Outside
Yanville there is a fine windmill, but it was demolished and torn down. Quite near there were two large villages called
Le Puiset where the vanguard stopped to eat. The
earl of Buckingham dined at
Outrouville and dismounted at the
house of the Templars. Those who were at
Le Puiset heard that there was a large tower situated there in which there were around sixty companions. So the vanguard could not stop themselves from marching to confront and attack them. They surrounded it completely for it stood on an open plain with little in the way of defence. The assault was fierce but short-lived because the archers were firing so incessantly that hardly anyone dared to appear at the turrets or on the battlements. The tower was captured and those within who were guarding it were killed or taken prisoner. The
English set fire to it, which caused the woodwork to collapse. They then hastily continued their march in order to leave
Beauce behind, for they were in desperate need of water for themselves and their horses, as they had come across only deep wells, and at these wells there were no pails. Thus they were dangerously short of water and remained so until they reached
Ormoy, where they encamped by the
river Venie and rested and refreshed themselves for two nights and a day. The following day they broke camp and came to
La Ferté-Villeneuil in the county of
Blois within sight of
Châteaudun. They encamped in the
forest of Marchenoir in
Blois and the whole host came to a halt, for it was a pleasant and appealing place they found there, where they rested and refreshed themselves for three days.
SHF 2-163 sync
How Gauvain Michaille, a Frenchman, jousted against Joachim Cator, an Englishman, and of the words king Charles uttered on his deathbed, and so on.
Within the
forest of Marchenoir there is a striking and beautiful abbey of monks of the Cistercian order, and this abbey is called
Petit Cîteaux. The abbey is filled with many grand and splendid edifices and was in earlier times founded and established by a valiant and noble man named the
count of Blois, who conferred generous revenues upon it, but they were greatly diminished and weakened by wars. The monks who were residing in the abbey at that time were caught unawares by the
English for they never expected that they would take that road. Yet they were thwarted, though the
earl of Buckingham issued a proclamation that on pain of death they should not perpetrate against the abbey any base act of arson or anything else, for on the feast of Our Lady in September he heard mass there, and remained there all day and held open court to the knights of his army. There it was ordained that
Gauvain Michaille, the Frenchman, and
Joachim Cator would finish their enterprise the next day. On that day the
English came to investigate the
castle of Marchenoir in the county of
Blois, where there is a splendid fortress and fine outlook. At that time the captain and warden of it was a knight of that country and of the county of
Blois named
Sir Guillaume de Saint-Martin, an astute and valiant man-at-arms, and he was ready and prepared to defend the castle with his companions should they have come under attack, but they did not.
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