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EDW waste the blood and treasure of his people in a vain attempt to unite the kingdom of France to his patrimonial inheritance. His first campaign, which was undertaken in 1339, was altogether fruitless; but in the second, with an inferior force, he defeated a powerful French fleet (22d June, 1340), with the loss of two hundred and thirty ships, and thirty thousand men. He then laid siege to Tournay, at the head of one hundred thousand men, but was ultimately compelled to retreat, having failed to induce the French king to risk a battle. Edward at length consented to conclude a truce with Philip for five months, and returned hastily to his own country deeply involved in debt. He found the exchequer empty and the people discontented, and vented his ill-humour on his ministers, displacing and imprisoning the chancellor, treasurer, master of the rolls, privy seal, and chief-justice. He also dismissed the most of the officers employed in the collection of the revenue. But Archbishop Stratford, who had charge of the levying of the taxes, boldly appealed to the protection of the law in behalf of himself and his colleagues, and fulminated a sentence of excommunication against all who violated the provisions of the great charter, by inflicting arbitrary imprisonment or illegal fines. The king was at last obliged to abandon his unconstitutional proceedings, and to make several important concessions as the condition of a grant of money. He ratified in full parliament a statute which redressed various grievances, and exacted a guarantee against future violations of Magna Charta; but he was guilty of the shameful dishonesty of protesting in secret that, as soon as his convenience permitted, he would revoke what had been extorted from him.

A third invasion of France, productive of no important event, terminated in a truce, which was concluded in 1343 for three years, through the mediation of the papal legates. Edward soon found a pretext for renewing the war, and once more invaded France, about midsummer, 1346. While Henry, earl of Derby, was carrying on operations in Guienne, Edward marched into the interior of the country, and even reached the capital. But the French king, at the head of a greatly superior force, watched his movements, cut off his supplies, harassed his march, and compelled him, with considerable risk, to retrace his steps to the sea-coast. On approaching the Flemish frontier, Edward succeeded in passing the Somme at low water, in the face of a strong body of French troops, and thus escaped from a most imminent peril; while Philip, who was close on his traces, arriving after the tide had turned, was unable to follow, and had to retrace his steps to the bridge of Abbeville. The English king then took up an advantageous position near the village of Crecy, and resolved there to wait the attack of the enemy, who were eight times as numerous as his small army. The battle took place on the 26th of August, 1346, and terminated in the total overthrow of the French, who lost upwards of thirty thousand men, including many of the principal nobility of France, with the dukes of Lorraine and Bourbon, and the kings of Bohemia and Majorca. In this memorable conflict,, eldest son of the English king, though only sixteen years of age, greatly distinguished himself by his remarkable bravery and skill. The crest of the king of Bohemia—three ostrich feathers, with the motto "Ich dien" (I serve)—was adopted by young Edward on this victory, and has ever since been borne by the princes of Wales.

On the 31st of August Edward commenced the siege of Calais, which, after an obstinate defence, that lasted nearly a year, was compelled to surrender. Edward was not remarkable at any time for his clemency, but there is reason to believe that there is no truth in the story which is told by Froissart, to the effect that, enraged at the protracted resistance of the garrison, he insisted that six of the most considerable citizens should be given up to his will, and that he was with great difficulty induced to spare their lives by the urgent petitions of his queen. On taking possession of Calais, Edward ordered the inhabitants to evacuate the town, and peopled it anew with English. Shortly after a truce for three years was concluded between the two kingdoms, through the mediation of the papal legates.

During this cessation of arms Philip, king of France, died, and was succeeded by his son John. The truce was ill observed on both sides, and on its expiry the Black Prince again invaded France in 1355, burned the towns and villages of Languedoc, and retired laden with plunder to Guienne, while his father made a simultaneous movement in the north of France, which, however, proved a failure. On returning to Calais, Edward learned that the Scots had captured Berwick, and invaded the north of England. He therefore hurried home with all speed, and collecting the military array of his kingdom, resolved to effect the final conquest of Scotland. This inroad, though it inflicted great misery upon the Scottish people, proved, like all the rest, utterly abortive, and provoked a dreadful retaliation as soon as his army was disbanded. Meanwhile the Black Prince, encouraged by the success of his former campaign, took the field at the head of twelve thousand men, and, marching from Bourdeaux, penetrated into the province of Berri, the very heart of France, plundering and destroying the country on all sides. He then turned towards the south-west, and marched for Poictiers, where, on the 17th of September, he came unexpectedly on the rear of an army of sixty thousand men, which the king of France had collected to intercept him. In this emergency the young prince behaved with great coolness and courage, and quartered his men for the night in a very strong position. Next day when the two armies were drawn up in order of battle, the papal legate, Cardinal Talleyrand, endeavoured to mediate between them; but though the prince was willing to give up all the conquests he had made in this expedition, to relieve all his prisoners, and to swear that he would not serve against France for the next seven years, the French king, confident of victory, rejected these offers, and demanded that the prince and a hundred of his best knights should surrender themselves prisoners as the price of a safe retreat to the English army. These humiliating terms were at once rejected by the prince, and both sides prepared for battle. The conflict took place on the 19th of September, at a place called Maupertuis, near Poictiers. Owing to the masterly dispositions and manœuvres of the prince, and the valour and skill of his bowmen, the English gained a complete victory; the French king, who fought with indomitable courage, was in the end taken prisoner, with his youngest son Philip; while the constable of France, and many other nobles, were slain, and the army completely dispersed. The victorious prince lost no time in continuing his march to Bourdeaux, where he safely lodged his prisoners, and after concluding a truce for two years with the dauphin, he returned to England in the spring of 1357, taking King John and his son with him. He made his triumphant entry into London in plain attire, riding on a small black palfrey, while the French king was clad in royal apparel, and mounted on a richly caparisoned white charger, remarkable for its size and beauty. His whole treatment, indeed, of the captive monarch was marked by the most refined courtesy and generosity, and was a striking display of his own chivalrous character. The king of Scots, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross (see ), had now been eleven years a captive in England, and it was a strange chance of war which thus placed in the hands of Edward his two rival potentates at the same time.

On the expiry of the truce in 1359, Edward set sail for France with a fleet of one hundred ships, having on board the most numerous army he had ever employed on the continent. He marched without resistance as far as the gates of Paris, laying waste the country, but unable to bring the enemy to a battle, and was at last obliged to retreat amidst great privations, without accomplishing anything of importance. At length in October, 1360, peace was concluded on condition that the French king should pay for his ransom three millions of crowns of gold, and that Edward should retain Guienne and Poictou, with their dependencies in the south, and the county of Ponthieu in the north-west, along with Calais and Guisnes. King John was immediately set at liberty, but finding that he was unable to fulfil the stipulations of the treaty, owing to the impoverished state of the country and the opposition of his nobles, he honourably returned to England, and put himself again into the hands of Edward, by whom he was received with affection.

The seat of war was now transferred to Spain. A civil contest had broken out in Castile between Pedro the Cruel and his natural brother, Henry of Transtamare. The latter relied on the assistance of France, while Pedro, who was the ally of England, craved the protection of the Black Prince. This was readily granted, and a battle took place at Navarete, 3rd April, 1367, between the rival factions, aided by their respective allies. The French, though vastly superior in numbers, were totally defeated, and Don Pedro reascended the throne. But the ungrateful tyrant violated his engagements, and refused the stipulated pay to his benefactors, and the Black Prince finding that his soldiers were daily perishing and that his own health was