CHAP. LXVIII.
SIR JAMES DE HARCOURT MEETS A PARTY OF ENGLISH, AND IS DEFEATED WITH LOSS.—A HEAVY TAX LAID FOR A COINAGE TO SUPPLY THE TOWNS WITH CURRENT CASH.
SIR JAMES DE HARCOURT MEETS A PARTY OF ENGLISH, AND IS DEFEATED WITH LOSS.—A HEAVY TAX LAID FOR A COINAGE TO SUPPLY THE TOWNS WITH CURRENT CASH.
Aboutthis period, sir James de Harcourt, making an excursion with six or seven hundred combatants, was met by a party of English, who had accidentally assembled from Harques, Neuf-châtel, and the adjoining parts, to seek adventures on their enemies the Dauphinois. An obstinate battle ensued; but in the end the English gained the victory, and sir James lost from two to three hundred men in killed and prisoners: he himself and the greater part of the knights and esquires saved themselves by the fleetness of their horses. Among the prisoners was the lord de Verduisant, at that time one of the governors of St Valery for the dauphin. The English were joyful at their success, and returned to the places they had come from with their prisoners.
At this time there was imposed through many parts of the kingdom, and rigorously exacted, especially in the bailiwick of Amiens, a heavy tax, which had been granted by the three estates, at the request of the kings of France and of England. The object of this tax was to gather as much silver as possible, that a new coinage might be issued, to afford currency to the great towns; and it was collected from persons of all ranks, churchmen, knights, esquires, ladies, damsels, burghers, and from every one who were supposed to have wherewithal, according to the discretion and pleasure of the collectors, and whether they would or not. This gained them great hatred from every one whom they forced to pay. Among others, the bailiff of Amiens was much hated in his bailiwick, from a suspicion which had gone abroad, that he was the author of this heavy impost.