carry away out of their power the King of France, whom they had helped to take, they were by no means of accord therewith, and said to the prince, ’Dear sir, we owe you, in all that is in our power, all honor, obedience, and loyal service; but it is not our desire that you should thus remove from us the King of France, in respect of whom we have had great trouble to put him in the place where he is; for, thank God, he is in a good strong city, and we are strong and men enough to keep him against the French, if they by force would take him from you.’  The prince answered, ’Dear sirs, I grant it heartily; but my lord my father wishes to hold and behold him; and with the good service that you have done my father, and me also, we are well pleased, and it shall be handsomely requited.’  Nevertheless, these words did not suffice to appease the Gascons, until a means thereto was found by Sir Reginald de Cobham and Sir John Chandos; for they knew the Gascons to be very covetous.  So they said to the prince, ’Sir, offer them a sum of florins, and you will see them come down to your demands.’  The prince offered them sixty thousand florins; but they would have nothing to do with them.  At last there was so much haggling that an agreement was made for a hundred thousand francs, which the prince was to hand over to the barons of Gascony to share between them.  He borrowed the money; and the said sum was paid and handed over to them before the prince started.  When these matters were done, the prince put to sea with a fine fleet, crammed with men-at-arms and archers, and put the King of France in a vessel quite apart, that he might be more at his ease.”

“They were at sea eleven days and eleven nights,” continues Froissart, and on the 12th they arrived at Sandwich harbor, where they landed, and halted two days to refresh themselves and their horses.  On the third day they set out and came to St. Thomas of Canterbury.”

“When the news reached the King and Queen of England that the prince their son had arrived and had brought with him the King of France, they were greatly rejoiced thereat, and gave orders to the burgesses of London to get themselves ready in as splendid fashion as was beseeming to receive the King of France.  They of the city of London obeyed the king’s commandment, and arrayed themselves by companies most richly, all the trades in cloth of different kinds.”  According to the poet herald-at-arms of John Chandos, King Edward III. went in person, with his barons and more than twenty counts, to meet King John, who entered London “mounted on a tall white steed right well harnessed and accoutred at all points, and the Prince of Wales, on a little black hackney, at his side.”  King John was first of all lodged in London at the Savoy hotel, and shortly afterwards removed, with all his people, to Windsor; “there,” says Froissart, “to hawk, hunt, disport himself, and take his pastime according to his pleasure, and Sir Philip, his son, also; and all the rest of the other lords, counts, and barons, remained in London, but they went to see the king when it pleased them, and they were put upon their honor only.”  Chandos’s poet adds, “Many a dame and many a damsel, right amiable, gay, and lovely, came to dance there, to sing, and to cause great galas and jousts, as in the days of King Arthur.”