able to attempt the recapture of what Philip still retained in the Norman Vexin: the Flemish alliance protected him in the north, and new allies, in the centre of France as well as in the Rhinelands, had been attracted to his side. The king of France had, therefore, to limit his operations, and to rally the barons of Champagne and the east.2

The French force crossed the Epte by the ford at Dangu and invaded the Norman Vexin in September, after the harvest.3 Although Richard was unprepared, having scattered his army, he was speedily in a position to resist attack, for in the spring he had ordered in England the special taxation and the special levy so familiar to students of constitutional history. He was apparently at this time in the neighbourhood of his new castle at Andeli. With two hundred knights, and the aid of Mercadier's troop, he cut off the French. Philip fled on his old war horse to Vernon.5 The king of England now turned aside with his whole army to the ford at Dangu® and invaded the French Vexin. On Sunday, 27th September, he took the castle of Courcelles

1. See the list in Howden, iv, 54. It includes Geoffrey count of Perche, and Arthur of Brittany; and, most significant, Louis of Blois. Cf. the chronicle of William the Breton (Delaborde, i, 202).

2. Cf. Actes, p. 127, no. 534; p. 129, no. 543, for definite agreements of Odo of Burgundy and Theobald of Champagne, in this year. Philip compelled the count of Flanders to temporary submission in April (Delisle, Actes, etc.; Malo, pp. 58, 59, 256, 259; Cartellieri, iii, 182) but the success was only temporary (Actes, nos. 529–32).

3. Howden, iv, 59.

4. Ibid, 40, 46.

5. Ibid, 59.

6. According to Rigord he had 1500 knights (i, 141). See Richard's letter to the bishop of Durham in Howden, iv, 58. Apparently Dangu was taken, though no reference is made to it.

lès-Gisors by assault, and captured the fort at Boury.1 In the evening he returned to Dangu. King Philip was at Mantes, and hearing that Courcelles was in danger set out to the relief with three hundred knights and a local levy.2 Richard, for reasons which he does not state in his letter to the bishop of Durham-our main authority for what occurred-imagined that Philip would cross the Epte below Dangu and attack the Anglo-Norman forces on the left or Norman bank of the river; he accordingly left his main army at Dangu and reconnoitred with only a small following on the right bank. The king of France preferred to march directly from Mantes towards Gisors.3 Mercadier and Hugh of Corni, a knight familiar with the district, who had been sent on by Richard, reported upon the strength of the French army, and, in spite of its superiority in numbers, advised an immediate attack. The king sent them back for reinforcements, and hastened himself to examine the enemy from a neighbouring height. His trained eye satisfied him that the risk could be run, and without waiting for his full strength, he called those within reach, and burst upon the French like a hungry lion upon its prey.' 5 prey.' It was a second Jaffa. Philip was routed; Richard's army gathered in pursuit: 'We had them so pressed in the gate of Gisors that the bridge broke under them, and the king of France, it is said, drank of the river, and twenty of his knights were drowned. And in that place we unhorsed Matthew of Montmorenci, and Alan of Ronci, and Fulk of Gilerval with a single lance and kept them captive; and of the French force there were 1. Richard's letter (Howden, iv, 58).

2. "Cum ccc militibus et servientibus et communis suis."

3. Rather more than 30 kilometres, not allowing for the slight detour to Courcelles.

4. A good narrative in Guillaume le Maréchal, iii, 145. That the risk was great is clear from Richard's letter: "sed nos idem non fecimus immo Deus et jus nostrum per nos; et in hoc facto posuimus in causa caput nostrum et regnum etiam, supra consilium omnium nostrorum." 5. Guillaume le Maréchal, iii, 145.

captured well upon one hundred knights; we send you the names of the more important, and you shall have the names of others when we know them, for Mercadier took about thirty whom we have not seen.'1 A contemporary adds the information that the clouds of dust and the caprice of Dame Fortune contrived to save from capture many more.2

Such was the fit ending of Richard's war with Philip Augustus. Mercadier went off to plunder in the direction of Flanders, and spoiled the French merchants at the fair of Abbeville;3 in October, William le Queu (Cocus), castellan of Lions-la-Fôret, captured a French force on the way to garrison Neuf-marché. But King Richard occupied himself with the fortification of the Seine; above the isle of Andeli another island was strengthened by the fortress of Boutavant; on his part Philip built a new French castle, Le Goulet. In November the usual truce was made, to last till the fast of St. Hilary on January 13th, when, with the assistance of the papal legate, a durable peace might once more be attempted."

The biographer of the Marshal preserves memories of the negotiations in January 1199, which, unjust and prejudiced though they are, reveal the mind of Richard and the point of view shared by his secular companions. The king felt in 1199 about the papal legate as he had felt in 1194, when a truce had been made in his absence;7 but on the later occasion annoyance was intensified by a sense of degradation. On both sides men sympathised with Richard in having to meet an ecclesiastic whom they

1. Richard to the bishop of Durham, in Howden, iv, 58.

2. Guillaume le Maréchal, loc. cit.

3. Howden, iv, 60.

4. Ibid, 78. For William le Queu, see below p. 296.

5. Ibid, 78. For Boutavant, see the note in Cartellieri, iii, 140. There is some dispute about its position.

6. Ibid, iv, 68.

7. Above p. 155.

regarded as a secret ally of the king of France: the French were touched by the ridicule in which Philip was involved; the Normans felt contempt and chose to represent the cardinal as a sly creature, mean in person and despicable in character, who had been bought from Rome by French gold. That the legate was a learned and able man, whose main object was the restoration of Philip's lawful wife, that the majestic influence of Rome was threatening France with the horrors of an interdict, did not occur to the courtiers of King Richard, and would hardly have interested them if it had.

Richard evidently shared this attitude, and went to meet the cardinal in January between Vernon and Le Goulet in no gracious mood. According to the Marshal's biographer, Richard, after hotly repudiating all responsibility for the war, was prevailed upon to agree to a five years' truce in the interests of the future Crusade, on the condition that, while keeping in pledge the Norman castles in his possession, the French king should surrender all claims to the possession of the surrounding lands.2 Nothing remained to be done but to shake hands in ratification, when the legate turned to an ecclesiastical subject, and demanded the release of the bishop of Beauvais.3

'The court of Rome requires of you the release of her man whom you hold in prison against all law and with great wrong.'

'I hold him?' replied the king, 'not I.'

'Sire, make no denial. I refer to the bishop of

1. See Guillaume le Maréchal, 11. 11355-72, and iii, 151 note, for this

view of Philip's relations with Rome.

Quer toz diz convient que l'om oingue

A la cort de Rome les paumes;

N'i estuet chanter autres psaumes (11362–4).

In 1197 the bishop of Durham, as Richard's envoy at Rome, had a draft on the merchants of Piacenza of 1210 marks (Rot. Scacc., ii, 300–1).

2. Guillaume le Maréchal, iii, 155.

3. Ibid. It is clear from other authorities that the hishop was kept in strict confinement.

Beauvais; he is under the protection of Rome. It is unlawful to detain in this way a man who has been anointed and consecrated.'

"By my head! he is rather the reverse, and a false Christian,' said the king. 'He was not taken as bishop, but as knight, fully armed, with laced helmet. Is this your man? Sir hypocrite, you play the game ill; if you were not here on a mission, the court of Rome would not save you from a thrashing to show the Pope as a souvenir from me. So the Pope thinks I am a fool? I know how he mocked at me, when I begged him to come to my aid in prison, servant of God as I was. He paid no heed; and now he demands of me a bullying brigand and incendiary who spoiled my lands day and night! Out of this, sir traitor, sir liar, trickster, simoniac, and see that you never cross my path again.'

The legate fled in terror, we are told, and the five years' truce was finally arranged by the archbishop of Reims, on the terms settled between Richard and the cardinal.1 The kings met on the Seine between Andeli and Vernon, Richard in a boat, Philip on horseback on the bank.2 It is curious to reflect that within the five years proposed, Normandy was lost.

Richard set off for Aquitaine; but peace was still insecure, for Philip at once began to build a new fortress near the Seine.3 Richard returned and declared through his chancellor that he would denounce the truce if reparation were not made. By the legate's advice Philip promised to destroy the castle, but Richard demanded a definite settlement. The legate accordingly produced a grandiose scheme, by which Richard might be satisfied, and the peace of the whole west established at the same time. Whether Gisors had or had not been granted to Philip at Messina, why should not Richard definitely cede it now?

1. Guillaume le Maréchal, iii, 156.

2. Howden, iv, 79-80.

3. Ibid, 80.