Page:Historyoffranc00yong.djvu/77

 v.] THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 53 Ypres and Bruges as to sow the seeds of further strife. And when, on the quarrel between the kings, Lewis for- bade the cloth-weaving subjects to carry on their trade in wool with England, there was a great outbreak, led by a great burgess of Ghent named Jacob von Artevelde, a man of much wealth and cultivation, a brewer by trade. Under his leading, Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres again drove out the Count's officers, and allied themselves with the English. The whole English nation was eager for war. Edward embaiked for Flanders ; he met the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria at Coblenz, and was named his Vicar in the Low Countries ; but he could gain no support from any French vassal, and had no other ally Isut his brother- in-law, the Count of Hainault. The Flemings now called on Edward to take the title of King of France, as, besides their country being a French fief, they had specially bound themselves not to make war on the king of France. If Edward therefore took the title, they might fight for him against Philip and still keep their promise. He accord- ingly took the title and bore the arms of King of France. Meanwhile the French sacked Southampton, and Hainault was attacked by John, Duke of Normandy. Edward, while sailing to its aid, encountered the French fleet off Sluys, a place so shut in that the French ships could not move, and with 20,000 men fell an easy prey to the English. This was the first of the many great naval victories won by England over France. Philip marched against Edward ; but no battle took place, and a truce was made. 3. The War of the Breton succession, 1341. — A fresh plea for war was found in the succession of Britanny, which on the death of the childless duke, John III., was disputed between Joan, the daughter of the ne.xt brother, and John, Count of Montfort, the youngest brother. The Parliament of Paris decided in favour of Joan, who was wife of Charles, Count of Blois. Montfort asked aid from Edward, so that each king upheld in Britanny the very principle that would have shut him out from the throne of France : besides which, Joan, the brave wife of Mont- fort, was the daughter of PhiUp's ally, the Count of Flanders. The French army brought in the Countess of Blois, taking Nantes, and John of Montfort in it, and only being stopped by the bravery of Joan of Flanders who defended Hen)iebonnc till succour was brought her from England by Sir Walter Manny. After a skirmish