CHAP. IX.

FALL OF LIMOGES.

177

Limoges,

of the in

cannot defend. The soldiers had orders to plunder A.D. 1370. and murder, sparing neither man, woman, nor child. Fall of "It was great pity;" says Froissart, "for men, women and brutal and children threw themselves on their knees before massacre the Prince, crying, 'Mercy! mercy! gentle Sire!' habitants. He would not listen to their cries; and," continues Froissart, "there is no man so hard of heart that if he had then been in the city of Limoges, and had thought of God, he would not have wept tenderly over the great mischief which was there; for more than 3,000 persons, men, women and children, were killed that day. God have mercy on their souls! for they were truly martyrs." 1

This melancholy story of unresisted slaughter, is relieved by the gallant courage of the three captains of the city, John de Villemar, Hugh de la Roche, and Roger de Beaufort. "We are all dead men;" they said, "but we will sell our lives dearly as becomes knights." Then said Villemar to De Beaufort, who had not been dubbed a knight, "Roger, you must be knighted;" but Roger answered, "Sire, I am not yet worthy, but I thank you for your offer." They gathered together about eighty men, planted themselves in one of the squares in the city, with their backs against a

1 Buchon's Froissart, vol. i. p. 620. An attempt has lately been made by M. H. Ducourtieux, a French gentleman and a Limousin, to disprove Froissart's story. His generosity and impartiality cannot be doubted, and it would be a great satisfaction if this dark stain on the memory of the Black Prince could be wiped out. But it seems to me that all that is accomplished by M. Ducourtieux is, to prove that the numbers of the killed are exaggerated. The statement that the Prince ordered the massacre is not disproved. See Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique du Limousin, No. 3. t. xi., as quoted in the United Service Magazine, Sept. 1862.

A.D. 1370. wall, and with banners displayed waited the attack of the English. The English soon came up and speedily conquered the gallant band; but the Duke of Lancaster and the Earls of Cambridge and Pembroke had each singled out one of the three captains, and was engaged in single combat with his opponent. At this moment the Black Prince arrived in his litter, and his savage rage was softened as he watched the gallant fight. No one interfered, and, says Froissart, "bad would it have been for them who had then advanced." At last the Frenchmen yielded. But still the work of destruction and pillage went on; the city was set on fire, till at last the fury of the Prince was satiated, and, carrying off his prisoners and plunder, he marched to Cognac and dismissed his troops, determining to fight no more that year.

The Prince refuses the terms of alliance with the King of Navarre.

The Prince now was guilty of a ruinous error. His father had for months negotiated with the King of Navarre,1 whose friendship was important to the English, on account of the ports he held in Normandy. With his characteristic duplicity, the latter had negotiated with the King of France at the same time that he was treating with the King of England, but had finally broken off with Charles, suspecting his good faith. He therefore went to England in August, 1370, to treat with Edward personally; on the 2nd of December the two kings signed a treaty of alliance, which, however, required the consent of the Black Prince, as the cession of Limoges to the King of Navarre was one of the conditions. To this the Prince refused to consent, and King

2

1 Rymer, vol. iii. p. 879, Aug. 29, 1369. Ibid. p. 893, June 16, 1370.

2 Ibid. pp. 899, 903, 904, 905.

3 Ibid.

p.

907.

CHAP. IX. PRINCE OF WALES RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 179

Edward was therefore compelled to write to the King A.D. 1370. of Navarre on January 22nd, 1371, to inform him of his son's refusal. The King of Navarre was thus thrown back into the hands of the King of France, and England lost a valuable ally.

He re

turns to

Bordeaux.

his eldest

son. His

increases.

After the sacking of Limoges, the Black Prince proceeded to Cognac to join his wife, but was soon obliged, by his failing health, to return to his headquarters at Bordeaux. He so rapidly declined, that his surgeons advised his immediate removal to England. Before he was able to embark, another heavy calamity fell on him. His eldest son, Edward, was Death of taken ill and died; and his own illness had so greatly increased, that he was obliged to hurry away, with- own illness out waiting till his son was buried. He summoned the barons of Aquitaine, and told them he was forced to go away from them; he represented to them that he had governed them prosperously; and he begged them to obey his brother, the Duke of Lancaster, whom he appointed in his place. To this they agreed without hesitation, and swore fealty to him on the spot. Then, leaving his son to be buried by the Duke, and after an eight years' possession of sovereignty, A.D. 1371. nearly one-half of which was made miserable by illness and disappointment, he embarked at the beginning of January, 1371, with 500 soldiers, besides a body of archers, and set sail, accompanied by his wife, his remaining child Richard of Bordeaux, and the Earl of Pembroke. They landed at Plymouth, and, after visiting the King at Windsor, the Prince retired to his castle at Berkhamsted. So completely was his health broken, that, except for a short time in Parliament just before his death, he never again took any active part in public life.

He returns

land.

to Eng

of the campaign of 1370.

CHAPTER X.

THE FIRST PARLIAMENTARY CONTEST, AND PREPARATIONS FOR

THE DECISIVE STRUGGLE WITH FRANCE.

A.D. 1371. THE results of the campaign of 1370 were of no The results great importance. England had not lost much that she had held at the beginning of the year: some towns in the Agenois had been wrested from her; Limoges had been taken, but recovered back; and Knolles had overrun Picardy and the Isle of France up to the very gates of Paris, although he was subsequently defeated. But still no marked success had attended the arms of either England or France. Charles continued his vexatious but successful policy of avoiding great battles; the English had now no great leader capable of devising a bold plan, which would compel a decisive measuring of England's strength against that of France. The death of Chandos was a great loss to the English. Had the Black Prince been in full vigour, he would have sorely missed his friend; but, beaten down by sorrow and ill-health, he doubly felt the want of him; and now, his own sickness and retirement to England seemed to put the finishing stroke to the misfortunes of the English in Aqui

Edward prepares

to renew

the war,

and sum

taine.

King Edward had for some time seen that it would need all his might to retain his hold on France; and, on January 8th, 1371, before the Black Prince re

CHAP. X. EDWARD CONSULTS HIS PARLIAMENT.

181

mons a

ment.

turned to England, he had summoned a Parliament A.D. 1371. to meet on the 24th of February to consider the serious state of affairs. Before that day, on the Parlia 26th of January, he had ordered a fleet to collect at Lynn, in Norfolk, with the intention, apparently, of again attempting the preservation of Aquitaine. But, so determined had the French now become to harass England with constant warfare, that it was necessary to protect even the shores of England from attack, and, on the 3rd of February, Edward gave directions for the defence of the Isle of Wight against invasion.1 On the 14th of the same month, about 8,000 sheaves of arrows, "made of good and dry wood," were ordered to be supplied by the 15th of June, preparatory doubtless to another invasion of France.2

Wykeham

reasons for

"Edward, Prince of Aquitaine and Wales," was summoned to the Parliament which was about to meet. On its assembling in the Painted Chamber in Westminster, the King's Chancellor, William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, stated the reasons Bishop why it had been called together. He reminded the states the members, that the King had taken the title of King requiring of France by the consent of the last Parliament, be- a subsidy. cause the peace between them had been broken by his adversary. He then went on to say, that, as he now heard, the King's enemy was making greater preparations than ever; that he had raised a number of men sufficient to oust him from all his possessions beyond the seas; had so many galleys, flutes, lynes, and other ships with castles ready for sea, as seemed to him enough to destroy the whole English navy; and that Rymer, vol. iii. p. 909. 2 Ibid. p. 911. 3 Parry's Parliaments and Councils of England, p. 131.