291 had been moored in a particular spot by mutual CHAP. consent; and the victory was contested with a stubbornness that has seldom been paralleled. At length the fortune, or the valour, of the English prevailed. They captured every ship of the enemy, and, as no quarter was given, the majority of the crews perished in the ocean. The prizes, amounting to two hundred and forty, arrived safe in England: the number of the killed and drowned was swelled by exaggeration to fifteen thousand men.46 Edward lip. This defeat, so murderous and disgraceful, it be provoked the resentment of Philip. From the fore Phiking of England he could only demand redress : from the duke of Aquitaine he could exact it. It was asserted, probably with truth, that the mariners of Bayonne had not only taken a share in the action, but had also attempted to surprise the port of Rochelle: and the king's lieutenant was required to arrest and lodge in a French prison a certain number of the accused. He ́neglected the requisition: and to punish his disobedience, the seneschal of Perigord was or dered to take possession of all the lands belonging to Edward, which lay within his jurisdiction. But the civil officers were driven back by the military under the command of sir John St. John and a peremptory summons was issued Nov 29. by the royal court of Paris, ordering Edward to 46 Wals. 60. 479. Heming. i. 40. Trivet, 274. U III. CHAP. appear within twenty days after Christmas, and answer for these offences and contempts against his sovereign.47 The king, who saw the real object of Philip, endeavoured to appease his resentment. By his ambassador, the bishop of London, he offered compensation to the sufferers on the part of France, provided equal restitution were made to the English: and when this was refused, proposed to refer the dispute either to arbitrators to be chosen by the two kings, or to the pope, "whose office it was to preserve con"cord among princes."48 The bishop was succeeded by a more distinguished, and, it was hoped, a more welcome negotiator, Edmund, the brother to the king of England, and husband to the mother of the French queen. But the simplicity of the prince was not a match for the arts of his opponents. Philip's sole object, he was told, was to guard his honour and a promise was given that if Gascony were surrendered to him during forty days, it should, at the expiration of that period, be faithfully restored on the petition of the two queens. A secret treaty to that effect was concluded. It was signed by the consort of Philip: Edward signified his consent: and the French monarch, in the presence of several witnesses, promised to observe it on the word of a king. The citation against Edward was now withdrawn, and 1294. Jan. 1. 47 Rym. ii, 617. 619. 48 Walsing. 60. 481. III. Edmund issued the orders, under which legal, CHAP. and in some instances military, possession was given of Gascony to the officers of its superior lord.49 Feb. 3. He is swindled out of It must excite surprise that the king of England should so easily have fallen into the snare. But he was actuated by another consideration, Guienne. the accomplishment of a treaty of marriage between himself and Margaret the sister of Philip. By that treaty the dutchy of Guienne had been settled on his issue by the princess: and to carry this provision into legal execution, it was necessary that Guienne should be resigned into the hands of its lord, that by a new enfeoffment it might be settled on the king and his heirs by his second marriage. At the expiration of forty days Edmund reminded Philip of his engagement; and was requested to forbear till certain lords of the council should have departed from Paris. Some days after he repeated the demand, and received a positive refusal. Philip repaired to his court: rejected the arguments of Edward's advocates; and though the citation had been withdrawn, pronounced judgment against him for default of appearance.50 Such is the account given by Edmund himself: and that the substance of it is true, appears from the narratives of the French historians, who, while they relate the cession of Guienne, 49 Rym. ii. 619-622. Heming. 42, 43. 50 Rym. ii. 622-626. West. 421. CHAP. III. : are utterly at a loss to account for its cause. The deception was most dishonourable to the character of Philip, though by the turbulence of the Gascons he was enabled to give to his conduct some appearance of justice. At Bourdeaux they had massacred the Normans, some of whom had been domiciliated for more than ten years in that city at Freniac they had enticed the officers of the French customs on board a vessel, and decapitated them on the open deck: and in many of the fortresses they had hanged the serjeants at arms, who had taken possession May 19. in the name of the king of France. On these grounds Philip once more summoned Edward to answer before his peers: 51 but the king, instead of presenting himself as a culprit at the bar, had prepared to enforce his right at the head of a July 1. powerful army. He wrote an exculpatory letter to the barons and people of Guienne, acknowledging that he had done wrong to resign them to the king of France without their consent: but protesting that he had been more deceived than they, and assuring them, that in a short time he would free them from a yoke which they abhorred. He sent messengers to Paris to renounce in legal form the superiority of Philip. "Sir," said they," the lord Edward, king of England, lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine, did homage to you according to the 66 51 Rym. ii. 634, 635. He III. peace concluded between your ancestors and CHAP. "his, which peace you have not observed. "made with you a secret treaty by means of "his brother the lord Edmund, which treaty you have not kept. He has thrice demanded "the restoration of his dutchy of Guienne, "which restoration you have refused. It is "evident then that you do not treat him as your "man: and it is therefore his intention to be 66 so no longer." 52 But the elements seemed to Rebellion have conspired with his own subjects to frustrate in Wales. his design. For seven weeks he was detained : at Portsmouth by contrary winds and the Welsh, who believed him to have sailed, rose in every part of the principality, surprised and murdered the English, and poured in great numbers into the marches. A large body of Nov. 10. troops which had been dispatched to quell the insurrection was defeated: and the king, abandoning the expedition to Guienne, hastened to Wales, to revive the spirits of the soldiery. Aided by the inclemency of the season the natives bade defiance to Edward, who, on one occasion, was separated from his army by the sudden rise of the river Conway, and was compelled with his followers to subsist for some days on the coarsest fare. But at the return of spring resistance melted away before him. Anglesey submitted: the royal banner was planted on the 52 Id. 644. 650. 1295. |