ting this
incident, "It is not quite certain whether this was an act of patriotism
or of chivalry." He might have gone farther, and discovered in this
exploit not only the characteristics he points out, but many others
besides. Local patriotism, the honor of Brittany, party spirit, the
success of John of Montfort or Charles of Blois, the sentiment of
gallantry, the glorification of the most beautiful one amongst their
lady-loves, and, chiefly, the passion for war amongst all and sundry--
there was something of all this mixed up with the battle of the Thirty,
a faithful reflex of the complication and confusion of minds, of morals,
and of wants at that forceful period. It is this very variety of the
ideas, feelings, interests, motives, and motive tendencies involved in
that incident which accounts for the fact that the battle of the Thirty
has remained so vividly remembered, and that in 1811 a monument,
unpretentious but national, replaced the simple stone at first erected on
the field of battle, on the edge of the road from P1o6rmel to Josselin,
with this inscription: "To the immortal memory of the battle of the
Thirty, gained by Marshal Beaumanoir, on the 26th of March, 1350 (1351)."

With some fondness, and at some length, this portion of Brittany's
history in the fourteenth century has been dwelt upon, not only because
of the dramatic interest attaching to the events and the actors, but also
for the sake of showing, by that example, how many separate associations,
diverse and often hostile, were at that time developing themselves, each
on its own account, in that extensive and beautiful country which became
France. We will now return to Philip of Valois and Edward III., and to
the struggle between them for a settlement of the question whether France
should or should not preserve its own independent kingship, and that
national unity of which she already had the name, but of which she was
still to undergo so much painful travail in acquiring the reality.

Although Edward III. by supporting with troops and officers, and
sometimes even in person, the cause of the Countess of Montfort, and
Philip of Valois by assisting in the same way Charles of Blois and Joan
of Penthievre, took a very active, if indirect, share in the war in
Brittany, the two kings persisted in not calling themselves at war; and
when either of them proceeded to acts of unquestionable hostility, they
eluded the consequences of them by hastily concludi