n Philip
found a pretext for open quarrel with Edward in the frays which went
constantly on in the Channel between the mariners of Normandy and those of
the Cinque Ports. They culminated at this moment in a great sea-fight which
proved fatal to eight thousand Frenchmen, and for this Philip haughtily
demanded redress. Edward saw at once the danger of his position. He did his
best to allay the storm by promise of satisfaction to France, and by
addressing threats of punishment to the English seamen. But Philip still
clung to his wrong, while the national passion which was to prove for a
hundred years to come strong enough to hold down the royal policy of peace
showed itself in a characteristic defiance with which the seamen of the
Cinque Ports met Edward's menaces. "Be the King's Council well advised,"
ran this remonstrance, "that if wrong or grievance be done them in any
fashion against right, they will sooner forsake wives, children, and all
that they have, and go seek through the seas where they shall think to make
their profit." In spite therefore of Edward's efforts the contest
continued, and Philip found in it an opportunity to cite the king before
his court at Paris for wrongs done to him as suzerain. It was hard for
Edward to dispute the summons without weakening the position which his own
sovereign courts had taken up towards the Scotch king, and in a final
effort to avert the conflict the king submitted to a legal decision of the
question, and to a formal cession of Guienne into Philip's hands for forty
days in acknowledgement of his supremacy. Bitter as the sacrifice must have
been it failed to win peace. The forty days had no sooner passed than
Philip refused to restore the fortresses which had been left in pledge. In
February 1294 he declared the English king contumacious, and in May
declared his fiefs forfeited to the French Crown. Edward was driven to take
up arms, but a revolt in Wales deferred the expedition to the following
year. No sooner however was it again taken in hand than it became clear
that a double danger had to be met. The summons which Edward addressed to
the Scotch barons to follow him in arms to Guienne was disregarded. It was
in truth, as we have seen, a breach of customary law, and was probably
meant to force Scotland into an open declaration of its connexion with
France. A second summons was followed by a more formal refusal. The
greatness of the danger threw Edward on England itself. For a