re to himself very equal and
honorable terms, It was agreed that Vannes should be sequestered, during
the truce, in the hands of the legates, to be disposed of afterwards as
they pleased; and though Edward knew the partiality of the court of
Rome towards his antagonists, he saved himself by this device from
the dishonor of having undertaken a fruitless enterprise. It was also
stipulated, that all prisoners should be released, that the places in
Brittany should remain in the hands of the present possessors, and
that the allies on both sides should be comprehended in the truce.[**]
Edward, soon after concluding this treaty, embarked with his army for
England.

The truce, though calculated for a long time, was of very short
duration; and each monarch endeavored to throw on the other the blame of
its infraction. Of course the historians of the two countries differ in
their account of the matter. It seems probable, however, as is affirmed
by the French writers, that Edward, in consenting to the truce, had
no other view than to extricate himself from a perilous situation into
which he had fallen, and was afterwards very careless in observing it.
In all the memorials which remain on this subject, he complains chiefly
of the punishment inflicted on Oliver de Clisson, John de Montauban,
and other Breton noblemen, who, he says, were partisans of the family of
Mountfort, and consequently under the protection of England.[***] But it
appears that, at the conclusion of the truce, those noblemen had openly,
by their declarations and actions, embraced the cause of Charles of
Blois;[****] and if they had entered into any secret correspondence and
engagements with Edward, they were traitors to their party, and were
justly punishable by Philip and Charles for their breach of faith; nor
had Edward any ground of complaint against France for such severities.

* Froissard, liv. i. chap. 99. Avesbury, p. 102.

** Heming. p. 359.

*** Rymer. vol. v. p. 453, 454, 459, 466, 496. Heming. 376.

**** Froissard, liv. i. chap. 96, p. 100.

{1344.} But when he laid these pretended injuries before the parliament,
whom he affected to consult on all occasions, that assembly entered into
the quarrel, advised the king not to be amused by a fraudulent truce,
and granted him supplies for the renewal of the war: the counties were
charged with a fifteenth for two years, and the boroughs with a tenth.
The clergy consented to give a tent