THE DEATH OF JACOB VON ARTAVELD 115 KING EDWARD III. PRAYING IN HIS TENT THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE OF CRECY 149 THE BLIND KING OF BOHEMIA DEAD ON THE BATTLE-FIELD OF CRECY 155 HOW THE SIX CITIZENS OF CALAIS DELIVERED THEMSELVES UP TO THE ENGLISH KING 197 THE SURRENDER OF KING JOHN OF FRANCE 245 THE THREE KNIGHTS RECONNOITRING THE FLEMINGS IN THE MIST 353 HOW THE BOURG D’ESPAIGN FED THE FIRE IN THE GREAT FIRE-PLACE OF THE COUNT OF FOIX 371 HOW A WONDERFUL APPARITION TERRIFIED THE SARACENS 403 THE CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, &c. BOOK I.[2] CHAPTER I. THE OCCASION OF THE WARS BETWEEN THE KINGS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. History tells us that Philip, King of France, surnamed the Fair, had three sons, besides his beautiful daughter Isabella married to the King of England. These three sons were very handsome. The eldest, Lewis, King of Navarre during the lifetime of his father, was called Lewis Hutin; the second was named Philip the Great, or the Long; and the third, Charles. All these were kings of France after their father Philip by legitimate succession, one after the other, without having any male heirs: yet on the death of the last king, Charles, the twelve peers and barons of France did not give the kingdom to Isabella the sister, who was Queen of England, because they maintained, and do still insist, that the kingdom of France is too noble to go to a woman, consequently either to Isabella, or to her son the King of England; for they hold that the son of a woman cannot claim any right of succession where that woman has none herself. For these reasons the twelve peers and barons of France unanimously gave the kingdom of France to the Lord Philip of Valois, nephew to King Philip; and so put aside the Queen of England, who was sister to Charles, the late King of France, and her son. Thus, as it seemed to many people, the succession went out of the right line, which has been the occasion of the most destructive wars and devastations of countries in France and elsewhere, as you will learn hereafter: the real object of this history being to relate the grand enterprises and deeds of arms achieved in these great wars; for, from the time of good Charlemagne, King of France, never were such feats performed. CHAPTER II. HOW EARL THOMAS OF LANCASTER, AND TWENTY-TWO OF THE GREATEST NOBLES IN ENGLAND, WERE BEHEADED. King Edward the Second, father to the noble King Edward the Third of whom our history speaks, governed his kingdom very indifferently by the advice of Sir Hugh Spencer, who had been brought up with him from his youth.