Béarn and the Pyrenees : $b A legendary tour to the country of Henri QuatreCostello, Louisa Stuart
History
Béarn and the Pyrenees : $b A legendary tour to the country of Henri Quatre
Costello, Louisa Stuart
Béarn (France) -- Description and travel; Pyrenees -- Description and travel
Another convent was established at La Font, not a vestige of which
remains.
The cathedral was once more restored to the old worship, and on the
great Fontaine du Château, in the square in front of it, the enemies of
the Protestant party placed _brass_ tablets, full of insult to those
who had so nobly defended their town, and who, from a generous foe,
would have commanded respect. These injurious inscriptions were,
however, removed one night; nor was it ever known by whom; and the
authorities did not think it advisable to replace them: the marks of
their existence still remain.
Another mayor of La Rochelle obtained celebrity in much earlier times,
for conduct not quite so heroic as that of Guiton.
Amongst the many scenes of war which have taken place before La
Rochelle, not the least curious is one related by Froissart, which
occurred at the time when France was making a desperate struggle to
recover her towns from the power of England.
The Earl of Pembroke had been sent by his father, King Edward, with the
famous Captain Messire Guichart d'Angle, to Poitou, with vessels and
money; they set forth, commending themselves to the grace of God and St.
George, and, wind and weather favouring them, the gallant fleet soon
reached the coast of Poitou, with every prospect of success in their
adventure. But the King of France, Charles the Wise, who always managed
to get information of everything done by his enemies--whether by means
of the prescience of his astrologers or his spies is not known,--having
heard that Guichart had visited England with a view of getting supplies
and a new commander, had secretly prepared a hostile fleet ready to
way-lay the English. Forty large ships and thirteen barges, well manned
and provided, were furnished by the King of Castile, and were commanded
by four men whose names were a terror at the period. These were,
Ambrosio de Bocca Negra the Grand Admiral of Spain, Cabeza de Vaca,
Ferrant de Pion, and Radigole Roux, or Riu Diaz de Rojas.
These valiant captains had moored their fleet opposite the harbour of La
Rochelle, awaiting the expected arrival of the English and their allies,
for whose sails they looked anxiously forth. It was on the Vigil of St.
John the Baptist's Day, 1372, that the Spaniards espied the English
approaching in gallant array, and _they_ discovered that the entrance to
the town of La Rochelle was stopped, and that a contest must ensue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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