How a feast was held at Windsor in the year 1344; and of the men-at-arms sent by King Edward to Gascony and Brittany.

Now I'll return to the great feast at Windsor. It was a magnificent affair with splendid jousting, attended by a vast host of ladies and damsels and lords and knights and squires. And it witnessed the creation and establishment of a noble company of knights deemed truly worthy; it was modelled upon the Round Table, but I can't describe it in detail so I'll leave it at that.

To this feast at Windsor came new embassies to the king from the city of Bordeaux and the lords of gascony, requesting help and reinforcements. So before the feast was done he arranged which of his men should go to gascony and which should go to Brittany to aid the valiant Countess of Montfort, and how many troops he would send to each place. And he proposed that for his own part he would go to Flanders to see if he could have the county for his son the Prince of Wales, as previously suggested by Jacob van Artevelde, who planned to use his influence upon the Flemish towns in such a way that, when King Edward arrived in strength in the land, they would reject their lord and make the prince the Count of Flanders. The king had such faith in Jacob van Artevelde, who had long held sway in Flanders, that he made ready to sail to Sluys.