The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol. I., Part B.: From Henry III. to Richard III.
David Hume · en
These reasons induced Edward to accept of more moderate terms of peace;
and it is probable that, in order to palliate this change of resolution,
he ascribed it to a vow made during a dreadful tempest, which attacked
his army on their march, and which ancient historians represent as
the cause of this sudden accommodation.[*] The conferences between the
English and French commissioners were carried on during a few days at
Bretigni, in the Chartraine, and the peace was at last concluded on the
following conditions:[**] it was stipulated that King John should be
restored to his liberty, and should pay as his ransom three millions of
crowns of gold, about one million five hundred thousand pounds of
our present money;[***] [9] which was to be discharged at different
payments: that Edward should forever renounce all claim to the crown of
France, and to the provinces of Normandy, Maine, Touraine, and Anjou,
possessed by his ancestors; and should receive in exchange the provinces
of Poictou, Xaintonge, l’Agenois, Perigord, the Limousin, Quercy,
Rovergue, l’Angoumois, and other districts in that quarter, together
with Calais, Guisnes, Montreuil, and the county of Ponthieu, on the
other side of France: that the full sovereignty of all these provinces,
as well as that of Guienne, should be vested in the crown of England,
and that France should renounce all title to feudal jurisdiction,
homage, or appeal from them: that the king of Navarre should be restored
to all his honors and possessions: that Edward should renounce his
confederacy with the Flemings, John his connections with the Scots: that
the disputes concerning the succession of Brittany, between the families
of Blois and Mountfort, should be decided by arbiters appointed by the
two kings; and if the competitors refused to submit to the award, the
dispute should no longer be a ground of war between the kingdoms; and
that forty hostages, such as should be agreed on, should be sent to
England as a security for the execution of all these conditions.[****]
* Froissard, liv. i. chap. 211.
** Rymer, vol. vi. p. 178. Froissard, liv. i. chap. 212.
*** See note I, at the end of the volume.
**** The hostages were the two sons of the French king, John
and Lewis; his brother Philip, duke of Orleans, the duke of
Bourbon, James de Bourbon count de Ponthieu, the counts
d’Eu, de Longueville, de St. Pol, de Harcourt, de Vendome,
de Couci, de Craon, de Montmorenci, and many of the chief
nobility of France. The princes were mostly released on the
fulfilling of certain articles: others of the hostages, and
the duke of Berry among the rest, were permitted to return
upon their parole, which they did not keep. Rymer, vol. vi.
p. 278, 285, 287.
In consequence of this treaty, the king of France was brought over to
Calais; whither Edward also soon after repaired; and there both princes
solemnly ratified the treaty.