of Lincoln and the bishop of Durham;
for he never voided his realm but that he left ever enough at home to
keep and defend the realm, if need were. Then the king rode to Hampton
and there tarried for wind: then he entered into his ship and the
prince of Wales with him, and the lord Godfrey of Harcourt, and all
other lords, earls, barons and knights, with all their companies. They
were in number a four thousand men of arms and ten thousand archers,
beside Irishmen and Welshmen that followed the host afoot.
Now I shall name you certain of the lords that went over with king
Edward in that journey. First, Edward his eldest son, prince of Wales,
who as then was of the age of thirteen years or thereabout,[1] the
earls of Hereford, Northampton, Arundel, Cornwall, Warwick,
Huntingdon, Suffolk, and Oxford; and of barons the lord Mortimer, who
was after earl of March, the lords John, Louis and Roger of Beauchamp,
and the lord Raynold Cobham; of lords the lord of Mowbray, Ros, Lucy,
Felton, Bradestan, Multon, Delaware, Manne,[2] Basset, Berkeley, and
Willoughby, with divers other lords; and of bachelors there was John
Chandos, Fitz-Warin, Peter and James Audley, Roger of Wetenhale,
Bartholomew of Burghersh, and Richard of Pembridge, with divers other
that I cannot name. Few there were of strangers: there was the earl
Hainault,[3] sir Wulfart of Ghistelles, and five or six other knights
of Almaine, and many other that I cannot name.
[1] He was in fact sixteen; born 15th June 1330.
[2] Probably 'Mohun'.
[3] The usual confusion between 'comte' and 'comte.' It means,
'of the county of Hainault there was sir Wulfart of Ghistelles,'
etc.
Thus they sailed forth that day in the name of God. They were well
onward on their way toward Gascoyne, but on the third day there rose a
contrary wind and drave them on the marches of Cornwall, and there
they lay at anchor six days. In that space the king had other counsel
by the means of sir Godfrey Harcourt: he counselled the king not to go
into Gascoyne, but rather to set aland in Normandy, and said to the
king: 'Sir, the country of Normandy is one of the plenteous countries
of the world: sir, on jeopardy of my head, if ye will land there,
there is none that shall resist you; the people of Normandy have not
been used to the war, and all the knights and squires of the country
are now at the siege before Aiguillon with the duke. And, sir, there
ye shall find gr
|