arles of Navarre, who availed himself of the desolation of France to
play his own game. For a time he was the darling of the Paris mob.
Innocent VI. was deceived by his protestations of zeal for peace. As
grandson of Louis X. he aspired to the French throne, and was anxious
to prevent John's return. Edward had no good-will for a possible rival,
but it was his interest to keep up the anarchy, and he had no scruple
in backing up Charles. There was talk of Edward becoming King of France
and holding the maritime provinces, while Charles as his vassal should
be lord of Paris and the interior districts. English mercenaries, who
had lost their occupation with the truce, enlisted themselves in the
service of Navarre. Robert Knowles, James Pipe, and other ancient
captains of Edward fought for their own hand in Normandy, and built up
colossal fortunes out of the spoils of the country. Some of these
hirelings appeared in Paris, where the citizens welcomed allies of the
Navarrese, even when they were foreign adventurers. However, Charles
went so far that a strong reaction deprived him of all power. He was
able to prevent the ratification of the preliminaries of 1358. But in
that year the death of Marcel was followed by the return of the regent
to Paris, the expulsion of the foreign mercenaries, the collapse of the
estates, and the restoration of the capital to the national cause. The
short-lived horrors wreaked by the revolted peasantry were followed by
the more enduring atrocities of the nobles who suppressed them.
Military adventurers pillaged France from end to end, but the worst
troubles ended when Charles of Navarre lost his pre-eminence.[1]

[1] An admirable account of the state of France between 1356
and 1358 is in Denifie, _La Desolation des Eglises en_ France
_pendant _la _Guerre de Cent Ans, ii.,_ 134-316 (1899).

When the truce of Bordeaux was on the verge of expiration, the French
king negotiated a second treaty by which he bought off the threatened
renewal of war. This was the treaty of London, March 24, 1359, by which
John yielded up to Edward in full sovereignty the ancient empire of
Henry II. Normandy, the suzerainty of Brittany, Anjou, and Maine,
Aquitaine within its ancient limits, Calais and Ponthieu with the
surrounding districts, were the territorial concessions in return for
which Edward renounced his claim to the French throne. The vast ransom
of 4,000,000 golden crowns was to be paid for John's r