by G. A. Henty
Edith felt hopeful as to the result, for she thought that theirassailants would not have troubled to carry away the body of Walter hadnot life remained in it, and she was sure that Ralph would press them sohotly that sooner or later the abductors would be overtaken.
An hour and a half passed, and then the woman from above ran down withthe news that she could see three horsemen galloping together towardsthe castle, with a number of others following in confused order behind.
"Then they have found my lord," Edith exclaimed joyfully, "for Ralphwould assuredly not return so quickly had they not done so. It's a goodsign that they are galloping, for had they been bearers of ill newsthey would have returned more slowly; look out again and see if they arebearing one among them."
The woman, with some of her companions, hastened away, and in two orthree minutes ran down with the news that Sir Walter himself was one ofthe three leading horsemen. In a few minutes Edith was clasped in herhusband's arms, and their joy, restored as they were from the dead toeach other, was indeed almost beyond words.
The plague now abated fast in Westerham, only two or three more personsbeing attacked by it. As soon as Edith was sufficiently recovered totravel Walter proceeded with her to London and there laid before theking and prince a complaint against Sir James Carnegie for his attemptupon their lives. Even in the trance in which she lay, Edith hadrecognized the voice which had once been so familiar to her. Walter,too, was able to testify against him, for the rough jolting on horsebackhad for a while restored his consciousness, and he had heard wordsspoken, before relapsing into insensibility from the continued bleedingof his wound, which enabled him to swear to Sir James Carnegie as one ofhis abductors.
The king instantly ordered the arrest of the knight, but he could notbe found; unavailing search was made in every direction, and as nothingcould be heard of him it was concluded that he had left the kingdom. Hewas proclaimed publicly a false and villainous knight, his estates wereconfiscated to the crown, and he himself was outlawed. Then Walter andhis wife returned home and did their best to assist their tenants instruggling through the difficulties entailed through the plague.
So terrible had been the mortality that throughout England there was alack of hands for field work, crops rotted in the ground because therewere none to harvest them, and men able to work demanded twenty timesthe wages which had before been paid. So great was the trouble from thissource that an ordinance was passed by parliament enacting that severepunishment should be dealt upon all who demanded wages above thestandard price, and even more severe penalties inflicted upon those whoshould consent to pay higher wages. It was, however, many years beforeEngland recovered from the terrible blow which had been dealt her fromthe pestilence.
While Europe had been ravaged by pestilence the adherents of France andEngland had continued their struggle in Brittany in spite of the termsof the truce, and this time King Edward was the first open aggressor,granting money and assistance to the free companies, who pillaged andplundered in the name of England. The truce expired at the end of 1348,but was continued for short periods. It was, however, evident that bothparties were determined ere long to recommence hostilities. The Frenchcollected large forces in Artois and Picardy, and Edward himselfproceeded to Sandwich to organize there another army for the invasion ofFrance.
Phillip determined to strike the first blow, and, before the conclusionof the truce, to regain possession of Calais. This town was commanded bya Lombard officer named Almeric of Pavia. Free communication existed,in consequence of the truce, between Calais and the surroundingcountry, and Jeffrey de Charny, the governor of St. Omer, and one ofthe commissioners especially appointed to maintain the truce, openedcommunications with the Lombard captain. Deeming that like mostmercenaries he would be willing to change sides should his interest todo so be made clear, he offered him a large sum of money to deliver thecastle to the French.
The Lombard at once agreed to the project. Jeffrey de Charny arrangedto be within a certain distance of the town on the night of the 1st ofJanuary, bringing with him sufficient forces to master all oppositionif the way was once opened to the interior of the town. It was furtheragreed that the money was to be paid over by a small party of Frenchwho were to be sent forward for the purpose of examining the castle, inorder to ensure the main body against treachery. As a hostage for thesecurity of the detachment, the son of the governor was to remain inthe hands of the French without, until the safe return of the scoutingparty.
Several weeks elapsed between the conclusion of the agreement and thedate fixed for its execution, and in the meantime the Lombard, eitherfrom remorse or from a fear of the consequences which might arise froma detection of the plot before its execution, or from the subsequentvengeance of the English king, disclosed the whole transaction toEdward.
The king bade him continue to carry out his arrangements with De Charny,leaving it to him to counteract the plot. Had he issued orders forthe rapid assembly of the army the French would have taken alarm. Hetherefore sent private messengers to a number of knights and gentlemenof Kent and Sussex to meet him with their retainers at Dover on the 31stof December.
Walter was one of those summoned, and although much surprised at thesecrecy with which he was charged, and of such a call being made whilethe truce with France still existed, he repaired to Dover on the daynamed, accompanied by Ralph and by twenty men, who were all who remainedcapable of bearing arms on the estate.
He found the king himself with the Black Prince at Dover, where they hadarrived that day. Sir Walter Manny was in command of the force, whichconsisted in all of 300 men-at-arms and 600 archers. A number of smallboats had been collected, and at midday on the 1st of January the littleexpedition started, and arrived at Calais after nightfall.
In the chivalrous spirit of the times the king determined that SirWalter Manny should continue in command of the enterprise; he and theBlack Prince, disguised as simple knights, fighting under his banner.
In the meantime a considerable force had been collected at St. Omer,where a large number of knights and gentlemen obeyed the summons ofJeffrey de Charny. On the night appointed they marched for Calais, innumber five hundred lances and a corresponding number of footmen. Theyreached the river and bridge of Nieullay a little after midnight, andmessengers were sent on to the governor, who was prepared to receivethem. On their report De Charny advanced still nearer to the town,leaving the bridge and passages to the river guarded by a large body ofcrossbow-men under the command of the Lord De Fiennes and a numberof other knights. At a little distance from the castle he was met byAlmeric de Pavia, who yielded his son as a hostage according to hispromise, calculating, as was the case, that he would be recaptured bythe English. Then, having received the greater portion of the moneyagreed upon, he led a party of the French over the castle to satisfythem of his sincerity. Upon receiving their report that all was quietDe Charny detached twelve knights and a hundred men-at-arms to takepossession of the castle, while he himself waited at one of the gates ofthe town with the principal portion of his force.
No sooner had the French entered the castle than the drawbridgewas raised. The English soldiers poured out from their places ofconcealment, and the party which had entered the castle were forcedto lay down their arms. In the meantime the Black Prince issued with asmall body of troops from a gate near the sea, while De Manny, withthe king under his banner, marched by the sally-port which led intothe fields. A considerable detachment of the division was despatched todislodge the enemy at the bridge of Nieullay, and the rest, joining theparty of the Black Prince, advanced rapidly upon the forces of Jeffreyde Charny which, in point of numbers, was double their own strength.
Although taken in turn by surprise the French prepared steadily forthe attack. De Charny ordered them all to dismount and to shorten theirlances to pikes five feet in length. The English also dismounted andrushing forward on foot a furious contest commenced. The ranks of bothparties were soon broken in the darkness, and the combatants separatinginto grou
ps a number of separate battles raged around the differentbanners.
For some hours the fight was continued with unabating obstinacy on bothsides. The king and the Black Prince fought with immense bravery, theirexample encouraging even those of their soldiers who were ignorantof the personality of the knights who were everywhere in front of thecombat. King Edward himself several times crossed swords with the famousEustace de Ribaumont, one of the most gallant knights in France. Atlength towards daybreak the king, with only thirty companions, foundhimself again opposed to De Ribaumont with a greatly superior force, andthe struggle was renewed between them.
Twice the king was beaten down on one knee by the thundering blowsof the French knight, twice he rose and renewed the attack, until DeCharny, seeing Sir Walter Manny's banner, beside which Edward fought,defended by so small a force, also bore down to the attack, and in thestruggle Edward was separated from his opponent.
The combat now became desperate round the king, and Sir Guy Brian, whobore De Manny's standard, though one of the strongest and most gallantknights of the day, could scarce keep the banner erect. Still Edwardfought on, and in the excitement of the moment, forgetting hisincognito, he accompanied each blow with his customary war-cry--"Edward,St. George! Edward, St. George!" At that battle-cry, which told theFrench men-at-arms that the King of England was himself opposed to them,they recoiled for a moment. The shout too reached the ears of the Princeof Wales, who had been fighting with another group. Calling his knightsaround him he fell upon the rear of De Charny's party and quicklycleared a space around the king.
The fight was now everywhere going against the French, and the Englishredoubling their efforts the victory was soon complete, and scarcelyone French knight left the ground alive and free. In the struggle Edwardagain encountered De Ribaumont, who, separated from him by the charge ofDe Charny, had not heard the king's war-cry. The conflict between themwas a short one. The French knight saw that almost all his companionswere dead or captured, his party completely defeated, and all prospectsof escape cut off. He therefore soon dropped the point of his sword andsurrendered to his unknown adversary. In the meantime the troops whichhad been despatched to the bridge of Nieullay had defeated the Frenchforces left to guard the passage and clear the ground towards St. Omer.
Early in the morning Edward entered Calais in triumph, taking with himthirty French nobles as prisoners, while two hundred more remained deadon the field. That evening a great banquet was held, at which the Frenchprisoners were present. The king presided at the banquet, and the Frenchnobles were waited upon by the Black Prince and his knights. After thefeast was concluded the king bestowed on De Ribaumont the chaplet ofpearls which he wore round his crown, hailing him as the most gallant ofthe knights who had that day fought, and granting him freedom to returnat once to his friends, presenting him with two horses, and a purse todefray his expenses to the nearest French town.
De Charny was afterwards ransomed, and after his return to Franceassembled a body of troops and attacked the castle which Edward hadbestowed upon Almeric of Pavia, and capturing the Lombard, carried himto St. Omer, and had him there publicly flayed alive as a punishment forhis treachery.
Walter had as usual fought by the side of the Prince of Wales throughoutthe battle of Calais and had much distinguished himself for his valour.Ralph was severely wounded in the fight, but was able a month later torejoin Walter in England.
The battle of Calais and the chivalrous bearing of the king createdgreat enthusiasm and delight in England, and did much to rouse thepeople from the state of grief into which they had been cast by theravages of the plague. The king did his utmost to maintain the spiritwhich had been evoked, and the foundation of the order of the Garter,and the erection of a splendid chapel at Windsor, and its dedication,with great ceremony, to St. George, the patron saint of England, stillfurther raised the renown of the court of Edward throughout Europe asthe centre of the chivalry of the age.
Notwithstanding many treaties which had taken place, and the nearalliance which had been well-nigh carried out between the royal familiesof England and Spain, Spanish pirates had never ceased to carry on aseries of aggressions upon the English vessels trading in the Bay ofBiscay. Ships were every day taken, and the crews cruelly butcheredin cold blood. Edward's remonstrances proved vain, and when threats ofretaliation were held out by Edward, followed by preparations to carrythose threats into effect, Pedro the Cruel, who had now succeeded to thethrone of Spain, despatched strong reinforcements to the fleet which hadalready swept the English Channel.
The great Spanish fleet sailed north, and capturing on its way a numberof English merchantmen, put into Sluys, and prepared to sail backin triumph with the prizes and merchandise it had captured. Knowing,however, that Edward was preparing to oppose them, the Spaniards filledup their complement of men, strengthened themselves by all sorts of thewar machines then in use, and started on their return for Spain with oneof the most powerful armadas that had ever put to sea.
Edward had collected on the coast of Sussex a fleet intended to opposethem, and had summoned all the military forces of the south of Englandto accompany him; and as soon as he heard that the Spaniards were aboutto put to sea he set out for Winchelsea, where the fleet was collected.
The queen accompanied him to the sea-coast, and the Black Prince, now inhis twentieth year, was appointed to command one of the largest of theEnglish vessels.
The fleet put to sea when they heard that the Spaniards had started,and the hostile fleets were soon in sight of each other. The numberof fighting men on board the Spanish ships was ten times those of theEnglish, and their vessels were of vastly superior size and strength.They had, moreover, caused their ships to be fitted at Sluys withlarge wooden towers, which furnished a commanding position to theircrossbow-men. The wind was direct in their favour, and they could haveeasily avoided the contest, but, confiding in their enormously superiorforce, they sailed boldly forward to the attack.
The king himself led the English line, and directing his vessel towardsa large Spanish ship, endeavoured to run her down. The shock wastremendous, but the enemy's vessel was stronger as well as larger thanthat of the king; and as the two ships recoiled from each other it wasfound that the water was rushing into the English vessel, and that shewas rapidly sinking. The Spanish passed on in the confusion, but theking ordered his ship to be instantly laid alongside another which wasfollowing her, and to be firmly lashed to her. Then with his knights hesprang on board the Spaniard, and after a short but desperate fight cutdown or drove the crew overboard. The royal standard was hoisted on theprize, the sinking English vessel was cast adrift, and the king sailedon to attack another adversary.