242.  Peace of Bre’tigny, 1360.

The victory of Poitiers was followed by another truce; then war began again.  Edward intended besieging Paris, but was forced to retire to obtain provisions for his troops.  Negotiations were now opened by the French.  While these great negotiations were going on, a terrible thunderstorm destroyed great numbers of men and horses in Edward’s camp.

Edward, believing it a sign of the displeasure of Heaven against his expedition, fell on his knees, and within sight of the Cathedral of Chartres vowed to make peace.  A treaty was accordingly signed at Bre’tigny near by.  By it, Edward renounced his claim to Normandy and the French crown.  But notwithstanding that fact, all English sovereigns insisted on retaining the title of “King of France” down to a late period of the reign of George III.  France, on the other hand, acknowledged the right of England, in full sovereignty, to the country south of the Loire, together with Calais, and agreed to pay an enormous ransom in pure gold for the restoration of King John.

243.  Effects of the French Wars in England.

The great gain to England from these wars was not in the territory conquered, but in the new feeling of unity they aroused among all classes.  The memory of the brave deeds achieved in those fierce contests on a foreign soil never faded out.  The glory of the Black Prince (SS238, 241), whose rusted helmet and dented shield still hang above his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral,[1] became one with the glory of the plain bowmen, whose names are found only in country churchyards.

[1] This is probably the oldest armor of the king in Great Britain.  See Stothard’s “Monumental Effigies.”

Henceforth, whatever lingering feeling of jealousy and hatred had remained in England, between the Norman and the Englishman (S192), now gradually melted away.  An honest, patriotic pride made both feel that at last they had become a united and homogeneous people.

The second effect of the wars was political.  In order to carry them on, the King had to apply constantly to Parliament for money (SS217, 220).  Each time that body granted a supply, they insisted on some reform which increased their strength, and brought the Crown more and more under the influence of the nation. (See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, p. xii, S13.)

The it came to be clearly understood that though the King held the sword, the people held the purse; and that the ruler who made the greatest concessions got the largest grants.

It was also in this reign that the House of Commons (SS213, 217, 262), which now sat as a separate body, obtained the important power of impeaching, or bringing to trial before the upper House, any of the King’s ministers or council who should be accused of misgovernment (1376). (See S247, and Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, p. xii, S13.)