path to the tower door, and once there to guard the door below while he ascended. “Let no one pass, either French or English. These counts will fetch a pretty penny, and I’ll share their ransom with no man.”
I watched Sir Thomas Holland bludgeon his way through the crowd till he reached the door of the tower. Then he climbed its uneven stairs to secure his captives while the struggle slowed to a halt on the ground below.
*****
I will not describe in full the remaining efforts we English made to gain Caen, but suffice it to say that the burghers were stubborn and our efforts were considerable. The city was unfortified on the outside, but each house was its own fortress. The door of every home became a barricade, and the upper story a battlement from which women and children could hurl makeshift gunstones. Our men suffered more from the French citizens in the streets than we had from the French soldiery in the field.
In one irate moment, His Majesty stormily ordered that the entire population be put to the sword, but a few choice words from his counselors dissuaded him from this purpose. This grudging clemency, and also the futility of their cause, eventually convinced the citizens to open their doors. The town was plundered with grim determination. The soldiers entered every house, questioned the inhabitants, examined the cupboards, and stripped the walls bare of their trinkets. The king issued a new edict forbidding the citizenry to be harmed, but edicts were not a language that soldiers understood; I heard the screams of many women that day.
Sir Chandos and I scoured the city in the company of the prince. His highness had charge of his own detachment of soldiers, and he sent them systematically through the riverside streets to search each house from top to bottom. The prince always treated the citizenry courteously, but his will was inflexible and he took all that he found despite their pleading. In our company most of the plunder was designated for his highness’s coffers. It was no small thing to pay the wages and supply the food of such a large expedition. The prince himself was required to bear the expense of the men levied from his own estates. The forced contributions of the French would defray some expenses.
In one rich burgher’s house we came across an ornamental vase, covered in gold and brilliant blue enamel. The rim was scalloped evenly all around like the petals of a flower. The vase was the size of an infant child and just as fragile in its constitution.
“ This vase is very old,” said Chandos reverentially, “and of Byzantine origin. These French folk must have purchased it from a Crusader.”
“ It is exquisite,” said the prince, and he raised it gently in his hands. “Everything else must go into the common pot, and the merchants will stir it up into money for the men. But this beauty, this I shall keep. She shall be an heirloom in my family, a keepsake of my first campaign.”
Our fleet, as I told you, was anchored upstream on the Orne. Glad to hear that we had obtained the town, several ships put in at the docks where they were loaded stem to stern with plunder. The prince had the vase wrapped carefully and sent aboard, and with it the other loot our company had secured. Our takings from the city of Caen were so extensive that the hulls of our ships could barely encompass all the treasure. Edward ordered the fleet back to England to unload the booty. The army spent five days in Caen to make sure we had licked the platter clean, and then we too abandoned the city to continue our eastern march.
The luxurious spoils of Caen whetted our appetite for more. Many hoped that Paris would be our next conquest, but the king, as we learned later, had set his sights north of that on the city of Rouen. We had been in France well over a fortnight now and had yet received no word of French Philip’s intentions. He had lain very quietly, waiting like a thrush in the hedge till the hounds
I watched Sir Thomas Holland bludgeon his way through the crowd till he reached the door of the tower. Then he climbed its uneven stairs to secure his captives while the struggle slowed to a halt on the ground below.
*****
I will not describe in full the remaining efforts we English made to gain Caen, but suffice it to say that the burghers were stubborn and our efforts were considerable. The city was unfortified on the outside, but each house was its own fortress. The door of every home became a barricade, and the upper story a battlement from which women and children could hurl makeshift gunstones. Our men suffered more from the French citizens in the streets than we had from the French soldiery in the field.
In one irate moment, His Majesty stormily ordered that the entire population be put to the sword, but a few choice words from his counselors dissuaded him from this purpose. This grudging clemency, and also the futility of their cause, eventually convinced the citizens to open their doors. The town was plundered with grim determination. The soldiers entered every house, questioned the inhabitants, examined the cupboards, and stripped the walls bare of their trinkets. The king issued a new edict forbidding the citizenry to be harmed, but edicts were not a language that soldiers understood; I heard the screams of many women that day.
Sir Chandos and I scoured the city in the company of the prince. His highness had charge of his own detachment of soldiers, and he sent them systematically through the riverside streets to search each house from top to bottom. The prince always treated the citizenry courteously, but his will was inflexible and he took all that he found despite their pleading. In our company most of the plunder was designated for his highness’s coffers. It was no small thing to pay the wages and supply the food of such a large expedition. The prince himself was required to bear the expense of the men levied from his own estates. The forced contributions of the French would defray some expenses.
In one rich burgher’s house we came across an ornamental vase, covered in gold and brilliant blue enamel. The rim was scalloped evenly all around like the petals of a flower. The vase was the size of an infant child and just as fragile in its constitution.
“ This vase is very old,” said Chandos reverentially, “and of Byzantine origin. These French folk must have purchased it from a Crusader.”
“ It is exquisite,” said the prince, and he raised it gently in his hands. “Everything else must go into the common pot, and the merchants will stir it up into money for the men. But this beauty, this I shall keep. She shall be an heirloom in my family, a keepsake of my first campaign.”
Our fleet, as I told you, was anchored upstream on the Orne. Glad to hear that we had obtained the town, several ships put in at the docks where they were loaded stem to stern with plunder. The prince had the vase wrapped carefully and sent aboard, and with it the other loot our company had secured. Our takings from the city of Caen were so extensive that the hulls of our ships could barely encompass all the treasure. Edward ordered the fleet back to England to unload the booty. The army spent five days in Caen to make sure we had licked the platter clean, and then we too abandoned the city to continue our eastern march.
The luxurious spoils of Caen whetted our appetite for more. Many hoped that Paris would be our next conquest, but the king, as we learned later, had set his sights north of that on the city of Rouen. We had been in France well over a fortnight now and had yet received no word of French Philip’s intentions. He had lain very quietly, waiting like a thrush in the hedge till the hounds
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