Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/511

 The Hundred Years' War 475 and in consequence the constant excursions of the despoil- ers could not be extended to them. Lower Normandy, embracing the bishoprics of Bayeux and Coutances, which were under English rule, were far from the headquarters of the enemy, nor could they be easily reached by the depre- dators. They therefore remained somewhat better off. in the matter of population and cultivators, but nevertheless were often afflicted by the greatest misfortunes, as will appear later. We have ourselves beheld the vast regions of Champagne, Brie, Chartres, Perche, Beauvais,. . . Amiens, Abbeville, Soissons, Laon, and beyond toward Hainault, well-nigh deserted, untilled, without husbandmen, grown up to weeds and briers. In many places where fruit trees could flourish these had grown up into dense forests. The vestiges of such ruin, unless the divine clemency shall aid mere human endeavor, will, it is to be feared, last for long years to come. If any kind of cultivation was still carried on in the regions enumerated, it could only be done close to cities, towns, or castles, no farther away than the watch could be seen, stationed on a high lookout, whence he could observe the robbers as they approached. He would then give the alarm by means of a bell, or a hunter's horn, to those in the fields or vineyard, so that they could betake themselves to a place of safety. This happened so frequently in many places that so soon as the oxen and plow animals were loosed, having heard the signal of the watch, they would, taught by long experience, rush to a place of safety in a state of terror. Even the pigs and sheep did the same. IV. "THE VISION OF PIERS THE PLOWMAN" From a literary standpoint, by far the most important 202. Ex- of the many productions in prose and verse relating to ^ v f sl the conditions in England in the times of the Peasant p f lo p ^ Revolt is The Vision of Piers Plowman, ascribed to