To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
THe cōstable of France with all ye sayd lordes and knygh¦tes rode so long that thei cāe to the castell of Montcoun∣tour / a sixe leages fro Poy∣cters. And whan they were come thyder they layd siege therto / and assayled it valyantly. And bycause
the dykes were so brode / they caused tymbre & wode to be cutte downe by the villayns of the countrey / and to be brought thyder and cast in to the dikes to fyll it and to cast strawe & erthe theron. And so in four dayes they fylled so the dykes that they might with their ease go to ye walles. Than they made a sore assaut / & they within defended them selfe valyantly 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the whiche they had great nede so to do / for they were in great parell of takyng: howe be it they were so valyant and so good mē of warr / that they kepte thē selfe and their place with moche payne / from any hurt that day. And so the sirt day / the cōstable and bretons came agayne to the assaut: with pauesses / pykes / and matock{is} in their handes: and so pearsed the walles in dyuers places / so that they within weresore a basshed. Howbeit they defēded thē selfe as va∣liātly as euer men dyde. And John̄ Cresuell & Dauyd Holegraue who were capitayns / yma¦gyned & consydred the parell that they were in and parceyued howe the constable and his cō∣pany were nat in mynde to de{per}t / tyll they had wonne the castell. And they sawe well / that yf they were taken by force / they shulde all dye. & also they parceyued howe there was no cōfort comynge to them fro any parte. Wherfore all thynges cōsydred / they entred into a treaty to yelde vp them selfe / their lyues and goodes sa¦ued. And the constable / who wolde no lengar greue his company / nor to sore oppresse them of the castell / bycause he sawe well they were valyant men of armes. He was contente they shulde departe without any hurte of their bo∣dyes / so they toke no goodes with them except golde or syluer / and so they departed and were cōueyed to Poicters. Thus the constable had the castell of Montcountour / and newe forti∣fyed it: and so taryed there a space to refresshe him and his company / bycause he wyst nat as than whyder to drawe / other to Poicters or to some other place. Whan they of the cyte of Poi¦cters knewe howe the constable & bretons had wonne agayne the castell of Montcountoure / than were they more abashed thā before. And sent incontynent their messangers to sir Tho∣mas Percy / who was their seneshall: & was ry¦dynge in the cōpany of the Captall. And or sir Thomas Percy knewe of those tidynges / sir Johan Deureur who was in the castell of Ro¦chell / was enformed howe the constable of Frā¦ce hadde ben before Poicters and aduysed the place: whersore he thought verely they shulde be besieged. And also he herde howe the sene∣schall was nat there / wherfore he thought he wolde go and conforte them of Poicters. And so departed fro Rochell with a fyftie speares / and sette a squyer called Pbylpot Māseyle to be capitayne there / tyll his retourne agayne. And so rode to Poiters and entred in to the cy¦tie / wherof they within thanked him greatly. Than these tidynges came to sir Thom̄s Per¦cy / who was with the Captall from his men / in the cytie of Poicters. Desyringe him to cōe to them / for they feared of a siege to be layed to them / and that he wolde bring with him as mo¦che helpe and ayde as he coulde. Certifyenge hym howe the frenchmen were stronge. Than sir Thomas shewed these tidynges to the Ca∣ptall / to the entent to knowe what he wolde say therto. The Captall sayde he wolde take ad∣uyse on that mater. And so the aduise taken / he was nat de••myned to breke his owne iourney for that mater / but he gaue leaue to {ser} Thom̄s Percy to departe fro hym / and so he dyde / and rode to Poicters: wher he was receyued with great toye of them of the towne / for they great lye desyred his presens. And ther he founde sir Johan Deureux / & so eche of them made great there of other. All this was shewed to the con∣stable / who was styll at Montcountoure / and howe that they of Poicters were newly refres∣shed with men of warre.
THe same season came to his knowlege / howe the duke of Berrey with a great nombre of men of warre: of Auuergne / Ber∣rey / and of Burgoyne / and of the marchesse of Lymosyn. Was fully determyned to lay seige to saynt Seuere in Limosyn / whiche partey∣ned to sir John̄ Deureux. And capitayns ther∣of vnder hym: were sir Wyllyam Percy / Ry∣charde Gylle / and Richarde Horne / with acer¦tayne nombre of good men of warr. And they hadde before ouerronne the countre of Auuer∣gne and Limosyn / and had done moche yuell: wherfore the duke of Berrey was determyned to drawe thyder. And sent and desyred the con¦stable / that if he myght in any wyse to come to hym / for the sayd entent. The constable / who was a wyse and a subtell knight in all his ded{is} consydred well / yt to lay siege to Poicters shul∣de lytell auayle him / seyng the cyte newe refres¦shed with men of warre / wherfore he sayde he wolde drawe to the duke of Berrey. And so de¦parted fro Moncoūtour with all his host / and ordred for the kepyng of that garyson. And so rode forthe tyll he came to the duke of Berrey /
who thaked him moche of his comyng / and all his copany. So they was a great hoost whan bothe hoostes were assembled togyder. And so they toue toguyder tyll they came before saynt Seuere they were well a four thousande men of armes / and so belieged the garyson and de∣termyned nat to departe thens / tyll they hadde won it / 〈◊〉〈◊〉 so fetrsly assayled it. And sir Wyllm̄ Percy valiantly defended the fortresse. These twdynges came to the cycle of Poycters and to sir John Deureur who was lorde of saynt Se¦uere. Howe the duke of Berrey / the doulphyn of Auuergne the costable of Fraunce / the lorde Clysson / and the vicount of Rohan / with foure thousande men of armes had besieged the for∣tresse of saynt Seuer in Limosyn wherof sir Johan Deureur was right pensyue / and sayd to syr Thomas Percy / who was there present at the report makyng. Sir Thomas / ye are se nelhall of this countrey, and haue great puys∣saunce. Sir I requyre you helpe to socour my men / who are but lost if they haue no helpe. sit quod he gladde wold I be to synde remedy for them / & for the loue of you / I wyll departe and go with you. and let vs go speke with my lorde the caprall of Beufz who is nat farre hens / and let vs do our best to moue hym to go and helpe to reyse y• siege and to fight with the frēchmen. Than they departed fro Poicters / and left the kepyng of the cytie with the mayre of the same / called Johan Reynalt / a good trewe and iuste man. And so long they rode toygder / that they founde y• captall in the feldes / ridyng towarde saynt John Dangle. Than these two knyght•• shewed to hym / howe the frenchmen had taken Mountmorillon besyde Poietres and also the strong castell of Montcountour / and were as than at siege before saynt Seuere / parteyning to sir Johan Deureur. & also they shewed hym howe sir Wyllm̄ Percy was within the castell / Gylle / and Richard Horne: who were no men to be lost. The Captall studyed a lytell at those wordes / and than answered and sayd. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 what thynke you best that I shulde do? to the which coūsayle ther were dyuers knights called / and they all answered: and sayd. Sir it hath ben a great season that we haue herde you say / that ye desyre greatly to fight with the frenchmen. And sir ye can nat better fynde thē that nowe. Therfore sir drawe thyder / and sende out your cōmaundement into Poictou / and Amou: we shalbe men ynowe to fight with them, with the good wyll we haue therto. By my faythe 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Captall I am cōtent / we shall shortely fight 〈◊〉〈◊〉 thē / by the grace of god and saynt George. In contynēt the captall sent letters to the barons / knightes and squyers / of Poictou / & of Xayn∣ton: prayeng and straitly cōmaundynge thē to come to hym / to a certayne place lymytted. All suche as his cōmaundemēt came vnto / came to∣warde the Captall in all hast they coude: there was the lorde of Partney / sir Loys Harcourt / sir Hugues of Uynou / sir Perciuall of Colen / sir Amery of Rochchoart / sir Jaques of Sur∣geres / sir Geffray of Argēton / the lorde of Pu¦issance / the lorde of Rosyllon / the lorde of Cam¦penac / sir John̄ Dangle / sir Wyllyam of Mō∣tender / and dyuers other. And whan they wer assembled togyder / they were a nyne hundred speares / and tyue hundred archers.