Читать книгу The boy's Froissart - Froissart Jean - Страница 16

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HERE we found the good knights, Sir Fastres de Rue, Sir Percival de Severies, and Sir Sause de Boussac, who, not getting admittance into their lodgings, performed deeds equal to those that were armed. They had in their hands great oaken staves, taken from the house of a carter: they dealt their blows so successfully that none durst approach them, and, being strong and valiant knights, beat down, that evening, upward of sixty men. At last the archers were discomfited and put to flight. There remained on the ground dead three hundred men, or thereabouts, who were all from the bishopric of Lincoln. I believe that God never showed greater grace or favor to any one than he did in that day to Sir John de Hainault and his company; for these archers certainly meant nothing less than to murder and rob them, notwithstanding they were come upon the king’s business. These strangers were never in such great peril as during the time they remained at York; nor were they in perfect safety until their return to Wissan; for, during their stay, the hatred of the archers was so greatly increased against them, that some of the barons and principal knights informed the lords of Hainault that the archers and others of the commonalty of England, to the number of six thousand, had entered into an agreement to massacre and burn them and their followers in their lodgings either by night or day, and there was no one on the part of the king, or of the barons, that could venture to assist them. The Hainaulters, therefore, had no other resource left than to stand by each other, and to sell their lives as dearly as possible. They made many prudent regulations for their conduct, were frequently obliged to lie on their arms, to confine themselves to their quarters, and to have their armor ready, and their horses always saddled. They were also obliged to keep detachments continually on the watch in the fields and roads round the city, and to send scouts to the distance of half a league, to see if those people, of whom they had received information, were coming; with orders, that, if they perceived any bodies in motion advancing toward the town, they were immediately to return to the detachments in the fields, in order that they might be quickly mounted, and collected together under their own banner, at an appointed alarm-post. They continued in the suburbs four weeks in this distressing situation; and none except a few of the great lords, who went to court to see the king and his council, or to the entertainments to hear the news, ventured to quit their quarters or their arms. If this unfortunate quarrel had not happened, they would have passed their time very pleasantly; for there was such plenty in the city and surrounding country, that during more than six weeks, while the king and the lords of England, with upward of forty thousand men at arms, remained there, the provisions were not dearer; for as much was to be bought for a penny as before their arrival. Good wines from Gascony, Alsace, and the Rhine were in abundance, and reasonable; poultry and other such provisions at a low price. Hay, oats, and straw, of a good quality, and cheap, were delivered at their quarters.