Vow of the Heron

Part of the tactics used by Robert d’Artois to get Edward III to conduct his campaign against the French. One day, the expatriated French knight and count witnessed a hawk taking down a heron, and reportedly this gave him his idea. He had a heron cooked and prepared, led into the king’s hall led by guitarists, lutists, and two ladies of gentle birth. He presented the bird to Edward, exclaiming that since the heron was the most cowardly of all birds, it was appropriate that it should be presented to His Majesty, since Edward had allowed himself to be deprived of his Kingdom of France. Furious, the king vowed that he would indeed reclaim his throne of France, sending the bird around to secure vows of the knights present that they would also accompany him on this new campaign. It is not known whether this is actually what happened or if Edward engineered the event to capitalize on a public opportunity to make his designs on France known, but it is well within the capabilities of what we know of d’Artois to have engineered such a fiasco.