voice was decisive on the course of the campaign which opened in 1340.  As Philip held the Upper Scheldt by the occupation of Cambray, so he held the Lower Scheldt by that of Tournay, a fortress which broke the line of commerce between Flanders and Brabant.  It was a condition of the Flemish alliance therefore that the war should open with the capture of Tournay.  It was only at the cost of a fight however that Edward could now cross the Channel to undertake the siege.  France was as superior in force at sea as on land; and a fleet of two hundred vessels gathered at Sluys to intercept him.  But the fine seamanship of the English sailors justified the courage of their king in attacking this fleet with far smaller forces; the French ships were utterly destroyed and twenty thousand Frenchmen slain in the encounter.  It was with the lustre of this great victory about him that Edward marched upon Tournay.  Its siege however proved as fruitless as that of Cambray in the preceding year, and after two months of investment his vast army of one hundred thousand men broke up without either capturing the town or bringing Philip when he approached it to an engagement.  Want of money forced Edward to a truce for a year, and he returned beggared and embittered to England.

[Sidenote:  Edward’s distress]

He had been worsted in war as in diplomacy.  One naval victory alone redeemed years of failure and expense.  Guienne was all but lost, England was suffering from the terrible taxation, from the ruin of commerce, from the ravages of her coast.  Five years of constant reverses were hard blows for a king of twenty-eight who had been glorious and successful at twenty-three.  His financial difficulties indeed were enormous.  It was in vain that, availing himself of an Act which forbade the exportation of wool “till by the King and his Council it is otherwise provided,” he turned for the time the wool-trade into a royal monopoly and became the sole wool exporter, buying at L3 and selling at L20 the sack.  The campaign of 1339 brought with it a crushing debt:  that of 1340 proved yet more costly.  Edward attributed his failure to the slackness of his ministers in sending money and supplies, and this to their silent opposition to the war.  But wroth as he was on his return, a short struggle between the ministers and the king ended in a reconciliation, and preparations for renewed hostilities went on.  Abroad indeed nothing could be done.  The Emperor finally withdrew from Edward’s friendship.  A new Pope, Clement the Sixth, proved even more French in sentiment than his predecessor.  Flanders alone held true of all England’s foreign allies.  Edward was powerless to attack Philip in the realm he claimed for his own; what strength he could gather was needed to prevent the utter ruin of the English cause in Scotland on the return of David Bruce.  Edward’s soldiers had been driven from the open country and confined to the fortresses of the Lowlands.  Even these were at last reft away.  Perth was taken by siege, and the king was too late to prevent the surrender of Stirling.  Edinburgh was captured by a stratagem.  Only Roxburgh and Berwick were saved by a truce which Edward was driven to conclude with the Scots.