by the time John II's letters reached Pamplona, the capital of Navarre, Charles and his army had already embarked with a course for the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. When the news reached Paris on 4 June it therefore became necessary to prepare the defences of Normandy. Two armies were formed. The largest, of which the Constable was given command, was to be stationed at Caen. He was also appointed one of three conciliators who were to meet with Charles of Navarre as soon as he landed and explain the king's new position. Charles of Navarre arrived at Cherbourg 5 July and the negotiations opened soon after. The result was the Treaty of Valognes sealed on 10 September. Included among the provisions of the treaty was that seven of Charles' walled towns and castles in Normandy should be nominally surrendered to the Constable. War in Toulouse In autumn 1355 the Constable was in the south where he, together with John I, Count of Armagnac, who commanded an army of local troops, and the Marshal Jean de Clermont were to defend against the expected invasion of the Edward, Prince of Wales. When the Prince of Wales struck in October it was further south than expected, in the County of Armagnac, rather than the Garonne valley. The three French commanders hurried south to Toulouse, where they prepared themselves for a siege. On 28 October the Prince crossed the Garonne and the Ariège, at places never before forded by horses, and marched north to within a few miles of Toulouse. Thinking the English might attempt to invest the city from both sides, the Constable left for Montauban to hold the crossings of the Tarn and the Garonne. Instead, the Prince continued eastward into lands previously untouched by the war and largely undefended. On 8 November he took Narbonne, but was now far away from home territory. The Constable and Armagnac followed him east and taking up camp at the town of Homps on the river Aude seem first to have intended to cut off retreat and force him to battle on their own terms. In the end, no battle took place, as the French commanders decided to withdraw west towards Toulouse. During the English return westward serious disagreements over strategy broke out in Toulouse. During the whole campaign Armagnac had insisted on avoiding battle at all cost, concentrating on defending the principal cities and