While he was gathering his army,
although there was a truce with England, a French expedition, in which
many of the royal princes took part, had invaded Guienne, captured
several castles held by the English adherents, made frequent descents
on our coast, plundered every ship they met with, captured a whole
fleet of merchantmen, taken the islands of Guernsey and Jersey and,
while Henry was fighting at Shrewsbury, landed near Plymouth and
plundered the whole country round. On the news reaching them of the
result of the battle of Shrewsbury, they at once burned Plymouth to the
ground, and then, re-embarking, sailed for France. All remonstrances on
the part of Henry were met by declarations that these raids were
carried on without the knowledge of the French king, and were greatly
against his inclinations, which were wholly for the strictest
observance of the truce.
Nevertheless, a few months later, the Count of Saint Pol landed a force
in the Isle of Wight; but the people of the island rose in arms, and
defeated the invaders, who sailed hastily away.
Although, having other matters in hand, Henry professed to believe the
French king's assurances; the sailors and ship masters were in no way
content to suffer unresistingly, and the men of the seaports of the
east coast, and of Plymouth and Fowey, banded themselves together, and
carried on war on their own account; capturing several fleets of ships,
loaded with wine and other valuable commodities; burning the coast
towns; and making several raids into the interior of France, and
carrying off much plunder.
Pages:
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545