Navarre's partisans negotiated an alliance with Edward. The English had been preparing an expedition to Brittany under Henry, Earl of Lancaster, as part of the War of the Breton Succession; Edward diverted this to Normandy to support the French rebels. On 1 June an initial force of 140 men-at-arms, 200 archers and 1,400 horses left Southampton in 48 ships for the beaches near St. Vaast la Hogue in the north-east Cotentin, the same beaches on which the English had landed ten years earlier at the start of the Crécy campaign. Horses transported in the ships of the day needed several days rest to recover, otherwise they were liable to collapse, or even die, when ridden.