He considered and declared that he wished to help them and fight off the English
king, raising the siege if he could. He sent a command throughout his kingdom that all knights and squires should be in the city of
Amiens at Pentecost.
This summons was heard throughout the realm and none dared refuse to be at the appointed place on the day of Pentecost or as soon as possible afterwards. Even the
king was there on that day and kept a solemn court there, with many princes and high barons beside him, for the kingdom of
France is so great that it cannot be lacking in chivalry and nobility.
There were the
duke of Normandy his eldest son, the
duke of Burgundy, the
duke of Bourbon, the
count of Foix, my lord
Louis of Savoy,
Sir Jean de Hainault, the
count of Armagnac, the
count of Forez, the
count of Valentinois, and so many counts and barons that it would be a marvel to recount.
When they were all gathered in
Amiens and the surrounding area, the
king was offered several suggestions as to which side he could attack from and combat the
English. He would gladly have seen the roads of
Flanders opened up to him to enable him to send a company of men by way of
Gravelines to engage with the
English on that side of the town of
Calais comfortably and easily. Thus the
king sent special envoys to
Flanders to negotiate with the
Flemish to this end, but the
king of England had so many close allies in
Flanders that they would never have granted him this courtesy. When the
king realised that he could not achieve this, he still would not abandon his venture, nor neglect the people of
Calais.
He declared that he would advance to the side facing
Boulogne. Meanwhile, the
king of England was studying night and day how to constrain the people of
Calais, for he had heard that the
king of France had amassed a great many men-at-arms and was on his way to fight him. He felt that the town of
Calais was so strong that he could not conquer it by assault. He mused and mulled it over often, and the thing which brought him the most encouragement was that he sensed the town of
Calais was being poorly supplied with provisions. So, to cut off their access by sea, he had a great castle constructed from long timbers, and had it made so sturdy that it could not be damaged. He had it positioned on the seashore and equipped with espringals, bombards, crossbows and other instruments, and garrisoned within it sixty men-at-arms and two hundred archers to guard the harbour and port of
Calais to starve them out all the sooner. Nothing could enter or leave without the effort being confounded and it was this decision that brought the people of
Calais the most distress.
At that time, the
king of England did so much to motivate the
Flemish that out of
Flanders there came a good hundred thousand men to lay siege to the chartered town of
Aire, burning all of the surrounding area:
Merville,
La Gorgue,
Estaires,
Laventie and the borderlands known as
Laleu, as far as the gates of
Saint-Omer and
Thérouanne. The
king of France came then to lodge in the city of
Arras and sent a great many men-at-arms to the garrisons of
Artois, and sent his constable,
Sir Charles de la Cerda, to
Saint-Omer, for the
count of Guînes, who had been constable, had been taken to
England.
pb 151 v