at arms : he himfelf had left the country, and gone to France to the king. The prince and all the barons of Poitou were exafperated at this defe&ion. The vifcount de Rochechouart was alfo fufpe&ed ; and the prince, •being informed that he was about to change fides, fent for him to Angoulême, where he told him what he had heard. The vifcount denied it, and excufed himfelf as well as he could : notwithftand-ing this, he was committed a clofe prifoner, and remained a confiderable time in this dangerous fituation. Sir James Audley was at this period high fteward of Poitou, a right fage and valiant knight. He made preparations for a grand expedition. There were with him fir G uifcard d'Angle, fir Louis de Har-court, the lord de Pons, the lord de Partenay, the •lord de Pinane, fir Geoffry d*Argenton, fir Maubrun de Unieres, the lord de Tannaybouton, fir William de Montaudire, and many other knights and fquires of Poitou. They amounted in the whole to twelve hundred lances ; and there was alfo with them fir Baldwin Freville, high fteward of Saintonge. Thefe lords made Poitiers their place of rendez-vous: from that place they rode in grand array, and advanced until they entered Berry, where they began to burn and deftroy the country, and to pillage poor people, to whom they did great damage. They then returned to Touraine. Wherever they pafled, the countries fuffered moft exceedingly ; for none ventured to oppofe them, as they were in fuch force as to be matters of the country. Thefe men at 419