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INTRODUCTION. 63
feeling sure that the ladies will be quite satisfied with such an explanation
of the origin of the peculiar figure on which they bear their arms.
Bertrand du Guesclin, born 1320, was the most famous French warrior
of his age. As he was not a great baron, with a body
of vassals at his
command, he joined the Free Companions of France, as they were called,
a body of between 50,000 and 60,000 men, soldiers of fortune, accustomed
to desultory warfare, and always ready to act as mercenaries for those who
were willing to pay them. Bertrand du Guesclin soon attained a high
command amongst them, and fought on the side of Charles and of France
against the
his way
English.
When Rennes was besieged by the Duke of Lancaster, 1356, he forced
with a handful of men into the
town, and successfully defended it
till June, 1357, when the siege was raised. At the siege of Dinan, 1359, he
engaged in single combat with Sir Thomas Canterbury, captain in the
army of the Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt), at whose intercession he
spared his defeated foeman's life. In 1364, in conjunction with Boucicaut,
he recovered Mantes and Meulan from the King of Navarre ;
and in May
of the same year he defeated the Navarrese under Captol de Buch at
Cocherel.
Created now Marshal of Normandy and Count of Longueville,
he commanded at the battle of Auray, where Charles of Blois was killed,
his army defeated, and he himself taken prisoner by Sir John Chandos.
(James' History of the Black Prince, vol. ii.
357.)
A sum of 100,000 francs was demanded as his ransom, and this
willingly paid by the Pope, the King of France, and the aspirant to the
throne of Castile (Henry of Transtamare), for the deliverance of a man who
not long before had appeared as one of the poorest and most insignificant
squires in the train of Charles of Blois. By them he was placed at the head
of a considerable company of the French knights and men-at-arms, joined
to a large force of the Free Companies, with the object of dethroning
the savage tyrant " Pedro the Cruel," and making his brother, Henry of
Transtamare, King
of Castile in his
place.
was
It is impossible to describe the enthusiasm which not only pervaded
France, but the whole principality of Aquitaine.
L'Ambrecicout, Calverly,
Sir Walter Hewet, Sir John Devereux, Sir Matthew Gournay, Sir John Nevill,
and several other distinguished knights, with a large train of men-at-arms,
joined the adventurers under Du Guesclin. The people flocked round his
standard, hailing him as their deliverer. Knights and nobles abandoned the
court of the hated and dreaded Pedro, and swelled the train of his rival.
Don Pedro's cause seemed lost. In his extremity he appealed to
Edward III. on the alliance which he had already formed with him. And
the Black Prince, generously believing that Don Pedro had already
been chastened sufficiently for his past conduct, came to his assistance