СНАР. X. who proceeded in the direction of St. Omer. This inmense host, instead of marching to meet and overwhelm the French king, sate down before Tournay. Edward sent from thence a challenge to Philip of Valois, as he styled him, to decide their quarrel by single combat, or by an encounter of a hundred knights on either side. Philip replied, on the last day of July, "That such a title could not be addressed to him; that the writer was his liege, and had no right to enter his dominions. He promised to cast the intruder out of the kingdom without loss of time; and that, as to the Flemings, he was confident they would rally to their own lord." Philip marched to the neighbourhood of Tournay with an army as formidable as that which he brought in the preceding year; but neither party were prepared to engage in a general action. The French hesitated to attack, and eleven weeks' siege made no impression upon Tournay. Robert d'Artois, who commanded the armed citizens of West Flanders, led them against St. Omer, not with the hope of capturing that important town, but for purposes of pillage and devastation. The Flemings were thus engaged in plundering one of the suburbs, when the French within, issuing by another gate, came round and surprised them in the rear, routing and slaying them as they fled, to the number of 4000. This disaster made such an impression on the army of West Flanders, that a panic seized it on the following morning, and all fled and dispersed to their homes. If the campaign of the preceding year had taught Edward how little was to be expected from the Walloon or the German, he learnt this year that even the redoubtable Flemings would not enable him either to conquer France or to reduce Philip to just and reasonable terms. He therefore consented that Jeanne de Valois, sister of Philip and Countess of Hainault, should seek to bring about an accommodation. Her efforts led to a six months' truce, consented to in order that plenipotentiaries from both monarchs might treat for the conclusion of a more definitive peace. The belligerents had scarcely suspended hostilities on the northern frontier of France, when a quarrel arose in another quarter, giving equal facilities for English interference, and offering to Edward more sincere, zealous, and martial allies than the Flemings had proved, whether knights or artisans. John, Duke of Brittany, had, with a feudal contingent, joined King Philip's army in the vicinity of Tournay: in returning from this expedition he expired at Caen, in the spring of 1341. This duke, who died without issue, was the eldest son of Arthur, Duke of Brittany and Marie de Limoges; a second son by the same marriage was called Guy, who left a daughter, Jeanne. By a later marriage with Yolande, Countess of Montfort, Duke Arthur had a third son, John, Count of Montfort, who, as the only male heir, claimed the duchy. The late duke, who hated his step-brother, had always treated his niece Jeanne as his heir, and she had been married to Charles of Blois, son of a sister of King Philip. The duke, however, left no testament, made no dying declaration, and had not consulted the States of Brittany. John of Montfort no sooner learned his brother's death than he hurried to Nantes, the capital, and was acknowledged by the citizens and people of the environs, who did him homage. John of Montfort then proceeded to Limoges, to which he certainly had no right, and where, on that account, perhaps, the late duke had kept his treasure; this he obtained, as well as his recognition by the citi zens of that town. He had in the meantime summoned the nobles of Brittany to meet him at Nantes, where he proposed holding a solemn court with his duchess, the sister of the Count of Flanders. The Breton noblesse hesitated which side they would take in the disputed succession. Charles of Blois hastened to Paris to im CHAP. X. CHAP. plore the aid of Philip of Valois to rescue his heritage X. of Brittany, whilst his rival took possession of Brest On his return John found a summons from King Philip to repair to the Louvre, and attend the judgment of the French peers respecting the succession. He did not disobey the summons; but proceeded, accompanied by 400 knights, to Paris, where he presented himself to the king, and found him attended by his rival, Charles of Blois. The monarch reproached the duke with the visit and the homage that he had paid to the King of England, and then bade him await fifteen days for the judgment of the peers. John at once perceived in the attitude of the king and the aspect of the court the sentence that would be passed against his right, and, as this would have been accompanied or preceded by his arrest, he left Paris secretly, with a few of his followers, and retired in all haste to the duchy. The judgment of the peers, or rather of King Philip, was of course in favour of his nephew, Charles of Blois, who mustered an army at Angers for the reconquest of the duchy. It consisted of 5000 men-at-arms, under the command of John, Duke of Normandy, eldest son of Philip, and 3000 Genoese archers, who had been engaged for the Flemish war. Descending the Loire, this army first attacked and took Chantoceaux, the frontier fortress of Brittany, and then laid siege to Nantes, in which Montfort had shut himself. A Breton historian records the cruelty of the French and the Duke of Normandy, in decapitating thirty knights taken in a fortress, and flinging their heads from engines into Nantes, in order to terrify the inhabitants. Certain it is, that the citizens of Nantes soon became weary of shourring extreme risk for the sake of De Montfort, and they accordingly entered into several negotiations with the French commander, to whom they betrayed not only their town, but the duke himself. According to the account of De Montfort's own secretary, he was party to the negotiations, and was to have been liberated on the surrender of Nantes; but his enemies carried him off, and consigned him to the dungeons of the Louvre. The cause of the captured prince was, however, taken up, with a spirit superior to his own, by his wife. She was at Rennes when tidings arrived of her husband's capture. She immediately appeared to her soldiers and partisans, showed to them her infant son, who, she declared, should one day be the restorer and avenger of his father; and, in the meantime, the party should not want a captain. She no doubt alluded to the King of England; but she proved herself a valiant and admirable captain. Having provided to the best of her power for some garrisons, she withdrew herself with her son to Hennebont on the sea, in order to be within reach of English succour, to demand which she despatched Amaury de Clisson. The countess had another reason for withdrawing westward: this was, that whilst the eastern towns of the duchy were inclined to the French and their supremacy, the western, or more truly Breton portion of Brittany, the Brittania Brittanizans, as the chronicler calls it, remained attached to De Montfort. Charles of Blois remained during the winter quiet at Nantes. In the spring of the following year he advanced to Rennes, and laid siege to it. The garrison which the Countess of Montfort had left was commanded by William Cadoudal, who soon encountered the same difficulty which the count had experienced, the citizens being desirous of surrendering rather than endure the perils and risk of a siege. Cadoudal imprisoned the most turbulent, and continued his defence; but, finding this impossible with the townspeople's reluctance, he sur CHAP. X. X. rendered Rennes, on condition that he and his partisans should be allowed to withdraw. Charles then marched to Hennebont, resolved to terminate the war and the subjugation of the duchy by the capture of the countess. The inhabitants of Hennebont were, however, genuine Bretons, not like the citizens of Nantes or of Rennes; and when the Genoese marched to the assault, "they lost more than they gained," says Froissart. The countess presided over the defence, and compelled her maids to unpave the streets and carry the stones to the walls to fling down on the assailants. Armed, and on horseback, she headed a sally from a postern, and fired the tents and baggage of the besieging army, making her escape when discovered to a neighbouring a neighbouring fortress, from whence she afterwards re-entered Hennebont under the beards of the besiegers. Despairing of taking the town by assault, Charles entrusted the siege to Louis of Spain, who undertook to batter and destroy the walls by huge engines. The Italians and Spaniards were more advanced at that time than the French in the science of attacking towns. They already used cannon, which were then but slowly creeping into France. The stones and heavy missiles that Louis of Spain now flung against the walls of Hennebont caused no little alarm, and gave occasion to the Bishop of Leon to persuade the Bretons to surrender. The countess, on the other hand, encouraged them to persist in the defence, but at last was obliged to limit her demand to three days; in that time the succour promised from England she thought might arrive. The bishop, however, laboured to bring about the surrender before the expiration of the time when the countess, watching from a high tower, at last perceived sails, and summoned the townsfolk to observe them. It was Walter de Manny, De Clisson, and an army of English, coming with six thousand archers to their relief. No sooner had the |