qil soit de iour en autre tank' come purromes et esperoms ferment en Dieu qil nous durra bone et honurable de n're enprise; et qe vous deynz bref orretz bone novelles et plesauntz de nous. Done south n're prive seal a Caen le xxx. iour de Juyl' lan de n're Reigne Dengleterre vyntysme."

[TRANSLATION.]

Edward, by the grace of God, King of England and of France, and Lord of Ireland, to the Honourable Father in God, W. by the same grace Archbishop of York, Primate of England, health. As we know well that you are desirous to hear good news of us, we inform you, that we arrived at the Hogue, near Barfleur, the 12th day of July last past, with all our forces well and safe, praise be to God; and remained there to disembark our forces and horses, and the provisions of our forces, until the Tuesday next following, on which day we removed with our host towards Valonges, and took the castle and town; and then on our route we rebuilt the bridge of Ove, which was broken by our enemies, and passed it, and took the castle and town of Carentene: and from thence we kept the direct route towards the town of Saint Lo, and found the bridge Herbert, near that town, broken to prevent our passage, and we caused it to be rebuilt, and the next morning took the town ;

and we proceeded direct to Caen without stopping one day from the time of our departure from the Hogue until our arrival there; and then on our taking up our quarters at Caen, our people began to besiege the town, which was strongly garrisoned, and filled with about one thousand six hundred men at arms, and more than thirty thousand armed commoners, who defended it very well and ably; so that the fight was very severe, and continued long, but, thanks be to God, the town was at last taken by assault, without loss of our people. There were taken the Count of Eu, Constable of France, the Chamberlain Tankerville, who was for the time styled Marshal of France, and about one hundred and forty other bannerets and knights, and a great number of esquires and rich burgesses; and several nobles, knights, and gentlemen, and a great number of the commons, were slain. And our fleet, which remained near us, to burn and destroy all the sea coast from Barfleur to the "foss" of Coleville*, near Caen, and have burnt the town of Chirbourgh and the ships in the harbour; and of the enemy's large ships and other vessels above one hundred or more have been burnt either by us or by our people. Therefore, we pray you devoutly to render thanks to God, for the success which he has thus granted us, and earnestly entreat him to give us a good continu* Coleville is a small port near the entrance of the river Orne.

in

ance of it; and that you write to the prelates and clergy of your province, that they do the same, and that you signify this circumstance to our people in your neighbourhood to their comfort; and that you laboriously exert yourself to oppose our enemies, the Scots, for the security of our people in your vicinity, by all the means your power, so that we rely entirely on you: for, with the consent of all our nobles, who evinced a great and unanimous desire that we should do so, we have already resolved* to hasten towards our adversary, wherever he may be, from one day to another as well as we can; and we trust firmly in God that he will protect us well and honourably in our undertaking, and that in a short time you will hear good and agreeable news of us. Given under our Privy Seal, at Caen, the xxxth day of July, in the twentieth year of our reign in England [Anno 1346."]

Translation of the Letter in Robert de Avesbury's Historia de Mirabilibus Gestis Edwardi Tertii.

Be it remembered, that our Lord the King and his host landed at Hogue de St. Vaal the xiith day of July†, and remained there until

* The translation of this passage is submitted with much diffidence.

+ Wednesday." When the fleet of England were all safely arrived at La Hogue, the king leaped on shore first; but, by acci

the Tuesday next following*, to disembark his horses, to rest himself and his men, and to provide provisions+. He found at the Hogue eleven ships, of which eight had castles before and behind, the which were burnt. And on the Friday, whilst the King remained there, some troops went to Barfleur, and expected to have found many people§, but they saw none; and they found there nine ships with castles before and behind ||, ij good craiers ¶, and other smaller

dent, he fell, and with such violence, that the blood gushed out at his nose. The knights that were near him said, 'Dear Sir, let us entreat you to return to your ship, and not think of landing to-day, for this is an unfortunate omen.' The king instantly replied, For why? I look upon it as very favourable, and a sign that the land is desirous of me.'"-Johnes's Froissart, chap. cxx. + Et fourner payn.

* July 18th.

July 14th.-This account differs much from Froissart's narrative. After describing how Edward had divided his army, he says, "Both the armies of sea and land went forward until they came to a strong town, called Barfleur;" and adds, "which they soon gained, the inhabitants having surrendered immediately, for fear of losing their lives; but that did not prevent the town from being pillaged and robbed of gold, silver, and every thing precious that could be found therein. There was so much wealth, that the boys of the army set no value on gowns trimmed with fur. They made all the townsmen quit the place, and embarked them on board the fleet.”—Johnes's Froissart, chap. cxx.

§ Gentz.

။

"Ove chastiels devant et derere."-It is scarcely necessary to state, that the ships of war in the fourteenth century had elevated places in the bow and stern, called castles, which contained the "Fore-castle" is still used to describe the fore

fighting men. part of a ship. TA"

craier," or

vessels; the which were also burnt: and the town was as good and as large a town as the town of Sandwich; and after the said troops were gone, the sailors burnt the town, and many good towns and houses* in the neighbourhood were burnt. And the Tuesday that the King left he went to Valoignes, and remained there the whole night, and found sufficient provisions. The next day§ he proceeded a long journey as far as the bridge of Ov, which those of the town of Carentane had broken down, and the King caused it to be rebuilt the same night, and passed it the next day, and proceeded as

whether for war or merchandize does not exactly appear, but most See Ducange. probably the latter. Volumus quod centum naves vocatæ Pessoneræ et Creyeris et aliæ minutiæ naves," &c. * Manoirs.

↑ July 18th.

Froissart confounds the operations of Edward's fleet with those of the army. It will be seen from the letters in the text, that whilst the king proceeded by land, the ships plundered the towns on the coast; but that chronicler says, "They advanced until they came to Cherbourg, which they burnt and pillaged in part, but they could not conquer the castle, as it was too strong, and well garrisoned with men-at-arms; they therefore passed on, and came before Montebourg, near Valonges, which they pillaged and then set fire to."-Johnes's Froissart, chap. cxx.

§ Wednesday, July 19th.

Thursday, July 20th.-Speaking of Carentane, Froissart says, "Those lords that were on board the fleet then disembarked with their people, and made a vigorous attack upon it," &c. He then states, that the inhabitants opened their gates and submitted to the English; but that the men-at-arms defended the castle for two days and then surrendered it, "their lives and fortunes being saved."

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