Chapter LXVII

A ROBBER OF THE NAME OF BACON DOES MUCH MISCHIEF IN LANGUEDOC, AND A PAGE OF THE NAME OF CROQUART TURNS ROBBER.

All this year of the truce, the kings remained at peace. But Lord William Douglas, and the Scots, who had taken refuge in the forest of Jedworth, carried on the war against the English, wherever they could meet with them. Those in Gascony, Poitou, and Saintonge, as well French as English, did not observe the truce any better, but conquered towns and castles from each other, by force or intrigue, and ruined and destroyed the country, day and night. There were frequently gallant deeds of arms performed, with alternate success.

Poor rogues took advantage of such times, and robbed both towns and castles; so that some of them, becoming rich, constituted themselves captains of bands of thieves. There were among them those worth forty thousand crowns. Their method was, to mark out the particular towns or castles, a day or two’s journey from each other: they then collected twenty or thirty robbers, and, travelling through by-roads in the night-time, entered the town or castle they had fixed on about daybreak, and set one of the houses on fire. When the inhabitants perceived it, they thought it had been a body of forces sent to destroy them, and took to their heels as fast as they could. The town of Donzere was treated in this manner; and many other towns and castles were taken, and afterwards ransomed. Among other robbers in Languedoc, one had marked out the strong castle of Cobourne in Limosin, which is situated in a very strong country. He set off in the night-time, with thirty companions, and took and destroyed it. He seized also the Lord of Cobourne, whom he imprisoned in his own castle, and put all his household to death. He kept him in prison until he ransomed himself for twenty-four thousand crowns, paid down. The robber kept possession of the castle and dependencies, which he furnished with provisions, and thence made war upon all the country round about. The King of France, shortly afterwards, was desirous of having him near his person. He purchased the castle for twenty thousand crowns, appointed him his usher at arms, and heaped on him many other honors. The name of this robber was Bacon; and he was always mounted on handsome horses, of a deep roan color, or on large palfreys, apparelled like an earl, and very richly armed; and this state he maintained as long as he lived.

There were similar disorders in Brittany; and robbers carried on the like methods of seizing and pillaging different towns and castles, and then selling them back again to the country at a dear rate; by which means many of their leaders became very rich. Among others there was one of the name of Croquart, who was originally but a poor boy, and had been page to the Lord d’Ercle in Holland. When this Croquart arrived at manhood, he had his discharge, and went to the wars in Brittany, where he attached himself to a man at arms, and behaved very well. It happened, that in some skirmish his master was taken and slain; when, in recompense for his prowess, his companions elected him their leader, in the place of his late master. He then made such profit by ransoms, and the taking of towns and castles, that he was said to be worth full forty thousand crowns, not including his horses, of which he had twenty or thirty, very handsome and strong, and of a deep roan color. He had the reputation of being the most expert man at arms of the country, was chosen to be one of the thirty that engaged against a similar number, and was the most active combatant on the side of the English. King John of France made him the offer of knighting him, and marrying him very richly, if he would quit the English party, and promised to give him two thousand livres a year; but Croquart would never listen to it. It chanced one day, as he was riding a young horse which he had just purchased for three hundred crowns, and was putting him to his full speed, that the horse ran away with him, and, in leaping a ditch, stumbled into it, and broke his master’s neck. Such was the end of Croquart.