A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 50

[Sidenote: The electors to meet annually]

XII. =1.= It has been decided in the general diet held at Nurnberg[563] with the electoral princes, ecclesiastical and secular, and other princes and magnates, by their advice and with their consent, that in the future, the electoral princes shall meet every year in some city of the Empire four weeks after Easter. This year they are to meet at that date in the imperial city of Metz.[564] On that occasion, and on every meeting thereafter, the place of a.s.sembling for the following year shall be fixed by us, with the advice and consent of the princes. This ordinance shall remain in force as long as it shall be pleasing to us and to the princes; and as long as it is in effect, we shall furnish the princes with safe-conduct for that a.s.sembly, going, staying, and returning.

FOOTNOTES:

[547] Henry VI. succeeded his father as emperor, reigning from 1190 to 1197.

[548] The term (meaning literally "fodder") designates the obligation to furnish provisions for the royal army. The right of demanding such provisions was now given up by the Emperor.

[549] The consuls--often twelve in number--were the chief magistrates of the typical Italian commune.

[550] Otto III., emperor 983-1002. Otto is noted chiefly for his visionary project of renewing the imperial splendor of Rome and making her again the capital of a world-wide empire.

[551] James Bryce, _The Holy Roman Empire_ (new ed., New York, 1904), pp. 207-208. For the reference to Dante see the _Inferno_, Canto X.

[552] James H. Robinson, _Readings in European History_ (Boston, 1904), Vol. I., p. 244.

[553] Gregory IX., (1227-1241).

[554] Frederick was excommunicated and anathematized on sixteen different charges, which the Pope carefully enumerated. All who were bound to him by oath of fealty were declared to be absolved from their allegiance.

[555] At the Council of Lyons, in 1245, the Emperor was again excommunicated. The ensuing paragraph comprises a portion of Pope Innocent IV.'s denunciation of him upon that occasion.

[556] Charles IV. was himself king of Bohemia, so that for the present the Emperor was also one of the seven imperial electors.

[557] James Bryce, _The Holy Roman Empire_ (new ed., New York, 1904), p. 234.

[558] Frankfort lay on the river Main, a short distance east of Mainz.

"It was fixed as the place of election, as a tradition dating from East Frankish days preserved the feeling that both election and coronation ought to take place on Frankish soil."--James Bryce, _The Holy Roman Empire_ (new ed., New York, 1904), p. 243.

[559] The preceding section specifies that Ma.s.s should be celebrated the day following the arrival of the electors at Frankfort, and that the archbishop of Mainz should administer to his six colleagues the oath which he himself has taken, as specified in section 2.

[560] The three archbishops were "archchancellors" of the Empire for Germany, Gaul and Burgundy, and Italy respectively. The king of Bohemia was designated as cupbearer, the margrave of Brandenburg as chamberlain, the count palatine as seneschal, and the duke of Saxony as marshal.

[561] The diet was the Empire's nearest approach to a national a.s.sembly. It was made up of three orders--the electors, the princes, and the representatives of the cities.

[562] An official representative of a king or overlord in a city.

[563] Nurnberg (or Nuremberg) is situated in Bavaria, in south central Germany.

[564] Metz lay on the Moselle, above Trier. Apparently this clause providing for a regular annual meeting of the electors was inserted by Charles in the hope that he might be able to make use of the body as an advisory council in the affairs of the Empire. The provision remained a dead letter, for the reason that the electors were indifferent to the Emperor's purposes in the matter.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR

Our chief contemporary source of information on the history of the Hundred Years' War is Jean Froissart's _Chronicles of England, France, and the Adjoining Countries, from the Latter Part of the Reign of Edward II. to the Coronation of Henry IV._,[565] and it is from this important work that all of the extracts (except texts of treaties) which are included in this chapter have been selected. Froissart was a French poet and historian, born at Beaumont, near Valenciennes in Hainault, in 1337, when the Hundred Years' War was just beginning. He lived until the early part of the fifteenth century, 1410 being one of the conjectural dates of his death. He was a man of keen mental faculties and had enjoyed the advantages of an unusually thorough education during boyhood. This native ability and training, together with his active public life and admirable opportunities for observation, const.i.tuted his special qualification for the writing of a history of his times. Froissart represents a type of mediaeval chronicler which was quite rare, in that he was not a monk living in seclusion but a practical man of affairs, accustomed to travel and intercourse with leading men in all the important countries of western Europe. He lived for five years at the English court as clerk of the Queen's Chamber; many times he was sent by the French king on diplomatic missions to Scotland, Italy, and other countries; and he made several private trips to various parts of Europe for the sole purpose of acquiring information. Always and everywhere he was observant and quick to take advantage of opportunities to ascertain facts which he could use, and we are told that after it came to be generally known that he was preparing to write an extended history of his times not a few kings and princes took pains to send him details regarding events which they desired to have recorded. The writing of the _Chronicles_ was a life work. When only twenty years of age Froissart submitted to Isabella, wife of King Edward III. of England, an account of the battle of Poitiers, in which the queen's son, the famous Black Prince, had won distinction in the previous year.

Thereafter the larger history was published book by book, until by 1373 it was complete to date. Subsequently it was extended to the year 1400 (it had begun with the events of 1326), while the earlier portions were rewritten and considerably revised. And, in deed, when death came to the author he was still working at his arduous but congenial task. "As long as I live," he wrote upon one occasion, "by the grace of G.o.d I shall continue it; for the more I follow it and labor thereon, the more it pleases me. Even as a gentle knight or esquire who loves arms, while persevering and continuing develops himself therein, thus do I, laboring and striving with this matter, improve and delight myself."

The _Chronicles_ as they have come down to us are written in a lively and pleasing style. It need hardly be said that they are not wholly accurate; indeed, on the whole, they are quite inaccurate, measured even by mediaeval standards. Froissart was obliged to rely for a large portion of his information upon older chronicles and especially upon conversations and interviews with people in various parts of Europe.

Such sources are never wholly trustworthy and it must be admitted that our author was not as careful to sift error from truth as he should have been. His credulity betrayed him often into accepting what a little investigation would have shown to be false, and only very rarely did he make any attempt, as a modern historian would do, to increase and verify his knowledge by a study of doc.u.ments. Still, the _Chronicles_ const.i.tute an invaluable history of the period they cover. The facts they record, the events they explain, the vivid descriptions they contain, and the side-lights they throw upon the life and manners of an interesting age unite to give them a place of peculiar importance among works of their kind. And, wholly aside from their historical value, they const.i.tute one of the monuments of mediaeval French literature.

73. An Occasion of War between the Kings of England and France

The causes, general and specific, of the Hundred Years' War were numerous. The most important were: (1) The long-standing bad feeling between the French and English regarding the possession of Normandy and Guienne. England had lost the former to France and she had never ceased to hope for its recovery; on the other hand, the French were resolved upon the eventual conquest of the remaining English continental possession of Guienne and were constantly a.s.serting themselves there in a fas.h.i.+on highly irritating to the English; (2) the a.s.sistance and general encouragement given the rebellious Scots by the French; (3) the pressure brought to bear upon the English crown by the popular party in Flanders to claim the French throne and to resort to war to obtain it. The Flemish wool trade was a very important item in England's economic prosperity and it was felt to be essential at all hazards to prevent the extension of French influence in Flanders, which would inevitably mean the checking, if not the ruin, of the commercial relations of the Flemish and the English; and (4) the claim to the throne of France which Edward III., king of England, set up and prepared to defend. It is this last occasion of war that Froissart describes in the pa.s.sage below.

Source--Text in Simeon Luce (ed.), _Chroniques de Jean Froissart_ [published for the Societe de l'Histoire de France], Paris, 1869, Chap. I. Translated in Thomas Johnes, _Froissart's Chronicles_ (London, 1803), Vol. I., pp. 6-7.

[Sidenote: The succession to the French throne in 1328]

History tells us that Philip, king of France, surnamed the Fair,[566] had three sons, besides his beautiful daughter Isabella, married to the king of England.[567] These three sons were very handsome. The eldest, Louis, king of Navarre, during the lifetime of his father, was called Louis Hutin; the second was named Philip the Great, or the Long; and the third, Charles.

All these were kings of France, after their father Philip, by legitimate succession, one after the other, without having by marriage any male heirs.[568] Yet on the death of the last king, Charles, the twelve peers and barons of France[569] did not give the kingdom to Isabella, the sister, who was queen of England, because they said and maintained, and still insist, that the kingdom of France is so n.o.ble that it ought not to go to a woman; consequently neither to Isabella nor to her son, the king of England; for they held that the son of a woman cannot claim any right of succession where that woman has none herself.[570]

For these reasons the twelve peers and barons of France unanimously gave the kingdom of France to the lord Philip of Valois, nephew of King Philip,[571] and thus put aside the queen of England (who was sister to Charles, the late king of France) and her son. Thus, as it seemed to many people, the succession went out of the right line, which has been the occasion of the most destructive wars and devastations of countries, as well in France as elsewhere, as you will learn hereafter; the real object of this history being to relate the great enterprises and deeds of arms achieved in these wars, for from the time of good Charlemagne, king of France, never were such feats performed.

74. Edward III. a.s.sumes the Arms and t.i.tle of the King of France

Due to causes which have been mentioned, the relations of England and France at the accession of Philip VI. in 1328 were so strained that only a slight fanning of the flames was necessary to bring on an open conflict. Edward III.'s persistent demand to be recognized as king of France sufficed to accomplish this result. The war did not come at once, for neither king felt himself ready for it; but it was inevitable and preparations for it were steadily pushed on both sides from 1328 until its formal declaration by Edward nine years later.

These preparations were not merely military and naval but also diplomatic. The primary object of both sovereigns was to secure as many and as strong foreign alliances as possible. In pursuit of this policy Philip soon a.s.sured himself of the support of Louis de Nevers, count of Flanders, King John of Bohemia, Alphonso XI. of Castile, and a number of lesser princes of the north. Edward was even more successful. In Spain and the Scandinavian countries many local powers allied themselves with him; in the Low Countries, especially Flanders and Brabant, the people and the princes chose generally to identify themselves with his cause; and the climax came in July, 1337, when a treaty of alliance was concluded with the Emperor, Louis of Bavaria.

War was begun in this same year, and in 1338 Edward went himself to the continent to undertake a direct attack on France from Flanders as a base. The years 1338 and 1339 were consumed with ineffective operations against the walled cities of the French frontier, Philip steadily refusing to be drawn into an open battle such as Edward desired. The following year the English king resolved to declare himself sovereign of France. The circ.u.mstances attending this important step are detailed in the pa.s.sage from Froissart given below.

Heretofore Edward had merely protested that by reason of his being a grandson of Philip the Fair he should have been awarded the throne by the French barons in 1328; now, at the instigation of his German and Flemish allies, he flatly announces that he _is_ of right the king and that Philip VI. is to be deposed as an usurper. Of course this was a declaration which Edward could make good only by victory in the war upon which he had entered. But the claim thus set up rendered it inevitable that the war should be waged to the bitter end on both sides.

Source--_Chroniques de Jean Froissart_ (Societe de l'Histoire de France edition), Chap. x.x.xI. Translated in Thomas Johnes, _Froissart's Chronicles_, Vol. I., pp. 110-112.

[Sidenote: The conference at Brussels]

When King Edward had departed from Flanders and arrived at Brabant he set out straight for Brussels, whither he was attended by the duke of Gueldres, the duke of Juliers, the marquis of Blanckenburg, the earl of Mons, the lord John of Hainault, the lord of Fauquemont, and all the barons of the Empire who were allied to him, as they wished to consider what was next to be done in this war which they had begun. For greater expedition, they ordered a conference to be held in the city of Brussels, and invited James van Arteveld[572] to attend it, who came thither in great array, and brought with him all the councils from the princ.i.p.al towns of Flanders.

At this parliament the king of England was advised by his allies of the Empire to solicit the Flemings to give him their aid and a.s.sistance in this war, to challenge the king of France, and to follow King Edward wherever he should lead them, and in return he would a.s.sist them in the recovery of Lisle, Douay, and Bethune.[573] The Flemings heard this proposal with pleasure; but they requested of the king that they might consider it among themselves and in a short time they would give their answer.

[Sidenote: Proposition made by the Flemings to King Edward]

The king consented and soon after they made this reply: "Beloved sire, you formerly made us a similar request; and we are willing to do everything in reason for you without prejudice to our honor and faith. But we are pledged by promise on oath, under a penalty of two millions of florins, to the apostolical chamber,[574] not to act offensively against the king of France in any way, whoever he may be, without forfeiting this sum, and incurring the sentence of excommunication. But if you will do what we will tell you, you will find a remedy, which is, that you take the arms of France, quarter them with those of England, and call yourself king of France. We will acknowledge your t.i.tle as good, and we will demand of you quittance for the above sum, which you will grant us as king of France. Thus we shall be absolved and at liberty to go with you wherever it pleases you."

[Sidenote: The agreement concluded]

The king summoned his council, for he was loath to take the t.i.tle and arms of France, seeing that at present he had not conquered any part of that kingdom and that it was uncertain whether he ever should. On the other hand, he was unwilling to lose the aid and a.s.sistance of the Flemings, who could be of greater service to him than any others at that period. He consulted, therefore, with the lords of the Empire, the lord Robert d'Artois,[575] and his most privy councilors, who, after having duly weighed the good and bad, advised him to make for answer to the Flemings, that if they would bind themselves under their seals, to an agreement to aid him in carrying on the war, he would willingly comply with their conditions, and would swear to a.s.sist them in the recovery of Lisle, Douay, and Bethune. To this they willingly consented. A day was fixed for them to meet at Ghent,[576] where the king and the greater part of the lords of the Empire, and in general the councils from the different towns in Flanders, a.s.sembled. The above-mentioned proposals and answers were then repeated, sworn to, and sealed; and the king of England bore the arms of France, quartering them with those of England. He also took the t.i.tle of king of France from that day forward.

75. The Naval Battle of Sluys (1340)

In the spring of 1340 Edward returned to England to secure money and supplies with which to prosecute the war. The French king thought he saw in this temporary withdrawal of his enemy an opportunity to strike him a deadly blow. A fleet of nearly two hundred vessels was gathered in the harbor of Sluys, on the Flemish coast, with a view to attacking the English king on his return to the continent and preventing him from again securing a foothold in Flanders. Edward, however, accepted the situation and made ready to fight his way back to the country of his allies. June 24, 1340, he boldly attacked the French at Sluys. The sharp conflict which ensued resulted in a brilliant victory for the English. Philip's fleet found itself shut up in the harbor and utterly unable to withstand the showers of arrows shot by the thousands of archers who crowded the English s.h.i.+ps. The French navy was annihilated, England was relieved from the fear of invasion, and the whole French coast was laid open to attack.