The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-28

The destruction of this fleet was the death blow to Prince Louis am- bition in England. where he had been King of the Barons for a little more than year. Peace was declared be- tween the two factions. and Prince Louis was honOrably escorted to the Seashore by the Earl Marshall of Eng land, and with his foreign associates sailed for France.
 The mariners of the "CinquePorts'' under the control of De Burgh had remained faithful to King John under all of his reverses, but later under his son Henry III, they transferred their support to the Barons, guarding the coasts so that no foreign allies could enter the country to assist the king against his turbulent Barons.
 During the later years of King Hen rvs reign, Prince Edward, in defense of his father attacked the "Cinque Ports and reduced them to subnis- sion.
 \ While Prince Edward was engaged in the crusade his father died. On ais return from Jerusalem. he arrived in Gascony nearly two years after his fathers death,. and not knowing the condition of affairs in England, and to guard against surprises of an unpleas- ant nature, he wrote to the Constable Of Dover Castle, Gas warden of the "Cinque Ports'D. to procure sh ps and galleys for the Kings passage, and to secretly apprize the Kings best and trustiest friends in these Ports, and cautiously make themselves ready for this service. And the constable was exhorted "to use circumspection and diligence in this natter
 During the reign of Edward l, 1272- 1907. the "Cinque Ports'' for gallant and meritorious conduct were granted new charter of liberties, confirming all of their former privileges and were conceded large exemptions from or dinary imports; for which, at the Kings summons, they were to fur nish fifty seven ships. well manned, for fifteen days, at their own cost. England and France were practically at peace but under strained relations, an English crew belonging to the "CinQue Ports" entered a port of Nor mandy to procure fresh water. the crew were attacked, and a Norman sailor killed. Burning with revenge, the Norman sailors put to sea. and lying in wait, seized the first English ship of inferior force they encounter ed. and hung some of the crew at the yard-arm with an equal number of dogs.
 Reprisals soon followed and the mariners of the "Cinque Ports' pur- sued their vengeance with relentless fury, hanging nearly every Norman they could take upon the seas.
 The Normans obtained assistance from the Genoese and the French. The English procured the aid of the Irish, Gascon and Dutch sailors. When ever these opposite parties met, they fought with deadly rancor, carrying on war without any commission from their respective. governments. The Normans secured a fleet of two hundred Or more vessels of all sizes swept the English Channel, captured or destroyed seventy of their merchant ships. plundered the seacoast of Cas- cony, an ally of the ''Cinque Ports," hanging many mariners. and then re- turned with the:r booty and cargoes to a port in Brittany.
 The mariners of the "Cinque Ports'' still acting under their own commis- sion. had gotten ready eighty stout ships of superior size, and manned with picked seamen, met the Nor mans off the coast of Brittany and desperate conflict ensued where ev cry man fought as in personal quar- rel: the English by their superior sea- manship and favored by fierce storm and a rough sea. gained complete victory, killing or drowning nearly ev- cry mariner on board, for no quarter was given in this savage war. Eight thousand Normans perished in this en- gagement, and one hundred and eighty ships were taken into port by the English.
 In 1297 Edward I, went on peace full mission to Flanders to cement an alliance with the Earl of that Pr0"ince accompanied by convoy of the marin CTS of the "Cnque Ports and the mariners of Yarmouth and other ports not under Royal charter. While in port, the pent up jealous.es, insults and quarrels that had been the heri- taee of these two branches of the ma rine service for more than two hun dred years, culminated in an inter necine strife unparalleled in English history. In spite of the Kings com mands. and in contempt of h,s pres ence. the two parties engaged in a five ships belonging to the Yarmouth side were burned and destroyed in this wild conflict. The feud continued in all of its bitter intensity till the reign of Edward III. grandson of Edward I. when in the year 1886 the King commanded delegates from both par ties to appear before the Kings coun- sel and there adjust their differences on pain of forfeiting all that they had to forfeit. Tn the year 1293, still under the reign of Edward I. the southern coast of England sent one of their galleys to Hythe. The port mar iners surprised and burned the galley and murdered the crew. In revenge the French commander sailed for Do- yer DlunQer0Q anu DuTuSO Cu0 lOWn and Pr:ory and massacred the women and children The men who had fled for succor to the nearby towns, return ed with endorsements and attacked the French who were still on shore and slew them like wild beasts.
 During the reign of Edward III, grandson of Edward I, while the King was in France with a powerful army the French fitted out a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships and attack ed Rye, Hastings and Winchelsea, killing all whom they found without regard to age or sex, except some of the women whom they reserved for worse fate.
 Before the French re-embarked they were attacked both by land and sea four hundred French were slain and thirteen vessels captured. Great in dignation and alarm was excited throughout England. All men between the ages of sixteen and sixty were called to arms. "The lustiest and best armed and the tall archers were sent to the Admirals of the "Cinque Ports' for the defense of the kingdom" The city of London fitted out fleet of eighty sailing vessels and secured the seas from Boulogne to Harfieur, and wasted Normandy from the Seine to BresIe.
 On the death of Edward III, his grandson Richard II, 1377-1399 (son of the Black Prince) ascended the throne at the age of eleven years. In Au- gust of that year. before Richard had been a month on the throne for midable fleet of French and Spanish