S6 HTSTORY OF FRANCE.. [chap. in his actions. The highest officer of state was the Con- stable {comes sfabnli, count of the stable or master of the horse), who had the right to muster and lead the army. The Coruit of Etc, who held this post, had been made prisoner by the English, and on coming home to collect his ransom, was put to death on suspicion of treason, while his office was given to Charles of Sfioin, an exiled Castilian prince. The choice gave great offence to Charles /., Kiiii^ of Navarre and Count of Evrenx, the grandson of Louis Hutin, and he gained his title of the Bad by having the new constable murdered. Then shutting himself up at Evreux, he alhed himself with the English. Viewing the execution of their captive as a breach of the truce, they renewed the war, and Edward Prince of Wales landed in Gascony and pillaged Languedoc. To obtain supplies, John called together the States General, but they only consented on condition of themselves ap- pointing the collectors, and of clergy and nobles paying as well as the commons, also of the abolition of the droit de prise or right of seizing victuals and horses for the king's use whenever he was on a journey. They confirmed however the gabelle or salt tax, and granted a property tax, which the nobles resented so much that many, with Charles the Bad, as Count of Evreux, at their head, pre- vented it from being raised in their lands. John swore that no one save himself should be master ; and his son, the Dauphin Cltarles, invited them to Rouen to a feast, and there arrested them all, putting many to death, and keeping the King of Navarre a prisoner, while his lands, of Evreux were seized. 7. The Battle of Poitiers, 1356. — The Prince of Wales had made another inroad from Gascony as far as the Loire, when John and his sons made speed to cut off their return, and force them to fight at such disadvantage that the Prince was about to accept the mediation of the Papal legate. But John, in security of victory, insisted on terms so hard as to leave the English no choice save to defend themselves to the last in the hedges and vineyards round Maupertuis. To these Sirfohn Chandos, the only man in either army who seems to have had any notion of tactics or government, trusted to shelter the archers and break the charge of the French knights, and he also put 600 men in ambush behind a hill. While the French were charging through the storm of arrows from the vineyards, these men fell on them in flank, bringing
