"Welcome," said Edward, on seeing Copeland, "my faithful esquire, who by your valor have made a prisoner of our adversary the King of Scotland." "Sire," said John, kneeling, "God in His great goodness has so willed it that He has delivered the King of Scotland into my hands, for He can, if it please Him, bestow His grace upon a poor esquire as well as upon a great nobleman. And, sire, do not bear me any ill-will if I did not immediately surrender him to the queen, for it is to you that I have sworn allegiance." The king smiled. "But you will now take your prisoner, John," he said, "and take him to my wife." And he loaded with presents the esquire, who returned well content. King David was promptly lodged in the Tower of London. The war still continued in Brittany. Charles of Blois had been made a prisoner before Roche-Derrien, on the 18th of June, 1347, and had joined King David in his captivity; while Joan the Lame was maintaining the struggle against the allies of the Count of Montfort, who were still directed by her mother, the Countess Joan, and against the sudden attacks of Joan de Bellville, the widow of Oliver de Clisson. This women's war was neither the least skilful nor the least sanguinary. Edward III. was still before Calais. {311} The town was reduced to the last extremity. Twice already had the non-combatants been expelled. Sheltered on the first occasion by King Edward, these unhappy wretches, driven out of the famine-stricken town, were dying of hunger and misery between the two camps. John of Vienne, a valiant knight in command at Calais, had sent information to King Philip of the desperate situation in which he was placed. "Remember, sire, that there remains nothing uneaten in the town; not a dog, a cat, or a horse; so that of provisions we can find none in the place--unless we eat the flesh of our people." Philip of Valois unfurled the oriflamme, and summoned his knights round it, to march to the deliverance of his good town of Calais. The rejoicing was general inside the town; the banners of the French army were visible flying in the air, and their white tents glistened in the sun on the Mount of Sangatte. The citizens already thought that their deliverance had been effected. But the King of England had taken his precautions; the road along the downs was protected by English vessels, well furnished with archers. The road across the marshes was defended by the Earl of Derby, who was stationed on the bridge of Nieulay, which the king had fortified with towers. The quartermasters of the French army, after having examined the ground, informed the king that it was impossible to cross it. "Thereupon King Philip sent emissaries to the King of England, to pray and require him to choose with them a spot whereon one might fight, and thither to come and confront the King of France."