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The chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Vol. 01 [of 13] cover

The chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Vol. 01 [of 13]

Chapter 17: [A. D. 1403.] CHAP. XII.
By Enguerrand de Monstrelet
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About This Book

A chronological, chaptered narrative records turbulent medieval politics and warfare, detailing civil strife between rival noble factions, episodes of foreign occupation and their reversal, diplomatic negotiations, sieges and battles, naval actions, tournaments, and public ceremonies. The text assembles proclamations, challenges and deeds of arms, ecclesiastical and administrative notices, and concise biographical sketches, frequently with close attention to regional actors and military detail. Its episodic, documentary approach emphasizes shifting allegiances, legal actions, and the interplay of martial and courtly life, offering a continuous historical account of political events and social practices across the period it covers.

[A. D. 1403.]
 
CHAP. XII.

THE ADMIRAL OF BRITTANY, WITH OTHER LORDS, FIGHTS THE ENGLISH AT SEA.—GILBERT DE FRETUN MAKES WAR AGAINST KING HENRY.

In the beginning of this year, the admiral of Brittany, the lord de Penhors, the lord du Chastel[44], the lord du Boys, with many other knights and esquires of Brittany, to the amount of twelve hundred men at arms, assembled at Morlens[45], and embarked on board thirty vessels at a port called Chastel-Pol[46], to engage the English, who had a large fleet at sea on the look-out for merchantmen like pirates. On the following Wednesday, as the English were cruising before a port called St Matthieu[47], the Bretons came up with them, and chaced them until sun-rise the ensuing morning, when they engaged in battle. It lasted for three hours; but the Bretons at last gained the victory, and took two thousand prisoners, with forty vessels with sails, and a carrack. The greater part of the prisoners were thrown overboard and drowned, but some escaped by promising punctual payment of their ransom.

About this same time, an esquire, named Gilbert de Fretun, a native of the country of Guines, sent his challenge to the king of England, to avoid paying him his homage; and in consequence, this Gilbert collected many men at arms, and made such exertions that he provided himself with two vessels well equipped, and carried on a destructive war against the king as long as the truces between the kings of France and England were broken, from which event great evils ensued.