Chapter 38 - Page 2

horseback, richly dressed, to support the Genoese. The king of France,
seeing them thus fall back, cried out, "Kill me those scoundrels,
for they stop up our road without any reason." You would then have
seen the above-mentioned men-at-arms lay about them, killing all
they could of these runaways.
The English continued shooting as vigorously and quickly as
before; some of their arrows fell among the horsemen who were
sumptuously equipped, and, killing and wounding many, made them
caper and fall among the Genoese, so that they were in such
confusion that they could never rally again. The valiant king of
Bohemia was slain there. He was called Charles of Luxembourg, for he
was the son of the gallant king and emperor, Henry of Luxembourg.
Having heard the order of the battle, he inquired where his son, the
lord Charles, was. His attendants answered that they did not know, but
believed he was fighting. The king said to them, "Gentlemen, you are
all my people, my friends and brethren at arms this day; therefore, as
I am blind, I request of you to lead me so far into the engagement
that I may strike one stroke with my sword." The knights replied
they would directly lead him forward; and in order that they might not
lose him in the crowd, they fastened all the reins of their horses
together, and put the king at their head, that he might gratify his
wish, and advanced towards the enemy. The lord Charles of Bohemia, who
already signed his name as king of Germany, and bore the arms, had
come in good order to the engagement; but when he perceived that it
was likely to turn against the French, he departed, and I do not
well know what road he took. The king, his father, had rode in among
the enemy, and made good use of his sword, for he and his companions
had fought most gallantly. They had advanced so far that they were all
slain; and on the morrow they were found on the ground, with their
horses all tied together.
The earl of Alencon advanced in regular order upon the English to
fight with them, as did the earl of Flanders in another part. These
two lords, with their detachments, coasting, as it were, the
archers, came to the prince's battalion, where they fought valiantly
for a length of time. The king of France was eager to march to the
place where, he saw their banners displayed, but there was a hedge
of archers before him. He had that day made a present of a handsome
black horse to Sir John of Hainault, who had mounted on it a knight of
his that bore his banner, which horse ran off with him and forced
his way through the English army, and, when about to return,
stumbled and fell into a ditch and severely wounded him. He would have
been dead if his page had not followed him round the battalions and
found him unable