to let the boy win his spurs." The French were driven off with terrible slaughter, and the victory was won. It was a victory of foot soldiers over horse soldiers--of a nation in which all ranks joined heartily together over one in which all ranks except that of the gentry were despised. Edward III. had contributed a high spirit and a keen sense of honour, but it was to the influence of Edward I.--to his wide and far-reaching statesmanship, and his innovating military genius--that the victory of Crecy was really due. 14. =Battle of Nevill's Cross, and the Siege of Calais. 1346--1347.=--Whilst Edward was fighting in France, the Scots invaded England, but they were defeated at Nevill's Cross, and their king, David Bruce (David II.), taken prisoner. Edward, when the news reached him, had laid siege to Calais. In this siege cannon,[18] which had been used in earlier sieges of the war, were employed, but they were too badly made and loaded with too little gunpowder to do much damage. In =1347= Calais was starved into surrender, and Edward, who regarded the town as a nest of pirates, ordered six of the principal burgesses to come out with ropes round their necks, as a sign that they were to be put to death. It was only at Queen Philippa's intercession that he spared their lives, but he drove every Frenchman out of Calais, and peopled it with his own subjects. A truce with Philip was agreed on, and Edward returned to England. [Footnote 18: It has been said that they were used at Crecy, but this is uncertain.] [Illustration: Contemporary view of a fourteenth-century walled town.] [Illustration: Gloucester Cathedral. The choir, looking east: built between 1340 and 1350.]