at Nottingham, and he
obtained therefrom subsidies for the war going on not only in Scotland,
but also in Aquitaine, against the French king's lieutenants. In April
and May of the following year, 1337, he granted to Robert of Artois, his
tempter for three years past, court favors which proved his resolution to
have been already taken. On the 21st of August following he formally
declared war against the King of France, and addressed to all the
sheriffs, archbishops, and bishops of his kingdom a circular in which he
attributed the initiative to Philip; on the 26th of August he gave his
ally, the Emperor of Germany, notice of what he had just done, whilst,
for the first time, insultingly describing Philip as "setting himself up
for King of France." At last, on the 7th of October, 1337, he proclaimed
himself King of France, as his lawful inheritance, designating as
representatives and supporters of his right the Duke of Brabant, the
Marquis of Juliers, the Count of Haiiiault, and William de Bohun, Earl of
Northampton.

The enterprise had no foundation in right, and seemed to have few chances
of success. If the succession to the crown of France had not been
regulated beforehand by a special and positive law, Philip of Valois had
on his side the traditional right of nearly three centuries past and
actual possession without any disputes having arisen in France upon the
subject. His title had been expressly declared by the peers of the
kingdom, sanctioned by the Church, and recognized by Edward himself, who
had come to pay him homage. He had the general and free assent of his
people: to repeat the words of the chroniclers of the time, "There was no
mind in France to be subjects of the King of England." Philip VI. was
regarded in Europe as a greater and more powerful sovereign than Edward
III. He had the pope settled in the midst of his kingdom; and he often
traversed it with an array of valiant nobility whom he knew how to
support and serve on occasion as faithfully as he was served by them.
"He was highly prized and honored," says Froissart, "for the victory he
had won (at Cassel) over the Flemings, and also for the handsome service
he had done his cousin Count Louis. He did thereby abide in great
prosperity and honor, and he greatly increased the royal state; never had
there been king in France, it was said, who had kept state like King
Philip, and he provided tourneys and jousts and diversions in great
abundance."