John, with a superior Force, gets before him at Poitiers, and Battle of Poitiers, 1356 Capture of King John by the Black Prince His eldest Son, the Duke of Normandy, assumes Power as Lieu- Estates again reassembled, 1357, and Duke of Normandy submits 469 King John brought to England, from thence he cancels the Acts The Duke of Normandy, after vainly seeking to get up a Party in the Towns, returns to Paris; Picquigny lets loose Charles Is seized by the Marshals, and hanged; Mob burst into the Palace, and kill the two Marshals, 1358 Charles the Bad, Master in the Capital Complaint of Charles against the English Bands Destruction of English Fleet off Rochelle, 1372 Surrender of La Rochelle; Reconquests of the French, owing to the Disaffection of Townspeople towards the English 531 Edward's vain Preparations to succour his Partisans, who sur- The English besiege Quimperlé; its Capture prevented by Con- Alterations in the Value of the Coin Edward being on his Deathbed, French resume Hostilities, and Charles turns his Force to crush the King of Navarre He seizes his two Agents, 1378 Duke of Lancaster at St. Maloes Page 536 538 • 540 King Charles undertakes to annex Brittany, and subject it to a royal Governor Breton Nobles resist Montpellier rebels Cruelty of Duke of Anjou Death of Du Guesclin Expedition under the Duke of Buckingham The Determination of the French to intercept it, disturbed by the Illness of King Charles, who expires September, 1380 552 HISTORY OF FRANCE. CHAPTER I. ATTEMPTS TO RESUSCITATE AN EMPIRE. I. THE noblest result of ages, the greatest achievement of CHAP. humanity, has been to found and to produce a nation. The ancient world, with few and insignificant exceptions, only knew empires, established by arms, and maintained by force. The existence of a nation, filling the large space between obvious and well-defined frontiers, and consisting of one race, or amalgamated races, bound together by a common tongue, common interests, sympathies and habits, acknowledging the one feeling of patriotism and trusting to one government to represent and act upon the feeling-this, the state in which a society of men can attain most greatness, peace, and happiness, intellectual development and material prosperity, is a phenomenon of modern times. Empires prevailed in antiquity, because force then dominated and formed the only principle of government or of cohesion. Mankind resembled the waves of the sea or the sands of the desert, attached to no spot, and |