s that of raising again the
party of King Pedro and giving Henry of Trastamara work to do at home which
would hinder his interposition in the war of Guienne. It was with this view
that John of Gaunt on his marriage took the title of king of Castille. But
no adherent of Pedro's cause stirred in Spain, and Henry replied to the
challenge by sending a Spanish fleet to the Channel. A decisive victory
which this fleet won over an English convoy off Rochelle proved a fatal
blow to the English cause. It wrested from Edward the mastery of the seas,
and cut off all communication between England and Guienne. Charles was at
once roused to new exertions. Poitou, Saintonge, and the Angoumois yielded
to his general Du Guesclin; and Rochelle was surrendered by its citizens in
1372. The next year saw a desperate attempt to restore the fortune of the
English arms. A great army under John of Gaunt penetrated into the heart of
France. But it found no foe to engage. Charles had forbidden any fighting.
"If a storm rages over the land," said the king coolly, "it disperses of
itself; and so will it be with the English." Winter in fact overtook the
Duke of Lancaster in the mountains of Auvergne, and a mere fragment of his
host reached Bordeaux. The failure of this attack was the signal for a
general defection, and ere the summer of 1374 had closed the two towns of
Bordeaux and Bayonne were all that remained of the English possessions in
Southern France. Even these were only saved by the exhaustion of the
conquerors. The treasury of Charles was as utterly drained as the treasury
of Edward; and the kings were forced to a truce.

[Sidenote: The Social Strife]

Only fourteen years had gone by since the Treaty of Bretigny raised England
to a height of glory such as it had never known before. But the years had
been years of a shame and suffering which stung the people to madness.
Never had England fallen so low. Her conquests were lost, her shores
insulted, her commerce swept from the seas. Within she was drained by the
taxation and bloodshed of the war. Its popularity had wholly died away.
When the Commons were asked in 1354 whether they would assent to a treaty
of perpetual peace if they might have it, "the said Commons responded all,
and all together, 'Yes, yes!'" The population was thinned by the ravages of
pestilence, for till 1369, which saw its last visitation, the Black Death
returned again and again. The social strife too gathered bitternes