Two 'flasks,' purchased for threepence-halfpenny from Petit Jehannin, served to warm the eloquence of Maistre Baudouin de Loingnis when he pleaded for the town on the subject of the fortifications in 1345; and when, in 1340, the Archbishop of Narbonne, the Bishop of Poitiers, and sundry other dignitaries passed through Reims with heavy hearts on their way to St. Omer, to negotiate a truce with Edward of England after the fatal battle of Sluys, the municipality expended five shillings and threepence in a poinçon of wine to cheer them on their way. There was probably plenty to spare, since on the outbreak of hostilities with England the town-crier had received one penny for making proclamation that no one should remove any wine from the town during the continuance of the contest. The advent of a messenger of Monseigneur Guillaume Pinson, who brought 'closed letters' to the eschevins informing them of the invasion of King Edward, does not seem to have spoilt the digestion of those worthy gentlemen, since they partook of their annual gift of wine and their presentation lamb at Easter 1346; but there were sore hearts in the old city when one Jenvier returned from Amiens with the tidings that their best and bravest had fallen under the banner of John de Vienne, their warlike prelate, on the field of Crécy. Perhaps to the state of depression that followed is due the fact that there are no records of festivities at the coronation of King John the Good in 1350, though we find the citizens seeking two years later to propitiate the evil genius of France, Charles the Bad of Navarre, by the gift of a queue of wine costing five crowns. During the frightful anarchy prevailing after the battle of Poitiers, when the victorious English and the disbanded forces of France made common cause against the hapless peasants, the fields and vineyards of Reims remained uncultivated for three years,[33] and the people of the archbishopric would have perished of hunger had they not been able to get food and wine from Hainault. Despite the prohibitions of the regent, the nobles pillaged the country around Reims and ravaged the vineyards from June to August 1358, and the havoc they wrought exceeded even that accomplished during the Jacquerie. Nor were matters improved by the advent of the English king, Edward III., when, on the wet St. Andrew's-day of 1359, he sat down before the town with his host, which starved and shivered throughout the bitter and tempestuous winter, despite the comfort derived from the 'three thousand vessels of wine' captured by Eustace Dabreticourt in 'the town of Achery, on the river of Esne.'[34] But the Rémois stood firm behind the fortifications reared by Gaucher de Châtillon till the following spring, when the victor of Crécy drew off his baffled forces, consoling them with the promise of bringing them back during the ensuing vintage, and made a reluctant peace at Bretigny.[35]