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 surrendered without a blow, and the earl advanced to Libourne, which then belonged to the English (M. Luce has pointed out Froissart's error on this matter). Hearing that the Count of Lille-Jourdain and all the Gascon lords of the French party were besieging the garrison which he had left in Auberoche, he hastened thither without waiting to be reinforced by the Earl of Pembroke, who was in garrison at Bergerac, and, though his force consisted only of about three hundred lances and six hundred archers, gave battle on 21 Oct. to the French lords, who are said to have had more than ten thousand men. He won a splendid victory, and treated his many prisoners with courtesy (, iii. 62–73, 292–5). He afterwards seems to have divided his forces into two bodies, which acted at once on the Garonne and the Lot, occupying Aiguillon, and taking Meilhan, Monsegur, La Réole, which offered a stout resistance, Castelmoron, and Villefranche (ib. pp. 91, 92). The king ordered that thanksgivings for these successes should be made in England in May 1346. The coming of the Duke of Normandy with a large army into Gascony prevented the earl from making further advances, and he was fully occupied for some months in sending help to Aiguillon, to which the duke laid siege before the middle of April, in cutting off the besiegers' supplies, and in such other operations as the small force at his disposal rendered possible. When the duke knew that King Edward had landed in Normandy, he was anxious to make a truce with the earl, and as this was refused raised the siege of Aiguillon on 20 Aug. Lancaster being thus rid of the duke's army marched into Agenois, took Villeréal and other towns and castles, occupied Aiguillon, and strengthened the fortifications. Marching again to La Réole, he gathered the Gascon lords of the English party, and after dividing his forces into three bodies led one into Saintogne, and on 12 Sept. occupied Sauveterre, and a week later arrived at Châteauneuf on the Charente, and strengthened the bridge there, and then advanced to St. Jean d'Angély and took it. Having carried Lusignan by assault, he summoned Poitiers on 4 Oct., and his summons being rejected stormed the town; his men made a great slaughter, sparing neither women nor children, and took so much rich booty that it was said that they made no account of any raiment save cloth of gold or silver and plumes. After staying eight days at Poitiers he returned to St. Jean d'Angély (Letter from Lancaster,, pp. 372–6), where he entertained the ladies splendidly. The campaign ended, and he returned to London on 13 Jan. 1347. Towards the end of May he took over supplies and reinforcements to the king, who was besieging Calais, and remained there during the rest of the siege with a following of eight hundred men-at-arms and two thousand archers. When King Philip attempted to raise the siege in the last days of July, the earl held the bridge of Nieuley over the Hem, to the south-west of the town, so that the French could not get to the English camp except by the marshes on the Sangate side, and while occupied on this service he was one of the commissioners appointed to meet the two cardinals who tried to arrange a peace (ib. p. 393;, iv. 51). His expenses during the siege amounted to about 109 marks a day, and in return the king granted him the town and castle of Bergerac, with the right of coinage, and gave him the prisoners of war then at St. Jean d'Angély.

Lancaster took a prominent part in the tournaments and other festivities which were held after the king's return to England, and was one of the original knights or founders of the order of the Garter [see under ]. On 25 Sept. 1348 he received full powers to treat with the French at Calais about the truce, and on 11 Oct. to treat with the Count of Flanders, and was with the king at Calais in November, when the truce with France was prolonged, and a treaty was made with Louis de Mâle. He was engaged in further negotiations with France during the spring of 1349 (Fœdera, iii. 173, 175, 178, 182;, pp. 98, 102). On 20 Aug. the king created him Earl of Lincoln, on the 21st appointed him captain and vicegerent of the duchy of Gascony, and on 20 Oct. captain and vicegerent of Poitou, giving him a monopoly of the sale of the salt of the bay and of Poitou generally (Fœdera, iii. 189, 190). In November he crossed over to Gascony with Lord Stafford and others to strengthen the province against the attacks of John of France. He took part in the sea-fight called ‘Espagnols-sur-mer’ in August 1350 [see under EDWARD III], and rescued the ship of the Prince of Wales, attacking the huge Spanish ship with which she was engaged. On 6 March 1351 he was made Duke of Lancaster, and his earldom of Lancaster was made palatine, the earliest instance of the creation of a palatine earldom under that name. The only ducal creation before this had been that of the Prince of Wales as Duke of Cornwall. Two days later Lancaster was appointed captain and admiral of the western fleet (Fœdera, iii. 215). About Easter he made a raid from Calais, attacked Boulogne, but was unable to take it because his scaling-ladders were too