§6 Edw. III, Naval Expeditions , dec. o/' the English, Book I
1350. Chelsea. The Spanish Squadron, in' Number four and forty Ships, consistedof a Sort of large Carracks, which layso high in the Water above the English ,that they had the Appearance of so ma-ny floating Castles. A bloody Engage-ment ensued, and both Sides fought,Jni entirely a considerable Time, with equal
Spantsli S Bravery and Obstinacy. The SpanijhFleet. Cross-bowmen were, however, at lastobliged to allow the Superiority of theEnglish Archers, and to give up theDay to our brave Edward. The Victo-ry .was compleat, and hardly a Shipwould have escaped had not the ap-proaching Night favoured them. Se-venteen of these unwieldy Sea-Monsterswere,however,taken; And those, whichthe Veil of Night had overlhaddowed,and screened from the Pursuit of thevictorious Englistj Navy, were so gaul’dand fliattered that it was not withoutDifficulty they reached their Har-
bours.
Mezerai. Philip de Valois dying this Year,y°^ n * his Son and Successor, renewedtheTruce with Edward till Whitsuntide,1354. but it was very ill observed, Ho-stilities being frequently committed, andReprisals taken on both Sides. I findone Instance of them in Echard, which
Philip deValois.
I 354-
Echird.
Ft oid3 rd.
^rbeDukd 0 f may properly be inserted here: Henry,
iLsncafter
ravages theCoafts sfF ranee.
1351-
1354*
Wal singh.Knighton,Ftoiflard.The Princeef Walesjnveftedwith theDuchy ofGuienne.
Farl of Lancaster, made not long beforea Duke in Parliament, and the secondin E gland, was sent by King Edwardto Caiais. He marched along the Sea-Coasts, and burnt the Suburbs of Bou-logne to the very Walls; And then, ad-vancing as far as Estaples, which heplundered, he took a Compass to returnback on the right Hand, where he didthe like to Fanquenberg, and after thatto Th one.me. In the Havens of theseTowns he burnt above a Hundred Ves-sels of all Sorts, and proceeded withFire and Sword up to Ar ques, and theGates of St. Omers-, and having sufficient-ly made known the Terror of hisArms, he triumphantly returned toCalais, with many Prisoners and muchBooty.
In the Year 1354. the Truce wasagain renewed for a Year, and againbroken before the Expiration of it. Ed-ward invested his Son with the Duchyof Guienne , (as the King of France hadbefore done the Dauphin) and command-ed him to repair thither to defend hisRight with his Sword. He failed, forthat End, from Plymouth , the eighth of
September, attended by several Lords, j 3 c; 4*
together with a Thousand Men at Arms,and the like (some say a greater) Num-ber of Archers. While the Prince ofWales was preparing to renew the Warin Guienne, his Father landed, on thesecond of November, at Calais, with hisSons, Lionel and John, several Lords, Edwardand about two Thousand Men at Arms, Success inand ravaged the Boulonnois and Artois, ^ rance -without Opposition, but returned theseventeenth of the same Month. Wal- Walsin £ 'stngham places this in 1355.
In the Year, 1356. the Prince of 13^6.Wties first ravaged the Southern Pro- Mezerai.vinces of France, and particularly Lan- S°]^ ariguedoc, and returned to Bourdeaux loaden awith Spoils, then did the like in the veryHeart of France ; But K .John, pursuinghim with an Army, which, in Number,five, or as some say, sixTimes exceededhis, overtook him near Poifliers, where,seing no Possibility of retreating, he of-fered very reasonable Terms to save hislittle Army. John, depending upon hisSuperiority, rejected them, and thePrince, rather than to submit to dis-honorable Conditions resolved to con-quer or dye. Hence ensued, on the Froissard.nineteenth of September, the memorable C[>heBattle and gloriousVictory of Poifliers,mwhich this great Prince, with a Handful Jof Men, defeated the whole French Ar-my, killed above six Thousand Men atArms, among which were 800. Nobles,besides eight Thousand Commoners :
And took twice as many Prisoners as hehad Men himself. Among the latter , . /were the King of France himself, his FranceSon Philip, seventeen Earls, and fifteen his Son trHundred Barons, Knights and Esquires. ken Fr ^°' \
The Reader may fee a List of the chief Knighton-of them in Knighton : The Prince re- Wairmgh- ^turned with his Prisoners, and anestimable Booty, to Bourdeaux. He*"*spent his Winter there, and having, ' ires’with the Consent of his Father, conclud-ed a Truce for two Years, came to Eng-land, with his Royal Prisoners, landed ThePri ^the fifth of May, at Plymouth, and mad q publics shis Publick Entry thro' London, the London^four and twentieth of the fame Month.
The Truce expiring in 1359* Edward 1359*
made the greatest Preparations for theContinuance of the War that had beenknown. An Army of a Hundred Thou-sand Men was raised, and a prodigious
(JFalstngham fays of eleven Hun- WalW?’dred Ships) got together, to transport Froiss 31- '
them,