France. French troops were thrown into the disputed territory; England levied an army; and in October the Cinque Ports fleet was called out and ordered to Portsmouth by November 18th, and numerous vessels were arrested in the ports of the west.[1] In February, 1342, more ships were summoned, and directed to make rendezvous at Orwell by March 24th;[2] and Admiral Sir Walter Manny, who was appointed to command them, was enjoined to seize all the ports and fortified places on the coast of Brittany, on behalf of Montfort.[3] He seems to have succeeded in sailing on March 20th. There was urgent need for his services, for the Countess of Montfort was besieged by the Count of Blois in the town of Hennebont, near Lorient. Nevertheless, Manny, who carried with him a thousand archers and a hundred and twenty men-at-arms, met with contrary winds, and was sixty days on his passage; and the garrison was upon the point of surrendering when he arrived and quickly raised the siege. Froissart relates that as a reward for their opportune succour, the Countess kissed Sir Walter Manny and his companions one after the other, two or three times.[4]
The Count of Blois had the advantage of the co-operation of Don Luis de la Cerda,[5] one of the best naval commanders of the age, who assisted him with a Hispano-Genoese squadron, and, having captured Dinan, invested Guerande, in which port he took many vessels laden with wine from Poitou and La Rochelle. Utilising these craft, he captured the place, and then, re-embarking, cruised, with other Spaniards and Genoese, along the coast, but landed to ravage Quimperlé. Manny, with Sir Amery de Clisson, embarked three thousand archers and pursued the marauders. The English found the enemy's ships at anchor off the coast below Quimperlé, and, boarding them, put their crews to the sword and captured immense booty. Leaving three hundred archers to defend the fleet and the prizes, the victors landed, and defeated the enemy very signally on shore.[6]
But though Manny did so well, the modest force at his disposal was, of course, insufficient for the entire conduct of the campaign; and, after King Edward had held a kind of naval council at Westminster in April, a large fleet was assembled at Portsmouth in July.[7]
