St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XXI.

  THE JACQUERIE.

  On the evening after the battle of Poitiers, a splendid entertainmentwas served in the tent of the Prince of Wales to the King of France andall the principal prisoners. John with his son and six of his highestnobles were seated at a table raised above the rest, and the princehimself waited as page upon the French king. John in vain endeavored topersuade the prince to be seated; the latter refused, saying that it washis pleasure as well as his duty to wait upon one who had shown himselfto be the best and bravest knight in the French army. The example of theBlack Prince was contagious, and the English vied with each other ingenerous treatment of their prisoners. All were treated as friends, andthat night an immense number of knights and squires were admitted toransom on such terms as had never before been known. The captors simplyrequired their prisoners to declare in good faith what they could affordto pay without pressing themselves too hard, "for they did not wish,"they said, "to ransom knights or squires on terms which would preventthem from maintaining their station in society, from serving theirlords, or from riding forth in arms to advance their name and honor."

  Upon the following morning solemn thanksgivings were offered up on thefield of battle for the glorious victory. Then the English army,striking its tents, marched back toward Bordeaux. They were unmolestedupon this march, for although the divisions of the dauphin and the Dukeof Orleans had now reunited, and were immensely superior in numbers tothe English, encumbered as the latter were, moreover, with prisoners andbooty, the tremendous defeat which they had suffered, and still more thecapture of the king, paralyzed the French commanders, and the Englishreached Bordeaux without striking another blow.

  Not long after they reached that city the Cardinal of Perigord andanother legate presented themselves to arrange peace, and thesenegotiations went on throughout the winter. The prince had received fullpowers from his father, and his demands were very moderate; but in spiteof this no final peace could be arranged, and the result of theconference was the proclamation of a truce, to last for two years fromthe following Easter.

  During the winter immense numbers of the prisoners who had gone at largeupon patrol came in and paid their ransoms, as did the higher nobles whohad been taken prisoners, and the whole army was greatly enriched. Atthe end of April the prince returned to England with King John. Theprocession through the streets of London was a magnificent one, thecitizens vying with each other in decorating their houses in honor ofthe victor of Poitiers, who, simply dressed, rode on a small black horseby the side of his prisoner, who was splendidly attired, and mounted ona superb white charger. The king received his royal prisoner in state inthe great hall of his palace at Westminster, and did all in his power toalleviate the sorrows of his condition. The splendid palace of theSavoy, with gardens extending to the Thames, was appointed for hisresidence, and every means was taken to soften his captivity.

  During the absence of the Black Prince in Guienne the king had beenwarring in Scotland. Here his success had been small, as the Scotch hadretreated before him, wasting the country. David Bruce, the rightfulking, was a prisoner in England, and Baliol, a descendant of the rivalof Robert Bruce, had been placed upon the throne. As Edward passedthrough Roxburgh he received from Baliol a formal cession of all hisrights and titles to the throne of Scotland, and in return for thispurely nominal gift he bestowed an annual income upon Baliol, who livedand died a pensioner of England. After Edward's return to Englandnegotiations were carried on with the Scots, and a treaty was signed bywhich a truce for ten years was established between the two countries,and the liberation of Bruce was granted on a ransom of one hundredthousand marks.

  The disorganization into which France had been thrown by the capture ofits king increased rather than diminished. Among all classes men strovein the absence of a repressive power to gain advantages and privileges.Serious riots occurred in many parts, and the demagogues of Paris,headed by Stephen Marcel, and Robert le Coq, Bishop of Leon, set atdefiance the dauphin and the ministers and lieutenant of the king.Massacre and violence stained the streets of Paris with blood. Generallaw, public order, and private security were all lost. Great bodies ofbrigands devastated the country, and the whole of France was thrown intoconfusion. So terrible was the disorder that the inhabitants of everyvillage were obliged to fortify the ends of their streets and keep watchand ward as in the cities. The proprietors of land on the banks ofrivers spent the nights in boats moored in the middle of the stream, andin every house and castle throughout the land men remained armed as ifagainst instant attack.

  Then arose the terrible insurrection known as the Jacquerie. Forcenturies the peasantry of France had suffered under a bondage to whichthere had never been any approach in England. Their lives and libertieswere wholly at the mercy of their feudal lords. Hitherto no attempt atresistance had been possible; but the tremendous defeat of the French atPoitiers by a handful of English aroused the hope among the serfs thatthe moment for vengeance had come. The movement began among a handful ofpeasants in the neighborhood of St. Leu and Claremont. These declaredthat they would put to death all the gentlemen in the land. The cryspread through the country. The serfs, armed with pikes, poured out fromevery village, and a number of the lower classes from the towns joinedthem. Their first success was an attack upon a small castle. They burneddown the gates and slew the knight to whom it belonged, with his wifeand children of all ages. Their numbers rapidly increased. Castle aftercastle was taken and stormed, palaces and houses leveled to the ground;fire, plunder, and massacre swept through the fairest provinces ofFrance. The peasants vied with each other in inventing deaths offiendish cruelty and outrage upon every man, woman, and child of thebetter classes who fell into their hands.

  Owing to the number of nobles who had fallen at Cressy and Poitiers, andof those still captives in England, very many of their wives anddaughters remained unprotected, and these were the especial victims ofthe fiendish malignity of the peasantry. Separated in many bands, theinsurgents marched through the Beauvoisis, Soissonois, and Vermandois;and as they approached, a number of unprotected ladies of the highestfamilies in France fled to Meaux, where they remained under the guard ofthe young Duke of Orleans and a handful of men-at-arms.

  After the conclusion of the peace at Bordeaux, Sir Walter Somers hadbeen dispatched on a mission to some of the German princes, with whomthe king was in close relations. The business was not of an onerousnature, but Walter had been detained for some time over it. He spent apleasant time in Germany, where, as an emissary of the king and one ofthe victors of Poitiers, the young English knight was made much of. Whenhe set out on his return he joined the Captal de Buch, who, everthirsting for adventure, had on the conclusion of the truce gone toserve in a campaign in Germany; with him was the French Count de Foix,who had been also serving throughout the campaign.

  On entering France from the Rhine the three knights were shocked at themisery and ruin which met their eyes on all sides. Every castle andhouse throughout the country, of a class superior to those of thepeasants, was destroyed, and tales of the most horrible outrages andmurders met their ears.

  "I regret," the Count de Foix said earnestly, "that I have been awaywarring in Germany, for it is clear that every true knight is wanted athome to crush down these human wolves."

  "Methinks," the captal rejoined, "that France will do well to invite thechivalry of all other countries to assemble and aid to put down thishorrible insurrection."

  "Ay," the count said bitterly; "but who is to speak in the name ofFrance? The dauphin is powerless, and the virtual government is in thehands of Marcel and other ambitious traitors who hail the doings of theJacquerie with delight, for these mad peasants are doing their work ofdestroying the knights and nobles."

  The villages through which they passed were deserted save by women, andin the small towns the people of the lower class scowled threateninglyat the three knights; but they with their following of fortymen-at-arms, of whom five were followers of Walter, fifteen of t
hecaptal, and twenty of the Count de Foix, ventured not to proceed beyondevil glances.

  "I would," De Foix said, "that these dogs would but lift a hand againstus. By St. Stephen, we would teach them a rough lesson!"

  His companions were of the same mind, for all were excited to fury bythe terrible tales which they heard. All these stories were new to them,for although rumors had reached Germany of the outbreak of a peasantinsurrection in France, the movement had but just begun when theystarted. As far as the frontier they had traveled leisurely, but theyhad hastened their pace more and more as they learned how sore was thestrait of the nobles and gentry of the country, and how grievously everygood sword was needed. When they reached Chalons they heard much fullerparticulars than had before reached them, and learned that the Duchessof Normandy, the Duchess of Orleans, and near three hundred ladies hadsought refuge in Meaux, and that they were there guarded but by ahandful of men-at-arms under the Duke of Orleans, while great bands ofserfs were pouring in from all parts of the country round to massacrethem.

  Meaux is eighty miles from Chalons, but the three knights determined topress onward with all speed in hopes of averting the catastrophe.Allowing their horses an hour or two to rest, they rode forward, andpressing on without halt or delay, save such as was absolutely needed bythe horses, they arrived at Meaux late the following night, and found totheir delight that the insurgents, although swarming in immense numbersround the town, had not yet attacked it.

  The arrival of the three knights and their followers was greeted withjoy by the ladies. They, with their guard, had taken up their positionin the market-house and market-place, which were separated from the restof the town by the river Marne, which flows through the city. Aconsultation was at once held, and it being found that the Duke ofOrleans had but twenty men-at-arms with him, it was determined that itwas impossible to defend the city walls, but that upon the followingmorning they would endeavor to cut their way with the ladies through thepeasant hosts. In the night, however, an uproar was heard in the city.The burghers had risen and had opened the gates to the peasants, who nowpoured in in thousands. Every hour increased their numbers.

  The market-place was besieged in the morning, and an hour or twoafterward a large body of the ruffians of Paris, under the command of abrutal grocer named Pierre Gille, arrived to swell their ranks.

  The attack on the market-house continued, and the Duke of Orleans helda consultation with the three knights. It was agreed that against such ahost of enemies the market-place could not long be defended, and thattheir best hope lay in sallying out and falling upon the assailants.Accordingly the men-at-arms were drawn up in order, with the banners ofthe Duke of Orleans and the Count de Foix and the pennons of the captaland Sir Walter Somers displayed, the gates were opened, and with leveledlances the little party rode out. Hitherto nothing had been heard saveyells of anticipated triumph and fierce imprecations and threats againstthe defenders from the immense multitude without; but the appearance ofthe orderly ranks of the knights and men-at-arms as they issued throughthe gate struck a silence of fear through the mass.

  Without an instant's delay the knights and men-at-arms, with leveledlances, charged into the multitude. A few attempted to fight, but morestrove to fly, as the nobles and their followers, throwing away theirlances, fell upon them with sword and battle-ax. Jammed up in the narrowstreets of a small walled town, overthrowing and impeding each other intheir efforts to escape, trampled down by the heavy horses of themen-at-arms, and hewn down by their swords and battle-axes, theinsurgents fell in vast numbers. Multitudes succeeded in escapingthrough the gates into the fields; but here they were followed by theknights and their retainers, who continued charging among them andslaying till utter weariness compelled them to cease from the pursuitand return to Meaux. Not less than seven thousand of the insurgents hadbeen slain by the four knights and fifty men, for ten had been leftbehind to guard the gates of the market-place.

  History has no record of so vast a slaughter by so small a body of men.This terrific punishment put a summary end to the Jacquerie. Already inother parts several bodies had been defeated, and their principalleader, Caillet, with three thousand of his followers, slain nearClermont. But the defeat at Meaux was the crushing blow which put an endto the insurrection.

  On their return to the town the knights executed a number of theburghers who had joined the peasants, and the greater part of the townwas burned to the ground as a punishment for having opened the gates tothe peasants and united with them.

  The knights and ladies then started for Paris. On nearing the city theyfound that it was threatened by the forces of the dauphin. Marcel hadstrongly fortified the town, and with his ally, the infamous King ofNavarre, bade defiance to the royal power. However, the excesses of thedemagogue had aroused against him the feeling of all the better class ofthe inhabitants. The King of Navarre, who was ready at all times tobreak his oath and betray his companions, marched his army out of thetown and took up a position outside the walls. He then secretlynegotiated peace with the Duke of Normandy, by which he agreed to yieldto their fate Marcel and twelve of the most obnoxious burghers, while atthe same time he persuaded Marcel that he was still attached to hisinterest. Marcel, however, was able to bid higher than the Duke ofNormandy, and he entered into a new treaty with the treacherous king, bywhich he stipulated to deliver the city into his hands during the night.Every one within the walls, except the partisans of Marcel, upon whosedoors a mark was to be placed, were to be put to death indiscriminately,and the King of Navarre was to be proclaimed King of France.

  Fortunately Pepin des Essarts and John de Charny, two loyal knights whowere in Paris, obtained information of a few minutes before the timeappointed for its execution. Arming themselves instantly, and collectinga few followers, they rushed to the houses of the chief conspirators,but found them empty, Marcel and his companions having already gone tothe gates. Passing by the hotel-de-ville, the knights entered, snatcheddown the royal banner which was kept there, and unfurling it mountedtheir horses and rode through the streets, calling all men to arms. Theyreached the Port St. Antoine just at the moment when Marcel was in theact of opening it in order to give admission to the Navarrese. When heheard the shouts he tried with his friends to make his way into thebastile, but his retreat was intercepted, and a severe and bloodystruggle took place between the two parties. Stephen Marcel, however,was himself slain by Sir John de Charny, and almost all his principalcompanions fell with him. The inhabitants then threw open their gatesand the Duke of Normandy entered.

  Walter Somers had, with his companions, joined the army of the duke andplaced his sword at his disposal; but when the French prince enteredParis without the necessity of fighting, he took leave of him, and withthe captal returned to England. Rare, indeed, were the jewels whichWalter brought home to his wife, for the three hundred noble ladiesrescued at Meaux from dishonor and death had insisted upon bestowingtokens of their regard and gratitude upon the rescuers, and as many ofthem belonged to the richest as well as the noblest families in France,the presents which Walter thus received from the grateful ladies were ofimmense value.

  He was welcomed by the king and Prince of Wales with great honor, forthe battle at Meaux had excited the admiration and astonishment of allEurope. The Jacquerie was considered as a common danger in all civilizedcountries; for if successful it might have spread far beyond theboundaries of France, and constituted a danger to chivalry, and indeedto society universally.

  Thus King Edward gave the highest marks of his satisfaction to thecaptal and Walter, added considerable grants of land to the estates ofthe latter, and raised him to the dignity of Baron Somers of Westerham.

  It has always been a matter of wonder that King Edward did not takeadvantage of the utter state of confusion and anarchy which prevailed inFrance to complete his conquest of that country, which there is noreasonable doubt he could have effected with ease. Civil war and strifeprevailed throughout France; famine devastated it; and without leadersor conc
ord, dispirited and impoverished by defeat, France could haveoffered no resistance to such an army as England could have placed inthe field. The only probable supposition is that at heart he doubtedwhether the acquisition of the crown of France was really desirable, orwhether it could be permanently maintained should it be gained. To themonarch of a county prosperous, flourishing, and contented the object ofadmiration throughout Europe, the union with distracted and dividedFrance could be of no benefit. Of military glory he had gained enough tocontent any man, and some of the richest provinces of France werealready his. Therefore it may well be believed that, feeling secure verymany years must elapse before France could again become dangerous, hewas well content to let matters continue as they were.

  King John still remained a prisoner in his hands, for the princes andnobles of France were too much engaged in broils and civil wars to thinkof raising the money for his ransom, and Languedoc was the only provinceof France which made any effort whatever toward so doing. War stillraged between the dauphin and the King of Navarre.

  At the conclusion of the two years' truce Edward, with the mostsplendidly equipped army which had ever left England, marched throughthe length and breadth of France. Nowhere did he meet with anyresistance in the field. He marched under the walls of Paris, but tookno steps to lay siege to that city, which would have fallen an easy preyto his army had he chosen to capture it. That he did not do so isanother proof that he had no desire to add France to the possessions ofthe English crown. At length, by the efforts of the pope, a peace wasagreed upon, by which France yielded all Aquitaine and the town ofCalais to England as an absolute possession, and not as a fief of thecrown of France; while the English king surrendered all his captures inNormandy and Brittany and abandoned his claim to the crown of France.With great efforts the French raised a portion of the ransom demandedfor the king, and John returned to France after four years of captivity.

  At the commencement of 1363 Edward the Black Prince was named Prince ofAquitaine, and that province was bestowed upon him as a gift by theking, subject only to liege homage and an annual tribute of one ounce ofgold. The prince took with him to his new possessions many of theknights and nobles who had served with him, and offered to Walter a highpost in the government of the province if he would accompany him. ThisWalter begged to be excused from doing. Two girls had now been added tohis family, and he was unwilling to leave his happy home unless theneeds of war called him to the prince's side. He therefore remainedquietly at home.

  When King John returned to France, four of the French princes of theblood-royal had been given as hostages for the fulfillment of the treatyof Bretigny. They were permitted to reside at Calais and were at libertyto move about as they would, and even to absent themselves from the townfor three days at a time whensoever they might choose. The Duke ofAnjou, the king's second son, basely took advantage of this liberty toescape, in direct violation of his oath. The other hostages followed hisexample.

  King John, himself the soul of honor, was intensely mortified at thisbreach of faith on the part of his sons, and after calling together theStates-general at Amiens to obtain the subsidies necessary for payingthe remaining portion of his ransom, he himself, with a train of twohundred officers and their followers, crossed to England to make excusesto Edward for the treachery of the princes. Some historians representthe visit as a voluntary returning into captivity; but this was not so.The English king had accepted the hostages in his place and wasresponsible for their safe-keeping, and had no claim upon the Frenchmonarch because they had taken advantage of the excess of confidencewith which they had been treated. That the coming of the French king wasnot in any way regarded as a return into captivity is shown by the factthat he was before starting furnished by Edward with letters ofsafe-conduct, by which his secure and unobstructed return to his owncountry was expressly stipulated, and he was received by Edward as anhonored guest and friend, and his coming was regarded as an honor and anoccasion for festivity by all England.

  At the same time that John was in London the King of Cyprus, the King ofDenmark, and the King of Scotland were also there, and the meeting offour monarchs in London was the occasion of extraordinary festivitiesand rejoicing, the king and his royal guests being several timesentertained at sumptuous banquets by the lord mayor, the ex-mayor, HenryPickard, and several of the aldermen.

  Six weeks after John's arrival in London he was seized with illness atthe palace of the Savoy, and died on the 8th of April, 1364. Thedauphin, Charles, now succeeded him as Charles V., and the war betweenthe houses of Navarre and Valois was carried on with greater fury thanever. The armies of Navarre were commanded by the Captal de Buch, whowas a distant relation of the king; while those of Charles were headedby the Marechal de Boucicault and Bertrand du Guesclin, one of the mostgallant of the French knights. A great battle was fought near Cocherel.Contrary to the orders of the captal, his army, which consistedprincipally of adventurers, descended from the strong position he hadchosen, and gave battle in the plain. They were completely defeated andthe captal himself taken prisoner.

  In Brittany John of Montford and Charles of Blois had renewed theirstruggle, and King Charles, seeing the danger of Brittany falling intothe hands of De Montford, who was a close ally of England, interfered infavor of Charles of Blois, and sent Du Guesclin to his assistance.

  This was a breach of the treaty of Bretigny, and De Montford at oncesent to the Black Prince for assistance. The prince did not treat theconduct of Charles as a breach of the treaty, and took no part himselfin the war, but permitted Sir John Chandos, who was a personal friend ofDe Montford, to go to his aid. De Montford's army, after the arrival ofChandos with a force of two hundred spears, amounted to but sixteenhundred men-at-arms and from eight hundred to nine hundred archers,while Charles of Blois had four thousand men-at-arms and a proportionatenumber of infantry. De Montford tried to negotiate. He offered to dividethe dukedom, and to agree that in case he died childless it shouldrevert to the family of Charles. Charles, however, refused all terms,even to grant his adversary's request to put off the battle until themorrow, so as to avoid violating the Sabbath; and having given ordersthat all prisoners taken in the battle should be hung, he advanced uponDe Montford.

  Both forces were divided in four bodies. The first on De Montford's sidewas commanded by Sir Robert Knolles, the second by Oliver de Clisson,the third by Chandos and De Montford, the fourth by Sir Hugh deCalverley. Du Guesclin led the front division of Charles' army, theCounts of Auxerre and Joigny the second, Charles himself the third, andthe Lords of Roye and Rieux the reserve. The ducal arms of Brittany weredisplayed on both sides.

  By slow degrees the two armies closed with each other in deadly strife.Both parties had dismounted and fought on foot with lances shortened tofive feet. Du Guesclin and his division attacked that of Knolles.Auxerre fell upon De Clisson, while the divisions of the two rivalprinces closed with each other. After desperate fighting numbersprevailed. De Montford was driven back, but Calverley advanced to hisaid, fell upon the rear of the French, threw them into disorder, andthen having rallied De Montford's men, retired to his former position inreadiness to give succor again where it might be needed.

  In the mean time Clisson had been engaged in a desperate struggle withthe Count of Auxerre, but was obtaining no advantage. Clisson himselfhad received the blow of a battle-ax which had dashed in the visor ofhis helmet and blinded forever one of his eyes. He was still leading hismen, but the enemies' superior numbers were pressing him back, whenChandos, the instant the assistance of Calverley had relieved DeMontford's division, perceiving his danger, drew off a few men-at-arms,and with them fell upon the rear of the Count of Auxerre, and dashingall who opposed him to the ground with his battle-ax, cleft his way tothe very center of the enemy. Pressed by De Clisson in front and brokenby the sudden attack of Chandos in the rear, the French division gaveway in every direction. Auxerre was desperately wounded, and he and DeJoigny both taken prisoners.

  Chandos then returned to De Mon
tford, who had gallantly followed up theadvantage gained by the confusion into which Charles' division had beenthrown by the attack of Calverley. Charles was routed, he himself struckdown and slain by an English soldier, and the division defeated withgreat slaughter. De Montford's whole force now gathered round DuGuesclin's division, which now alone remained, and after fightinggallantly until all hope was gone, the brave French knight and hiscompanions yielded themselves as prisoners.

  The battle of Auray terminated the struggle between the houses of Bloisand Montford. More than one thousand French men-at-arms died on thefield of battle, among whom were many of the noblest in Brittany. Twocounts, twenty-seven lords, and fifteen hundred men-at-arms were madeprisoners. De Montford now took possession of the whole of Brittany, andat the suggestion of King Edward himself did homage to Charles V. forthe duchy, which he afterward ruled with wisdom.