History of France | Page 9

Philip had time to gather another army to
attempt its relief; but the English army were so posted that he could not
attack them without great loss. He retreated, and the men of Calais
surrendered, Edward insisting that six burghers should bring him the
keys with ropes round their necks, to submit themselves to him. Six
offered themselves, but their lives were spared, and they were
honourably treated. Edward expelled all the French, and made Calais
an English settlement. A truce followed, chiefly in consequence of the
ravages of the Black Death, which swept off multitudes throughout
Europe, a pestilence apparently bred by filth, famine, and all the
miseries of war and lawlessness, but which spared no ranks. It had
scarcely ceased before Philip died, in 1350. His son, John, was soon
involved in a fresh war with England by the intrigues of Charles the
Bad, and in 1356 advanced southwards to check the Prince of Wales,
who had come out of Guienne on a plundering expedition. The French
were again totally routed at Poitiers, and the king himself, with his third
son, Philip, were made prisoners and carried to London with most of
the chief nobles.
3. The Jacquerie.--The calls made on their vassals by these captive
nobles to supply their ransoms brought the misery to a height. The salt
tax, or gabelle, which was first imposed to meet the expenses of the
war, was only paid by those who were neither clergy nor nobles, and
the general saying was--"Jacques Bonhomme (the nickname for the
peasant) has a broad back, let him bear all the burthens." Either by the
king, the feudal lords, the clergy, or the bands of men-at-arms who
roved through the country, selling themselves to any prince who would
employ them, the wretched people were stripped of everything, and
used to hide in holes and caves from ill-usage or insult, till they broke
out in a rebellion called the Jacquerie, and whenever they could seize a
castle revenged themselves, like the brutes they had been made, on
those within it. Taxation was so levied by the king's officers as to be
frightfully oppressive, and corruption reigned everywhere. As the king

was in prison, and his heir, Charles, had fled ignominiously from
Poitiers, the citizens of Paris hoped to effect a reform, and rose with
their provost-marshal, Stephen Marcel, at their head, threatened Charles,
and slew two of his officers before his eyes. On their demand the
States-General were convoked, and made wholesome regulations as to
the manner of collecting the taxes, but no one, except perhaps Marcel,
had any real zeal or public spirit. Charles the Bad, of Navarre, who had
pretended to espouse their cause, betrayed it; the king declared the
decisions of the States-General null and void; and the crafty
management of his son prevented any union between the malcontents.
The gentry rallied, and put down the Jacquerie with horrible cruelty and
revenge. The burghers of Paris found that Charles the Bad only wanted
to gain the throne, and Marcel would have proclaimed him; but those
who thought him even worse than his cousins of Valois admitted the
other Charles, by whom Marcel and his partisans were put to death.
The attempt at reform thus ended in talk and murder, and all fell back
into the same state of misery and oppression.
4. The Peace of Bretigny.--This Charles, eldest son of John, obtained
by purchase the imperial fief of Vienne, of which the counts had always
been called Dauphins, a title thenceforth borne by the heir apparent of
the kingdom. His father's captivity and the submission of Paris left him
master of the realm; but he did little to defend it when Edward III.
again attacked it, and in 1360 he was forced to bow to the terms which
the English king demanded as the price of peace. The Peace of Bretigny
permitted King John to ransom himself, but resigned to England the
sovereignty over the duchy of Aquitaine, and left Calais and Ponthieu
in the hands of Edward III. John died in 1364, before his ransom was
paid, and his son mounted the throne as Charles V. Charles showed
himself from this time a wary, able man, and did much to regain what
had been lost by craftily watching his opportunity. The war went on
between the allies of each party, though the French and English kings
professed to be at peace; and at the battle of Cocherel, in 1364, Charles
the Bad was defeated, and forced to make peace with France. On the
other hand, the French party in Brittany, led by Charles de Blois and
the gallant Breton knight, Bertrand du Guesclin, were routed, the same
year, by the English party under Sir John Chandos; Charles de Blois

was killed, and the house