2 8 Hen JIT. Naval Expeditions ? &c, of the English, Book I,

1216.

Holinsh.

M. Pans.T. Wikes.An. Wave rl

Hemingf.

HenW HI.

crowned.

1217.jy[. Paris.y^Dauphingoes toFrance, butreturns.

An Engage-ment withtie Frenchat Seat -

Holinjhead.

Hemingf.j

Holinjh.An.Waverl.Hemingf.M. Paris.

CHAP. VIII.

Naval Expeditions and Transactions of the English, with some other memorableEvents , during the Reign of Kmg Henry IIL

- W EN RT III. surnamed of

—I Winchester, who was but tenA Years of Age at his Father’sDeath, would have had littleProspect of succeeding him, in the Cir-cumstances his Father left the Kingdom,had it not been for the wife and braveEarl of Pembroke, a loyal Subject, ofCapacity to project, and of Resolutionto execute the greatest Designs, (st) Bythis Lord’s indefatigable Endeavours allDifficulties,however insurmountable theyat first appeared, were overcome, theKing was crowned on the eight andtwentieth of OCtober at Gloucester, andLewis, who had before given the Baronssome Distaste, giving them now freshCauses of Complaint, thereby settled,him more securely on the Throne.

A Truce being made ’till a Monthafter Easter, during which Time Lewismade a Trip to France, the Cinq Ports,came over in the mean Time to Henry,and fitted out a Fleet to oppose his Re-turn. This Fleet did indeed engage theFrench, and destroyed several of theirShips, but could not prevent thePrince’s Landing at Sandwich, whichout of Revenge he burnt. The CinqPorts had , however, soon an Op-portunity of being revenged in their

Turns. Lewis having desired some fresh 2217.Supplies from his Father, they were re-pairing to embark at Calais. The Com-manders of the Fleet of the Cinq Ports,and in particular Hubert de Burgh, Cap-tain of Dover- Castle, together withPhilip st’ Albany and John Marshall,whom the Earl of Pembroke had orderedtojoyn them, having Notice of it, resol-ved to way-lay them in their Passage.

This they did, and a Battle ensued. j^ ej ^ ari £The Engagement happened on the four AnWavesand twentieth of August. The English A Frenchhad but forty, and the French eighty Fleet'defeat'large Ships, besides smaller Vessels, the pjKing’s Fleet, therefore, not daring to at- the English*tack them in Front, tacked about, and.getting to the Windward, bore downupon them, and funk several of theirShips, by running forcibly against themwith the Iron Brows or Beaks of theirVessels. They, likewise, made greatSlaughter of their Men, with theirArchers. But what compleated theirVictory, was a great Quantity ofQuicklime in Powder, that they hadboard, and which being cast into theAir, was blown by the Wind intothe Enemy’s Eyes, and blinded them.

The English obtained a compleat Victory,and either took or funk the greatest Partof the French Fleet, (st) This Loss,

with

(a) The Peers and great Men of the Realm,being assembled at Gloucester, the Earl, bringingthe young Prince into their Presence, and settinghim before them, made a short but pathetickSpeech in his Favour ; (See a Copy of it in Ho-lt nfhead) which had such an Effect, that all whowere present, with one Consent, proclaimed himKing of England.

{b) Contrary to his Oath to them, he hadsubjected all Places to Spoil and Plunder, to en-rich himself, and his Nation ; and it had been dis-covered to them by the Viscount Melun, a French-man -, upon his Death-Bed, that Lewis had vowedutterly to extinguish the Englijh , for their rebel-lious Humour : Or, as other Historians give it,that Lewis, and sixteen of his greatest Lords, (ofwhom the Viscount was one) swore, that if he gotthe Crown of England , all those that had foughtagainst their King should be banished, and theirEstates seized.

(cj Among the Prisoners was the famous Eu-stace, the Monk, a Flemming by Birth, who, ha-ving quitted the Cowl, turned Pirate, and had, inparticular, done great Damage to the Englijh Na-tion. He offered great Sums of Gold for his Life>

but they were refused, and Richard, a BastardSon of King John, cut off his Head, and sent itto his Brother. The Spoil taken in this Engage-ment was very considerable, and the Fleet return-ed laden with.Riches and Honour. Holinjhead, „ .

however, places this Victory in 1218. But the Ryder’s IfFeeder a shew, that the Treaty was signed in dera, T-12x7. p. 221.

Selden draws an Argument from this Ac- Seld.tion to confirm our Dominion of the Seas; and Clausum■fays Philip d'Albeny and John Marjhal carefullyguarded the Passages of the Sea. The fame Au-thor speaking os this Engagement fays, “ the“ French had not been used to Sea-fights : But" the Englijh being warlike, and skilled in Sea-" fights, galled the French, with Darts and Ar-" rows, ran them thro’ with their Lances, did“ Execution with their Swords, funk their Ships,

" and blinded them with Lime : Insomuch that“ they were deprived of all Hope of Relief and" Succour, and knew not which Way to fly. "

Agreeable to M. Paris: “ Fit graviflimus inter“ Parses conflictus, fed Pars Francorum, quorum" tifus non fuerat prælium navale conferere, in" brevi erat funditus infirmata, Nam ab Anghs

" bellatoribuv,