his conquest of that country, which there is no
reasonable doubt he could have effected with ease. Civil war and strife
prevailed throughout France; famine devastated it; and without leaders
or concord, dispirited and impoverished by defeat, France could have
offered no resistance to such an army as England could have placed in
the field. The only probable supposition is that at heart he doubted
whether the acquisition of the crown of France was really desirable, or
whether it could be permanently maintained should it be gained. To the
monarch of a country prosperous, flourishing, and contented, the object
of admiration throughout Europe, the union with distracted and divided
France could be of no benefit. Of military glory he had gained enough
to content any man, and some of the richest provinces of France were
already his. Therefore it may well be believed that, feeling secure very
many years must elapse before France could again become dangerous, he
was well content to let matters continue as they were.

King John still remained a prisoner in his hands, for the princes and
nobles of France were too much engaged in broils and civil wars to think
of raising the money for his ransom, and Languedoc was the only province
of France which made any effort whatever towards so doing. War still
raged between the Dauphin and the King of Navarre.

At the conclusion of the two years' truce Edward, with the most
splendidly-equipped army which had ever left England, marched through
the length and breadth of France. Nowhere did he meet with any
resistance in the field. He marched under the walls of Paris, but took
no steps to lay siege to that city, which would have fallen an easy
prey to his army had he chosen to capture it. That he did not do so is
another proof that he had no desire to add France to the possessions of
the English crown. At length, by the efforts of the pope, a peace was
agreed upon, by which France yielded all Aquitaine and the town of
Calais to England as an absolute possession, and not as a fief of the
crown of France; while the English king surrendered all his captures in
Normandy and Brittany and abandoned his claim to the crown of France.
With great efforts the French raised a portion of the ransom demanded
for the king, and John returned to France after four years of captivity.

At the commencement of 1363 Edward the Black Prince was named Prince
of Aquitaine, and that province was bestowed upon him as a g