by large contributions of money on
the part of the wealthier tenantry.

[Sidenote: Renewal of the War]

With plague, famine, and social strife in the land, it was no time for
reaping the fruits even of such a victory as Crecy. Luckily for England the
pestilence had fallen as heavily on her foe as on herself. A common
suffering and exhaustion forced both countries to a truce, and though
desultory fighting went on along the Breton and Aquitanian borders, the
peace which was thus secured lasted with brief intervals of fighting for
seven years. It was not till 1355 that the failure of a last effort to turn
the truce into a final peace again drove Edward into war. The campaign
opened with a brilliant prospect of success. Charles the Bad, King of
Navarre, held as a prince of descent from the house of Valois large fiefs
in Normandy; and a quarrel springing suddenly up between him and John, who
had now succeeded his father Philip on the throne of France, Charles
offered to put his fortresses into Edward's hands. Master of Cherbourg,
Avranches, Pontaudemer, Evreux and Meulan, Mantes, Mortain, Pontoise,
Charles held in his hands the keys of France; and Edward grasped at the
opportunity of delivering a crushing blow. Three armies were prepared to
act in Normandy, Britanny, and Guienne. But the first two, with Edward and
Henry of Derby, who had been raised to the dukedom of Lancaster, at their
head, were detained by contrary winds, and Charles, despairing of their
arrival, made peace with John. Edward made his way to Calais to meet the
tidings of this desertion and to be called back to England by news of a
recapture of Berwick by the Scots. But his hopes of Norman co-operation
were revived in 1356. The treachery of John, his seizure of the King of
Navarre, and his execution of the Count of Harcourt who was looked upon as
the adviser of Charles in his policy of intrigue, stirred a general rising
throughout Normandy. Edward at once despatched troops under the Duke of
Lancaster to its support. But the insurgents were soon forced to fall back.
Conscious of the danger to which an English occupation of Normandy would
expose him, John hastened with a large army to the west, drove Lancaster to
Cherbourg, took Evreux, and besieged Breteuil.

[Sidenote: The Black Prince]

Here however his progress was suddenly checked by news from the south. The
Black Prince, as the hero of Crecy was called, had landed in Guienne during
the preceding