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 But he had also a rich kingdom at his back and plenty of fighting barons, knights and freeholders, as greedy of adventures as himself. His subjects, in fact, urged him on and gloried in his splendid series of victories.



Perhaps you are disappointed that I am not going to describe any of his great battles or rides through France; but I had much rather that you learned why a King of England was fighting in France than the dates of the battle of Crecy (1346) or Poitiers (1356). In the open field, up to 1361, we were always victorious. This was because the English leaders, including the