arried at all, they married usually foreign
princesses, whom they brought home to live with them in their native
land. The _princesses_, on the other hand, when they grew up, were
very apt to marry princes of other countries, who took them away to
the places where they, the princes, respectively lived. If, now, these
princesses were allowed to inherit the crown, and, especially, if the
inheritance were allowed to pass through them to their children, cases
might occur in which the kingdom of France might descend to some
foreign-born prince, the heir, or the actual ruler, perhaps, of some
foreign kingdom.

This was precisely what happened in Edward's case. The Salic law had
not then been fully established. Edward maintained that it was not
law. He claimed that the crown descended through Isabel to him. The
French, on the other hand, insisted on passing him by, and decided
that Philip, who, next to him, was the most direct descendant, and
whose title came through a line of males, should be king.

In this state of things Edward raised a great army, and set out for
France in order to possess himself of the French crown. The war
continued many years, in the course of which Edward fitted out several
different expeditions into France.

It was in one of these expeditions that he took his son, the Black
Prince, then only seventeen years of age, as one of his generals. The
prince was a remarkably fine young man, tall and manly in form, and
possessed of a degree of maturity of mind above his years. He was
affable and unassuming, too, in his manners, and was a great favorite
among all the ranks of the army.

The map on the following page shows the course of the expedition, and
the situation of Crecy. The fleet which brought the troops over landed
there on a cape a little to the westward of the region shown upon the
map. From the place where they landed they marched across the country,
as seen by the track upon the map, toward the Seine. They took
possession of the towns on the way, and plundered and wasted the
country.

[Illustration: MAP--CAMPAIGN OF CRECY.]

[Illustration: VIEW OF ROUEN, FROM THE WEST SIDE OF THE RIVER.]

They advanced in this manner until at length they reached the river
opposite Rouen, which was then, as now, a very large and important town.
It stands on the eastern bank of the river. On reaching Rouen, Edward
found the French army ready to meet him. There was a bridge of boats
there, and Edward had int