rd of three thousand; but
they were by this time so much increased in numbers that, had they been
all together, they would have amounted to more than one hundred
thousand. When they were asked for what reason they acted so wickedly,
they replied, they knew not, but they did so because they saw others do
it, and they thought that by this means they should destroy all the
nobles and gentlemen in the world.

At this period the Duke of Normandy, suspecting the King of Navarre, the
provost of merchants and those of his faction--for they were always
unanimous in their sentiments--set out from Paris, and went to the
bridge at Charenton-upon-Marne, where he issued a special summons for
the attendance of the crown vassals, and sent a defiance to the provost
of merchants and to all those who should support him. The provost, being
fearful he would return in the night-time to Paris--which was then
unenclosed--collected as many workmen as possible from all parts, and
employed them to make ditches all around Paris. He also surrounded it by
a wall with strong gates. For the space of one year there were three
hundred workmen daily employed; the expense of which was equal to
maintaining an army. I must say that to surround with a sufficient
defence such a city as Paris was an act of greater utility than any
provost of merchants had ever done before; for otherwise it would have
been plundered and destroyed several times by the different factions.

At the time these wicked men were overrunning the country, the Earl of
Foix, and his cousin the Captal of Buch were returning from a crusade in
Prussia. They were informed, on their entering France, of the distress
the nobles were in; and they learned at the city of Chalons that the
Duchess of Orleans and three hundred other ladies, under the protection
of the Duke of Orleans, were fled to Meaux on account of these
disturbances. The two knights resolved to go to the assistance of these
ladies, and to reenforce them with all their might, notwithstanding the
Captal was attached to the English; but at that time there was a truce
between the two kings. They might have in their company about sixty
lances.

They were most cheerfully received, on their arrival at Meaux, by the
ladies and damsels; for these Jacks and peasants of Brie had heard what
number of ladies, married and unmarried, and young children of quality
were in Meaux; they had united themselves with those of Valois and were
on their r