orman expedition
was diverted to Calais, whence in November, Edward and Lancaster led a
purposeless foray in the direction of Hesdin, which hastily ended on the
arrival of the news that the Scots had surprised the town of Berwick,
and were threatening its castle. Thereupon Edward hastened back home. He
had to keep the Scots quiet, before he could attack the French.

[1] For the Black Prince's career in Aquitaine, see Moisant,
_Le Prince Noir en Aquitaine_ (1894)

When the Black Prince reached Bordeaux, he received a warm welcome from
the Gascons, and at once set out at the head of an army, partly English
and partly Gascon, on a foray into the enemy's territory. He made his
way from Bazas to the upper Adour through the county of Armagnac, whose
lord had incurred his wrath by his devotion to the house of Valois and
his invasions of the Gascon duchy. Thence he worked eastwards, avoiding
the greater towns, and plundering and devastating wherever he could.
The Count of Armagnac, the French commander in the south, watched his
progress from Toulouse, and prudently avoided any open encounter. The
prince approached within a few miles of the capital of Languedoc, but
found an easier prey in the rich towns and fertile plains in the valley
of the Aude. He captured the "town" of Carcassonne, though he failed to
reduce the fortress-crowned height of the "city". At Narbonne also he
took the "town" and left the "city". His progress spread terror
throughout the south, and the clerks of the university of Montpellier
and the papal _curia_ at Avignon trembled lest he should continue his
raid in their direction. But November came, and Edward found it prudent
to retire, choosing on his westward journey a route parallel to that
which he had previously adopted. He had achieved his real purpose in
desolating the region from which the French had derived the chief
resources for their attacks on Gascony. The raiders boasted that
Carcassonne was larger than York, Limoux not less great than
Carcassonne, and Narbonne nearly as populous as London. Over this fair
region, where wine and oil were more abundant than water, the black
band of desolation, which had already marked so many of the fairest
provinces of France, was cruelly extended.

The prince kept his Christmas at Bordeaux. Even during the winter his
troops remained active. Most of the Agenais was conquered by January,
1356, while in February the capture of Perigueux opened up the way