CHAP. LXXIX.
ESTIENNE DE VIGNOLLES, SURNAMED LA HIRE, SURPRISES AND TAKES THE TOWN OF LOUVIERS, IN NORMANDY.
IN these days, Estienne de Vignolles, surnamed La Hire, took the town of Louviers, in Normandy, by surprise, having entered it with scaling ladders. He had with him from five to six hundred men, who found therein such plenty that they were greatly enriched. On their entrance, about thirty townsmen, English and others, were killed. After the capture, the majority of the inhabitants took the oaths of allegiance, to whom La Hire restored their houses and the greater part of their effects: the rest saved themselves as well as they could, leaving their wealth behind them.
La Hire and his companions soon made a severe warfare on the districts around, and at times even advanced as far as Rouen. The poor people were much harrassed by them, to the great vexation of the English, for at the time they could not assist them by reason of the more weighty matters they had on hand.