Search -
The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart (1871)
The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Walter Scott Bart - 1871 Author:Walter Scott Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XIX. Accession of John the Good— Truce with England vioiatid, tut renewed—Intrigues of Charlet King of Navarre— Charles assassinates the Constable of ... more »France, and extorts his pardon from the King—Edward and his son, the Black Prince, invade France, and ravage the Country— the Black Prince winters at Bmirdeaux—King John as- sembles a large army, marches into Poitou, and comes up with the English encamped at Maupertuis, within two leagues of Poitiers—Battle of Poitiers—King John taken Prisoner—his Reception by the Black Prince— Return of the Prince, with his Prisoner, to England. [1350-1356.] John, Duke Of Normandy, ascended the throne on the death of bis father, Philip of Valois. He had attained the mature age of thirty-one, had commanded armies with reputation, had acquired character both for courage and conduct, and was, in every respect, a more hopeful Prince than his predecessor. Yet King John of France, though distinguished by the flattering title of the Good, early adopted a course of severity, which occasioned him much unpopularity. At a solemn festival at Paris, immediately after bis coronation, he caused to be arrested Rodolph de Brienne, Count of Eu and of Guinea, and Constable of France, who was accusedof wishing to put the English Monarch in possession of bis county of Guines, adjacent to the town of Calais. The unfortunate Constable was arrested, and beheaded, in presence of the lords of the council, after three days' confinement, and without any form of trial; an execution which greatly awakened the fears and suspicions of the nobility, respecting the new King. . In the year 1349, the English commander in Bretagne, Sir Thomas Dagworth, fell into an ambuscade, said to consist of banditti, by whom he was slain, in violation of the truce. In resentm...« less