the kingdom of France, for I have lost all I possessed there.”  “I yield me to you,” said John:  and he gave his glove to the knight, who led him away “in the midst of a great press, for every one was dragging the king, saying, ‘I took him!’ and he could not get forward, nor could my lord Philip, his young son. . . .  The king said to them all, Sirs, conduct me courteously, and quarrel no more together about the taking of me, for I am rich and great enough to make every one of you rich.’” Hereupon, the two English marshals, the Earl of Warwick and the Earl of Suffolk, “seeing from afar this throng, gave spur to their steeds, and came up, asking, ‘What is this yonder?’ And answer was made to them, ’It is the King of France who is taken, and more than ten knights and squires would fain have him.’  Then the two barons broke through the throng by dint of their horses, dismounted and bowed full low before the king, who was very joyful at their coming, for they saved him from great danger.”  A very little while afterwards, the two marshals “entered the pavilion of the Prince of Wales, and made him a present of the King of France; the which present the prince could not but take kindly as a great and noble one, and so truly he did, for he bowed full low before the king, and received him as king, properly and discreetly, as he well knew how to do. . . .  When evening came, the Prince of Wales gave a supper to the King of France, and to my lord Philip, his son, and to the greater part of the barons of France, who were prisoners. . . .  And the prince would not sit at the king’s table for all the king’s entreaty, but waited as a serving-man at the king’s table, bending the knee before him, and saying, ’Dear sir, be pleased not to put on so sad a countenance because it hath not pleased God to consent this day to your wishes, for assuredly my lord and father will show you all the honor and friendship he shall be able, and he will come to terms with you so reasonably that ye shall remain good friends forever.”

[Illustration:  King John taken Prisoner——­326]

Henceforth it was, fortunately, not on King John, or on peace or war between him and the King of England, that the fate of France depended.

CHAPTER XXI.——­THE STATES—­GENERAL OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

Let us turn back a little, in order to understand the government and position of King John before he engaged in the war which, so far as he was concerned, ended with the battle of Poitiers and imprisonment in England.