/

2 6 John. Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book I

1213. He called a Council of the Princes andLords, who were about him, and en-deavoured to persuade them all to swearthey would stand by him, notwithstand-ing any Censures the Pope might thun-der out against him. They all seem-ed inclined to comply, excepting theEarl of Flanders , who not only strenu-ously opposed it, but openly reproach-ed him for offering to make an Advan-tage of another Prince’s Misfortune.Philip , offended at such boldExpreslions,and perhaps glad of an Excuse to comeoff with Honour, without either directlysubmitting to the Pope, or incurring hisAnger, turned the whole Edge of hisBut at length Displeasure on the Earl of Flanders,turtts his w p Q p a( j r efused him his Assistance

the Earl of on his intended Expedition, and whomFlanders, he, on the contrary, suspected, had sidedwith King John. He, therefore, orderedhis Fleet to fail to the Coasts of Flanders,and he himself followed with his Armyby Land.

The Earl of Flanders being thus at-tacked upon King John's Account, hecould in Honour do no less than hastento his Aid. To this End he sent himthe whole Fleet, which he had got to-gether to withstand the Designs ofFrance, consisting of five Hundred Sail,commanded by the Earls of Salisbury,“The English and Boulogne. They met with the FrenchFrench ^ Fleet on the Coast near Dam, a City ofFleet en the Flanders, and obtained a signal VictoryCoast of over it; (h) And then, landing their

Means' Forces, they obliged the French to re-

Ypodigm. tire, after having sustained a consider-Walsingh, able Loss. Father Daniel, in his Ac-F- Daniel. coun t of this Sea-fight, in which how-ever he quotes Matth. Paris, allows,that three Hundred Sail of French Ships,most of them of Burden, and fill’d withAmmunition and Provision, were taken,and above a Hundred more either stran-

(h) The French Historians, and in particularF, Daniel. p. Daniel, to excuse their Officers from a Chargeof Cowardize, fay, the Earl, and the Englijh,took the Opportunity and surprized their Fleet,at a Time, when they knew, that most of theFrench Troops were on Shoar , in Quest ofPlunder.

M; Paris. (j) I t had been hitherto defer’d till theReturnof the Archbishop ot Canterbury , who was toperform it in the Pope's Name.

Echasi. (fc) Echard fays, his Success was so great,

that he soon iubdued the greatest Part of Poitiou,and pressed, with the like Vigour, into Bretagne;but being just ready to give Battle to Lewis, theDauphin, his ever faithless Poiffevins suddenlyM. Paris - forsook him, and obliged him to abandon his

Design, John gave a particular Account of

ded, or burnt, by the Englijh and Flem- 12 ipmings, as they were endeavouring to e-scape. He adds, that they came after-wards and block’d up the Remainder ofthe French Fleet in the Canal and Portof Dam, and that the King, being de-prived of all Hopes of saving them, or-dered them to be divested of whateverwas portable, and afterwards burnt, lestthey should fall into the Hands of theEnglijh.

Thus were all Philip's great Projects Rap'n.defeated, and he obliged to relinquishhis Undertaking, and return Home, nota little enraged as well at King John,as the Pope, who had made him hisDupe to serve his own Ends. John, j 0 jj n ma j^on the contrary, was so elate upon this great PrepSuccess, that he resolved to carry the ratt9ns a 'War into France. To this End he ordered psfjcc.his Troops to march to Portsmouth, and M. Paris-his Fleet to meet him there: But just as ^"ighton-he was going to embark, the Barons let But is dis.him know, that they could not go with appointed Vhim, ’till he was absolved from his Ex - hn Bar00 'communication.(z) This, however, wasbut an Excuse, for after theAbsolution itwas the fame Thing, they then pretend-ed they wanted Mony.

The Year following, King John re- 1214*solved again to carry the War into M. Paris-France, while the Earl of Flanders kept F. Daniel-the French at Bay in the Netherlands.

To this End he fitted out a Fleet,embark-ed at Portsmouth, in February, and fail- K -ing for Roche I, landed his Troops there, failswith 11about the Beginning of Lent. He, at Fleet to K 0 'first, gained some Advantages over the che1 ’French, (k) but Philip sending his SonLewis, with Henry Clement, Marshalof France, at the Head of a considerableArmy, King John was driven from all But retfFhis Conquests, and obliged to retreat, Lojthe greater Part of his Army havingbeen defeated,(/)

King

his Success, in a Letter, to his Justiciary in Eng-land, of which M. Paris has given us a Copy.

(/) Some of our Historians affirm, that Lewis,satisfied with having raised the Siege of La Rocheau Maine, suffered him to retire without pursuin?him. r B

In this Year it is, that M- Paris places the M Pad 5 'scandalous Ambaffy, which, he fays, King Johnsent to Miramumalin, the Moor, the great Kingof Jsrica, Morocco and Spain, who was then theTerrour of all Christendom, offering to refign hisCrown, and to become tributary to him, and toturn Mahometan, if he would lend him a fofficient Aid to accomplish his Designs; (against thePope, and his Barons.) M. Paris is the onlyAuthor who relates this Story, and all our otherHistorians look upon it as a calumnious Fiction of

the