Parliament, prepared to proceed to Gascony; and the admirals were directed to arrest all vessels, including even large boats and fishing smacks, with a view to setting sail in September.[1]
Egidio Bocanegra was by this time in the service of the King of Castille. He had honourably received on board his galleys the Earl of Derby, and other members of the commission which had been sent to Gascony: and when these noblemen returned in August, they brought with them the great adventurer's offer to serve even the King of England, for pay. Edward wrote on September to thank Blackbeard, and sent an envoy to talk matters over with him.[2]
In October, 1344, an embargo was laid upon all English shipping;[3] but no active operations of any importance were undertaken by sea during the year; and it would appear that the French cruisers in the Channel continued to have much their own way. On February 23rd, 1345, Richard, Earl of Arundel, was made Admiral of the Western fleet;[4] and at about the same time the Earl of Suffolk, with Richard Donyngton as his lieutenant, appears to have been re-appointed to the fleet of the north. More ships were arrested; the full service of the Cinque Ports was ordered to be ready at Sandwich by May 6th; and troops and supplies were sent to Brittany and Gascony.[5] Arrangements were also completed for the king's passage to Flanders; and Edward sailed thither from Sandwich on July 3rd in a flute called the Swallow, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, the Earls of Huntingdon and Suffolk, and large suite. He reached Sluis two or three days later; but, being unsuccessful in his efforts to induce the Flamands to transfer their allegiance to the Prince of Wales, he re-embarked, and returned to Sandwich on July 26th.[6] Ere he quitted the soil of the Netherlands, his cause there received a deadly blow in the murder of his most influential ally. Jacob van Artevelde, the leader of the popular party, who was slain in his own house at Ghent, after having practically ruled the major part of Flanders for eight years with the title of Ruwaard, or Protector.
In the course of the summer, some ships and galleys from
