the label of a battle.' In what was most likely an ambush by the English, Philip appears to have abandoned his baggage train in a wood as Richard approached, and escaped to a Saint-Hilaire chapel on Whitsun Eve. Philip's 'sudden departure', wrote historian John Gillingham, was 'the last straw for his troops, already demoralized by the threat to their supplies.' Richard proceeded to harry the retreating French soldiers, before entering Verneuil in triumph. The engagement at Fréteval has been described as 'a minor disaster' for the Philip, although probably more in political terms than military. One of the reasons kings of the period were so often adverse to pitched battles was the fact that they travelled as an itinerant government and nomadic treasury, which were too valuable to lose on the battlefield. And since kings of this period often travelled as peripatetic courts, Philip's baggage train contained not just personal effects, such as household furniture but the necessary paraphernalia for government and tax collecting. Among the French king's luggage, captured by the English, were his personal seal, and important archival documents such as financial records, domanial charters, payment inventories, and rent and toll receipts. Also captured was a great quantity of treasure, 'whose value was immense,' said one French chronicler. Philip beat a hasty retreat across the River Epte, and in doing so, the bridge collapsed under the weight of the retreating army. This apparently resulted in the French king getting soaked through, which one writer has described as 'a condition which delighted Richard.' The English King may have come 'within minutes' of capturing Philip, but, being overly-enthusiastic in his attempt to capture Philip, rode a great distance past the chapel where Philip was actually hiding, allowing him to escape. Aftermath The archives, it has been claimed, gave Richard the names and details of all of Philip's spies and agents in the duchy of Aquitane, as well as Angevin deserters to the French. And at least one contemporary chronicler, it has been said, "dwelt lovingly" on the French king's humiliation, whilst, possibly in retaliation, Philip sacked the town of Évreux, which was a possession of Philip's erstwhile ally, John, as well as local churches. French chroniclers however, and perhaps less surprisingly, tended to gloss over Philip's rout at Fréteval; one covered it in a single sentence. This was not unusual; small skirmishes like Fréteval were often recorded by chroniclers whose