xpense in fortifying it; and it was defended by Roger de Laci,
constable of Chester, a determined officer, at the head of a numerous
garrison. Philip, who despaired of taking the place by force proposed
to reduce it by famine; and that he might cut off its communication with
the neighboring country, he threw a bridge across the Seine, while he
himself, with his army blockaded it by land. The earl of Pembroke, the
man of greatest vigor and capacity in the English court, formed a plan
for breaking through the French intrenchments, and throwing relief into
the place. He carried with him an army of four thousand infantry and
three thousand cavalry, and suddenly attacked, with great success,
Philip's camp in the night time; having left orders that a fleet of
seventy flat-bottomed vessels should sail up the Seine, and fall at the
same instant on the bridge. But the wind and the current of the river,
by retarding the vessels, disconcerted this plan of operations; and it
was morning before the fleet appeared; when Pembroke, though successful
in the beginning of the action, was already repulsed with considerable
loss, and the king of France had leisure to defend himself against these
new assailants, who also met with a repulse. After this misfortune, John
made no further efforts for the relief of Chateau Gaillard: and Philip
had all the leisure requisite for conducting and finishing the siege.
Roger de Laci defended himself for a twelvemonth with great obstinacy;
and having bravely repelled every attack, and patiently borne all the
hardships of famine, he was at last overpowered by a sudden assault in
the night time, and made prisoner of war, with his garrison.[*] Philip,
who knew how to respect valor, even in an enemy, treated him with
civility, and gave him the whole city of Paris for the place of his
confinement.

[* Trivet p. 144. Gul. Britto, lib. vii. Ann.
Waverl, p. 168.]

When this bulwark of Normandy was once subdued, all the province lay
open to the inroads of Philip; and the king of England despaired of
being any longer able to defend it. He secretly prepared vessels for a
scandalous flight; and, that the Normans might no longer doubt of his
resolution to abandon them, he ordered the fortifications of Pont de
l'Arche, Moulineux, and Monfort l'Amauri to be demolished. Not daring
to repose confidence in any of his barons whom he believed to be
universally engaged in a conspiracy against him, he intrusted the