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A.D. 1405. and rode quite close to the French, and at their ease reconnoitred them, and the manner in which they were lodged and defended, and then returned to Calais and reported to their captain the muster of the said French, and how they maintained themselves at the said siege; so they decided to send a herald to the Count of Saint Pol, which they did, by whom they informed him that they would come to dine with him next day, if he would wait for them there; and it was answered to the herald that if they came they would receive them, and they should find the dinner ready and the table laid. After this reply the herald returned to Calais to make his report to those who had sent him thither. Then the Lieutenant of Calais, appointed by the Duke of Somerset, assembled all the garrison, with whom he arranged that next day very early in the morning everyone should be ready to go and fight the French, who were such near neighbours to them, saying that all should be of good courage, and that according to the report of those who had been to view the siege before Mercq, by the help of God and Saint George they would raise it and make their enemies depart to their confusion, shame, and damage, And he made his dispositions at night so that in the morning they might have no hindrance. Then when it was day, they departed from Calais, about two hundred men-at-arms well equipped, with about two hundred archers and three hundred light-armed footmen, and they brought with them only twelve carts. laden with stores and artillery, all which together Sir Richard Haston, Lieutenant of Calais, conducted, and thus they marched in good order till quite near their enemies, who, by their scouts and horsemen, were soon advised of the coming of the English, for whom they did not prepare themselves or put themselves in any order outside their camp to fight them, as they should have done, but awaited them within their in

closure of ditches so long that the English began to A.D. 1405. shoot smartly at them, and there kill and wound them without the French being able to show any great resistance, so that without waiting most of the Flemings and footmen, who found themselves pierced with arrows on all sides so that they knew not which way to turn, began to be routed and put to flight. When the men-at-arms saw these foctmen fly, at their example some of them began to turn their backs, and the Genoese crossbowmen also, who, the day before, had let go most of their windlasses at the assault of the said Castle of Mercq, had not refitted new cords and quarrels in the nick of time to their crossbows, nor taken nor attempted to take the ammunition which was in the carts to supply them, wherefore when it came to the time of need they made no great defence. Then the said English receiving scarcely any damage easily discomfited their enemies, remaining victorious on the spot. And then the Count of Saint Pol, seeing the rout and discomfiture turn upon himself, with some of his company departed without any personal hindrance and escaped as best he could, going round outside Saint Omer and Terouanne. And all those of his party who held their ground were slain or taken. And there died of the French those following, namely the Lord of Cresecques, the Lord of Faiel, Sir Morel de Saveuse, Sir Courbet de Renty, Sir Martel de Vaulhuom, Sir Guy Divrigny; and there were taken prisoners, the Lord of Hangest, Captain of Boulogne, the Lord of Dompierre, Seneschal of Ponthieu, the Lord of Brimeu, Sir Sarrazin Darby, the Lord of Rambures, the Lord of Noielle under Sens, the Lord of Guiency, and many other knights and esquires of name, to the number of about eight score and as many slain.

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Afterwards when the English found they had entirely the upper hand, they carried off all the fine and great booty and spoil that they had made, stripped

A.D. 1405. the dead, put horses to the wagons and carts laden with artillery, and others, and returned to Calais very joyful at their grand victory, and annoyed because the Count of Saint Pol had thus escaped them, whom they greatly blamed for having thus abandoned his army. Thus then the victorious English, all laden with spoil, re-entered the town of Calais, where great joy and gladness was shown, and then sent hastily to King Henry of England their lord, to tell him the news, at which he was very joyful, and so were all his princes and with reason. On the other hand, Count Walleran of Saint Pol and those who had escaped with him felt great vexation of heart for their repulse, not without reason.

After this victory on the third day the people of Calais sallied forth with the heavy artillery and implements of war which they had conquered from the French before Mercq, about five hundred combatants, and came as far as the ditches of the town of Ardre, which they began to assault violently because they thought it was stripped of men-at-arms, and in fact they raised scaling ladders against the walls, throwing fire inside in several places; but by the aid, comfort, and diligence of two notable and valiant knights who were within, one Sir Mansart Du Bos, and the other the Lord of Licques, who fiercely defended themselves, the English whether they would or not had to abandon the assault, and in the retreat were killed from forty to fifty of them, the most part of whom were placed by their companions in a house outside the town to which they set fire to burn them so that their adversaries should not perceive their loss; after this was done, all annoyed and confused by the loss they had sustained, and that they had thus failed in their enterprise, they returned to Calais; and being come to that place, because some of their people had died of wounds from the arrows

of the Genoese, at Ardre and at the affair of A.D. 1405. Mercq, some of them wished to kill the French prisoners at Calais, saying that their arrows were poisoned. Thus then, as you see, affairs went in this year on the frontier of Calais.

How the Count of Saint Pol made a great muster of
men-at-arms to come again to war with the
English on the frontiers of Calais and elsewhere.
CHAPTER XIV.

THE Count of Saint Pol, much afflicted and ashamed of his loss which he had sustained before the castle of Mercq by the garrison of Calais, hoping somehow to recover his honour, being at Terouanne, whither he had retired after his flight, summoned men to come to him throughout all the Marches of Picardy. And thither came the Lord of Dompierre, Sir John de Craon, the Lord of Dommart, Sir Morlet de Cresecques, the Lord of Fosseux, the Lord of Chim, the Lord of Homcourt, and many other noblemen in great number. When all were come and assembled with the count, they held several councils, but in the end concluded to go in force towards the marches of their adversaries to annoy them as much as lay in their power. Of this assembly were the English early and in good time informed, so they prepared themselves against this enterprise as men of war should do. But at the time word was sent from the King of France to the Count of Saint Pol, and the other lords above-named, that they should not proceed further in their enterprise, and that the king had provided other men for that purpose; for he sent thither the Marquis du Pont, son of the Duke of Bar, the Count of Dampmartin and Harpedane, a knight of great renown, with four

A.D. 1405. hundred helmets and five hundred other men-at-arms,

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who lodged at Boulogne and in other places on the frontier of Boullenois. At this command of the king, the Count of Saint Pol was not very joyful, but he had to bear it, be it with good will or otherwise. On the other hand, Duke John of Burgundy, who was in his country of Flanders, knowing of the ill fortune and loss of the said Count of Saint Pol, was much vexed at it; so he sent thither in haste Sir John Vallee, knight, and with him many men-at-arms and crossbowmen to Gravelines and other places of his frontier to prevent the English from doing them any injury, and on their frontier was also appointed by the King of France Sir Lyonnel Daraignes, a knight very expert in arms, who night and day very diligently attended to the business. When the King of England had heard the news of the good fortune of the people of Calais, he and his council were very joyful thereat, and forthwith equipped an army of four to five thousand combatants, whom they sent by sea, sailing before Dunkirk and Nieuport to land at the harbour of Lescluse; but the guards who were within the castle with those of the town and the surrounding country, who were suddenly put into great alarm, defended themselves very valiantly, so that by virtue of the cannon shot and other defences they repulsed their adversaries, of whom sixty were slain, amongst whom the Earl of Pembroke, who was one of the captains, was mortally wounded. To the English whilst they were before the Castle of Lescluse came news that Duke John of Burgundy with a great force of men-at-arms was coming thither to fight them, wherefore they took counsel together, and it seemed to them that they were not sufficiently powerful to await him, wherefore they withdrew straightway to their fleet, in which they embarked and returned to England to King Henry who had sent them; on the

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