During the time of the war in Flanders, the king of France was with a large army in the Bordelois, which the English had lately reconquered. The commander of the English was a most valiant knight and long renowned in arms, called sir John Talbot earl of Shrewsbury, who had made war on France upward of twenty-four years. He had been the king's prisoner when he regained Rouen; and out of his generosity, and respect for such valour, the king had remitted his ransom. The king also made him very rich presents in gold, silver, and horses, when he learnt that Talbot intended visiting Rome in the jubilee year, namely, 1450. Nevertheless, on his return from Rome to England, he again engaged in war, and found means to recover from the king of France the city of Bordeaux, which had shown him such honour, and the country round. It was indeed commonly reported at the time, that the inhabitants of the Bordelois most willingly surrendered to the English from their disgust at king Charles, who, since his conquest, had imposed upon them heavier taxes, and that his officers had treated them with more harshness than they had been accustomed to when under the government of the English. CHAP. LII. POPE NICHOLAS NOTIFIES TO THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY A CRUSADE AGAINST THE TURKS.--THE DUKE VOWS TO UNDERTAKE AN EXPEDITION TO TURKEY, ON CERTAIN CONDITIONS. On the eve of Martinmas-day in this year, a knight sent by pope Nicholas arrived at Lille, with letters addressed to the duke, containing intelligence that the grand Turk, with a numerous army of Saracens, had invaded Christendom; that he had already conquered the noble city of Constantinople, and almost all Greece; that he had captured the emperor of Greece, had caused him to be inhumanly beheaded, had violated the empress, and had dragged through the streets of Constantinople the precious body of our Lord, had burnt the magnificent church of St Sophia, and murdered men, women, and children of the Christians without number, and was daily adding to his conquests in Christendom. For these causes the holy father required of the duke, whom he knew to be a pious and catholic prince, as well as the most puissant in Christendom, that he would make dispositions to afford succour to his distressed brethren, and to oppose the enemy of the faith. When the duke had read this letter from the pope, the knight presented him with others that the Turk had written and sent to our holy father. After the perusal of all these letters, the duke grandly feasted the knight who had brought them, at the same time giving him many rich presents, and saying that, should it please God, he would speedily afford good assistance to the Christians against the Turk. In fact, he soon afterwards dispatched four galleys well filled with men at arms, artillery and stores, as a beginning of what he intended, writing, at the same time, to the pope an answer to his letter, explanatory of his future intentions.