All the men of Martel who could carry arms joined the forces of King John,
who was defeated by the Black Prince at Poitiers. The consuls of Martel had
to pay heavy ransoms for their fellow-townsmen who fell into the hands
of the English. Notwithstanding the disaster at Poitiers, the Martellois
closed their gates and prepared for a siege, after having obtained from
the Viscount a company of crossbow-men to help them in the defence. But an
English garrison was soon established at Montvallent, only a few miles off,
and this fact seems to have demoralized the Martellois, who, after enduring
a few assaults, surrendered the town. The longest period of unbroken
English possession of Martel appears to have occurred after this surrender.
It is probable that the Senechaussee, which now exists under the name of
the Hotel de Ville, was commenced about this time, although the King of
England must have been represented in the town by his seneschal long
before. By the treaty passed between Henry III. and Reymond VI. of Turenne
in 1223, it was stipulated that the Viscount should pay homage to Henry,
but that the English officers should exercise no jurisdiction in the
viscounty, except in the town of Martel, where the King could hold his
assizes with the consent of the Viscount. It was, moreover, provided that
in the event of resistance on the part of his fiefs, the Viscount could
apply to the English seneschal at Martel for armed assistance. The burghers
were in the enjoyment of their political franchises from the year 1256.
They had town councillors, who elected four consuls every four years, who
represented the borough in the Etats Vicomtains--an assembly composed of
the principal landholders and dignitaries of the viscounty. The more they
tasted freedom the more the burghers felt disposed to quarrel with the
Viscount. In 1355 they sent a deputation to the Pope at Avignon begging
him to ask their lord if it was his wish that the town should retain its
privileges. The minutes of the municipal meeting, at which this decision
was come to, are in existence, and they show how the Romance language was
written at Martel in those days: