o wife Joan of Valois, sister of the King of
France, but he had married his daughter Philippa to the King of England;
and when Edward's envoys came and asked for his support in "the great
business "which their master had in view." "If the king can succeed in
it," said the count, "I shall be right glad. It may well be supposed
that my heart is with him, him who hath my daughter, rather than with
King Philip, though I have married his sister; for he hath filched from
me the hand of the young Duke of Brabant, who should have wedded my
daughter Isabel, and hath kept him for a daughter of his own. So help
will I my dear and beloved son the King of England to the best of my
power. But he must get far stronger aid than mine, for Hainault is but a
little place in comparison with the kingdom of France, and England is too
far off to succor us." "Dear sir," said the envoys, "advise us of what
lords our master might best seek aid, and in what he might best put his
trust." "By my soul," said the count, "I could not point to lord so
powerful to aid him in this business as would be the Duke of Brabant, who
is his cousin-german, the Duke of Gueldres, who hath his sister to wife,
and Sire de Fauquemont. They are those who would have most men-at-arms
in the least time, and they are right good soldiers; provided that money
be given them in proportion, for they are lords and men who are glad of
pay." Edward III. went for powerful allies even beyond the Rhine; he
treated with Louis V. of Bavaria, Emperor of Germany; he even had a
solemn interview with him at a diet assembled at Coblenz, and Louis named
Edward vicar imperial throughout all the empire situated on the left bank
of the Rhine, with orders to all the princes of the Low Countries to
follow and obey him, for a space of seven years, in the field. But Louis
of Bavaria was a tottering emperor, excommunicated by the pope, and with
a formidable competitor in Frederick of Austria. When the time for
action arrived, King John of Bohemia, a zealous ally of the French king,
persuaded the Emperor of Germany that his dignity would be compromised if
he were to go and join the army of the English king, in whose pay he
would appear to have enlisted; and Louis of Bavaria withdrew from his
alliance with Edward III., sending back the subsidies he had received
from him.

Which side were the Flemings themselves to take in a conflict of such
importance, and already so hot even before it had re