~>^T^ ^ b^< ^■>v. ^■. f v'^l "i \ ^ ^<-i < .-> '^k '?-v> l',« ^.5 -f Z' # >-' -31 I/*— ^b> Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013113075 A CHAUCBK ALLUSION 569 But matters of great admiration, In moderne Poesies are wordes estrang'd Invention of hid speculation The scope whereof hardly conceiv' as it is rang'd But by a comentation. Who readeth Chaucer as a Modern man Kot looking back into the time he wrote. Will hardly his ambiguous phrases scan. Which in that time were vulgar, well I wote Yet we run back where he began. And all our praised Poems art beset. With OhoMcers wordes and Phrases ancient: Which these our Moderne ages quite forget Yet in their Poems far more Eloquent Not yet from Gowre or Chaucer fett. Why should it not befit our Poets well. To use the wordes and Phrases Vulgar know? Why should they rouze them from oblivions eel Sith their ambiguous termes fro whence they flow The learned'st Header scant can tell But thinges illustrated with art and sence. As Chaucer did his Troylus and Creside: To amplifi't aptly with Eloqv:ence Base matter by good Verse is beautifl'de. And gaines admired Reverence. Not using wordes and phrases all so darke But so familiarly as vulgar may. Will apprehend the Poets couched marke And seeth' Idea which he doth display: About the Center in his Arke. Was Norden criticizing the metaphysical poets? Perhaps he felt with Ben Jonson that Spenser writ no language. Norden says, however, that the highest type of poetry combines art and sense as Chaucer's Troylus and Oreside abundantly illustrates, and base matter is always raised by good verse to a place of admiration. Norden himself woiild write in the Labyrinth of Man's Mind, a poem easily understood in which the idea is of central importance. This Chaucer allusion owes its interest to the praise which an early seventeenth century poet bestowed on Chaucer, Gower, Douglas, Sidney and Spenser; to his criticism of the contemporary poets PR MLES3 CHAFER'S FIRST MILITARY SERVICE^A STUDY OF "^ EDWARD THIRD'S INVASION pF FRANCE IN 1359-60 By OLIVER FARRAR EMERSON Reprinted from the Romanic Revibw, Vol. Ill, No. 4. Kr] blOG iReprinLed from The Romanic Review, Vol. III., No. 4, October-December, 1912.I CHAUCER'S FIRST MILITARY SERVICE— A STUDY OF EDWARD THIRD'S INVASION OF FRANCE IN 1359-60 CHAUCER'S first military service, at the age of twenty or thereabouts, has special significance as his earliest entry into something like public life. The French invasion of 1359-60, in which the young poet to be then took part, was also one of unusual experiences. In this expedition, it will be remembered, he was taken prisoner, to be ransomed after some weeks by King Edward as. we know from well-established record. The importance, there- fore, of this first knightly adventure, or misadventure, in the life of the young Chaucer makes it worthy of a more extended notice than it has yet received. Besides, the bare facts which we have hitherto known have not been as fully illustrated as is possible from the his- torical materials of the time. To understand the conditions of this episode in Chaucer's life we must bear in mind the extraordinary successes of Edward III in the early part of the Hundred Years' War. The mastery of the sea had been gained by the great naval victory of Sluys, June 24, 1340, probably the year of Chaucer's birth, and the scarcely less celebrated overthrow of the Spanish fleet off Winchelsea, August 29, 1350. The fortunate victory of Crecy had been won in August 1346, and the famous battle of Poitiers almost exactly a decade later, or in September 1356. In this splendid victory of the Black Prince King John of France had been captured and a truce for two years was arranged March 23, 1357. Two months later the captured king of France graced a Roman triumph in the streets of London. 321 ; 322 The Romanic Review The boy Chaucer, probably born in the year of the victory at Sluys, must certainly have remembered something of the great fight of Crecy. Surely, as he grew older, he would have heard how the English king had barely escaped at the perilous passage of the Somme, and how the overwhelming numbers of the French king had then been beaten by the military genius of the great Edward. Perhaps, also, in these early years the boy was fired with youthful ardor as he heard of the Ordinance of Normandy, newly discov- ered at Caen just before the battle of Crecy, and the terrible purpose of the French " to annihilate the English nation and language."^ At least Edward cleverly used that famous document to inspire hatred of its makers and incidentally enlarge his own armies. Nor is it unlikely that Chaucer would have heard the well-known story of the siege and fall of Calais when he was a boy of seven, and the saving of her haltered burgesses by the chivalry of Sir Walter Manny and the humanity of the queen. When, just ten years later, Crecy was followed by Poitiers Chaucer, a youth of sixteen, was old enough to observe personally the preparations of Henry, duke of Lancaster, for the new invasion of France, and to follow the fortunes of the Black Prince as tidings were brought to England. Nor can there be reasonable doubt that the future poet, on a May morning of 1357, saw the captive King John of France, mounted on a finely caparisoned white charger, pass London bridge and make his slow way, through countless throngs, to Westminster palace some time after midday.^ What London youth of spirit could have been absent from such a spectacle ! Be- sides, that Chaucer was in London at this time is practically certain. Already in the service of Elizabeth, countess of Ulster, wife of Edward Ill's son Lionel, he was provided with clothes as a member * Longman, Life and Times of Edward III, I, 346; Rolls of Parliament, II, 216-7. In the latter the purpose is expressed in the words "'a destruire et anientier tote la nation et la lange Engleys." Edward ordered the Ordinance read to the London people by the archbishop of Canterbury. " Oeuvres de Froissart, ed. by Kervyn de Lettenhove, Chroniques, VI, 13. The day is uncertain, though Walsingham {Historia Anglicana, I, 283) says May 24, the date also given by Villani. Froissart's account gives no date but em- phasizes the great preparations ordered by the English king, the gilds appearing in their regalia. Beside the French king rode the Black Prince on a little black hackney. Chaucer's First Military Service 323 of the countess's household not only in April, but as late as May 20, 1357,* perhaps for this very occasion of King John's unwilling entrance to the capital of his conqueror. Two years later, when the truce of Bordeaux was about to ex- pire, it was extended first into April and then' to June 24, in vain hopes of peace being made permanent. Even in January 1358, urged by Pope Innocent VI as mediator, preliminaries for such a peace were prepared, but were rejected at Paris. Though the States General met, the influence of Charles of Navarre, who him- self wished to be king of France, prevented the acceptance of the terms proposed.* A year later the English king, with slight regard for the helpless position of his royal captive, opened negotiations with King John himself. On the very day that the original truce would have expired, March 24, 1359, the captive monarch and the English king signed a treaty in London.^ It was a shameless treaty for France. Though Edward renounced his claim to the French throne, he was to have most of northern France either directly or as suzerain. In addition 4,000,000 golden crowns were to be paid for King John's redemption, the princes of the blood being hostages for the ransom. Such a treaty, dismembering their country as they felt, was ab- horrent to the French people. A storm of indignation followed. The anger of the French showed itself in harsh treatment, even murder of English merchants in France and Flanders.® The States General, again assembled to consider these new conditions, preferred to endure their hard estate rather than lose so large a part of their country, even for the person of their king. Such an answer was therefore sent to England by the regent of France, Charles, duke of Normandy, and Edward on his part then resolved on war. " He would enter France with a most powerful army," he said, " and 'Life Records of Chaucer (Chaucer Soc), II, 152. *At first there was much hope of a peace which might have altered the his- tory of Europe for a century. Knighton records the rejoicing of the pope: " Interim redeunt nuncii de curia papae dicentes papam et totam curiam laetam fore de concordia et suum assensum praebuisse." — Chronicon, II, 103. " For the terms see Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, I, 286. ' Knighton, Chronicon, II, 105. 324 The Romanic Review remain there until there was an end of the war by an honorable and satisfactory peace."'^ II. Edward's Preparations for War Edward immediately set on foot extraordinary preparations for this new invasion of France. "He began making more splendid preparations than he had ever done before " are the words of Frois- sart.® Nor was the enthusiasm less considerable among the people. The former victories were to be repeated or perhaps eclipsed. Men flocked to the standard with unparalleled enthusiasm. Froissart's description has been often quoted : "Chacuns s'apareilla au mieux qu'il pent, et n'y demora nuls escuiers, ne chevaliers, ne homs d'onneur qui fust haities, de I'aage de entre xx ans a Ix ans, en Engleterre, qui ne fuist honteux de demorer ou pays, . . . siques pries tout li conte, li baron, li chevalier et li escuier dou pays d'Engleterre vinrent a Douvres® a grant vol- lente apries leur seigneur, si richement montes.et appareillies qu'il peurent, excepte chiaux que li roys et ses conssaux avoient ordonne et estaubli pour garder ses castiaux et ses baliages, ses mairies, ses offisses et ses pors de mer."^" Some idea of the magnitude of the preparations may be gained from their effect upon the continental peoples. Edward's military ' Froissart, Chron,, VI, 184 : " II entreroit si puissamment ou royaumme de Franche et y demourroit tant qu'il aroit fin de guerre ou bonne pes a son plaisir et a son honneur." In this part of the Chronicles Froissart is largely dependent upon Les vrayes chroniques of Jehan le Bel. For example, this account of Edward Ill's purpose in the war and the gathering of the forces is based upon chap. CIV of Le Bel (vol. II, p. 24s, in ed. of Polain) . The same chapter includes the account of the gathering of the continental auxiliaries, an account which Froissart follows almost word for word. On the other hand, for the whole cam- paign Froissart gives much more material than Le Bel. I have therefore fol- lowed the former, noting such differences of the latter as seemed important. ' Chron., VI, 184 : " Si fist commencier a f aire le plus grant appareil que on euist oncques veu faire en celui pays pour guerrier." Cf. also VI, 202: "Vous aves bien chy-dessus oy compter quel appareil li roys engles faisoit pour venir en France, et estoit si grans et si gros que oncques devant, ne apries, on ne vit le pareil en Engleterre." "Thomas Gray's Scalacronka (p. 86), the continuator of Higden's Poly- chronicon (Appendix to vol. VIII, 409), and Walsingham (Hist. Anglicana, I, 287) say Sandwich some ten miles away, but the inconsistency is only apparent. Higden also says the gathering of the army was as early as August IS, the feast of the Assumption. '" Chron., VI, 216-17. Chaucer's First Military Service ■ 325 genius was acknowledged in all Europe. One proof of this is the offer to him of the imperial crown soon after the battle of Crecy. Now the fame of his new project spread rapidly in foreign countries, and as a result soldiers of fortune and adventurous knights of many lands assembled at Calais. Froissart is again our informant that " Pluiseurs baron et chevalier de 1' empire d'Alemagne, qui aul- trefois I'avoient servi, s'avancierent grandement pour estre en celle armee, et se pourveirent bien estoffeement de chevaus et de harnas, cescuns dou mieuls qu'il peut selonch son estat, et s'en vinrent, dou plus»tBst qu'il peurent, par les costieres de Flandres, devers Calais."^^ Knighton adds to this that Sir Walter Manny of Hainault had brought with him from Germany, Hungary, and other places 1,500 well-armed men.^^ Thomas Gray also speaks in particular of the marquis of Meissen, with a great number of Germans who had come to aid the king.^* It was more natural that people of nearer countries should seek to follow the English king. With these neighbors on the continent England had most intimate relations. From Hainault Edward had married his queen. The Flemings and Brabanters were bound to the English by close commercial interests. From these countries, therefore, it was especially likely that many should offer themselves for the war, and what war always meant in those days, boundless opportunity for plunder and passion. The eagerness with which foreign adventurers sought service under Edward may be judged from their haste to join the expedi- tion. As already noted the truce of Bordeaux had been extended to the feast of St. John, or June 24.^* It was not until August 12 " Chron., VI, 203, the second redaction, but only slightly more explicit than the first. " Chron., II, 105. '= Scalacronica, p. 187 : " Le markeis de Mise ove tout plein des AUemaunz qi illoeques estoint venuz en eide du dit roi." It is interesting to remember in this connection that in 1373 Friedrich, later margrave or marquis of Meissen, became betrothed to Anne of Bohemia, who finally married Richard II, Edward Ill's grandson. " Here may be noted another probable incident in Chaucer's life. On Sun- day, May 19 of this year 1359, the young John of Gaunt, earl of Richmond, married Blanche, daughter of Henry, duke of Lancaster. The marriage took place at Reading, but it seems impossible that Chaucer should not have been present in the retinue of the countess of Ulster. There, too, the young poet 326 The Romanic Review that the king, in a letter to the archbishops of Canterbury and York, proclaimed the failure of peace negotiations, and asked for the prayers of the church for the success of the new war.^® Yet so eager were the foreign adventurers to fight under Edward that by the first of August "tout chil seigneur alemant, missenaire, has- begnon, braibenchon, haynuyer et flamencq, povres et riches"^® reached Calais to meet the English king. So numerous were these soldiers of fortune that they soon be- came troublesome in the English-French city.^'^ The trouble was partly due to the delay of Edward himself, and the consequent ex- pense which these strangers were incurring. How serious affairs became is indicated by Knighton, in telling of the coming of Sir Walter Manny and his company: "Venerunt ad Calesiam et cum introissent villam, tractaverunt villam ad suum placitum. Acceperunt hospitia et ejecerunt Anglos et quosdam occiderunt, et ultra mensuram multa magistralia exer- cuerunt."^* The result was that about October first^'' it was necessary to send over to Calais Duke Henry of Lancaster to keep the adventurers in order. The plan by which the duke of Lancaster brought peace to much must have seen the three days of jousting celebrating the event. Even if Chaucer were not at Reading to see the marriage of the two who were to be the subject of his first poem which can be accurately dated, he surely saw the London tourna- ment in honor of the marriage. That also lasted three days and there, according to tradition, the king himself, his four sons, and nineteen of the principal nobles of England, wearing the city's cognizance, held the field against all comers. So at any rate it proved when, to the joy of all London, the supposed mayor, sheriffs and aldermen revealed themselves as the sovereign and his company. This tradi- tion is given in Armitage-Smith's John of Gaunt (p. 15), based on Barnes's History of Edward III. " " Novit Deus," he says of the failure, " delusi fuimus inaniter et vexati." Rymer's Fcedera, VI, 134. "■ Froissart, Chron., VI, 203. " Froissart, Chron., VI, 204 : " Se li rois d'Engleterre fust adont venus, ne arrives a Calais, il ne se seuist oii herbergier, ne se's gens, f ors ou chastiel, car li corps de le ville estoit tous pris." ^' Chron., II, 105. " Froissart, Chron., VI, 205, gives the date as " environ le f este Saint-Remy," that is Oct. I. Higden (Continuation of Polychronicon) says "circa festum Sancti Michaelis," while Knighton (Chronicon) says "post festum Sancti Michaelis." Chaucer's First Military Service 3^7 distressed Calais was simplicity itself. The adventurers from many- lands had been attracted by no exalted motive. They had gathered for but one purpose, hope of plunder and the satisfaction of such baser passions as war in the middle ages made easily possible. Knowing this the duke of Lancaster offered them such opportunity as they had hoped for on a larger scale with the English king. He told them that he intended " making an excursion into France to see what he could find,"^" and he made it easy for them to pay the debts they had already contracted by lending each a sum of money. As a result there marched out of Calais with the duke " about one thou- sand men with armor, without counting the archers or footmen." The latter probably exceeded the men at arms several times, so that we may well believe Froissart's remaining bit of description : " They set out from Calais in a magnificent train."^^ So numerous were the adventure loving soldiers of Europe who flocked to the standard of Edward in his invasion of France. The duke of Lancaster led the foreign host by St. Omer, past Bethune, and came to Mont St. Eloy, a monastic foundation two leagues from Arras. There they remained four days "to refresh themselves." The character of their refreshment, doubtless typical of all their war making, appears from the next significant sentence of Froissart: "il euissent desrobet et gastet villes et villettes sans fermete."^^ Thus the duke of Lancaster accomplished a two-fold purpose, to satisfy his too troublesome foreign friends and injure France as much as possible. Thus, too, he continued through the month of October when, on November first, across the Somme from Cerisy,^^ the duke learned that King Edward was already at Calais and wished his immediate presence. Froissart makes no mention of any movement from England to France between that of the duke of Lancaster and that of the " Froissart, Chron., VI, 205 : " II voUoit chevauchier en Franche pour veoir qu'il y trouveroit." ^ Froissart, Chron., VI, 205 : " Puis se partirent de Callais a grant noblece, . . . et pooient bien estre mille armures de fier, sans les archiers et les gens de piet." The sec. red. reads " II" armeures," etc. "^ Chron., VI, 206. Froissart's first version, more favorable to France, empha- sizes the hardships (maintes grandes mesaises) of the English because of lack of forage. " Now Cerisy-Gailly, on the south side of the river and about half way from Bray-sur-Somme to Corbie. There they found bread and wine in abundance. 328 The Romanic Review main army under Edward. Thomas Gray, however, says that Roger Mortimer, earl of March, passed the sea six days before the king, that is on October 23.** He also made a raid, as the duke of Lancaster had done, taking the coast road to Boulogne and, after burning Staples at the mouth of the Canche, returned to Calais. This expedition helped to make secure to the English the country in the neighborhood of the English-French port. III. Edward's Army at Calais The expedition of Edward had gathered at Dover or Sandwich between the middle of August and October.^® Already there h^d been collected at that place 1,100 ships for the transportation of llhe army and stores. The king was attended by his four sons, Edwird the Black Prince, prince of Wales, Lionel, earl of Ulster, Johnlof Gaunt, earl of Richmond, and Edmund, soon to be made earl of Cambridge.^® With Lionel, too, must have been the young Chaycer who, for at least two years, had been attached to the household of (the countess of Ulster. He must have been present, therefore, at the great gathering of the army near Dover when Edward proclaimed his purpose in the war, and passionately asserted that "he would die rather than not accomplish his object." He must have heard, too,, the answering shouts of approval from the assembled host, ar^d the cries of " God and Saint George " as the English embarked for the continent.^^ It was a wonderful experience for a young ma^ on the threshold of the twenties to be thrown into one of the gredt " Scalacronica, p. 187: "Le count de la Marche, qi passe estoit la mere vj jours devaunt le dit roi, fist un chevauche outre Bologne, ardy Lestapels et I'l repaira." " The Continuation of Higden's Polychronicon, VIII, 409 : " Hoc anno, circa festum Assumptionis beatae Mariae, Edwardus rex Angliae et ejus primogenitus princeps Walliae, dux Lancastriae, et omnes fere proceres Angliae cum exercitu equitum et sagittariorum, congregatis circa mille curribus, apud portum de Sand- wich aliquandiu sunt morati." ^Froissart, Chron., VI, 219. Other chroniclers confirm Froissart. Le Bel says the king had with him " le prince 3e Galles et ses deux f reres " {Chroniques, II, 254). Les grandes chroniques de France (chap. CXIX) say, "le prince de Galles, son ainsne fils, et autres de ses fils," while the Chronique des quatre premiers Valois (p. 100) enumerates " le prince de Galles, due de Lenquastre, et les enfans du dit roy d'Angleterre." There was still one son, Thomas of Wood- stock, then five years of age, to be left as nominal guardian of the kingdom. "Froissart, Chron., VI, 217. Chaucer's First Military Service 329 international conflicts of the age, especially as he was surrounded by all the glamour of war for one connected with the court. Edward reached Calais in the last week of October. According to Gray it was Monday,** which was the twenty-eighth of the month. According to Froissart it was " two days before the feast of All Saints," or October 30.^^ Perhaps the slight differences in the chroniclers merely cover the differences in time between the arrival of the king and the rest of the army, which would certainly not have crossed and disembarked in a single day. King Edward remained but a few days in Calais,^" " for he was desirous of marching after his cousin the duke of Lancaster," says Froissart. The language of the chronicler might have been much stronger. Even eight days could hardly have been more than suffi- cient for unloading the immense stores of baggage and equipment brought from England. The occasion for these extraordinary stores was the condition of the French kingdom: " Si estoit le pays, de grant temps avoit, si apovris et si essillies, et meismement il faisoit si chier temps parmi le royaulme de France et si grant famine y couroit, pour le cause de ce que on n'avoit iii ans en devant riens ahane sus le plat pays, que, se bles et avainnes ne leur venissent de Haynaut et de Cambresis, les gens morussent de faim en Artois, en Vermendois et en I'evesquiet de Laon et de Rains. Et pour ce que li rois d'Engleterre, angois que il partesist de son pays, avoit oy parler de le famine et de le povrete de France, estoit-il ensi venus bien pourveus, et cascuns sires ossi selonch son estat."*^ The detail to which these preparations extended may be seen from another of Froissart's statements which reveal much and sug- gest so much more. In addition to all the usual equipment, there had been taken "toutes pourveances pour I'ost et ostieus dont on n'avoit point " Scalacronica, p. 187. The continuator of Higden says "' about the feast of All Saints"; Walsingham (Hist. Angl, I, 287), October 27. The Eulogium Historiarum (III, 228) agrees with Gray. In chap. CV of the Chroniques (II, 254) Le Bel says Edward reached Calais "deux ou trois jours devant Toussains," but in chap. CVIII (II, 267) he puts it "trois jours ou quatre." "Chron., VI, 217. *' Froissart {Chron., VI, 219) makes it " four or five days" in the first ver- sion, " four " in the second ; the Scalacronica (p. 187) says " eight days." '' Froissart, Chron., VI, 224-5, sec. red. 330 The Romanic Review veu user en devant de mener avoeques gens d'armes, sicom moulins a le main, fours pour cuire et aultres coses pluiseurs necessaires."^^ Such articles are even more fully enumerated in a later account : "Vous deves savoir que li seigneur d'Engleterre et li riche homme menoient sus leur chars tentes, pavilions, forges, mouUins et fours pour forgier fiers de chevaux et autre cose, pour mieure bled et pain quire, s'il trouvaissent les forges, les moullins et les fours brisies . . . et avoient sus ces kars pluisseurs nacelles et ba- teles fais si soutielment de quir boulit, que troy homme se pooient bien dedens aidier et nagier parmy un escault on un vivier, con grant qu'il fuist, et cell peschier et laissier hors, si lor plaisoit."** Nor were the lordly pleasures forgotten. In addition to this abun- dant preparation for war, " li roys avoit bien pour lui xxx fauconniers a cheval, chargies d'oisiaux, et bien Ix couples de fors kiens et otant de levriers, dont il alloit chacun jour ou en cache ou en riviere, enssi qu'il li plaisoit. Et si y avoit pluisseurs des seigneurs et des rices hommes qui avoient lors chiens et lors oisiaux ossi bien comme li roys."^* When Edward did move out from Calais on Monday morning, November 4, it was " with the largest army and the best appointed train of baggage- wagons that had ever quitted England."*® Even Henry of Lancaster, returning from his preliminary raid, and meet- ing the king four leagues from Calais, was surprised at the host. There was " si grant multitude de gens d'armes que tons li pays en estoit couvers, et si richement armes et pares que c'estoit merveilles et grans deduis a regarder lors armes luisans, lors bannieres ventellans, lors conrois parordenes."*® " Chron., VI, 223, sec. red. '^Chron., Yl, 256. "Froissart, Chron., VI, 256-7. Edward Ill's extreme fondness for hunting is well known. An historic instance occurred when the captive King John of France was being brought to London. Edward was hunting when the royal prisoner passed by and, with " boorish bonhomie " as Longman says {Life and Times of Edward III, I, 399, based on Villani, Cronica, III, 295), invited him to enjoy the same sport, he himself continuing when King John declined. Besides, one of Chaucer's most spirited pictures of the Book of the Duchess (11. 348f.) concerns the hunting of the " emperor Octovien," certainly intended for Edward III as Professor Skeat has pointed out in. his note to the passage. °° Froissart, Chron., VI, 220. " Froissart, Chron., VI, 210. As illustrating the closeness with which Frois- sart follows Le Bel I may quote the latter's words at this point (chap. CIV, II, Chaucer's First Military Service 33 ^ Perhaps at this time Chaucer first saw the sight which sug- gested the description of Duke Theseus's army in the Knight's Tale (11. 1 17-19): " The rede statue of Mars, with spere and targe, So shyneth in his whyte baner large, That alle the feeldes gliteren up and doun." At least, though Chaucer may have seen more than one army in the splendor of its entrance upon a great expedition, he was never again to see such extensive preparations as had been made at this time. Indeed, there was to be a decided falling away in the fortunes of Edward III after this campaign of 1359. No great victory like Sluys or Crecy or Poitiers was to be won by the English until, more than half a century after, Henry V fought the French at Agincourt. Edward's army moved from Calais in three great divisions. } These were in addition to the vanguard of " five hundred knights, well armed, and a thousand archers," under the command of Roger Mortimer, earl of March, whom Edward appointed his constable as he left the city.*'' The three divisions of the main army. were com- manded by the duke of Lancaster, after he had rejoined the army, Edward the Black Prince, and the king himself.** The size of Edward's army is variously estimated by the chron- iclers. Matteo Villani, the Italian, places it at 100,000 including the 21,500 -under the dnke of Lancaster.*® Froissart is much more conservative in this case and doubtless nearer the truth. He says the king's battalion, or division, was " composed of three thousand men at arms and five thousand archers."*" The division of the prince of Wales "was composed of twenty-five hundred men at arms most excellently mounted and richly dressed." He fails to 249) : " si grande compaignie que toute la terre estoit couverte de gens ; et estoit grand plaisir de regarder le noblesse, armes reluire, banieres voler, clarins et trompettes sonner." "Froissart, Chron., VI, 220; compare also VI, 253: " ses connestables . . . qui toudis avoit le premiere bataille (li contes de la Marche)." The earl of March, whom Gray calls "le plus secre du dit roy," died of fever at Guillen, Feb. 24, 1360, during the march on Paris (Scalacronica, p. 187) . ''Le Bel says (Chron., II, 255) : "le prince de Galles et le conte de Riche- mont son frere, qui nouvellement estoit marie a le fille dou due de Lencastre." '" Chronica, bk. IX, chap. 53. *° Chron., VI, 220. So also next two quotations. 332 The Romanic Review mention the archers, though their presence is proved by the next sentence : " Both the men at arms and the archers marched in close order." Fortunately Le Bel says " four thousand archers and as many foot-soldiers,"*^ in addition to the men at arms. Nor does Froissart give the number of men commanded by the duke of Lan- caster, but it may be assumed to have been something like as many as under the prince of Wales. If, now, there were as many foot- soldiers as archers in the king's division, the whole army would have included about thirty thousand fighting men, besides laborers and camp followers. Even this was a large army for the time, espe- cially large considering the fighting condition of the French kingdom.*^ Some confirmation of the great size of the army of Edward may be gained from the immense baggage-train which extended, accord- ing to Froissart, "two leagues in length."** This seems not un- reasonable considering the known preparations of Edward. Yet when Froissart adds that " it consisted of upwards of five thousand carriages," we may suppose that there must be some exaggeration. Walsingham gives the number as " almost one thousand,"** a number much more in keeping with the army in other respects. Not only was the invading army in orderly divisions, but it was also from its first advance prepared for battle at any moment. This " arrangement the foreign lords viewed with delight " when they met the English army on their return from their raid with the duke of " Chron., II, 255 : " quatre mille archiers et autant de brigans f aisans I'arriere garde." "The difficulty in computing the size of the army is naturally the extreme meagerness of information on the part of the chroniclers, or even their inexact- ness. It is Walsingham who tells most definitely that the king's division was the largest: " Et fortissimam [turmam] retinuit penes ipsum" (Hist. Angl., I, 287). Froissart implies the same in one or two places, as Chron., VI, 220 and 257. Mackinnon (History of Edward HI, p. 455), without giving authority but doubt- less with Le Bel in mind, reckons the prince's division as including 8,000 besides the men at arms, and the whole army as above. ^^ Chron., VI, 220, following Le Bel {Chron,, II, 255) "deux legues Franchoises." " Hist. Angl., I, 287. Froissart says " eight thousand " in Chron., VI, 256. In the latter place he adds of the " chars," " tous atelles de iiii fors cevaux qu'il avoient mis hors d'Engleterre." A little computation makes clear that the number of carts mentioned could not have been placed in the space indicated, to say nothing of room for movement. Chaucer's First Military Service 333 Lancaster. They saw that the English "marched slowly in close order, as if they were about to engage in battle."*'^ Again in the next chapter Froissart repeats the same general fact with slight additions : " toutes ces gens d'armes et cil arcier rengiet et sieret ensi due pour tantost combatre se mestier euist este. En chevaugant ensi il ne laissassent mies un gargon derriere euls qu'il ne I'attendesissent, et nepooient aler bonnement non plus que iii liewes le jour."*® IV. The March through France to Reims When King Edward left Calais he advanced on the same route that the duke of Lancaster had taken a month before.*'' Nor does this chronicler at any time imply that the great army did not march as one body to Reims itself. Other writers make clear, however, that the three divisions of Froissart were three columns taking dif- ferent routes. Walsingham perhaps suggests this when he says that the army was divided into three divisions (turmae), on account of forage, since this might mean an arrangement in columns some dis- tance apart so as not to interfere with each other in obtaining sup- plies.** Fortunately Thomas Gray, who himself made the march, is still more ''explicit. Not only "did the divisions take different routes, but he traces with considerable exactness those of the king and the prince of Wales, adding that the route of the duke of Lan- ' caster was between the other two.*® "Froissart, Chron., VI, 211. " Chron., VI, 223, slightly altered from the first version though without essential change. "Froissart, Chron., VI, 219. Le Bel and the other French chroniclers are no more explicit with regard to the route of Edward. "Hist. Angl, I, 287: "Diviso exercitu suo in tres turmas propter victualia. unam turmam fortem Henrico Lancastriae duci commisit; Edwardo vero principi turmam aliam fortiorem; et fortissimam retinuit penes ipsum." Knighton (Chronicon, II, 106) gives the same testimony: " Et tunc supervenit rex Edwardus cum omnibus aliis magnatibus, et diviserunt se in tres turmas et acies, et abinvicem se dividentes singulae acies ceperunt iter suum." So far as I have found Mackinnon is the only English writer who has men- tioned these three columns of Edward's army, and he only in a footnote to p. 456 of his History of Edward Third. " Scalacronica, p. 187-8: "Les iij hostes alerent divers chemins. . . . Le duk ■de Lancastre tient le chemyn entre le roi et soun fitz." As a side light upon these divisions of Edward's army and the separate routes, it may be noted that 334 The Romanic Review All divisions of the army followed the broad valley, or plain which begins on the northern coast of France between Calais and the mouth of the Somme. This open plain about forty miles wide extends southward, following the Somme to the neighborhood of St. Quentin, when it divides into two branches. The one bends east- ward, following the valley of the Sambre. The other makes a half circle by Laon, Reims, fipernay, Sezannes to the valley of the Seine. It forms a broad highway into the heart of France, and now served the English king as it was to serve his son, John of Gaunt, in 1373. The more exact route of Edward's division is a fairly definite one whether we follow Gray, or Froissart who mentions no other. Passing by St. Omer the king made a halt at Bethune, and next at the monastery of Mont St. Eloy, two leagues from Arras. Chaucer was not with this division of the invaders as we shall see later. Yet he was near enough to this monastery so that he may have learned for the first time the story of its patron saint. If so he was to this fact indebted for the oath which he later associated with two such different personages as the gentle prioress, and the carter in the Friar's Tale. At Mont St. Eloy, too, the duke of Lancaster and the troublesome foreign lords had halted four days " to refresh them- selves," while in all his march through France the English king was to show special preference for the rich ecclesiastical houses.^** Passing by Arras, which was strongly fortified and held by the count de St. Pol, Edward proceeded almost directly south to the strong town of Bapaume in Artois. It is a temptation to tarry with the army in this region and hear from Froissart of the pleasant ad- venture which here befell the German knight. Sir Reginald de BouUant, and M. Galahaut de Ribemont; how the former, on a morning raid, met the latter on his way to the defense of Peronne; how Sir Reginald was cleverly deceived by the Frenchmen, who said when John of Gaunt, in 1373, led an army through France to Bordeaux, an early " march to the sea," the two columns took different routes until they reached the valley of the Aisne. From Calais the eastern column marched by St. Omer, St. Pol and Arras, while the western took the course by Therouanne, Hesdin and Corbie. Twice afterwards, also, the army separated into two columns for different routes. See the map in Armitage-Smith's John of Gaunt, p. 106. "" The voluminous work of Denifle, La desolation des Sglises, monasteres, et hopitaux en France pendant la guerre de cents ans, shows what terrible losses were sustained by these religious houses of all kinds. For this campaign see vol. II, 336f. Chaucer's First Military Service 335 they were Germans and kept their visors down to prevent detection ; how, in the fight which followed, the unsuspecting Sir Reginald lost most of his men, though M. Galahaut — with true poetic justice — also received a " furious stroke " from which he died soon after. I give a bare outline of what the chronicler tells with delightful de- tail through most of his chapter, before he too says, " We will now return to the king of England."^^ From the region of Bapaume Edward made a long detour to the east, following the eastern arm of the plain already mentioned into Cambresis. There he made his headquarters at Beaumetz, slightly northeast of Bapaume toward Cambray and some twenty-five miles northwest of St. Quentin. The halt of the English was for four days "to refresh themselves and their horses,"®^ and the refreshment was as usual at the expense of the people of the plains. They had felt themselves secure because they were a dependency of the Empire, and not a part of the French kingdom. They had there- fore made no attempt to store their provisions in fortresses, and the English king found everything in abundance. When they saw the invader overrunning the greater part of their country, Bishop Peter of Cambray and the lords of the various towns sent to " in- quire the cause of the war." Yet the only answer received from King Edward was that they had formed alliances with the French, and had aided them with provisions. "The Cambresians," as the chronicler says in dismissing the incident, " were therefore obliged to put up with their losses and grievances as well as they could." This journey into Cambresis was far from the direct route to Reims. The inference is unavoidable that necessity already com- pelled the English king to consider the provisioning of his army. The raid of the duke of Lancaster had already devastated the val- ley of the Somme as far as Cerisy. Besides, the invasion of Edward being known in advance, the French had stored their provisions in fortified towns and garrisoned these as strongly as possible. Still further, as Froissart tells us, "Avoech tout ce li temps estoit si crus et si plouvieus que ce leur faisoit trop de meschief et a leurs chevaus; car priesque toutes '^Chron., VI, 225, sec. red. " Froissart, Chron., VI, 231. 33^ The Romanic Review les nuis plouvoit-il a randon sans cesser, et tant pleut en ce wain que li vin de celle vendenge ne vallirent rien en celle saison."^^ In spite of the great stores with which Edward's army set out there was now something like want. It was a case of the commissariat determining the course of the army. From Beaumetz Edward marched still further eastward into Thierache, making his headquarters at the abbey of Femy (Fesmy), not far from Le Nouvion and near the borders of Hainault.®* It was another well-chosen halting place, for at Femy also " they found great plenty of provisions for themselves and their horses." Yet the supplies of the abbey did not wholly suffice for the host of the English. As usual, " Ses gens couroient par tout a destre et a senestre, et prendoi- ent vivres et prisonniers la oii il les pooient avoir."®® It was the fertile valley of the Oise-s^ere food and forage were in abundance. Leaving the abbey of Femy Edward marched almost directly south toward Reims. Gray mentions the march through the dis- tricts of "Loignes" and Champagne, the first apparently in the region of Vervins and Aubenton, south and a little east of Femy.®* Froissart adds further that the English king crossed " le riviere d'Oise et le riviere d'Esne sans contredit, les unes a gues et I'autre (I'Esne) passa-il au Pont-a-Vaire."®'' The place at which the Aisne was crossed, now Pontavert, is in the ■^ Chron., VI, 225, sec. red. "Froissart, Chronicles, as translated by Lord Berners (Tudor Trans., II, 44.) and by Johnes (Book I, chap. CCVIII). This place is not mentioned in the text of de Lettenhove, although the second redaction mentions Thierache (Tier- asse), Chron., VI, 234. That Edward passed from Cambresis into Thierache is also confirmed by Gray ; see footnote 56 below. "Froissart, Chron., VI, 234, sec. red. °° Scalacronica, p. 187. The whole route of the king is given as follows: " Le dit roy tient le chemyn de seint Thomers [St. Omer] pres de Arraz, et de- lee Cambresi, par Terrages [Thierache], par Loignes, par Chaumpein, a devaunt de Reyns." Loignes I do not find, but places in the vicinity of Vervins and Aubenton have the prefix Logny, as Logny-les-Chaumont, Logny-les-Aubenton, and are doubtless in the region meant. "Chron., VI, 231. Froissart also includes the Somme among the rivers crossed, but this is impossible unless it be some small tributary near its very source. Chaucer's First Military Service 337 canton of Neufchatel, about twelve miles almost directly north of Reims. Meanwhile, more by accident than by design, the columns of the divided army had come together in Champagne some ten leagues from the city toward which they were all moving.^* How this happened we shall best see from tracing the route of the Black Prince after leaving the king's forces not far from Calais. The Black Prince, with hiS division, left the king's army early in the march from' Calais, perhaps near the abbey of Licques. There Edward met the duke of Lancaster who, returning from his raid, took his place as commander of a division. It is more than likely that the columns separated about this time. With the prince's divi- sion, also, is our special interest, for with it rode the brothers of the Black Prince, and with Lionel, duke of Ulster, would be the young Chaucer.®^ Fortunately we know the exact route of this division from the personal narrative of Thomas Gray, the Scalacronica already mentioned.®" According to this account the Black Prince first halted at Montreuil some thirty miles southwest of St. Omer. This, then, gave Chaucer his first sight of a place which he was again to visit at least twice, some twenty years later, on unsuccess- ful missions of peace and a marriage for Richard II with a princess of France.®^ From Montreuil the prince led his army in a southeasterly " Knighton, Chronicon, II, io6 : " Nesciebat una acies de caetero ubi altera devenit usque in diem Jovis ante festum sancti Andreae [Thursday, Nov. 28]. Quo casualiter duae acies transeuntes occurrerunt regi ad unam villulam ad x leucas de Reynes in Campania." It is naturally impossible to identify this village but it should be in the neighborhood of Clermont, if the distance from Reims can be relied upon. ""The matter is not one of conjecture. Froissart distinctly says (Chron., VI, Z2o) : ■' Apries venoit li forte bataille dou prinche de Galles et de ses f reres." See also the quotations from other chroniclers in footnote 26. "That Gray actually made the march with the Black Prince is vouched for by the French Roll of Edward III under date of August 20, 1359, which reads : " Thomas de Grey, miles, qui in obsequium Regis in comitiva Edwardi, principis Wallie, ad partes transmarinas profecturus est." This is quoted by Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V, II, 152, footnote. "See the discussion in Skeat, Works of Chaucer, I, xxviif. The first of these occasions was in the early part of 1377, when Richard was still the prince ; the second in 1378 after he had assumed the crown. To these we may probably add a third visit to the same place even earlier, since Chaucer accompanied John of Gaunt in his expedition into France in 1369, and Gaunt's army also visited Montreuil. See Armitage-Smith's John of Gaunt, p. 72, and map facing p. 106. 338 The Romanic Review course direct for Reims. His next important halt was at Hesdin, like Montreuil in the valley of the river Canche. Advancing fur- ther south through Picardy he crossed the Somme, perhaps not far from Amiens.** Then the army proceeded by Nesle and Ham in Vermandois, and around the bend of the river Somme toward St> Quentin. From the neighborhood of the latter place the Black Prince marched to the Oise, crossing it southeast of St. Quentin it would seem.** There Chaucer had his first sight of a river, the name of which was again remembered when, in writing a passage of the House of Fame, he wished a convenient rime for " noise." He was describing the volume of sound which issued from every opening of the temple of Fame and he adds, " And ther-out com so greet a noise, That, had hit [the temple] stonden upon Oise, Men mighte hit han herde esely To Rome, I trowe sikerly."°* Besides, it may not be impossible that the figure which next came into Chaucer's mind was suggested by recollections of the military expedition with which he crossed this same river. In a second de- scription of the " noise " Chaucer says : " And the noyse which that I herde, For al the world right so hit ferde. As doth the routing of the stoon That from the engyn is laten goon."^^ This would be the sound of the projectile from the mouth of the small cannon of Chaucer's time, a sound which he perhaps heard ■"The western column of John of Gaunt's army, ten years later, passed through Hesdin and crossed the Somme at Corbie, while the eastern column crossed at Bray-sur-Somme. Either would suit the route of the Black Prince, the first less than ten miles east of Amiens, the second about twenty miles away. See the map mentioned in preceding footnote. ''Professor Skeat in his life of Chaucer (Works, I, xviii), following Froissart's account of Edward Ill's march, assumes too confidently that the army " must . . . have crossed the Oise somewhere near Ghauny and La Fere." But, since Chaucer was with the Black Prince and his route was farther to the east, the crossing was more probably nearer Sery (now Sery-les-Mezieres) or Ribemont, as shown by the later march of this division. "House of Fame, 1. I927f (Book III, 837f). "House of Fame, 1. igsti. Chaucer's First Military Service 339 for the first time when with this expedition, certainly the first time in war itself.*® After crossing the Oise, according to Gray, the prince* led his army by " Retieris," or Rhetel, which the enemy burned to delay the march of the English. The latter, however, gained a passage of the Aisne at Chateau-Porcien a little west of Rhetel. " Retieris," or Rhetel, is somewhat east of the natural route of the prince, but the exactness of the record seems to be fully confirmed by the men- tion of Chateau-Porcien less than ten miles away.**'^ The mention of " Retieris " by Gray is also one of the most sug- gestive bits of his narrative, because of its relation to the poet Chaucer. It will be remembered that in 1386 Chaucer was called as a witness in an heraldic suit between Richard, Lxjrd Scrope, and Sir Robert Grosvenor. In his testimony the poet gave most valu- able data for reckoning his age, that he was " forty years old and more," and that he had borne arms "twenty-seven years." The latter statement, sufficiently definite and impersonal to be relied upon, carries us back to 1359 and this first military expedition in which Chaucer was engaged. More important still, his testimony mentions the very place "Retters" of Gray's account. He tells us that he had seen Sir Richard and Sir Henry Scrope bearing the disputed arms " before the town of Retters, and so during the whole expedition until the said Geoffrey was taken [prisoner]."*^ "Such suggestion seems more likely if we remember how recent was the use of cannon by the English, the first time, it is said, at the battle of Crecy in 1346. "Gray's account of the prince's route is as follows: "Le prince, le fitz du dit roi, tient le chemyn de Monstrol [Mbntreuil], de Hedyn, par Pountive et Pikardy, outre leau de Soumme par Neel [Nesle], par Haan [Ham] en Ver- mandas. . . . Le prince tient soun avaunt dit chemyn par Seint Quyntin et par Retieris, ou lez enemys meismes arderoint lour vile pur destourber lour passage; lez gentz de qi prince conquistrent passage au chastel Purcien, ou passa par Champain, et aprocha lost soun pier a devaunt de Reyns." — Scalacronica, pp. 187-8. "Life Records of Chaucer, p. 264f. Sir H. Nicolas, The Scrope and Gros- venor Controversy, 11, 405 ; Skeat's Works of Chaucer, I, xxxv. Sir H. Nicolas had assumed that Retters of Chaucer's testimony was Retters near. Rennes in Brittany; see Skeat as above. This led Professor Lounsbury to point out {Studies in Chaucer, I, 56-57) that Retters in Brittany was some two hundred miles from the operations of Edward's army at this time, and quite impossible. In the Appendix to the same work (III, 452f) he suggested Rhetel, quoting 340 The Romanic Review The language of Chaucer does not specify, it is true, that he was speaking of this particular appearance before Rhetel. As we shall see the region was later visited by the foraging bands of Edward's army. Yet there are several good reasons for believing that Chau- cer had this very occasion in mind when, nearly thirty years after, he was testifying in the Scrope and Grosvenor suit. First, it was the poet's earliest sight of the town, the only one of which we have definite record. As shown by Gray, a demonstration was made against this place by the army to which Chaucer and, as I shall show, the above mentioned Scrope belonged. Again, the added expression in the testimony of Chaucer, "and so during the whole expedition," would seem to imply that the army was still on the march, that is had not yet reached its goal at Reims. Finally to these reasons we may add another important fact, amply supported by evidence and seemingly sufficient to clinch the argument. From the testimony in the Scrope and Grosvenor trial we learn that both Sir Richard and Sir Henry Scrope, whom Chaucer testi- fied to having seen "before the town of Retters," belonged to the retinue of the earl of Richmond, John of Gaunt.® ® The latter, it Froissart's form of the name, as Reters, Retiers, Rethiers. To this we may now add Gray's use of the form Retieris under the more interesting circumstances of Chaucer's own visit to the place with the column of the Black Prince. Nicolas is perhaps responsible for the oft-repeated statement .that Chaucer was taken prisoner at Rhetel. In the Scrope and Grosvenor Controversy he makes the statement : " Lord Scrope [Henry] served as banneret in the retinue of John of Gaunt, then earl of Richmond, and was at Retters when Geoffrey Chaucer was taken prisoner by the French" (II, 114-15). "He [Chaucer] vvas, he says, made prisoner by the French near the town of Retters, during that expedition which terminated with the peace of Chartres in May, 1360" (II, 409). ^ Depositions to this effect were given by Sir Ralph Cheney (Nicolas, The Scrope and Grosvenor Controversy, I, yy ; II, 260) ; by Sir Gerard Grymston (I, los; II, 292); Sir John Constable (I, 108; II, 296); Sir William Chauncy (I, 112; II, 304) ; John Rither, Esq. (I, 144; II, 351), and a number of others. I take as an example the deposition of Sir Gilbert Talbot (I, 174) : " Mens. Gilbert Talbot del age de xl ans, armeez par xxv ans, . . . dist qil ad veu le dit Mons. Richard Lescrope estre armeez en mesme lez armez dazure ove en bend dor en le compaignie de Mons. de Lancastre, qestoit adount le count de Riche- mond, en le viage de Roy qe mort est devant Parys, et Mons. Henri Lescrope armeez en mesmes lez armez ove un label blanc." The "devant Parys," as is clear from other depositions, is used merely for the end of the whole campaign of 1359-60. Chaucer alone mentions " Retters." No less than three others of the Scrope family were also in the army of Edward, as Sir William Scrope in the retinue of the prince of Wales, and Sir Geoffrey who followed Henry, duke of Lancaster. Chaucer's First Military Service 34 1 has already been shown from Froissart, was with the division of the prince of Wales in its march toward Reims.'^" On the other hand, when the army of Edward settled down before the city the earl of Richmond, as we know on the best authority, was detached from the division of the Black Prince and, with the earl of North- ampton, held St. Thierry.''^ As there is no mention of the de- tachment of Earl Lionel, presumably he and Chaucer wrho served him remained with the division of the prince. In this case he would have been less likely to have seen Sir Richard and Sir Henry Scrope at all, and certainly not before Rhetel even if the latter had been visited in some later raid. It is practically certain, therefore, that in his testimony of 1386 Chaucer had in mind his first sight of Rhetel and the demonstration before it of the division of the prince of Wales on his march to Reims. Of the Black Prince's further march to Reims Gray gives no account except that "the people of the prince gained a passage [of the Aisne] at Chateau-Porcien, when he passed through Cham- pagne and approached the army of his father in front of Reims."^^ Of the duke of Lancaster's column, also, Gray makes no further record than that it marched between the routes of the other two.''* Yet one incident seems to be connected with this division of the army and gives a hint of one stage of Lancaster's journey. This is the capture of Baldwin d'Annequin, master of the crossbows of France and at this time governor of St. Quentin. Sir Bartholomew Burghersh, whom Gray calls a chieftain in the duke's division, while on a foraging expedition in the direction of St. Quentin accidentally came upon Mons. Baldwin and his company. An engagement took place and "y eut grant hustin et pluiseurs reverses d'un les et d'aultre. Finablement li Engles obtinrent le place, et fu pris li dis messires Bauduins et prisonniers a monsigneur Biertremieu de Bruwes a qui il I'avoit este aultre fois de le bataille de Poitiers. "''* It was a notable capture and both Froissart and Gray record it. ™ See footnote 59. 1 " See the account by Rogier and the testimony of Les grandes chromques de France quoted in footnote 85. "See footnote 67.1 "See quotation in footnote 49. "Froissart, Chron., VI, 234; Gray, Scalacronica, p. 187. 342 The Romanic Review One event in the march of Edward's three armies has still to be mentioned. According to Knighton, in the last days of Novem- ber, the three columns had come together in Champagne, some ten leagues from Reims. Such a meeting, unintentional though it is said to have been, was by no means unlikely from the routes of the different divisions. The king had marched almost directly south from Thierache. The Black Prince had moved southeast from St. Quentin, across the route of the king, and a meeting was inevitable. The duke of Lancaster, advancing between them, was forced to the common point at which the eastern and western armies came together. Where the meeting was we can but conjecture, yet Knighton's account would seem to place it before the crossing of the Aisne. The distance of the Aisne from Reims would scarcely have allowed such a meeting ten leagues from the latter city. The com- ing together of the forces was followed by a great council with the duke of Lancaster and the other leaders on St. Andrew's day ( Nov. 29) and the day following,''^ after which the three columns again separated on their journey to Reims. It was at this time, doubt- less, that the Black Prince led his army against Rhetel in hope of plunder perhaps, while the king and the duke of Lancaster pro- ceeded more directly toward Reims by different routes. This would explain Gray's statement of the Black Prince's "approaching the army of his father in front of Reims."^® As to the time of reaching Reims the chroniclers differ. The English writers name the thirteenth or eighteenth of December.'' '' On the other hand Froissart says the twenty-ninth of November, St. Andrew's day.''* The Memoires of Rogier, who risked his life to carry messages to the duke of Normandy, regent of France, name "Knighton, Chronicon, II, p. 106: "Quo casualiter duae acies transeuntes occurrerunt regi ad unam villulam ad x leucas de Reynes in Campania, ubi rex tenuit unum magnum concilium cum duce Lancastriae et aliis magnatibus suis in vigilia sancti Andreae et die sequenti; et exinde ceperunt iter suum versus Reynes in tribus aciebus sicut prius fecerant, ita taraen quod singuli possent scire ubi essent." " Footnote 67. "Walsingham {Hist. AngL, I, 287) gives the first, "in feste sanctae Luciae." Knighton (Chronicon, II, 107) says "xviii die Decembris." "As usual Froissart is following Le Bel, who says of the English king: " [il] demoura en celluy pays de la feste Saint-Andryeu jusques a cinq septmaines aprez Noel."— C/iron., chap. CV, II, 255. Chaucer's First Military Service 343 Wednesday the fourth of December.'^® Perhaps all these differ- ences may be reconciled by the confusion of the first approach of the vanguard with the complete investment of the city which doubtless took some days. Or perhaps Froissart, who gives the earlier date, has confused the early accidental meeting of the three armies with that about Reims itself. At any rate, not far from the first of December, the English king reached the goal he had set for himself on leaving England. It was Edward's purpose to capture the city where French kings had been crowned for centuries, and there assume the crown of France which he claimed as his by right of inheritance. Then, as he seems to have thought, all would be easy in the further conquest of his continental possessions. But even at this time the prospects were none too bright. The unusually rainy season had been against him. His extensive provisions for supplying the army had been long since exhausted. The poverty stricken condition of the country made foraging extremely difficult. The policy of withdrawing into the fortified towns and refusing to fight made impossible any offensive operations except a regular siege. Above all the rains continued, followed by approaching winter, and the lot of the greatest military commander of the age was perplexing, if not dangerous.*" " " Le roy d'Angleterre arryva avec son armee devant le ville de Reims au commencement du mois de decembre, le mercredy iiii° dudict mois de decembre, mil trois cens cincquante neuf." — ^Varin, Arch, admin, de la ville de Reims, III, 156, n. I (Memoires de Rosier, fol. 109), quoted by Delachenal, Hist, de Charles V, II, 154. "It is Froissart who emphasizes the difficulties of Edward's position. Speaking of the king and his chiefs about Reims, Froissart says (Chron., VI, 23s) : " Si n'avoient pas leurs aises, ne le temps a leur volunte ; car il estoient la venu ou coer de I'ivier, environ le Saint-Andrieu, que il faisoit froit, lait et pluvieus, et estoient leur cheval mal logiet et mal livret, car li pays, ii ans ou iii en devant, avoit estet toutdis si guerryes que nuls n'avoit labouret les terras ; pour quoi on n'avoit nuls fourages, bles, ne avainnes en garbes, ne en estrains, et convenoit les pluiseurs aler fourer x ou xii liewes loing." Gray's brief account makes no mention of such difficulties. Knighton (Chronicon, II, 107) presents the matter far more favorably: "Et notandum quod in toto illo viagio non periit quisquam nostrorum nee damnum sustinuit praeter quod dominus Thomas de Morreus percussus est medio de una gunna." 344 The Romanic Review V. Edward Before Reims When Edward reached Reims he disposed his army in the vil- lages round about, covering especially the main avenues of communi- cation. His purpose was to block all entrance of provisions to the inhabitants, and trust to hunger to bring the city to submission. The king himself, as both English and French chronicles attest, took up his quarters at St. Basle beyond Reims.*^ St. Basle was a monastic house on the highest point of land in the neighborhood, the "montagne de Reims " just back of the little village of Verzy, some ten miles away on the road to Chalons. The monastery had been founded in the fifth century, says tradition, by Basolus who, coming to pray at the tomb of St. Remy, had here placed his hermitage.*^ From this position Edward was now able to overlook the whole field of operations, while he could there also best protect his army from attack by the regent of France, the duke of Normandy. The prince of Wales, says Rogier, was stationed at Ville-domange about five miles southwest of Reims.^* It is about half-way between the road to Dormans on the west, and that leading almost directly south from Reims to fipernay. These two roads were thus guarded by the prince's division, while this arrangement also placed the king and three of his sons near each other. Froissart gives no further account of the disposition of Edward's army. He merely says that, after the king and the prince of Wales, the duke of Lancaster " tenoit en apries le plus grant logeis," and "li conte, li baron et li aultre chevalier logiet ens es villages entour Rains."** Rogier is more explicit and is confirmed by Les "Froissart, Chron., VI, 234-5. Rogier, quoted by Varin, Archives adminis- tratives de la ville de Reims, III, 156-8, in Collection de documents inSdits: "Le roy d'Angleterre . . . loga sa personne en I'abbaye de St. Basle." '^ A life of St. Basle is in Migne (Patrologiae, vol. 137, p. 643), Vita Sancti Basoli Confessoris, Auctore Adsone, together with an account of his translation by the same author. "Following Le Bel, Froissart says St. Thierry where, according to Rogier, was the earl of Richmond, John of Gaunt, with the earl of Northampton. On the other hand, when Froissart mentions that the prince and his brothers were together, we have confirmation of his previous statement that they belonged to the same division. Presumably, then, Lionel, earl of Ulster, remained with the prince, and with Lionel would be Chaucer also. Froissart's words are : " Li rois fist son logeis a Saint-Bale oultre Reims, et li princes de Galles et si frere k Saint-Thieri." — Chron., VI, 234-5. " Chron., VI, 235. Chaucer's First Military Service 345 grandes chroniques de France. The duke of Lancaster was at Bri- mont, on the road directly north from Reims and about eight miles away. Between hira and the king, at Bethany and Cernay-les-Reims on either side of the road to Rhetel, were Roger Mortimer, earl of March and Edward's constable, with Sir John Beauchamps. Both villages are about five miles northeast and east of the besieged city.®^ To the west of the duke of Lancaster's quarters, at St. Thierry, were the earls of Richmond and Northampton, guarding the road to Laon. Near by, slightly northwest of St. Thierry, was Villers- Franqueux also held by the English. On the Vesle, directly west of Villers-Franqueux and about twelve or fifteen miles northwest of Reims itself, was Courlandon in the direction of Soissons. This position prevented access to the besieged city from that side and completed the environment. So closely were the lines drawn that Rogier says no one could enter the city either on horse or foot.*® Except for encircling the city in this way Edward made no attempt at a regular siege. This was partly because of the fortifi- cations, which had been rendered doubly strong in the months since war had been in prospect. Efforts to fortify the city had begun as early as 1357 and had continued through the two following years.*'^ In December, 1358, the neighboring castles had been put in a state of defense, or destroyed if they were likely to be dangerous to the "^ Rogier says : " Le roy d'Angleterre . . . loga pour sa personne en I'abbaye de St. Basle; le prince de Galles, son filz, estoit loge a Ville-demange ; le conte de Richemont, et celuy de Norentonne a Sainct Thiery; le due de Lenclastre a Brimont; le mareschal d'Angleterre et messire Jehan de Bieauchamps a Bethany." — ^Varin, III, p. 156-8, a quotation for which I am indebted to Pro- fessor G. L. Burr, of Cornell University. Les grandes chroniques (chap. CXIX) state the matter thus: "Et fu le roy d'Angleterre logie a Saint-Baale, a quatre lieues de Rains ou environ. Le prince de Galles, son ainsne fils, estoit logie a Ville-Dommange, a deux lieues de Rains; le conte de Richemont et celuy de Norentonne a St.-Thierri, a deux lieues de Rains; le due de Lenclastre a Brimont, assez pres de Rains; le mareschal d'Angleterre et monseigneur Jehan de Biauchamps estoient a Bretigny [Bethany], a lieue de Rains." '°"Et chevauchoient les gens susdicte tous les jours environ la dicte villa en telle maniere que aucun n'y pouvoit entrer n'y a pied ne a cheval." — Varin, III, p. 156. Yet Rogier, or Rogier de Bourich, succeeded in carrying a message to the regent of France at Paris, and returning to Reims with an answer dated December 26. ''Denifle, Le desolation des eglises, etc., II, 341 f. Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V, II, iS4f- 34^ The Romanic Review city in case of seizure by an attacking force. In February, I359» the Benedictine abbey of St. Thierry had been leveled lest it should afford protection to the enemy, and the same was true of a number of other religious houses in the vicinity. On July lo the regent of France had notified the governor, Gauchier de Chatillon, of the ap- proaching invasion, and again on October 22 of the raid of the duke of Lancaster. Even at this time, however, the city was prepared for a long siege. For these reasons, when Edward settled down before the sacred city, he found a very different state of affairs from what he had expected. The earlier successes of himself and the, Black Prince had made them overconfident. Both expected to meet the enemy in the field and crush them as they had done at Crecy and Poitiers. Miscalculating, too, the preparations of the inhabitants of Reims, Edward hoped for a speedy surrender of the city without the losses an assault would entail. Perhaps the quiet with which the English were received was in itself deceptive. Knighton tells us that they took their places about the city in peace, no one offering resistance, and each lord feasting the others as if all had been in their native land.ss As there was no regular siege there was no attempt to prepare siege engines, to batter the walls, or to assault the city, unless pos- sibly for a day or two at the very last. But there was still much for the besiegers to do. The army must be supplied with food, and forage was not easy to be had in the country round. The rains still continued incessant. The result was a necessary scouring of the country for miles, even leagues about. These foraging parties often met with the enemy, sometimes being victorious, sometimes meeting defeat.*® Such expeditions concern us especially from the probable relation of one of them to Chaucer himself. Fortunately Froissart, Gray, and Knighton are more explicit regarding some of the minor engagements than some of the larger operations. Perhaps these °° Chron.j II, 107: "Xviij° die Decembris venit rex cum omnibus suis ad villam de Reynes et recipiebant se hospitio ex omni parte villae, et quieverunt pacifice nuUi malum aut molestiam inferetites. Et fecerunt convivia unusquisque dominus cum alio acsi in proprio solo fuissent in Anglia." ™ Froissart, Chron., VI, 235 : " Si estoient souvent rencontre des garnisons f rangoises, par quoi il y avoit hustins et meslees ; une heure perdoient li Engles, et I'aultre gaegnoient." Chaucer's First Military Service 347 were more often recounted by returning soldiers when the hardships of the campaign were forgotten or suppressed. It is natural that these minor engagements should not be given in chronological order, and Froissart makes no attempt to do so. Gray is more definite as to the time of one or two, and Knighton gives dates for others. For example. Gray tells us that the success- ful attack upon " Attigny in Champagne " was " at the time of the coming of the king before Reims."®* Froissart gives the name of the captor as Eustace D'Auberchicourt. This daring leader and knightly lover of Isabella de Juliers, countess of Kent, had been taken prisoner in an engagement on June 24, 1359, after the expira- tion of the truce. His friends had ransomed him, however, for 22,000 livres,®^ and he again carried on an extremely profitable warfare by exacting ransom for the " towns, castles, vinyards and private houses " he captured. Attigny, which he now seized, is on the Aisne about ten miles east of Rhetel. In this place Sir Eustace "avoit trouvet dedans grant fuisson de pourveanches, et espe- cialement plus de vii cens pieches de vin, dont il en departi les ii quars et plus au roy et a tous les seigneurs, chacuns seloncq se qualite.""" Sir Eustace hoped to be made count of Champagne by Edward,®* and he remained an unusually helpful ally in levying contributions upon the country during the siege of Reims. Froissart also tells us that companies from the army overran the whole "county" of Rhetel, special mention being made of Warcq, Mezieres, Donchery and Mouzon. These places are in the valley of the Meuse, from forty-five -to fifty miles from Reims in a straight line and considerably farther by ordinary routes of travel. They show the distance traversed for forage and adventure by Edward's roving bands.®* " Scalacronica, p. 188: " Autres routes estoient dez Englois, ascuns dez queux eschalleroint la vile de Attinye en Chaumpayn en le hour du venu du dit roi devaunt Reyns." " Froissart, Chron., VI, 153, 1631, iSpf . "Froissart, Chron., VI, 232. In the second redaction this plunder is magnified to " iii" tonniaus de vins," and it is sent " au roy d'Angleterre . . , et a ses enfans, dont il li sceurent grant gret." " Froissart, Chron., VI, 169. " The passage in Le Bel (Chron., II, 256) reads : " En le conte de Rethes, jusques a Warck, a M'esieres, a Donchery, a Moison." This is the only mention 348 The Romanic Review Another raid was made to the east and southeast of Reims by the duke of Lancaster, the earls of Richmond and March, and Sir John Chandos.®® It was the night of the feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury (Dec. 29), as Knighton tells us, that they proceeded by forced marches toward Cernay-les-Dormoy. This Cernay is a small town something more than thirty miles directly east of Reims on the Dormois, a tributary of the Aisne.®^ It was strongly forti- fied with a double foss and a great wall full of towers. Its defend- ers were " ii bons chevaliers," one being " Guy de Caples."*^ Both Froissart and Knighton give a detailed account of the attack, which the former says was " fortement et radement." According to the latter the English were seen as they approached in the early morn- ing, a surprise failing, but they continued to advance. When they neared the walls the duke and the others dismounted to examine the moat. On being received with taunts and insults, they immediately crossed the fosses and with great labor ascended the walls. Finally, gaining these, they entered the town and ptit to death those of the inhabitants who did not escape, the latter dying in the water and marsh of the moat. The castle at once surrendered to the duke of Lancaster, and the town was given to the flames. After burning Cernay on the last day of the year 1359, on the first day of the new year the duke and his company took their way to Autry, another town of Dormois on the Aisne three leagues northeast of Cernay and more strongly fortified. From this town, however, the villagers had already fled in fear and the English, of Rhetel in any of the chronicles, except the " Retieris " of Grajr's Scalacronica. This reference, too, is not to the village but the district of Rhetel which went by the same name. All the towns mentioned are at least twenty miles from Rhetel the village. " Gray says {Scalacronica, p. 188) : " Hors de lost le roy, le duk de Lan- castre, lez countis de Richemound et de la Marche." Knighton {Chron., II, 107) adds " dominus Johannes Chandos." Froissart {Chron., VI, 236) mentions " messires Jehans Camdos [Chandos], messir.es James d'Audel?e, li sires de Muchident et messires Richars de Pont-Chardon et leurs routtes." As we have seen the earl of Richmond was now no longer with the Black Prince, but at St. Thierry with the earl of Northampton (see p. 40). Nor is mention made of any immediate retainer of the Black Prince in this raid. " Following the part of the sentence quoted in the last note the Scalacronica adds that they " gaignerent dieus viles, marches enforcez, Otry [Autry] et Sernay [Cernay], sure leau de Ayne et la marche de Lorrein." " Knighton, Chronicon, II, 107. Froissart, Chron., VI, 236. Chaucer's First Military Service 349 turning back toward Reims, came to Manre some fifteen miles west of Autry. This place had also been forsaken by its inhabitants, but was burned by the raiders. Then they returned to Edward's army and, as they had come back safe and sound, Knighton devoutly adds "let God be praised." Perhaps the pious wish was colored by Knighton's evident partiality for the Lancastrian house. If the English were successful in these raids, so fully given by Froissart, Knighton, and Gray, it was not always to be so. The first of these chroniclers gives at even greater length the failure of the " lord of Gommegnie " and his followers to the number of about three hundred, in their attempt to join Edward's army at Reims. This lord of Hainault had returned to Queen Philippa in England when Edward had reached Calais and banished all strangers from the city. Yet, desirous to advance himself, he recrossed to Calais with some Gascon and English squires, enlisted further followers in Hainault, and set out from Maubeuge for the besieging army. They passed into Thierache, through Avesnes and Trelon to the village of tiarcigny. There they stopped to refresh themselves. But de Gommegnie and six of his followers, not satisfied with what Harcigny afforded them for breakfast, rode out of the village and into an ambuscade which had been arranged with great secrecy by the lord of Roye and his men. They had been following de Gom- megnie's company the preceding day and night, awaiting a favor- able chance, which was now afforded them by the enemy himself. The fight was a short one, though told with all the realism and detail of Froissart at his best. Fighting valiantly at great disadvantage de Gommegnie and three of his squires were forced to yield. The others of the party were slain, all except the valets who, not waiting to see whether their masters were heroes, put spurs to their horses and saved themselves by flight. Then the lord of Roye and his men galloped into the town of Harcigny, demanding the surrender of the remaining followers of de Gommegnie. Surprised and unarmed as they were, they were easily taken, except a small band which retreated to a fortified house surrounded by a moat, and thought to hold out until the English king could send succor. But the lord of Roye was not to be withstood. Threatening death if an assault were made neces- 3 so The Romanic Reviezv sary, he succeeded in inducing surrender, iand the prisoners were marched off to the castle of Coucy and other places. It was about Christmas, 1359, and when informed of it the king of England " was mightily enraged."®* Meanwhile the English gained a great success to the northeast of Reims. On Wednesday the twentieth of December, Sir Bar- tholomew Burghersh, with many from the followers of the Prince of Wales and the earl of Richmond, had made an attack on the village of Cormicy near which Sir Bartholomew had been stationed. The village is situated some ten miles from Reims on the road to Laon, and contained at this time a " very handsome castle belonging to the archbishop of Reims," defended by Sir Henry de Vaulx.®* Notwithstanding that the village was surrounded by a double foss and a good wall, it was taken by the English in a night attack. The castle still held out, however, and as this was impregnable to assault Sir Bartholomew set his men to undermining the tower, promising a handsome reward for quick results. Thus stimulated the miners worked night and day until on Monday, the sixth of January, the tower was no longer supported by solid foundations, but by props of wood ready to be burned. At this point Knighton fails us in all but a single point. The lord of Clermont, he tells us, now surrendered with the soldiers and burgesses, and by the eighth of January the tower had fallen and the city had been burnt to the ground. Fortunately this bald account is extended in Froissart by a narration of one of those chivalrous episodes which, sometimes at least, relieved the brutality of medi- eval war. When the mines were ready to be fired. Sir Bartholo- mew asked for a parley and demanded immediate surrender of the enemy. As Sir Henry -laughed at the demand the good Sir Bar- tholomew, with true knightly courtesy, offered to explain the reason for his assurance of success. On Sir Henry's accepting safe con- duct, he was shown the mine and the tower supported only by wooden props. This satisfied the French knight, who thanked Sir Bartholomew for his courtesy and surrendered at discretion. When the fires were lighted and the great tower came down with a crash, Sir Henry again thanked his English conqueror, " Froissart, Chron., VI, 239-242. "Knighton, Chronicon, II, 108. Froissart, Chron.. VI, 247f. Chaucer's First Military Service 35 1 "car li Jaque-Bonhomme, qui ja resgnerent en ce pays, s'il euissent enssi este de nous au deseure que vous esties orains, il ne nous euissent mies fait la cause pareille."^"" How long Edward remained before Reims we do not certainly know since the chroniclers differ among themselves. The Chron- ique des quatre premiers Valois says "during the winter." ^"^ Froissart gives the period as "bien le tierme de vii sepmainnes,"^"^ and Knighton agrees in this particular.'"* The Grcmdes chroniques de France call it " forty days."'^* At any rate the best testimony indicates that on January ii, 1360, Edward acknowledged the fail- ure of his ambition to be crowned in the sacred city, and stole away in something of defeat and chagrin. It was Saturday night of St, Hilary's day."^ ^'" Froissart, Chron., VI, 250. Gray (.Scalacronica, p. 188) makes brief men- tion of the episode : " Hors de lost du dit prince fust la vile de Curmousse [Cormicy] eschale et le chastel gaigne, la toure rue a terre par myne par lez gentz du prince." Under Bartholomew Burghersh the Diet, of Nat. Biog. refers to the '" castle of Sourmussy in Gascony", the writer never having looked beyond the form in some corrupt text. "" " Et par toute la saison de I'hyver maintint le roy d'Angleterre le siege devant la cite de Rains." — Quoted by Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V, II, 159. ""^ Froissart, Chron., VI, 253. ""Knighton, Chronicon, II, no. ^ Grandes Chron., VI, 167: "Le dymanche xi jour de Janvier, environ mienuit, le roy d'Angleterre et tout son host, apres ce que il et demoure en son siege devant Reims par xl jours, se desloga," etc.; quoted by Delachenal, Hist, de Charles V, II, 161. ™ Walsingham (.Hist. Angl., I, 287) refers to Edward's stay at Reims " ubi moram traxerunt usque in diem Sancti Hilarii." Most chroniclers do not men- tion an assault on the city. Froissart distinctly denies such procedure. He says {Chron., VI, 32) : " Ossi, le siege durant, oncques li Engles n'aprochierent pour assaillir, car li roys I'avoit enssi deffendu et ordonne parce qu'il ne volloit mies ses gens travillier, navrer, ne blechier." And again {Chron., VI, 253) : " Ensi se tint li roys engles devant Reims bien le tierme de vii sepmainnes, mes oncques n'y iist assaillir, ne point, ne petit, car il euist perdu se painne." Le Bel has this general statement {Chron., chap. CVI, p. 2S7f) : " Ne oncques ne volut consentir que nul s'aprochast de ville ne de fortresse pour assaillir, car il ne veoit par voulentiers ses gens perdure ne mettre leur corps en si evidente aventure." On the other hand the Chronique des quatre premiers Valois (p. losf.) mentions an assault lasting for a day. It tells how engines were prepared for battering the walls; how two attacks were made, one on the side of the Paris gate, and one on the opposite side; how the assault was in three divisions while a fourth was held in reserve; how the "battles" were led by the prince of 3S2 The Romanic Review VI. The Campaign to the Peace of Bretigny From Reims Edward led his army south to Chalons, Bar-sur- Aube, Troyes, Saint Florentin, Tonnerre, Montreal, and Guillon, the last of which he reached on Feb. i8, a little more than a month after leaving Reims. It was Ash- Wednesday and at Guillon the army remained until mid-lent, as Froissart says, or about March 15."® There, also, Edward made his treaty with the duke of Bur- gundy, by which the latter bought immunity from English invasion for three years on payment of 200,000 florins.^"^ There, too, on March i, 1360, the keeper of the wardrobe of the king's household paid for the ransom of Geoffrey Chaucer the sum of sixteen pounds, equal to about $1,200 today.^"^ When or where Chaucer had been taken prisoner we do not know, but some light may be thrown on the subject by the circumstances of the campaign. We have noted that in 1386 Chaucer testified to having seen Sir Richard and Sir Henry Scrope before the town of Rhetel, and we have shown that the army of the prince of Wales, with which Chaucer marched, threatened that town not long before reaching Reims. The remainder of Chaucer's testimony, that he saw the Scropes so armed " during all the expedition until he was taken Wales, the duke of Lancaster, and the earl of Richmond with Sir Thomas Hol- land and " mons. d' Ansellee " [Annesley?] ; how the assault began in the morning and how, when the prince's men had filled the moats with wood, it was burned by the defenders; how the king encouraged the English attack, and how it con- tinued to the close of the day. So much detail would seem to indicate something of fact, yet Delachenal, Hist, de Charles V, II, 159) seems to discredit the account. In any case it is unnecessary for our purpose. ™ Chron., VI, 254. Six days later, " die sancti Mathei " as Knighton marks it, the French showed the one evidence of martial spirit in this campaign. They had gathered a fleet in Normandy and now attacked Winchelsea, committing various depredations, though finally repulsed. The attack was well conceived in order to bring about the return of Edward to England. The movement was unsuccessful, however, the English rising with enthusiasm to protect their country. See Knighton, Chron., II, lopf., Walsingham, Hist. Angl., I," 288f. ^"Gray, Scalacronica, p. 189; Knighton, Chron., II, no; Froissart, Chron., VI, 258. In a note De Lettenhove gives the date as Mar. 10. ^"Life Records of Chaucer, II, 154. We must not forget the pleasantry of Dr. Furnivall, that the ransom of the poet did not quite reach the amount paid for Sir Robert de Clynton's war-horse. Ward (Life of Chaucer, English Men of Letters Series, p. 51) assumes that Chaucer's imprisonment lasted until the peace, but there is not the slightest reason for this conjecture. Chaucer's First Military Service 353 prisoner,"^"' would certainly imply that his capture was some time after the appearance before Rhetel. As there is no evidence of any engagement before the English army reached Reims, the capture must have been after Dec. 4. It is equally unlikely that the event took place after the army left Reims on Jan. 11. The chroniclers make no mention of conflicts with the enemy on the march to Guillon, nor of special difficulties as to forage. The army was pass- ing through a fairly rich country which had not before been over- run. The most natural, almost inevitable conclusion is that Chaucer was made a captive between Dec. 4, 1359, and Jan. 11, 1360. The occasion for such a misadventure was also more likely to have occurred while the English were before Reims. The army was then inactive except fof the necessities of forage. But such necessities were great and these, together with the spirit of adven- ture naturally fostered by the monotony of the siege, would have led to hazardous and sometimes unsuccessful expeditions. Indeed, it is during this time only that Froissart hints at losses to the Eng- lish, ^^'' while from several chroniclers we know that in at least one of these expeditions for forage some belonging to the prince of Wales's division took part.^^^ It is more than a matter of con- jecture, therefore, that in some foraging raid while the army was besieging Reims, by accident or by reason of some unsuccessful deed of daring, the young Chaucer fell into the hands of the enemy.^^^ Where Chaucer was kept a prisoner for the two months or two months and a half of his captivity, we have no means of knowing. Yet the courtesy accorded prisoners of rank or station, as shown by ""Life Records, p. 265: "Par tout le dit viage tanqe le dit Geflrey estoit pris." See the discussion on p. 339. ™ See p. 346 and footnote 89. "" See p. 347 f ., especially p. 350. ^ It is impossible not to associate with Chaucer in this whole campaign, and perhaps in this particular adventure, the description of the squire in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. He, also, at the same age, made a " chivachye " "In Flaundres, in Artois, and Picardye.'' See note to line 86 in Mather's edition of The Prologue, etc., p. 5. Nor is it impossible that, like the squire, Chaucer was already a "lovyere," and had already looked with ardent eyes upon that Philippa "pantaria" who is joined with him in the earliest record of his life. — Life Records, p. 152, Household accounts of the countess of Ulster, April to December, 1357. 3S4 The Romanic Review many a record of Froissart, would indicate that his captivity need not have been a hard one. Even the kings of France and Scotland while in Edward's power were given large liberty under parole. Moreover King John's return to his English captivity in 1363 is the best evidence that such parole was not usually forgotten by a gentle- man.^^^ Chaucer, therefore, may easily have passed a not un- pleasant sojourn with some wealthy French nobleman, and have been treated with courtesy and kindness because of his relation to the English royal house. Left largely to himself within the bounds of his parole we can scarcely think of the future poet as not inter- esting himself in books. Did he here, in the country of Machaut and Deschamps, each of whom was born not more than thirty miles from Reims,"* first learn to appreciate the poetry of the former, ""Such parole was broken, it will be remembered, by the duke of Anjou, son of King John and hostage for the payment of the latter's ransom. Fearing that the ransom might never be paid, he obtained permission to travel four days' distance from Calais, and then took what may be appropriately called " French " leave. Yet the estimation in which this dishonorable action was held is clear from the return of the French king himself to English captivity, a captivity from which he was released only by death. "'The village of Machaut is slightly northeast of the city; Vertus, where Deschamps was born, directly south, a little southeast of Chalons. Far more interesting is it that both Machaut and Deschamps were in Reims during the siege. The first had long been a resident canon there ; cf . the Introduction to his Works by E. Hoepflner, Sociite des anciens textes frangais, I, p. xxiii. Accord- ing to the latter editor, too, Machaut was writing in this very year his Complainte d Henri, in which he mentions the troubles which had come upon him, and espe- cially, as confirming the time, " dit on que li rois d'Angleterre vient li seurplus de ma substance querre.'' That Deschamps was present in Reims at the time of the siege depends upon a passage in the Miroir de Mariage. Into that poem he incorporated an account of the whole campaign, said to be based upon the Grandes chroniques de France; cf. lines 11, 66of., and especially for Deschamps's presence in the city, 11. 11, 84of. See also the Vie de Deschamps by Gaston Raynaud in Oewvres completes, XI, 12. Thus, while Chaucer was to be a captive of the French, two French poets who most influenced him in later years were suffering hardship at the hands of Chaucer's king. Why may we not go one step further? Romance, if not history, would certainly bring the three more closely together under these unusual cir- cumstances. At any rate, in his captivity Chaucer may well have met and read, among other works of that poet, Machaut's Dit du. Lion written in 1342, and perhaps the basis for Chaucer's lost Book of the Lion as Tyrwhitt long ago sug- gested. More recently {Mod. Phil, VII, 465) Professor Kittredge has shown Chaucer's indebtedness in the Book of the Duchess to another of Machaut's works, Le Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne, written in 1346. This, therefore, Chaucer's First Military Service 3SS and thus early gain some inspiration for his own? Even the con- jecture has a certain fascination. When Chaucer was ransomed, March i, 1360, he must have joined the army of Edward and have followed it in the campaign against Paris. The English had marched into the heart of France, with no thought of keeping open any communication with their base in the modern fashion. Chaucer could scarcely have returned to England if he had wished, and must therefore have continued with the invading host until the peace of Bretigny. With this part of the campaign there is no need to deal at length since it had no special relation to the poet's life. Yet it must have been full of activity to him as to the whole army. Gray, who is here more ex- plicit, gives many a detail of adventurous expeditions and of their varying results. It is he, for example, who tells us that, after the death of the earl of March, Edward's constable, the Black Prince led the vanguard, so that possibly Chaucer was with that division.^ ^^ From the ranks of the besiegers Chaucer saw the walls of Paris, probably for the only time in his life. He was there, too, when on the Monday after Easter, April 6, Edward challenged the city in three lines of battle, the duke of Lancaster and the earls of North- ampton and Salisbury leading the first. King Edward the second, and the Black Prince the third.^^* Later Chaucer marched with the army toward Brittany, though, as Edward did not reach that province, we need not assume that the poet then learned the Breton lay from which he later made the Franklin's Tale}^'' With the as well as its companion piece Le Jugement dou Roy dou Navarre, written in 1349, may have come to Chaucer's knowledge at this time. "' Scalacronica, p. 193. ""Knighton, Chronicon, II, ill. "' Edward had been compelled to march toward Brittany in order to secure provisions for the army. To the devastated condition of the country we have the unique testimony of Petrarch who, in the latter part of 1360, bore the con- gratulations of Galeazzo Visconti of Milan to King John of France on his return to Paris. I quote the translation of Hallam {Europe during the Middle Ages, p. 90) : " I could not believe that this was the same kingdom which I had once seen so rich and flourishing. Nothing presented itself to my eyes but the fearful solitude, an extreme poverty, lands uncultivated, houses in ruins. Even the neighborhood of Paris manifested everywhere marks of destruction and con- flagration. The streets are deserted ; the roads overgrown with weeds ; the whole is a vast solitude." — Memoire de Petrarque, III, 541. 35^ The Romanic Revie-jj army, too, he experienced the terrible storm of that Black Monday as the Chronicle of London calls it, when "chei dou chiel en Tost le ro'y uns effondres, uns tempestes, xings orraiges, uns esclistres, uns vens, ungs gresils si grans, si mer- villeux et si oribles qu'il sambloit que li chiels deuist s'en partir, et li tierre ouvrir et tout engloutir; et cheoient les pierres si grandes et si grosses que elles tuoient Hommes et chevaux, et n'y avoit si hardi qui ne fuist tous esbahis."^^* This terrible storm, the chroniclers tell us, more than the wise counsel of the duke of Lancaster, determined Edward to accept terms of peace. At any rate the army got no farther than the little village of Bretigny near Chartres, when it found its labors suddenly «nded. Negotiations resulted in a truce for a year, during which a more permanent peace was concluded. The truce, or peace of Bretigny as it is called, was made May 8, 1360. It was later con- ""Froissart, Chron., VT, 273. Knighton (Chron., II, 112) : "Nam in eorum reditu de civitate Parisiensi versus partes de Orlions in Bevosina, subito super- venit horribilis tempestas tonitrui fulguris deinde grandinis, et occidit gentes .eibsque numero et plusquam vj millia equorura, ita quod cariagium exercitus "defecit fere in toto, et oportuit necessario redire versus Angliam, sed Deus trans- vtulit miseriam necessitatis in honorem regiae majestatis." Chronicle of London (Nicolas), p. 64: "Tlie same yere . . . the xiiii day of A.prill, thanne beynge the morwe after E^ter day, Kyng Edward with hys cost lay aboughte Paris ; which day was a foul derk day of mist and of hayl, and so bitter cold that manye men deyde for cold; wherfore unto this day manye men calen it the blake Moneday." Delachenal who quotes this rightly changes xiiii to xiii, as the Monday after Easter was April 13 in 1360. The Scalacronica (p. 193-4) puts the storm on Sunday, but gives the cor- rect date, April 13: "Le dymange le xiij jour davrille, pur defaute de feur as cheveaux covenoit faire un tresgrandisme journe devers Beaux. Le temps estoit si tresmervaillous mauveis de plu, de greil, et de neggie, ove tiel freidour qe plusours feblis vadlets et cheveaux periroint mortz as chaumps, enlasserent plusours chariotis et somaille com en un fortune du pier temps de froid, vent, ■et de moil, qe en eel cesoun avoit este vieu de memoir." Can it be that Chaucer remembered this black Monday when, in the Miller's Tale, he made Nicholas ■predict (330-2) ; "That now, a Monday next at quarter-night, Shal falle a reyn and that so wilde and wood. That half so greet was never Noes flood." This Black Monday made a profound impression on England, and figures largely in the most important reference to this French campaign in English •poetry of the period. See Piers Plowman, passus III, 1. i88f., and the note by Professor Skeat. The passage is found in the first form of the poem, supposed to be of the year 1362. Chaucer's First Military Service 357' firmed at Paris by the duke of Normandy, regetit of France, when, he bound the oath with a gift to the prince of Wales of reliques from the holy cross, spines from the crown of thorns, and valuable jewels. The prince of Wales took the oath on the part of the English at the grand muster of Louviers, northwest of Paris, on May 15."* This accomplished. King Edward and his sons at once left for England,^^" arriving at Rye on May 18 and reaching Lon- don as soon as possible.^^^ Without doubt, therefore, Chaucer also returned to England at this time. One further fact is necessary to this account of the campaign of 1359-60 in its relation to Chaucer. The peace of Bretigny was rather a convention leading to a treaty. The treaty itself was worked out in detail at Calais. Meanwhile there was much to do- in executing the preliminaries already agreed upon. To assist in carrying these out, in July the captive King John was allowed to go to Calais under escort, at least to Dover, of the duke of Lancaster and the prince of Wales.^^^ In the latter part of August the prince of Wales, the duke of Lancaster and others passed over to Calais in "° Gray {Scalacronica, p. 195-6) gives these details in language of more than usual seriousness and nobility: "Le duk de Normande et regent de France, qe maladez estoit denpostym, le jura a Parys en presence de vaillaunz chevaleres Englois pur ceo y envoyes par queux le dit regent tramist au dit prince de Galis tresnoblis precious reliqes du seintisme croice, de la coroune des espines de quoi Dieux fust corone en la croice, ove autres noblis jueaux, en signifiaunce qe sure la croice, la dit coroune a test, nostre Seigneur fist pees, salut, et tran- quillite pardurable au lygne humain. Le dit prince de Galis fist raeisme le sere- ment en la grant moustier de Loviers, le xv jour de Maij, Ian susdit, en presence dez noblis chevaleris Fraunceis pur la cause y envoiez." ^ Gray {Scalacronica, p. 196) : " Le dit roy Dengleter prist soun chemyi* devers Huniflu ou se mist sure mere devers Engleter, sez fitz et plusours seignours ove ly." ""Rymer's Fcedera (VI, 196) makes Edward reach Westminster the next day : " Memorandum, quod die Lunae Decimo octavo die Maii . . . Dominus Rex ... ad Regnum suum Angliae veniens, in Portu de la Rye, circiter horant Vespertinam, applicuit: Et, exinde statim equitando, in Crastino apud Palatium suum Westmonasteriense, quasi bassa Hora Nona, accessit." ""The continuator of Higden's Polychronicon (Appendix to vol. VIII, p. 410) tells of the escort to Calais, and Knighton (Chron., II, 113) gives the time: " Circa translationem sancti Th6mae," or about July 7. M. Delachenal (Hist, de Charles V, II, 240) infers from a letter of King John dated Canterbury, July $, 1360, that the prince of Wales went only to Dover : " Scavoir vous faisons que apres nostre depart de Londres . . . nostre nepveu le prince [de Galles] nous a tenu compagnie, et tendra jusques a Douvres." 3S8 The Romanic Review order to complete the treaty. This is known from a record dis- covered by M. Delachenal, which shows that the prince of Wales was paid for his services at this time ten pounds a day for the seventy-five days between August 24 and November 6 inclusive. ^^* The English king did not go over until October, and the treaty was not signed until October 24.^^* The importance of these details lies in the fact that, in connec- tion with them, we get one more glimpse of Chaucer, another dis- covery of M. Delachenal. In the expense account of Lionel, earl of Ulster, as preserved in the Exchequer Accounts of the Public Record Office, London, is one which reads : "Datum Galfrido Chaucer, per preceptum domini, eundo cum litteris in Angliam, iii roiales precii ix s."^^^ "^ " Idem computat in vadiis suis capiendo x. 1. per diem a xxviiii" die augusti dicto anno xxxiiii*", quo die iter suum arripuit cum familia sua de hospicio suo infra London, versus Caleys pro tractatu pacis ibidem habito inter reges Angliae et Francie, ibidem morando et exinde redeundo usque vi diem novembris proximo sequentem, quo die venit ad London, cum familia sua ad hospicium suum predicto, per Ixxv dies, primo die et ultimo computatis, DCCL 1., capiendo per diem x 1., sicut supra continetur." — Exchequer Accounts, Bundle 314, no. 2, as quoted by M'. Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V, II, 241. "^According to Rymer's Fcedera (VI, 214-is) Edward signed documents in London on Sept. 30, and in Calais on Oct. 16. Longman {Life and Times of Edward HI, II, 58) says the English king landed at Boulogne Oct. 9. The long delay in signing the treaty had been partly due to the difficulty the French had in raising the enormous ransom of King John. As is well known Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, furnished the 600,000 florins necessary, on condition that Isabella, third daughter of King John of France, should be given in marriage to Galeazzo's son Gian. Villani says the marriage took place about the eighth of October. ™ Quoted, except for parts of the last four words, by R. Delachenal, Histoire de Charles V, II, 241, and first called to my attention by Professor G. L. Burr of Cornell University when sending me the Histoire for the investigations of this paper. That the record occurs in the expense account of Earl Lionel is clear from the heading of the MS. (No. i of Bundle 314) : "Expense domini- comitis Ultonie apud Caleys, existentis ibidem ad tractatum, et redeundo in Angliam, facte per manus Andree de Budeston, anno xxxiiij'"." This last fact, however, was not given by M. Delachenal and I learned it only when writing to him after ray article "A New Chaucer Item" had been printed in Mod. Lang. Notes, XXVI, 19 (Jan., 1911). M. Delachenal had also referred to Chaucer as " clerc du roi," and had assumed that he had played a minor part in the peace negotiations at Calais ("participa . . . aux negociations a Calais"). Basing my article on these statements I was too liberal in my conjecture that Chaucer was perhaps detached from the service of Lionel and more directly in that of the Chaucer's First Military Service 359 Such a record may mean more than at first appears. What were these letters which Chaucer bore to England at this important time ? Were they of merely private nature, or were they connected with the peace negotiations ? We shall probably never know with certainty, but M. Delachenal's conjecture seems more than likely, that they were connected with the chief business in hand. Whether Chaucer returned to Calais after bearing messages to England can not be known. Yet it is reasonable to believe that he bore answers back to his master Lionel. If so, he was doubtless an onlooker at that " most magnificent and grand supper in the castle of Calais "^^® which the king of England gave to the king of France. "It was well' arranged," says the chronicler, "and the children of the king, and the duke of Lancaster, with the greatest barons of England, waited bareheaded." Besides, as Professor Skeat has conjectured,^^'' he was probably with his master Lionel when the latter, together with the prince of Wales and his brother Edmund, accompanied the king of France " in pilgrimage to Our Lady of king Of prince of Wales. Yet I should add that M. Delachenal in his letter (of April, 1911) questioned my interpretation of "domini" as if it were "doraini regis," saying he had himself been in doubt whether the reference was to the king or to Lionel. I at once wrote to Mr. A. W. Pollard, of the British Museum, asking him to have the record examined as to Chaucer and the inter- pretation of " domini." He placed the matter in the hands of Mr. R. L. Steele, who sent me the Chaucer record above (May 17, 191 1), confirming the conjectural restoration of the last part (see my article in Mod. Lang. Notes above) . He also answered that an examination of the whole record showed that the "domini" of the Chaucer item was Roger Beauchamp, captain of Calais Castle, by whose order many of the other payments were made. In this Mr. Steele, on whom I supposed I could rely, was in error as shown by the fuller, transcript of the account published by Mr. Moore in Mod. Lang. Notes, XXVII, 79. In either case I had known since the letters of M. Delachenal and Mr. Steele that Chaucer was still in the employ of Lionel, earl of Ulster, and had alrea^ embodied it in this paper. That I did not publish this fact at once was owing to my intention to deal further with the .whole subject, sufficiently expressed I had supposed in footnote 8 of my article " A New Chaucer Item " in the above named periodical. On the opposite page is a facsimile of the MS. in which this last discovered reference to Chaucer occurs. It will be seen to be full of record-hand abbrevia- tions of the fourteenth century, some of them not so easy to decipher. The Chaucer item seems to read: Dat«m Galfn'do Chaucer per preceptum domini eundo cum Utteris in Angliam iij roialw precii ix s. "•Froissart, Chron., VI, 320. ^" Works of Chaucer, I, xix. 3^0 The Romanic Review Boulogne." One can not do better than allow Froissart to describe the picturesque event : "Et ensi vinrent-il tout de piet et devant disner jusques a Boulongne ou il furent receu a moult grant joie, et la estoit li dus de Normendie qui las attendoit. Si vinrent li dessus dit signeur tout a piet en I'eglise Nostre-Dame de Boulongne, et fisent leurs offrandes moult devotement, et puis retournerent en I'abbeye de laiens qui estout apparillie pour le roy recevoir et les enfans dou roy d'Engleterre."i28 Then, when all these ceremonies were over, the English princes and nobles, with the noble hostages of France, finally closed the campaign of 1359-60 and the attendant peace negotiations by re- turning to England. It was "the vigil of All Saints," says Frois- sart, and Chaucer's first experience in war and public service had lasted almost a year and a day. VII. Results For our purpose it is unnecessary to summarize the purely his- torical results from this detailed study of Edward Ill's campaign of 1359-60. What has been added on that side will be evident from comparison with previous accounts. As indicated by the title, the study has been undertaken with special reference to the life of the young Chaucer. How noteworthy the year to him, how broadening by travel, adventure, hardship of camp life, imprisonment, employ- ment as trusted messenger, experience of every sort, it is impossible to estimate. Besides, some new light has been thrown on the man himself through this more minute relation of the doings of the army with which he was connected. We now know that Chaucer marched with a division of the army led by the Black Prince, rather than with that led by the king or Henry of Lancaster. With this division, too, the poet made his first visit to Montreuil, the scene of later diplomatic business during the year 1377, in which he was a more important factor. We know also the more exact course through France of the prince's division, and therefore of Chaucer's journey. Again we know, from Thomas Gray's contemporary account, that the division with which ""Froissart, CAroM., VI, 320, sec. red. Chaucer's First Military Service 361 Chaucer moved appeared before Rhetel previous to reaching Reims. It seems certain that it was of this event Chaucer testified in the heraldic trial of Scrope and Grosvenor in 1386. Further, Chaucer's capture by the French has been shown to have been probably be- tween the fourth of December, 1359, and January 11, 1360, when Edward left Reims. The poet's imprisonment, therefore, lasted at most for some two months or two months and a half. On being ransomed Chaucer must have rejoined the army at Guillon in Bur- gundy, since reaching England at this time from the heart of France Would have been practically impossible. With the army, too, he must have continued until the peace of Bretigny when, with the king and his sons, on May 18 he sailed for England. Later in the same year, Chaucer again went over to Calais, probably with his master Lionel in October, and by him was sent as a bearer of letters from Calais to England. The inference seems justified that this service was on business connected with the peace negotiations. On his return to Calais, — and such return seems probable, — Chaucer doubt- less saw something of the royal feast in Calais of the kings of Eng- land and France, and as Professor Skeat has suggested was prob- ably present on the pilgrimage of his master Lionel to Boulogne in the last week of October. He finally returned to England on No- vember I, after a series of unusually varied experiences lasting almost exactly a year. Oliver Farrar Emerson Western Reserve University PR 1933.M6El3"""'"''"""-"'"'y