fort,
an active and valiant prince, closely united to him by interest, opened
at once an entrance into the heart of France, and afforded him much
more flattering views than his allies on the side of Germany and the
Low Countries, who had no sincere attachment to his cause, and whose
progress was also obstructed by those numerous fortifications which had
been raised on that frontier. Robert of Artois was zealous in enforcing
these considerations: the ambitious spirit of Edward was little disposed
to sit down under those repulses which he had received, and which he
thought had so much impaired his reputation; and it required a very
short negotiation to conclude a treaty of alliance between two men,
who, though their pleas with regard to the preference of male or female
succession were directly opposite, were intimately connected by their
immediate interests.[*]

As this treaty was still a secret, Mountfort, on his return, ventured to
appear at Paris, in order to defend his cause before the court of peers;
but observing Philip and his judges to be prepossessed against his
title, and dreading their intentions of arresting him, till he should
restore what he had seized by violence, he suddenly made his escape; and
war immediately commenced between him and Charles of Blois.[**] Philip
sent his eldest son, the duke of Normandy, with a powerful army, to
the assistance of the latter; and Mountfort, unable to keep the field
against his rival, remained in the city of Nantz, where he was besieged.
The city was taken by the treachery of the inhabitants; Mountfort fell
into the hands of his enemies, was conducted as a prisoner to Paris, and
was shut up in the tower of the Louvre.[***]

* Froissard, liv. i. chap, 69.

** Froissard, liv. i. chap. 70, 71.

*** Froissard, liv. i. chap 73.

{1342.} This event seemed to put an end to the pretensions of the
count of Mountfort; but his affairs were immediately retrieved by an
unexpected incident, which inspired new life and vigor into his party.
Jane of Flanders, countess of Mountfort, the most extraordinary woman
of the age, was roused, by the captivity of her husband, from those
domestic cares to which she had hitherto limited her genius; and she
courageously undertook to support the falling fortunes of her family No
sooner did she receive the fatal intelligence, than she assembled the
inhabitants of Rennes, where she then resided; and carrying her infant
son in her ar