A general rout of the French followed. The news of the defeat discouraged Henry I, who, leaving Geoffrey Martel at grips with the enemy, thought only of withdrawing from the contest as quickly as possible and with the least damage to his own interests.
Geoffrey Martel was obliged to retreat at once. William again invaded Maine, and took up strong positions at Mont-Barbet, near Le Mans, and at Ambrières, not far from the junction of the Varenne with the Mayenne. Soon, however, provisions failed and the duke was obliged to let a part of his army scatter itself into small bodies. When this news reached Geoffrey, who had obtained reinforcements, he hurried up and laid siege to Ambrières. The place held out, giving the Duke of Normandy time to re-assemble his troops and force the Angevin army to retreat. Marching straight upon Mayenne, where the lord, Geoffrey, was one of the chief supporters of Geoffrey Martel, William took the town and carried off Geoffrey of Mayenne to Normandy, where he compelled him to do him homage.
These successes were only temporary. Geoffrey Martel soon recovered the ground lost in Maine, and in 1058, as had happened four years before, in his desire for revenge he persuaded the king to join him in an invasion of Normandy. This time also the campaign, at least in its earlier stages, was unfortunate. Henry I and Geoffrey Martel had barely traversed the Hiémois district, when their rear-guard was surprised just as it was crossing the river Dive at the ford of Varaville. This ford being impracticable through a rising tide, the king and the count could only look on helplessly at the massacre of their troops.
The war went on for some time longer. Negotiations had just been begun when Henry I died suddenly at Dreux on 4 August 1060.
A year before his death, on 23 May 1059, Henry I had been careful to have his son Philip I crowned at Rheims. But Philip, born in 1052, was still a minor, thus Henry had made his brother-in-law Baldwin, Count of Flanders, guardian to the young king, a post which he retained until Philip reached his majority at fifteen years of age at the end of 1066 or the beginning of 1067.
Under Philip, the eclipse of the monarchy only became more complete. It must be said, however, that this eclipse is largely an illusion due to the paucity of our information. Philip was of a very practical turn, and played a part which was somewhat inglorious, but on the whole very profitable to the material interests of his house. The royal power had fallen so low that there could be no question of an aggressive policy, but Philip had at least the art to manoeuvre, and to turn to advantage all circumstances which offered him any opportunity to fish his profit out of troubled waters. Above all, he worked, with much more consistency and perseverance than is usually thought, at the task of enlarging his insignificant domain.
