ong them that knew any passage beneath Abbeville, that he
and his host might pass over the river of Somme: if he would shew him
thereof, he should be quit of his ransom, and twenty of his company
for his love. There was a varlet called Gobin Agace who stepped forth
and said to the king: 'Sir, I promise you on the jeopardy of my head I
shall bring you to such a place, whereas ye and all your host shall
pass the river of Somme without peril. There be certain places in the
passage that ye shall pass twelve men afront two times between day and
night: ye shall not go in the water to the knees. But when the flood
cometh, the river then waxeth so great, that no man can pass; but when
the flood is gone, the which is two times between day and night, then
the river is so low, that it may be passed without danger both
a-horseback and afoot. The passage is hard in the bottom with white
stones, so that all your carriage may go surely; therefore the passage
is called Blanche-taque. An ye make ready to depart betimes, ye may be
there by the sun-rising.' The king said: 'If this be true that ye say,
I quit thee thy ransom and all thy company, and moreover shall give
thee a hundred nobles.' Then the king commanded every man to be ready
at the sound of the trumpet to depart.

OF THE BATTLE OF BLANCHE-TAQUE BETWEEN THE KING OF ENGLAND AND SIR
GODEMAR DU FAY

The king of England slept not much that night, for at midnight he
arose and sowned his trumpet: then incontinent they made ready
carriages and all things, and at the breaking of the day they departed
from the town of Oisemont and rode after the guiding of Gobin Agace,
so that they came by the sun-rising to Blanche-taque; but as then the
flood was up, so that they might not pass: so the king tarried there
till it was prime; then the ebb came.

The French king had his currours in the country, who brought him word
of the demeanour of the Englishmen. Then he thought to close the king
of England between Abbeville and the river of Somme, and so to fight
with him at his pleasure. And when he was at Amiens he had ordained a
great baron of Normandy, called sir Godemar du Fay, to go and keep the
passage of Blanche-taque, where the Englishmen must pass or else in
none other place. He had with him a thousand men of arms and six
thousand afoot, with the Genoways: so they went by Saint-Riquier in
Ponthieu and from thence to Crotoy, whereas the passage lay; and also
he had with him a great