When Philip, King of France, received the news of this battle, although his brother Charles had been the cause of it, he sent to the King of England messengers who vehemently demanded that reparation should be made, that those responsible for the engagement should be given up for punishment, and that a great sum of money should be paid as compensation for loss to his merchants. To these demands our King prudently answered that he would reply through his own agents; and, by their mouth, asked the King of France, as his relative and lord, to appoint a day and place, where they might both agree to be present, to deliberate on the matter in a friendly fashion, and to do further whatever the state of the case demanded. The King of France did not accept this proposal, but, with the advice of his Barons, commanded the King of England, by writ, to appear in his Court on a certain day to answer for the above-mentioned damages. When the English King did not appear on the day appointed, it was decided and ordained by the Court of the King of France that he should be disseised of all his lands beyond the seas, and should be summoned to appear on another day, under pain of forfeiture of his whole continental possessions. The King of England, fearing a disturbance--having been warned to that effect by some of his friends--did not come in person, but sent his brother, the lord Edmund, Earl of Leicester, on each occasion, with letters empowering him to do whatever was required by justice. When the latter appeared with a sufficient mandate on behalf of the King of England, the French Barons did not receive him, but in the Royal Court adjudged Gascony, and all the lands of the King of England, forfeited for contempt. The lord Edmund himself, then, in hope of peace, carried on divers negotiations with the King of France; so that it was commonly said that our King would marry the sister of the King of France, and by that means a settlement be arrived at. Meanwhile the Seneschal of the King of England in Gascony refused to allow the officers of the King of France to enter in to take possession of the Duchy, and a great dispute took place; thereupon the King of France, summoning the lord Edmund to his presence, asked him, as a friend and as the mediator on behalf of peace, to allow him to possess himself of four or five cities only--Bordeaux, Bayonne, Langon, and Marmande--and this in the hope of peace, for he said he could not sign a treaty of peace unless his Barons saw the sentence of their Court carried into effect; he promised, on his honour as a King, that complete peace would follow if this request were granted. Edmund, saying that he could not dare to take it upon himself so to do, asked to be allowed to seek the opinion and consent of the King of England himself. Edward, placing full reliance on his brother's words, replied by letters patent to the effect that he was content with and would abide by whatever his brother thought should be done regarding