THE ENGLISH MAKE AN INROAD ON THE BOULONOIS FROM CALAIS.--THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY SENDS AN EMBASSY TO THE POPE, AND FORTIFIES HIS TOWNS AGAINST THE ENGLISH.--ARTHUR OF BRITTANY DIES, AND IS SUCCEEDED IN THE DUKEDOM BY THE COUNT D'ESTAMPES.--OTHER EVENTS. About this period, eight hundred combatants issued out of Calais and marched to Estaples,[3] where they found many vessels laden with wines from Poitou, which the Bretons had brought thither to sell, all of which the English made them ransom. They gained also numbers of mules, which some merchants from Languedoc had conducted thither to carry back a cargo of salted herrings: these were also ransomed, and they carried away several prisoners. The duke of Burgundy sent this year, about Christmas, a handsome embassy to pope Pius at Rome, to do him homage for all his states, like a good son of the church, and, shortly afterward, another embassy to the king of France, to avoid a war, which every body conjectured would ensue, because the dauphin resided with the duke contrary to the will of his father, and had refused to return to France. The English, on the frontier of Calais, made continual inroads on the territories of the duke; and to check them, he strengthened with men at arms the garrisons of Bologne, Ardres, Gravelines, Fiennes and St Omer. They were ordered to oppose force by force, and to hang all whom they should take. About Christmas died Arthur duke of Brittany, without leaving any male heir: he was therefore succeeded in the duchy by John de Bretagne count d'Estampes, son to the brother of a former duke of Brittany by a sister of the duke of Orleans. Notwithstanding that he was count d'Estampes, John of Burgundy, brother to the count de Nevers, assumed the same title, but without advantage,--for the king held possession of Estampes, and gave the revenue of it to whomsoever he pleased. At this time, peace was restored between the duke of Burgundy and the count of St Pol, so that the count was on the same familiar terms with the duke and as much beloved by him as before: he was likewise in the good graces of the count de Charolois. Nearly at this period, an embassy from Greece, of about fifty horsemen, waited on the duke, to request that he would personally attend, or send his proxies, to a meeting appointed by pope Pius, of all the princes of Christendom, touching the welfare of the catholic church. The duke received them honourably, and gave them rich presents, and said, that, under God's pleasure, he would send proxies to the meeting they had mentioned. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: Duke of Brittany. Q. if it should not be of Burgundy.] [Footnote 2: Aiquesmortes,--a town in lower Languedoc, five leagues from Montpellier.] [Footnote 3: Estaples,--a town in Picardy, at the mouth of the Conche, four leagues from Bologne.] CHAP IV.