all who
were unable to help themselves. Ennobling as the idea was, it had been
narrowed by the refusal of the gentlemen to extend the rules of
chivalry beyond their own order, and they were, therefore, ready to
exercise cruelty upon those who were not gentlemen, whilst proffering
the most high-flown compliments to those who were. In France, too,
this broad distinction of ranks told upon the military strength of the
crown. The fighting force of the French king was his feudal array of
armour-protected cavalry, composed entirely of gentlemen, and aiming
at deciding battles in the old fashion by the rush of horsemen. If
foot soldiers were brought at all into the field they were, for the
most part, ill armed and ill trained peasants, exposed to be
helplessly slaughtered by the horsemen.

[Illustration: A knight--Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, who died
1345--receiving his helm and pennon from his wife. Another lady holds
his shield.]

7. =Commerce and War.=--In England, on the other hand, the various
orders of society had been welded together into a united people. The
king and his vassals indeed still talked the language of chivalry, but
they were wise enough to seek strength elsewhere. War had become in
England the affair of the nation, and no longer the affair of a class.
It must be waged with efficient archers as well as with efficient
horsemen, the archers being drawn from the class of yeomen or free
landed proprietors of small plots of land, which was entirely wanting
in France. Such an army needed pay, and the large sums required for
the purpose could only be extracted from a nation which, like the
English, had grown comparatively rich because it was at peace within
its own borders. Edward was compelled, if he wanted to fight, to
encourage trade, though it is only fair to remember that he showed
himself ready to encourage trade without any such ulterior object. He
brought Flemish weavers into England, and did his best to improve the
feeble woollen manufacture of the Eastern counties. His great
resource, however, for purposes of taxation, was the export of wool to
the Flemish manufacturing towns. Sometimes he persuaded Parliament to
raise the duties upon exported wool; sometimes he raised them, by an
evasion of the law, after making a private compact with the merchants
without consulting Parliament at all; sometimes he turned merchant
himself and bought wool cheaply in England to sell it dear in
Flanders. It was said of a gre