Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/73

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dera- iii. 911; Cont, Murimuth, p. 210; Wilkins, Concilia, iii. 94). No incident of any importance took place in the war daring this year; Lancaster, who commanded in Aquitaine, did little good, and the French gained ground in Poitou. In the parliament of this year the commons presented a petition to the king representing the lamentable condition of the navy and the mismanagement of all maritime affairs. Much ill-will existed between the English and Flemish sailors, and, probably early in 1372, some English ships fell in with a Flemish fleet coming from Brittany with salt, and after a fierce engagement, in which the Flemish are said to have been the aggressors, defeated them and took twenty-five prizes (Froissart, i. 631, ed. Buchon; Cont. Murimuth, p. 211; Walsingham, i. 313). On the following 5 April the peace between Edward and the Count of Flanders was renewed (Fœdera, iii. 939, 953). Negotiations which had been opened with Edward's old ally, the Duke of Brittany, in November 1871, were brought to a conclusion by an offensive and defensive league between the king and the duke on 19 July following (ib. pp. 926, 953). Gregory Xl endeavoured to make peace between England and France and accredited two cardinals, one a Frenchman and the other Simon Langham, sometime archbishop of Canterbury, to carry on negotiations, but they were unable to effect anything (ib. p. 935). In January 1372 Edward made a treaty with the republic of Genoa, which agreed not to fumish help to his enemies (ib. p. 931). On the other hand, the marriages of Lancaster and Cambridge with the two daughters of Pedro the Cruel, slain in 1369, and Lancaster's assumption of the title of king of Castile, caused Henry of Trastamare, who since his brother's death had occupied the throne of that kingdom, to take an active part against England. During the early part of 1372 a considerable fleet was prepared in order to reinforce the English party in Aquitaine, and by the king's command mariners were impressed through all the western counties (ib, p. 938). At the same time there was reason to believe that an invasion of the kingdom was imminent (ib, p. 942). The command of the expedition was given to the Earl of Pembroke, who was appointed the king's lieutenant in Aquitaine on 20 April (ib, p. 941); for Lancaster had returned to England and was now at the head of affairs, and Pembroke appears to have belonged to his party. Pembroke sailed about 10 June, intending to relieve Rochelle, which was then besieged by the French. When he arrived off the harbour he found it occupied by a considerably stronger Spanish fleet. Early on the 24th the enemy, who had the wind in their favour, surrounded his fleet, and after a fierce battle burnt his ships and made him prisoner. He was carrying twenty thousand marks to pay the troops in Guyenne, and this sum was all lost (Froissart, i. 638; Cont. Murimuth, p. 212). Edward was much grieved when he heard of this disaster, which indeed gave the deathblow to his power in the south. Poitiers and Rochelle were shortly afterwards yielded to the French. Thouars was besieged, and the king determined to attempt its relief in person. A fresh fleet was raised, and he embarked at Sandwich with the Prince of Wales, Lancaster, and nearly the whole nobility of the realm, and sailed probably on 31 Aug. The wind was contrary, and the fleet never got far from land. By 9 Oct. the king had landed again (Nicolas), and, though the wind changed as soon as he landed, did not re-embark, and so, it was commonly said, 900,000l. were wasted (Walsingham, i. 315). All Poitou except a few fortresses turned to the French king, and Du Guesclin was virtually master in Saintonge and Angoumois. On 5 Oct. Edward received the prince's surrender of Aquitaine (Fœdera, iii. 973). This was announced to the parliament that met on the 13th; another heavy subsidy on wool was granted for two years and a fifteenth for one year to meet the king's urgent need of money for the expenses of the war, and several petitions were presented. In one of these the commons represented that, though twenty years before the king was called by all countries 'king of the sea,' the navy was now destroyed, and that principally because ships were impressed a quarter of a year or more before they set sail, and no pay was given either to mariners or owners while they remained in port waiting for orders (Rot. Parl, ii. 311). They further requested that no lawyers might be eligible as knights of the shire on the ground that they pressed their clients' interests in parliament instead of attending to public affairs, and that no sheriff might be returned during his term of office. While there were no doubt special reasons for these requests, as there had been for the attack on clerical ministers the year before, they prove that the burden of taxation, the ill-success of the war, and the general mal-administration of affairs were causing the nation to grow restless; men were conscious that some change was necessary, and had not as yet settled in what direction it should be made. When the knights of the shire had gone home the citizens and burgesses were persuaded to make the king a grant of customs, which was clearly an unconstitutional