The treasury of Charles was as utterly drained as the treasury of Edward; and the kings were forced to a truce.
[Sidenote: The Social Strife] Only fourteen years had gone by since the Treaty of Bretigny raised England to a height of glory such as it had never known before.

But the years had been years of a shame and suffering which stung the people to madness.
Never had England fallen so low.

Her conquests were lost, her shores insulted, her commerce swept from the seas.

Within she was drained by the taxation and bloodshed of the war.

Its popularity had wholly died away.
When the Commons were asked in 1354 whether they would assent to a treaty of perpetual peace if they might have it, "the said Commons responded all, and all together, 'Yes, yes!'" The population was thinned by the ravages of pestilence, for till 1369, which saw its last visitation, the Black Death returned again and again.