hoftages 
fliould be fent to England as a pledge for the faithful 
execution of tliefe conditions. Among the hoftages 
were the two Tons of the French king, John and Louis ; 
Jus brother Philip duke of Orleans, and many of the 
principal nobility. 
The ratification of the peace enabled John, after a cap¬ 
tivity of four years, to revifit his capital ; but the accla¬ 
mations of his fob) eels awakened a more poignant anguifli 
at the calamities which they endured. Large bands of 
military adventurers refufed to lay down their arms, and 
perfevered in a life of plunder and rapine ; they alfociated 
themfelves under the name of companions , and defeated 
James of Bourbon, a prince of the blood, who commanded 
an army of 12,000 men. This deftrudlion of unfortunate 
human beings was followed by a more awful vifitation ; 
and in Paris alone 30,000 perfons were in one year the vic¬ 
tims of a peftilential diforder. Amidft thefe miferies of his 
people the king was oppreffed by the immenfe ranfom 
which he had agreed to pay for his freedom; on Galeas the 
fon of John Vifconti duke of Milan he bellowed the hand of 
his daughter, and received for her the fumof 600,000 crowns. 
The Jews, who had been bani(lied France, were, for a funi 
of money, permitted to return ; but the fubjedts of John 
beheld with difguft the barter of a princefs whom they 
refpefted, and the reftoration of a people whom they de- 
fpifed. A further advantage was derived to John from 
the important acquifition of Burgundy, which, on the 
death of Philip the late duke, he wrefted from the king 
of Navarre; but he again difmenibered it from thecrovvn, 
by his partiality to his fourth and favourite fon Philip, 
whom he created duke of Burgundy, and firft peer of 
France ; and who, by his marriage with the widow of his 
predeceffor, attained the counties of Flanders and Artois, 
and laid the foundation of the future grandeur of his 
houfe. 
To relieve the anxiety of his mind, and confer with 
pope Innocent VI. John undertook a journey to Avignon. 
But this interview with the Roman pontiff ferved only 
more ftrongly to difplay the fatal impetuofity which go¬ 
verned his character. While the wounds of his country 
were (till bleeding, while his people had fcarcely faded 
tire comforts of peace, he contemplated new and fan- 
guinary wars ; the barren laurels of Palefline were the 
mi (taken objects of his ambition; and at the perfua- 
fion of pope Innocent, he a (fumed the crofs, notwith¬ 
standing the rcmonftrances of his nobility. 
But the return of John to France in 1364, was attended 
by new difappointments and mortifications ; his fubjefts, 
and ev%n the dauphin, loudly condemned the ignominious 
terms he had fubferibed. His fon Louis, count of Anjou, 
impatient of confinement, had efcaped from Edward, 
whofe hoftage he was, and refufed to return at the com¬ 
mand of his father. The king himfelf was induced, by 
the numerous embarraffments which on every fide pre- 
fented themfelves, to declare his intention of delivering 
himfelf again into the power of Edward. The dilfuaftons 
of his council, who advifed him to elude a treaty which 
he could not fulfil, were ineffectual; and his anfwer ought 
so be written in gold, and imprelfed on the mind of every 
N C E. 
fovereign, “ That, though good faith was banish¬ 
ed FROM THE REST OF THE EARTH, SHE OUGHT STILL 
TO RETAIN HER HABITATION IN THE BREAST OF 
princes !” He therefore crofted the feas; offered a 
valuable jewel at the (brine of Thomas a Becket at Can¬ 
terbury ; and was received at Weftminfter with every 
mark of honourable refpedt. But it does not appear that 
his prefence was in any thape conducive to his filtered; 
Edward evaded his propofal to join the intended expedi¬ 
tion to the Holy Land ; and John himfelf was foon 
awakened from his vifionary hopes of eaftern victories, 
by theiflow but certain progrefs of difeafe. A reign of 
ceafelefs calamity, which had been impatiently endured 
by his fubjects for near fourteen years, was at length ter¬ 
minated at his lodgings in the Savoy, in the city of Lon¬ 
don. He breathed his laft in the fifty-fixth year of his 
age ; his funeral was celebrated with fplendid folemmty 
by the Englifh, and honoured by the attendance of king 
Edward himfelf. His corpfe was afterwards conveyed to 
France, and interred amongft thole of his anceftors in the 
abbey of St. Denis. 
Charles V. who has been noticed above as dauphin and 
regent, fucceeded to the throne of France in 1364; and 
from his prudent government was furnamed the Wife. 
The king of Navarre, with his ufual turbulence, refumed 
his former enterprifes againft the king, and was in arms in 
Normandy : the command of his forces was entrufted to 
the valour and capacity of the Captal of Buche, to whom 
Charles V. oppofed Bertrand du Guefclin, a gentleman of 
Brittany, and one of the mod accomplished heroes of the 
age. In the battle of Chocherel, the Captal was defeat¬ 
ed and taken' prifoner by the fuperior genius of his anta- 
gonift; but du Guefclin himfelf foon experienced the 
fame fate in Brittany, where the war was renewed between 
the families of Mountfort and Blois. In an aCtion at 
Auray, Charles of Blois was killed, at the fame time that 
du Guefclin fell into the hands of the victors; but the 
prudence and moderation of Charles prevented ibis event 
from being attended with any fatal confequences ; lie ad¬ 
mitted the claim of Mountfort, though a zealous partizan 
of England, to the duchy, and received homage for his 
dominions ; and, while he thus reconciled an ancient 
enemy, he rewarded du Guefclin,, who in confequence of 
the treaty regained his liberty, with the rank of marfhal 
of Normandy. By a (imilar liberality, the king had al¬ 
lured to his fervice Oliver de Ciiffon, and other Bretons 
of military reputation; his difeernment had long difeo- 
vered, and his magnanimity induced him to efteern, the 
talents of the Captal of Buche, who (hone both as a 
general and a ftatefman ; he releafed him without ran- 
lom, and prefented him with tlie county of Nemours. 
But the Captal, perceiving his new engagements difagree- 
able to Edward the Black Prince, lie determined to adhere 
to his former mafter, and reftored to Charles his royal 
prefent. Yet the prudence of Charles was only in the 
courfe of revolving years able to remedy the calamities in 
which the rafhnefs of John had involved his country. 
The military adventurers deferibed by the appellation of 
Companions, (till ravaged France ; they regarded with 
contempt the cenfures of the church ; and they even re¬ 
jected the authority of the king of England, who enraged 
at their in foie nee, offered to crofs the feas to chaltife 
them. But Charles was not delirous of the prefence of 
fo formidable an afliftant ; he was content with coolly ob- 
ferving that he had conceived a projeCt which would de¬ 
liver him from thefe dangerous inmates. 
The (form, which the king of France was not capable 
of refilling by force, he diverted by his policy, to (pend 
its fury in a different quarter. Peter king of Caftile, 
furnamed the Cruel, had efpoufed Blanch de Bourbon 
fifter to the queen of Fiance ; and he hefitated not, after 
throwing her into prifon, to put an end to her life, that 
he might raife his miftrefs, Mary de Padilla, to the title 
of queen. Henry count of Tranftamare, his natural bro¬ 
ther, refolved to feek that fecurity in arms which he was 
hopelefs 
