[469] R. Coggeshall, p. 148. [470] Gerv. Cant. vol. ii. pp. 96, 97; _Rot. Pat._ vol. i. p. 55. [471] _Hist. de G. le Mar._ vv. 13103–270. [472] R. Coggeshall, p. 154. Gerv. Cant. vol. ii. p. 98, says that the ships were said to number nearly fifteen hundred, and R. Coggeshall, p. 153, that the shipmen were said to be fourteen thousand. [473] R. Coggeshall, pp. 152, 153. [474] Cf. R. Coggeshall, p. 154; Gerv. Cant. vol. ii. p. 98; and R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 182, with _Itin._ a. 7. [475] R. Wendover, _l.c._ [476] R. Coggeshall, p. 154. [477] M. Paris, _Hist. Angl._ vol. ii. p. 104. R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 183, and R. Coggeshall, p. 156, date Hubert’s death July 13; Gerv. Cant., vol. ii. p. 98, dates it July 12. They all mean the same; from R. Coggeshall, p. 158, we learn that the archbishop died shortly after midnight. [478] R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 186; exact date from a writ (dated April 29, 1206) ordering the seizure of ships for transport; they are to be at Portsmouth on Whitsun Eve, or before. _Rot. Pat._ vol. i. pp. 62 b, 63. A summons to the men of the Cinque Ports, for the same date, was issued on May 12; _ib._ p. 64. [479] Rigord, c. 144; W. Armor. _Gesta P. A._ c. 134; R. Coggeshall, p. 152. [480] R. Coggeshall, p. 154; R. Wendover, vol. iii. pp. 182, 183. [481] W. Armor. _Gesta P. A._ c. 135. [482] Niort had been taken by, or had surrendered to, Philip, but was regained in 1205 for John by a stratagem of Savaric de Mauléon, whom John had taken prisoner at Mirebeau and released on a promise of fealty--a promise which was immediately fulfilled and faithfully kept. See _Hist. des Ducs de Normandie_, pp. 100–4; and cf. (as to Savaric) R. Coggeshall, p. 146. [483] R. Coggeshall, p. 154. [484] John crossed from Stoke to Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, on May 28, and thence to La Rochelle on June 7. Cf. R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 186, where _Julii_ is, of course, in both places a mistake for _Junii_; and _Itin._ a. 8. [485] _Itin._ a. 8. [486] R. Wendover, vol. iii. p. 187. The legend of the building of Montauban by the “Four Sons of Aymon,” and its siege by Charles, is told in the romance of _Renaus de Montauban_. [487] Cf. R. Wendover, _l.c._, and _Itin._ a. 8. [488] R. Wendover, _l.c._ Unluckily the letter does not seem to be extant. [489] _Itin._ a. 8. [490] Rigord, c. 147; W. Armor. _Gesta P. A._ c. 138. [491] August 30, _Itin._ a. 8. [492] Cf. _Chron. S. Albini_, a. 1206; Rigord, c. 147; W. Armor. _Gesta P. A._ c. 138, and _Itin._ a. 8. This last shows John on September 6 at Chalonnes, and on the 8th at Angers. “Portus Alaschert,” therefore, must stand for Chalonnes or some place very near it. [493] _Itin._ a. 8. The _Chron. S. Albini_, a. 1206, says that before he left the city he set fire to “the bridge”; which of the two bridges then existing, we are not told, nor what was his object in destroying it. [494] W. Armor. _l.c._