[Illustration: 1_265_henry6.jpg HENRY VI.]
HENRY VI.
CONTEMPORARY MONARCHS.
{1422.} During the reigns of the Lancastrian princes, the authority of
parliament seems to have been more confirmed, and the privileges of
the people more regarded, than during any former period; and the two
preceding kings, though men of great spirit and abilities, abstained
from such exertions of prerogative, as even weak princes, whose title
was undisputed, were tempted to think they might venture upon with
impunity. The long minority, of which there was now the prospect,
encouraged still further the lords and commons to extend their
influence; and without paying much regard to the verbal destination
of Henry V., they assumed the power of giving a new arrangement to the
whole administration. They declined altogether the name of “Regent” with
regard to England: they appointed the duke of Bedford “protector” or
“guardian” of that kingdom, a title which they supposed to imply less
authority: they invested the duke of Glocester with the same dignity
during the absence of his elder brother;[*] and in order to limit the
power of both these princes, they appointed a council, without whose
advice and approbation no measure of importance could be determined.[**]
The person and education of the infant prince were committed to Henry
Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, his great uncle, and the legitimated son
of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster; a prelate who, as his family could
never have any pretensions to the crown, might safely, they thought, be
intrusted with that important charge.[***]
* Rymer, vol. x. p. 261. Cotton, p. 564.
** Cotton, p. 564.
*** Hall, fol. 83. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 27.
The two princes, the dukes of Bedford and Glocester, who seemed injured
by this plan of government, yet, being persons of great integrity and
honor, acquiesced in any appointment which tended to give security
to the public; and as the wars in France appeared to be the object
of greatest moment, they avoided every dispute which might throw an
obstacle in the way of foreign conquests.
When the state of affairs between the English and French kings was
considered with a superficial eye, every advantage seemed to be on the
side of the former; and the total expulsion of Charles appeared to be an
event which might naturally be expected from the superior power of his
competitor. Though Henry was yet in his infancy, the administration was
devolved on the duke of Bedford, the most accomplished prince of his
age; whose experience, prudence, valor, and generosity qualified him
for his high office, and enabled him both to maintain union among his
friends, and to gain the confidence of his enemies. The whole power
of England was at his command; he was at the head of armies inured to
victory; he was seconded by the most renowned generals of the age, the
earls of Somerset, Warwick, Salisbury, Suffolk, and Arundel, Sir
John Talbot, and Sir John Fastolffe: and besides Guienne, the ancient
inheritance of England, he was master of the capital, and of almost
all the northern provinces, which were well enabled to furnish him with
supplies both of men and money, and to assist and support his English
forces.
But Charles, notwithstanding the present inferiority of his power,
possessed some advantages, derived partly from his situation, partly
from his personal character, which promised him success, and served,
first to control, then to overbalance, the superior force and opulence
of his enemies. He was the true and undoubted heir of the monarchy: all
Frenchmen, who knew the interests, or desired the independence, of
their country, turned their eyes towards him as its sole resource; the
exclusion given him by the imbecility of his father, and the forced or
precipitate consent of the states, had plainly no validity: that spirit
of faction which had blinded the people, could not long hold them in
so gross a delusion: their national and inveterate hatred against the
English, the authors of all their calamities, must soon revive, and
inspire them with indignation at bending their necks under the yoke of
that hostile people: great nobles and princes, accustomed to maintain
an independence against their native sovereigns, would never endure a
subjection to strangers; and though most of the princes of the blood
were, since the fatal battle of Azincour detained prisoners in England,
the inhabitants of their de mesnes, their friends their vassals, all
declared a zealous attachment to the king and exerted themselves in
resisting the violence of foreign invaders.
Charles himself, though only in his twentieth year, was of a character
well calculated to become the object of these benevolent sentiments;
and perhaps from the favor which naturally attends youth, was the more
likely, on account of his tender age, to acquire the good-will of
his native subjects. He was a prince of the most friendly and benign
disposition, of easy and familiar manners, and of a just and sound,
though not a very vigorous understanding. Sincere, generous, affable, he
engaged from affection the services of his followers, even while his low
fortunes might make it their interest to desert him; and the lenity of
his temper could pardon in them those sallies of discontent, to which
princes in his situation are so frequently exposed. The love of pleasure
often seduced him into indolence; but amidst all his irregularities, the
goodness of his heart still shone forth; and by exerting at intervals
his courage and activity, he proved that his general remissness
proceeded not from the want either of a just spirit of ambition, or of
personal valor.
Though the virtues of this amiable prince lay some time in obscurity,
the duke of Bedford knew that his title alone made him formidable, and
that every foreign assistance would be requisite, ere an English regent
could hope to complete the conquest of France; an enterprise which,
however it might seem to be much advanced, was still exposed to many
and great difficulties. The chief circumstance which had procured to the
English all their present advantages, was the resentment of the duke
of Burgundy against Charles; and as that prince seemed intent rather on
gratifying his passion than consulting his interests, it was the more
easy for the regent, by demonstrations of respect and confidence, to
retain him in the alliance of England. He bent, therefore, all his
endeavors to that purpose: he gave the duke every proof of friendship
and regard: he even offered him the regency of France, which Philip
declined: and that he might corroborate national connections by private
ties, he concluded his own marriage with the princess of Burgundy, which
had been stipulated by the treaty of Arras.
{1423.} Being sensible that, next to the alliance of Burgundy, the
friendship of the duke of Brittany was of the greatest importance
towards forwarding the English conquests; and that, as the provinces of
France, already subdued, lay between the dominions of these two princes,
he could never hope for any security without preserving his connections
with them; he was very intent on strengthening himself also from that
quarter. The duke of Brittany, having received many just reasons of
displeasure from the ministers of Charles, had already acceded to the
treaty of Troye, and had, with other vassals of the crown, done homage
to Henry V. in quality of heir to the kingdom: but as the regent knew
that the duke was much governed by his brother, the count of Richemont,
he endeavored to fix his friendship, by paying court and doing services
to this haughty and ambitious prince.
Arthur, count of Richemont, had been taken prisoner at the battle of
Azincour, had been treated with great indulgence by the late king, and
had even been permitted on his parole to take a journey into Brittany,
where the state of affairs required his presence. The death of that
victorious monarch happened before Richemont’s return; and this prince
pretended that, as his word was given personally to Henry V., he was not
bound to fulfil it towards his son and successor; a chicane which the
regent, as he could not force him to compliance, deemed it prudent
to overlook. An interview was settled at Amiens between the dukes of
Bedford, Burgundy, and Brittany, at which the count of Richemont was
also present:[*] the alliance was renewed between these princes: and
the regent persuaded Philip to give in marriage to Richemont his eldest
sister, widow of the deceased dauphin, Lewis, the elder brother of
Charles. Thus Arthur was connected both with the regent and the duke of
Burgundy, and seemed engaged by interest to prosecute the same object,
in forwarding the success of the English arms.
* Hall. fol. 84. Monstrelet, vol. i. p 4. Stowe, p. 364.
While the vigilance of the duke of Bedford was employed in gaining or
confirming these allies, whose vicinity rendered them so important, he
did not overlook the state of more remote countries. The duke of Albany,
regent of Scotland, had died: and his power had devolved on Murdac, his
son, a prince of a weak understanding and indolent disposition; who, far
from possessing the talents requisite for the government of that
fierce people, was not even able to maintain authority in his own
family, or restrain the petulance and insolence of his sons. The ardor
of the Scots to serve in France, where Charles treated them with great
honor and distinction, and where the regent’s brother enjoyed the
dignity of constable, broke out afresh under this feeble administration:
new succors daily came over, and filled the armies of the French king:
the earl of Douglas conducted a reënforcement of five thousand men
to his assistance: and it was justly to be dreaded that the Scots, by
commencing open hostilities in the north, would occasion a diversion
still more considerable of the English power, and would ease Charles, in
part, of that load by which he was at present so grievously oppressed.
The duke of Bedford, therefore, persuaded the English council to form an
alliance with James, their prisoner; to free that prince from his long
captivity; and to connect him with England by marrying him to a daughter
of the earl of Somerset, and cousin of the young king.[*] As the
Scottish regent, tired of his present dignity, which he was not able to
support, was now become entirely sincere in his applications for James’s
liberty, the treaty was soon concluded; a ransom of forty thousand
pounds was stipulated;[**] and the king of Scots was restored to the
throne of his ancestors, and proved, in his short reign, one of the
most illustrious princes that had ever governed that kingdom. He was
murdered, in 1437, by his traitorous kinsman the earl of Athole. His
affections inclined to the side of France; but the English had never
reason during his lifetime to complain of any breach of the neutrality
by Scotland.
* Hall, fol. 86. Stowe, p. 364. Grafton, p. 501.
* Rymer, vol. x. p. 299, 300, 326.
But the regent was not so much employed in these political negotiations
as to neglect the operations of war, from which alone he could hope
to succeed in expelling the French monarch. Though the chief seat of
Charles’s power lay in the southern provinces beyond the Loire, his
partisans were possessed of some fortresses in the northern, and even in
the neighborhood of Paris; and it behoved the duke of Bedford first
to clear these countries from the enemy, before he could think of
attempting more distant conquests. The Castle of Dorsoy was taken after
a siege of six weeks: that of Noyelle and the town of Rue, in Picardy,
underwent the same fate: Pont sur Seine, Vertus, Montaigu, were
subjected by the English arms: and a more considerable advantage was
soon after gained by the united forces of England and Burgundy. John
Stuart, constable of Scotland, and the lord of Estissac had formed the
siege of Crevant, in Burgundy: the earls of Salisbury and Suffolk,
with the count of Toulongeon, were sent to its relief: a fierce and
well-disputed action ensued; the Scots and French were defeated: the
constable of Scotland and the count of Ventadour were taken prisoners;
and above a thousand men, among whom was Sir William Hamilton, were left
on the field of battle.[*] The taking of Gaillon upon the Seine, and of
La Charité upon the Loire, was the fruit of this victory: and as
this latter place opened an entrance into the southern provinces, the
acquisition of it appeared on that account of the greater importance
to the duke of Bedford, and seemed to promise a successful issue to the
war.
* Hall, fol. 86. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 8. Holingshed, p.
586., Grafton, p. 500.
{1424.} The more Charles was threatened with an invasion in those
provinces which adhered to him, the more necessary it became that he
should retain possession of every fortress which he still held within
the quarters of the enemy. The duke of Bedford had besieged in person,
during the space of three months, the town of Yvri, in Normandy: and
the brave governor, unable to make any longer defence, was obliged to
capitulate; and he agreed to surrender the town, if, before a certain
term, no relief arrived. Charles, informed of these conditions,
determined to make an attempt for saving the place. He collected, with
some difficulty, an army of fourteen thousand men, of whom one half were
Scots; and he sent them thither under the command of the earl of Buchan,
constable of France; who was attended by the earl of Douglas, his
countryman, the duke of Alençon, the mareschal de la Fayette, the count
of Aumale, and the viscount of Narbonne. When the constable arrived
within a few leagues of Yvri, he found that he was come too late, and
that the place was already surrendered. He immediately turned to the
left, and sat down before Verneuil, which the inhabitants, in spite of
the garrison, delivered up to him.[*] Buchan might now have returned in
safety, and with the glory of making an acquisition no less important
than the place which he was sent to relieve: but hearing of Bedford’s
approach, he called a council of war, in order to deliberate concerning
the conduct which he should hold in this emergence.
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 14. Grafton, p. 504.
The wiser part of the council declared for a retreat; and represented,
that all the past misfortunes of the French had proceeded from their
rashness in giving battle when no necessity obliged them; that this
army was the last resource of the king, and the only defence of the few
provinces which remained to him; and that every reason invited him to
embrace cautious measures, which might leave time for his subjects to
return to a sense of their duty, and give leisure for discord to arise
among his enemies, who, being united by no common bond of interest or
motive of alliance, could not long persevere in their animosity against
him. All these prudential considerations were overborne by a vain point
of honor, not to turn their backs to the enemy; and they resolved to
await the arrival of the duke of Bedford.
The numbers were nearly equal in this action; and as the long
continuance of war had introduced discipline, which, however imperfect,
sufficed to maintain some appearance of order in such small armies, the
battle was fierce, and well disputed, and attended with bloodshed
on both sides. The constable drew up his forces under the walls of
Verneuil, and resolved to abide the attack of the enemy: but the
impatience of the viscount of Narbonne, who advanced precipitately, and
obliged the whole line to follow him in some hurry and confusion, was
the cause of the misfortune which ensued. The English archers, fixing
their palisadoes before them, according to their usual custom, sent
a volley of arrows amidst the thickest of the French army; and though
beaten from their ground, and obliged to take shelter among the baggage,
they soon rallied, and continued to do great execution upon the enemy.
The duke of Bedford, meanwhile, at the head of the men at arms, made
impression on the French, broke their ranks, chased them off the field,
and rendered the victory entirely complete and decisive.[*]
* Hall, fol. 83, 89, 90. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 15. Stowe,
p 365., Holingshed, p. 588.
The constable himself perished in battle as well as the earl of Douglas
and his son, the counts of Aumale, Tonnerre, and Ventadour, with many
other considerable nobility. The duke of Alençon, the mareschal de la
Fayette, the lords of Gaucour and Mortemar, were taken prisoners. There
fell about four thousand of the French, and sixteen hundred of the
English; a loss esteemed, at that time, so unusual on the side of
the victors, that the duke of Bedford forbade all rejoicings for his
success, Verneuil was surrendered next day by capitulation.[*]
* Monstrelet. vol. ii. p. 15.
The condition of the king of France now appeared very terrible, and
almost desperate. He had lost the flower of his army and the bravest
of his nobles in this fatal action: he had no resource either for
recruiting or subsisting his troops; he wanted money even for his
personal subsistence; and though all parade of a court was banished, it
was with difficulty he could keep a table, supplied with the plainest
necessaries, for himself and his few followers: every day brought
him intelligence of some loss or misfortune: towns which were bravely
defended, were obliged at last to surrender for want of relief or
supply: he saw his partisans entirely chased from all the provinces
which lay north of the Loire: and he expected soon to lose, by the
united efforts of his enemies, all the territories of which he had
hitherto continued master; when an incident happened which saved him
on the brink of ruin, and lost the English such an opportunity for
completing their conquests, as they never afterwards were able to
recall.
Jacqueline, countess of Hainault and Holland, and heir of these
provinces, had espoused John, duke of Brabant cousin-german to the
duke of Burgundy; but having made this choice from the usual motives of
princes, she soon found reason to repent of the unequal alliance. She
was a princess of a masculine spirit and uncommon understanding: the
duke of Brabant was of a sickly complexion and weak mind: she was in the
vigor of her age; he had only reached his fifteenth year: these
causes had inspired her with such contempt for her husband, which soon
proceeded to antipathy that she determined to dissolve a marriage,
where, it is probable, nothing but the ceremony had as yet intervened.
The court of Rome was commonly very open to applications of this nature,
when seconded by power and money; but as the princess foresaw great
opposition from her husband’s relations, and was impatient to effect her
purpose, she made her escape into England, and threw herself under
the protection of the duke of Glocester. That prince, with many noble
qualities had the defect of being governed by an impetuous temper and
vehement passions; and he was rashly induced, as well by the charms
of the countess herself, as by the prospect of possessing her rich
inheritance, to offer himself to her as a husband. Without waiting for
a papal dispensation; without endeavoring to reconcile the duke of
Burgundy to the measure; he entered into a contract of marriage with
Jaqueline, and immediately attempted to put himself in possession of
her dominions. Philip was disgusted with so precipitate a conduct: he
resented the injury done to the duke of Brabant, his near relation:
he dreaded to have the English established on all sides of him: and
he foresaw the consequences which must attend the extensive and
uncontrolled dominion of that nation, if, before the full settlement of
their power, they insulted and injured an ally to whom they had already
been so much indebted, and who was still so necessary for supporting
them in their further progress. He encouraged, therefore, the duke of
Brabant to make resistance: he engaged many of Jaqueline’s subjects to
adhere to that prince: he himself marched troops to his support: and as
the duke of Glocester still persevered in his purpose, a sharp war was
suddenly kindled in the Low Countries. The quarrel soon became personal
as well as political. The English prince wrote to the duke of Burgundy,
complaining of the opposition made to his pretensions; and though, in
the main, he employed amicable terms in his letter, he took notice of
some falsehoods into which, he said, Philip had been betrayed during
the course of these transactions. This unguarded expression was highly
resented: the duke of Burgundy insisted that he should retract it; and
mutual challenges and defiances passed between them on this occasion.[*]
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 19, 20, 21.
The duke of Bedford could easily foresee the bad effects of so ill-timed
and imprudent a quarrel. All the succors which he expected from England,
and which were so necessary in this critical emergence, were intercepted
by his brother, and employed in Holland and Hainault: the forces of the
duke of Burgundy, which he also depended on, were diverted by the
same wars: and besides this double loss, he was in imminent danger of
alienating forever that confederate whose friendship was of the utmost
importance, and whom the late king had enjoined him, with his
dying breath, to gratify by every mark of regard and attachment. He
represented all these topics to the duke of Glocester: he endeavored to
mitigate the resentment of the duke of Burgundy: he interposed with his
good offices between these princes, but was not successful in any of his
endeavors; and he found that the impetuosity of his brother’s temper
was still the chief obstacle to all accommodation.[*] For this reason,
instead of pushing the victory gained at Verneuil, he found himself
obliged to take a journey into England, and to try, by his counsels and
authority, to moderate the measures of the duke of Glocester.
There had likewise broken out some differences among the English
ministry, which had proceeded to great extremities, and which required
the regent’s presence to compose them.[**] The bishop of Winchester, to
whom the care of the king’s person and education had been intrusted,
was a prelate of great capacity and experience, but of an intriguing and
dangerous character; and as he aspired to the government of affairs,
he had continual disputes with his nephew the protector; and he gained
frequent advantages over the vehement and impolitic temper of that
prince.
{1425.} The duke of Bedford employed the authority of parliament to
reconcile them; and these rivals were obliged to promise, before that
assembly, that they would bury all quarrels in oblivion.[***] Time also
seemed to open expedients for composing the difference with the duke of
Burgundy. The credit of that prince had procured a bull from the pope;
by which not only Jaqueline’s contract with the duke of Glocester was
annulled, but it was also declared that, even in case of the duke
of Brabant’s death, it should never be lawful for her to espouse the
English prince. Humphrey, despairing of success, married another lady of
inferior rank, who had lived some time with him as his mistress.[****]
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 18.
** Stowe, p. 368. Holingshed, p. 530.
*** Hall, fol. 98, 99. Hollingshed, p. 593, 594. Polydore
Virgil, p. 466. Grafton, p. 512, 519.
**** Stowe, p 367.
The duke of Brabant died; and his widow, before she could recover
possession of her dominions, was obliged to declare the duke of Burgundy
her heir, in case she should die without issue, and to promise never to
marry without his consent. But though the affair was thus terminated
to the satisfaction of Philip, it left a disagreeable impression on his
mind: it excited an extreme jealousy of the English, and opened his eyes
to his true interests: and as nothing but his animosity against Charles
had engaged him in alliance with them, it counterbalanced that passion
by another of the same kind, which in the end became prevalent, and
brought him back, by degrees, to his natural connections with his family
and his native country.
About the same time, the duke of Brittany began to withdraw himself
from the English alliance. His brother, the count of Richemont, though
connected by marriage with the dukes of Burgundy and Bedford, was
extremely attached by inclination to the French interest; and he
willingly hearkened to all the advances which Charles made him for
obtaining his friendship. The staff of constable, vacant by the earl of
Buchan’s death, was offered him; and as his martial and ambitious temper
aspired to the command of armies, which he had in vain attempted to
obtain from the duke of Bedford, he not only accepted that office, but
brought over his brother to an alliance with the French monarch. The new
constable, having made this one change in his measures, firmly adhered
ever after to his engagements with France. Though his pride and
violence, which would admit of no rival in his master’s confidence,
and even prompted him to assassinate the other favorites, had so much
disgusted Charles, that he once banished him the court, and refused to
admit him to his presence, he still acted with vigor for the service of
that monarch, and obtained at last, by his perseverance, the pardon of
all past offences.
{1426.} In this situation, the duke of Bedford, on his return, found the
affairs of France, after passing eight months in England. The duke
of Burgundy was much disgusted. The duke of Brittany had entered into
engagements with Charles, and had done homage to that prince for his
duchy. The French had been allowed to recover from the astonishment
into which their frequent disasters had thrown them. An incident too
had happened, which served extremely to raise their courage. The earl of
Warwick had besieged Montargis with a small army of three thousand men,
and the place was reduced to extremity, when the bastard of Orleans
undertook to throw relief into it. This general, who was natural son to
the prince assassinated by the duke of Burgundy, and who was afterwards
created count of Dunois, conducted a body of one thousand six hundred
men to Montargis, and made an attack on the enemy’s trenches with so
much valor, prudence, and good fortune, that he not only penetrated into
the place, but gave a severe blow to the English, and obliged Warwick
to raise the siege.[*] This was the first signal action that raised the
fame of Dunois, and opened him the road to those great honors which he
afterwards attained.
But the regent, soon after his arrival, revived the reputation of the
English arms by an important enterprise which he happily achieved. He
secretly brought together, in separate detachments, a considerable
army to the frontiers of Brittany; and fell so unexpectedly upon that
province, that the duke, unable to make resistance, yielded to all the
terms required of him. he renounced the French alliance; he engaged to
maintain the treaty of Troye; he acknowledged the duke of Bedford
for regent of France; and promised to do homage for his duchy to King
Henry.[**] And the English prince, having thus freed himself from a
dangerous enemy who lay behind him, resolved on an undertaking, which,
if successful, would, he hoped, cast the balance between the two
nations, and prepare the way for the final conquest of France.
{1428.} The city of Orleans was so situated between the provinces
commanded by Henry, and those possessed by Charles, that it opened an
easy entrance to either; and as the duke of Bedford intended to make a
great effort for penetrating into the south of France, it behoved him to
begin with this place, which, in the present circumstances, was become
the most important in the kingdom. He committed the conduct of the
enterprise to the earl of Salisbury, who had newly brought him a
reënforcement of six thousand men from England, and who had much
distinguished himself by his abilities during the course of the present
war. Salisbury, passing the Loire, made himself master of several
small places, which surrounded Orleans on that side;[***] and as his
intentions were thereby known, the French king used every expedient
to supply the city with a garrison and provisions, and enable it to
maintain a long and obstinate siege.
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 32, 33. Holingshed, p. 597.
** Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 35, 36.
*** Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 38, 39. Polyd. Virg. p. 468.
The lord of Gaucour, a brave and experienced captain, was appointed
governor: many officers of distinction threw themselves into the place:
the troops which they conducted were inured to war, and were determined
to make the most obstinate resistance: and even the inhabitants,
disciplined by the long continuance of hostilities, were well qualified,
in their own defence, to second the efforts of the most veteran forces.
The eyes of all Europe were turned towards this scene; where, it was
reasonably supposed, the French were to make their last stand for
maintaining the independence of their monarchy, and the rights of their
sovereign.
The earl of Salisbury at last approached the place with an army, which
consisted only of ten thousand men; and not being able, with so small
a force, to invest so great a city, that commanded a bridge over the
Loire, he stationed himself on the southern side towards Sologne,
leaving the other, towards the Beausse, still open to the enemy. He
there attacked the fortifications which guarded the entrance to the
bridge; and, after an obstinate resistance, he carried several of them;
but was himself killed by a cannon ball as he was taking a view of the
enemy.[*]
* Hall, fol. 105. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 39., Stowe, p.
369. Hoingshed, p. 599. Grafton, p. 531.
The earl of Suffolk succeeded to the command; and being reënforced with
great numbers of English and Burgundians, he passed the river with the
main body of his army, and invested Orleans on the other side. As it
was now the depth of winter, Suffolk, who found it difficult, in that
season, to throw up intrenchments all around, contented himself, for the
present, with erecting redoubts at different distances, where his men
were lodged in safety, and were ready to intercept the supplies which
the enemy might attempt to throw into the place. Though he had several
pieces of artillery in his camp, (and this is among the first sieges
in Europe where cannon were found to be of importance,) the art of
engineering was hitherto so imperfect, that Suffolk trusted more to
famine than to force for subduing the city; and he purposed in
the spring to render the circumvallation more complete, by drawing
intrenchments from one redoubt to another. Numberless feats of valor
were performed both by the besiegers and besieged during the winter:
bold sallies were made, and repulsed with equal boldness: convoys were
sometimes introduced, and often intercepted: the supplies were still
unequal to the consumption of the place: and the English seemed
daily, though slowly, to be advancing towards the completion of their
enterprise.
{1429.} But while Suffolk lay in this situation, the French parties
ravaged all the country around; and the besiegers, who were obliged to
draw their provisions from a distance were themselves exposed to the
danger of want and famine. Sir John Fastolffe was bringing up a large
convoy of even kind of stores, which he escorted with a detachment of
two thousand five hundred men; when he was attacked by a body of four
thousand French, under the command of the counts of Clermont and Dunois.
Fastolffe drew up his troops behind the wagons; but the French generals,
afraid of attacking him in that posture, planted a battery of cannon
against him; which threw every thing into confusion, and would have
insured them the victory, had not the impatience of some Scottish
troops, who broke the line of battle, brought on an engagement, in which
Fastolffe was victorious. The count of Dunois was wounded; and about
five hundred French were left on the field of battle. This action, which
was of great importance in the present conjuncture, was commonly called
the battle of Herrings; because the convoy brought a great quantity of
that kind of provisions, for the use of the English army during the Lent
season.[*]
Charles seemed now to have but one expedient for saving this city, which
had been so long invested. The duke of Orleans, who was still prisoner
in England, prevailed on the protector and the council to consent that
all his demesnes should be allowed to preserve a neutrality during the
war, and should be sequestered, for greater security, into the hands
of the duke of Burgundy. This prince, who was much less cordial in the
English interests than formerly, went to Paris, and made the proposal to
the duke of Bedford; but the regent coldly replied, that he was not of a
humor to beat the bushes while others ran away with the game; an answer
which so disgusted the duke, that he recalled all the troops of Burgundy
that acted in the siege.[**]
* Hall, fol. 100. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 41, 42. Stowe, p.
369. Holingshed, p. 600. Polyd. Virg. p. 469. Grafton, p.
532.
** Hall, fol. 106. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 42. Stowe, p. 369.
Grafton, p. 533
This place, however, was every day more and more closely invested by
the English: great scarcity began already to be felt by the garrison and
inhabitants: Charles, in despair of collecting an army which should dare
to approach the enemy’s intrenchments, not only gave the city for lost,
but began to entertain a very dismal prospect with regard to the general
state of his affairs. He saw that the country in which he had hitherto
with great difficulty subsisted, would be laid entirely open to the
invasion of a powerful and victorious enemy; and he already entertained
thoughts of retiring with the remains of his forces into Languedoc and
Dauphiny, and defending himself as long as possible in those remote
provinces. But it was fortunate for this good prince that, as he lay
under the dominion of the fair, the women whom he consulted had the
spirit to support his sinking resolution in this desperate extremity.
Mary of Anjou, his queen, a princess of great merit and prudence,
vehemently opposed this measure, which, she foresaw, would discourage
all his partisans, and serve as a general signal for deserting a prince
who seemed himself to despair of success. His mistress too, the fair
Agnes Sorel, who lived in entire amity with the queen, seconded all her
remonstrances, and threatened that, if he thus pusillanimously threw
away the sceptre of France, she would seek in the court of England a
fortune more correspondent to her wishes. Love was able to rouse in the
breast of Charles that courage which ambition had failed to excite: he
resolved to dispute every inch of ground with an imperious enemy, and
rather to perish with honor in the midst of his friends, than yield
ingloriously to his bad fortune; when relief was unexpectedly brought
him by another female of a very different character, who gave rise to
one of the most singular revolutions that is to be met with in history.
In the village of Domremi, near Vaucouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine,
there lived a country girl of twenty-seven years of age, called Joan
d’Arc, who was servant in a small inn, and who in that station had been
accustomed to tend the horses of the guests, to ride them without a
saddle to the watering-place, and to perform other offices which, in
well frequented inns, commonly fall to the share of the men servants.[*]
* Hall, fol. 107. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 42. Grafton, p.
534.
This girl was of an irreproachable life, and had not hitherto been
remarked for any singularity; whether that she had met with no occasion
to excite her genius, or that the unskilful eyes of those who conversed
with her had not been able to discern her uncommon merit. It is easy to
imagine, that the present situation of France was an interesting object
even to persons of the lowest rank, and would become the frequent
subject of conversation: a young prince, expelled his throne by the
sedition of native subjects, and by the arms of strangers, could
not fail to move the compassion of all his people whose hearts were
uncorrupted by faction; and the peculiar character of Charles, so
strongly inclined to friendship and the tender passions, naturally
rendered him the hero of that sex whose generous minds know no bounds
in their affections. The siege of Orleans, the progress of the English
before that place, the great distress of the garrison and inhabitants,
the importance of saving this city and its brave defenders, had turned
thither the public eye; and Joan, inflamed by the general sentiment,
was seized with a wild desire of bringing relief to her sovereign in
his present distresses. Her unexperienced mind, working day and night
on this favorite object, mistook the impulses of passion for heavenly
inspirations; and she fancied that she saw visions, and heard voices,
exhorting her to reëstablish the throne of France, and to expel the
foreign invaders. An uncommon intrepidity of temper made her overlook
all the dangers which might attend her in such a path; and thinking
herself destined by Heaven to this office, she threw aside all that
bashfulness and timidity so natural to her sex, her years, and her low
station. She went to Vaucouleurs; procured admission to Baudricourt, the
governor; informed him of her inspirations and intentions; and conjured
him not to neglect the voice of God, who spoke through her, but to
second those heavenly revelations which impelled her to this glorious
enterprise. Baudricourt treated her at first with some neglect; but on
her frequent returns to him, and importunate solicitations, he began
to remark something extraordinary in the maid, and was inclined, at all
hazards, to make so easy an experiment. It is uncertain whether this
gentleman had discernment enough to perceive, that great use might be
made with the vulgar of so uncommon an engine; or, what is more likely
in that credulous age, was himself a convert to this visionary; but he
adopted at last the schemes of Joan; and he gave her some attendants,
who conducted her to the French court, which at that time resided at
Chinon.
It is the business of history to distinguish between the miraculous and
the marvellous; to reject the first in all narrations merely profane
and human; to doubt the second; and when obliged by unquestionable
testimony, as in the present case, to admit of something extraordinary,
to receive as little of it as is consistent with the known facts and
circumstances. It is pretended, that Joan, immediately on her admission,
knew the king, though she had never seen his face before, and though
he purposely kept himself in the crowd of courtiers, and had laid aside
every thing in his dress and apparel which might distinguish him: that
she offered him, in the name of the supreme Creator, to raise the siege
of Orleans, and conduct him to Rheims to be there crowned and anointed;
and on his expressing doubts of her mission, revealed to him, before
some sworn confidants, a secret which was unknown to all the world
beside himself, and which nothing but a heavenly inspiration could
have discovered to her: and that she demanded, as the instrument of her
future victories, a particular sword, which was kept in the church of
St. Catharine of Fierbois, and which, though she had never seen it, she
described by all its marks, and by the place in which it had long lain
neglected.[*] This is certain, that all these miraculous stories were
spread abroad, in order to captivate the vulgar. The more the king
and his ministers were determined to give into the illusion, the more
scruples they pretended. An assembly of grave doctors and theologians
cautiously examined Joan’s mission, and pronounced it undoubted
and supernatural. She was sent to the parliament, then residing at
Poictiers; and was interrogated before that assembly: the presidents,
the counsellors, who came persuaded of her imposture, went away
convinced of her inspiration. A ray of hope began to break through that
despair in which the minds of all men were before enveloped. Heaven
had now declared itself in favor of France, and had laid bare
its outstretched arm to take vengeance on her invaders. Few could
distinguish between the impulse of inclination and the force of
conviction; and none would submit to the trouble of so disagreeable a
scrutiny.
* Hall, fol. 107. Holingshed, p. 600.
After these artificial precautions and preparations had been for some
time employed, Joan’s requests were at last complied with: she was armed
cap-à-pie, mounted on horseback, and shown in that martial habiliment
before the whole people. Her dexterity in managing her steed, though
acquired in her former occupation, was regarded as a fresh proof of
her mission; and she was received with the loudest acclamations by the
spectators. Her former occupation was even denied: she was no longer the
servant of an inn. She was converted into a shepherdess, an employment
much more agreeable to the imagination. To render her still more
interesting, near ten years were subtracted from her age; and all
the sentiments of love and of chivalry were thus united to those of
enthusiasm, in order to inflame the fond fancy of the people with
prepossessions in her favor.
When the engine was thus dressed up in full splendor, it was determined
to essay its force against the enemy. Joan was sent to Blois, where a
large convoy was prepared for the supply of Orleans, and an army of ten
thousand men, under the command of St. Severe, assembled to escort it.
She ordered all the soldiers to confess themselves before they set out
on the enterprise: she banished from the camp all women of bad fame: she
displayed in her hands a consecrated banner, where the Supreme Being was
represented, grasping the globe or earth, and surrounded with flower
de luces. And she insisted, in right of her prophetic mission, that the
convoy should enter Orleans by the direct road from the side of Beausse:
but the count of Dunois, unwilling to submit the rules of the military
art to her inspirations, ordered it to approach by the other side of the
river, where he knew the weakest part of the English army was stationed.
Previous to this attempt, the maid had written to the regent, and to
the English generals before Orleans, commanding them, in the name of the
omnipotent Creator, by whom she was commissioned, immediately to
raise the siege; and to evacuate France; and menacing them with divine
vengeance in case of their disobedience. All the English affected to
speak with derision of the maid, and of her heavenly commission; and
said, that the French king was now indeed reduced to a sorry pass,
when he had recourse to such ridiculous expedients: but they felt their
imagination secretly struck with the vehement persuasion which prevailed
in all around them; and they waited with an anxious expectation, not
unmixed with horror, for the issue of these extraordinary preparations.
As the convoy approached the river, a sally was made by the garrison
on the side of Beausse, to prevent the English general from sending any
detachment to the other side: the provisions were peaceably embarked in
boats, which the inhabitants of Orleans had sent to receive them: the
maid covered with her troops the embarkation: Suffolk did not venture
to attack her: and the French general carried back the army in safety
to Blois; an alteration of affairs which was already visible to all the
world, and which had a proportional effect on the minds of both parties.
The maid entered the city of Orleans, arrayed in her military garb, and
displaying her consecrated standard; and was received as a celestial
deliverer by all the inhabitants. They now believed themselves
invincible under her influence; and Dunois himself, perceiving such a
mighty alteration both in friends and foes, consented, that the next
convoy, which was expected in a few days, should enter by the side of
Beausse. The convoy approached: no sign of resistance appeared in the
besiegers: the wagons and troops passed without interruption between the
redoubts of the English: a dead silence and astonishment reigned among
those troops, formerly so elated with victory, and so fierce for the
combat.
The earl of Suffolk was in a situation very unusual and extraordinary,
and which might well confound the man of the greatest capacity and
firmest temper. He saw his troops overawed, and strongly impressed
with the idea of a divine influence accompanying the maid. Instead of
banishing these vain terrors by hurry, and action, and war, he waited
till the soldiers should recover from the panic; and he thereby gave
leisure for those prepossessions to sink still deeper into their minds.
The military maxims which are prudent in common cases, deceived him in
these unaccountable events. The English felt their courage daunted and
overwhelmed; and thence inferred a divine vengeance hanging over
them. The French drew the same inference from an inactivity so new and
unexpected. Every circumstance was now reversed in the opinions of
men, on which all depends: the spirit resulting from a long course of
uninterrupted success, was on a sudden transferred from the victors to
the vanquished.
The maid called aloud, that the garrison should remain no longer on the
defensive; and she promised her followers the assistance of Heaven in
attacking those redoubts of the enemy which had so long kept them in
awe, and which they had never hitherto dared to insult. The generals
seconded her ardor: an attack was made on one redoubt, and it proved
successful:[*] all the English who defended the intrenchments were put
to the sword or taken prisoners: and Sir John Talbot himself, who had
drawn together, from the other redoubts, some troops to bring them
relief, durst not appear in the open field against so formidable an
enemy.
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 45.
Nothing, after this success, seemed impossible to the maid and her
enthusiastic votaries. She urged the generals to attack the main body
of the English in their intrenchments, but Dunois, still unwilling to
hazard the fate of France by too great temerity, and sensible that the
least reverse of fortune would make all the present visions evaporate,
and restore every thing to its former condition, checked her vehemence
and proposed to her first to expel the enemy from their forts on the
other side of the river, and thus lay the communication with the country
entirely open, before she attempted any more hazardous enterprise. Joan
was persuaded, and these forts were vigorously assailed. In one attack
the French were repulsed; the maid was left almost alone; she was
obliged to retreat, and join the runaways; but, displaying her sacred
standard, and animating them with her countenance, her gestures, her
exhortations, she led them back to the charge, and overpowered the
English in their intrenchments. In the attack of another fort, she was
wounded in the neck with an arrow; she retreated a moment behind the
assailants; she pulled out the arrow with her own hands; she had the
wound quickly dressed; and she hastened back to head the troops, and to
plant her victorious banner on the ramparts of the enemy.
By all these successes, the English were entirely chased from their
fortifications on that side: they had lost above six thousand men in
these different actions; and, what was still more important, their
wonted courage and confidence were wholly gone, and had given place to
amazement and despair. The maid returned triumphant over the bridge, and
was again received as the guardian angel of the city. After performing
such miracles, she convinced the most obdurate incredulity of her divine
mission: men felt themselves animated as by a superior energy, and
thought nothing impossible to that divine hand which so visibly
conducted them. It was in vain even for the English generals to oppose
with their soldiers the prevailing opinion of supernatural influence:
they themselves were probably moved by the same belief: the utmost they
dared to advance was, that Joan was not an instrument of God; she was
only the implement of the devil: but as the English had felt, to their
sad experience, that the devil might be allowed sometimes to prevail,
they derived not much consolation from the enforcing of this opinion.
It might prove extremely dangerous for Suffolk, with such intimidated
troops, to remain any longer in the presence of so courageous and
victorious an enemy; he therefore raised the siege, and retreated
with all the precaution imaginable. The French resolved to push their
conquests, and to allow the English no leisure to recover from their
consternation. Charles formed a body of six thousand men, and sent them
to attack Jergeau, whither Suffolk had retired with a detachment of his
army. The siege lasted ten days; and the place was obstinately defended.
Joan displayed her wonted intrepidity on the occasion. She descended
into the fosse, in leading the attack: and she there received a blow
on the head with a stone, by which she was confounded and beaten to
the ground: but she soon recovered herself, and in the end rendered the
assault successful: Suffolk was obliged to yield himself prisoner to a
Frenchman called Renaud; but before he submitted, he asked his adversary
whether he were a gentleman. On receiving a satisfactory answer, he
demanded whether he were a knight. Renaud replied, that he had not yet
attained that honor. “Then I make you one,” replied Suffolk; upon
which he gave him the blow with his sword which dubbed him into that
fraternity; and he immediately surrendered himself his prisoner.
The remainder of the English army was commanded by Fastolffe, Scales,
and Talbot, who thought of nothing but of making their retreat, as
soon as possible, into a place of safety; while the French esteemed the
overtaking them equivalent to a victory; so much had the events which
passed before Orleans altered every thing between the two nations! The
vanguard of the French under Richemont and Xaintrailles attacked the
rear of the enemy at the village of Patay. The battle lasted not a
moment: the English were discomfited and fled: the brave Fastolffe
himself showed the example of flight to his troops; and the order of
the garter was taken from him, as a punishment for this instance of
cowardice.[*] Two thousand men were killed in this action, and both
Talbot and Scales taken prisoners.
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 46.
In the account of all these successes, the French writers, to magnify
the wonder, represent the maid (who was now known by the appellation of
“the Maid of Orleans”) as not only active in combat, but as performing
the office of general; directing the troops, conducting the military
operations, and swaying the deliberations in all councils of war. It is
certain that the policy of the French court endeavored to maintain this
appearance with the public: but it is much more probable, that Dunois
and the wiser commanders prompted her in all her measures, than that a
country girl, without experience of education, could on a sudden become
expert in a profession which requires more genius and capacity than
any other active scene of life. It is sufficient praise, that she could
distinguish the persons on whose judgment she might rely; that she
could seize their hints and suggestions, and on a sudden, deliver
their opinions as her own; and that she could curb, on occasion, that
visionary and enthusiastic spirit with which she was actuated, and could
temper it with prudence and discretion.
The raising of the siege of Orleans was one part of the maid’s promise
to Charles: the crowning of him at Rheims was the other: and she now
vehemently insisted that he should forthwith set out on that enterprise.
A few weeks before, such a proposal would have appeared the most
extravagant in the world. Rheims lay in a distant quarter of the
kingdom; was then in the hands of a victorious enemy; the whole road
which led to it was occupied by their garrisons; and no man could be so
sanguine as to imagine that such an attempt could so soon come within
the bounds of possibility. But as it was extremely the interest of
Charles to maintain the belief of something extraordinary and divine in
these events, and to avail himself of the present consternation of
the English, he resolved to follow the exhortations of his warlike
prophetess, and to lead his army upon this promising adventure. Hitherto
he had kept remote from the scene of war: as the safety of the state
depended upon his person, he had been persuaded to restrain his military
ardor: but observing this prosperous turn of affairs, he now determined
to appear at the head of his armies, and to set the example of valor
to all his soldiers, And the French nobility saw at once their young
sovereign assuming a new and more brilliant character, seconded by
fortune, and conducted by the hand of Heaven, and they caught fresh zeal
to exert themselves in replacing him on the throne of his ancestors.
Charles set out for Rheims at the head of twelve thousand men: he passed
by Troye, which opened its gates to him; Chalons imitated the example:
Rheims sent him a deputation with its keys, before his approach to it:
and he scarcely perceived, as he passed along, that he was marching
through an enemy’s country. The ceremony of his coronation was here
performed[*] with the holy oil, which a pigeon had brought to King
Clovis from heaven, on the first establishment of the French monarchy:
the maid of Orleans stood by his side in complete armor, and displayed
her sacred banner, which had so often dissipated and confounded his
fiercest enemies: and the people shouted with the most unfeigned joy,
on viewing such a complication of wonders. After the completion of the
ceremony, the maid threw herself at the king’s feet, embraced his knees,
and with a flood of tears, which pleasure and tenderness extorted from
her, she congratulated him on this singular and marvellous event.
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 48.
Charles, thus crowned and anointed, became more respectable in the eyes
of all his subjects, and seemed, in a manner, to receive anew, from a
heavenly commission, his title to their allegiance. The inclinations
of men swaying their belief, no one doubted of the inspirations and
prophetic spirit of the maid: so many incidents which passed all human
comprehension, left little room to question a superior influence: and
the real and undoubted facts brought credit to every exaggeration,
which could scarcely be rendered more wonderful. Laon, Soissons,
Chateau-Thierri, Provins, and many other towns and fortresses in that
neighborhood, immediately after Charles’s coronation, submitted to him
on the first summons; and the whole nation was disposed to give him the
most zealous testimonies of their duty and affection.
Nothing can impress us with a higher idea of the wisdom, address, and
resolution of the duke of Bedford, than his being able to maintain
himself in so perilous a situation, and to preserve some footing in
France, after the defection of so many places, and amidst the universal
inclination of the rest to imitate that contagious example. This prince
seemed present every where by his vigilance and foresight: he employed
every resource which fortune had yet left him: he put all the English
garrisons in a posture of defence: he kept a watchful eye over every
attempt among the French towards an insurrection: he retained the
Parisians in obedience, by alternately employing caresses and severity:
and knowing that the duke of Burgundy was already wavering in his
fidelity, he acted with so much skill and prudence, as to renew, in
this dangerous crisis, his alliance with that prince; an alliance of the
utmost importance to the credit and support of the English government.
The small supplies which he received from England set the talents of
this great man in a still stronger light. The ardor of the English for
foreign conquests was now extremely abated by time and reflection: the
parliament seems even to have become sensible of the danger which might
attend their further progress: no supply of money could be obtained by
the regent during his greatest distresses: and men enlisted slowly under
his standard, or soon deserted, by reason of the wonderful accounts
which had reached England, of the magic and sorcery, and diabolical
power of the maid of Orleans.[*] It happened fortunately, in this
emergency, that the bishop of Winchester, now created a cardinal, landed
at Calais with a body of five thousand men, which he was conducting into
Bohemia, on a crusade against the Hussites. He was persuaded to lend
these troops to his nephew during the present difficulties;[**] and the
regent was thereby enabled to take the field, and to oppose the French
king, who was advancing with his army to the gates of Paris.
The extraordinary capacity of the duke of Bedford appeared also in his
military operations. He attempted to restore the courage of his troops
by boldly advancing to the face of the enemy; but he chose his posts
with so much caution, as always to decline a combat, and to render it
impossible for Charles to attack him. He still attended that prince in
all his movements; covered his own towns and garrisons; and kept himself
in a posture to reap advantage from every imprudence or false step of
the enemy. The French army, which consisted mostly of volunteers, who
served at their own expense, soon after retired and was disbanded:
Charles went to Bourges, the ordinary place of his residence; but not
till he made himself master of Compiegne, Beauvais, Senlis, Sens, Laval,
Lagni, St. Denis, and of many places in the neighborhood of Paris, which
the affections of the people had put into his hands.
{1430.} The regent endeavored to revive the declining state of his
affairs, by bringing over the young king of England, and having him
crowned and anointed at Paris,[***] All the vassals of the crown
who lived within the provinces possessed by the English, swore anew
allegiance, and did homage to him.
* Rymer, vol. x. p. 459, 472.
** Rymer, vol. x. p. 421.
*** Rymer, vol. x. p 432.
But this ceremony was cold and insipid, compared with the lustre which
had attended the coronation of Charles at Rheims; and the duke of
Bedford expected more effect from an accident, which put into his hands
the person that had been the author of all his calamities.
The maid of Orleans, after the coronation of Charles, declared to the
count of Dunois that her wishes were now fully gratified, and that she
had no further desire than to return to her former condition, and to the
occupation and course of life which became her sex: but that nobleman,
sensible of the great advantages which might still be reaped from her
presence in the army, exhorted her to persevere, till, by the final
expulsion of the English, she had brought all her prophecies to their
full completion. In pursuance of this advice, she threw herself into
the town of Compiegne, which was at that time besieged by the duke
of Burgundy, assisted by the earls of Arundel and Suffolk; and the
garrison, on her appearance, believed themselves thenceforth invincible.
But their joy was of short duration. The maid, next day after her
arrival, headed a sally upon the quarters of John of Luxembourg; she
twice drove the enemy from their intrenchments; finding their numbers to
increase every moment, she ordered a retreat; when hard pressed by the
pursuers, she turned upon them, and made them again recoil; but being
here deserted by her friends, and surrounded by the enemy, she was
at last, after exerting the utmost valor, taken prisoner by the
Burgundians.[*] The common opinion was, that the French officers,
finding the merit of every victory ascribed to her, had, in envy to
her renown, by which they were themselves so much eclipsed, willingly
exposed her to this fatal accident.
* Stowe, p. 371.
The envy of her friends, on this occasion, was not a greater proof of
her merit than the triumph of her enemies. A complete victory would not
have given more joy to the English and their partisans. The service
of Te Deum, which has so often been profaned by princes, was publicly
celebrated on this fortunate event at Paris. The duke of Bedford fancied
that, by the captivity of that extraordinary woman, who had blasted all
his successes, he should again recover his former ascendant over France;
and to push farther the present advantage, he purchased the captive from
John of Luxembourg, and formed a prosecution against her, which,
whether it proceeded from vengeance or policy, was equally barbarous and
dishonorable.
{1431.} There was no possible reason why Joan should not be regarded as
a prisoner of war, and be entitled to all the courtesy and good usage
which civilized nations practise towards enemies on these occasions. She
had never, in her military capacity, forfeited, by any act of treachery
or cruelty, her claim to that treatment: she was unstained by any civil
crime: even the virtues and the very decorums of her sex had ever been
rigidly observed by her: and though her appearing in war, and leading
armies to battle, may seem an exception, she had thereby performed such
signal service to her prince, that she had abundantly compensated for
this irregularity; and was, on that very account, the more an object
of praise and admiration. It was necessary, therefore, for the duke of
Bedford to interest religion some way in the prosecution, and to cover
under that cloak his violation of justice and humanity.
[Illustration: 1_272_joan_d’arc.jpg JOAN D’ARC
The bishop of Beauvais, a man wholly devoted to the English interests,
presented a petition against Joan, on pretence that she was taken
within the bounds of his diocese; and he desired to have her tried by
an ecclesiastical court for sorcery, impiety, idolatry, and magic: the
university of Paris was so mean as to join in the same request: several
prelates, among whom the cardinal of Winchester was the only Englishman,
were appointed her judges: they held their court in Rouen, where the
young king of England then resided: and the maid, clothed in her former
military apparel, but loaded with irons, was produced before this
tribunal.
She first desired to be eased of her chains: her judges answered, that
she had once already attempted an escape by throwing herself from a
tower: she confessed the fact, maintained the justice of her intention,
and owned that, if she could, she would still execute that purpose.
All her other speeches showed the same firmness and intrepidity: though
harassed with interrogatories during the course of near four months, she
never betrayed any weakness or womanish submission; and no advantage was
gained over her. The point which her judges pushed most vehemently, was
her visions and revelations, and intercourse with departed saints; and
they asked her, whether she would submit to the church the truth of
these inspirations: she replied, that she would submit them to God,
the fountain of truth. They then exclaimed, that she was a heretic,
and denied the authority of the church. She appealed to the pope: they
rejected her appeal.
They asked her, why she put trust in her standard, which had been
consecrated by magical incantations: she replied that she put trust
in the Supreme Being alone, whose image was impressed upon it. They
demanded, why she carried in her hand that standard at the anointment
and coronation of Charles at Rheims: she answered, that the person who
had shared the danger was entitled to share the glory. When accused
of going to war, contrary to the decorums of her sex, and of assuming
government and command over men, she scrupled not to reply, that her
sole purpose was to defeat the English, and to expel them the kingdom.
In the issue, she was condemned for all the crimes of which she had
been accused, aggravated by heresy; her revelations were declared to be
inventions of the devil to delude the people; and she was sentenced to
be delivered over to the secular arm.
Joan, so long surrounded by inveterate enemies, who treated her with
every mark of contumely; browbeaten and overawed by men of superior
rank, and men invested with the ensigns of a sacred character, which
she had been accustomed to revere, felt her spirit at last subdued; and
those visionary dreams of inspiration, in which she had been buoyed up
by the triumphs of success and the applauses of her own party, gave
way to the terrors of that punishment to which she was sentenced.
She publicly declared herself willing to recant: she acknowledged the
illusion of those revelations which the church had rejected; and she
promised never more to maintain them. Her sentence was then mitigated:
she was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and to be fed during life
on bread and water.
Enough was now done to fulfil all political views, and to convince both
the French and the English, that the opinion of divine influence, which
had so much encouraged the one and daunted the other, was entirely
without foundation. But the barbarous vengeance of Joan’s enemies was
not satisfied with this victory. Suspecting that the female dress, which
she had now consented to wear, was disagreeable to her, they purposely
placed in her apartment a suit of men’s apparel; and watched for the
effects of that temptation upon her. On the sight of a dress in which
she had acquired so much renown, and which, she once believed, she
wore by the particular appointment of Heaven, all her former ideas and
passions revived; and she ventured in her solitude to clothe herself
again in the forbidden garment. Her insidious enemies caught her in that
situation: her fault was interpreted to be no less than a relapse into
heresy: no recantation would now suffice; and no pardon could be granted
her. She was condemned to be burned in the market-place of Rouen; and
the infamous sentence was accordingly executed. This admirable heroine,
to whom the more generous superstition of the ancients would have
erected altars, was, on pretence of heresy and magic, delivered over
alive to the flames, and expiated, by that dreadful punishment, the
signal services which she had rendered to her prince and to her native
country.
{1432.} The affairs of the English, far from being advanced by this
execution, went every day more and more to decay: the great abilities of
the regent were unable to resist the strong inclination which had seized
the French to return under the obedience of their rightful sovereign,
and which that act of cruelty was ill fitted to remove. Chartres was
surprised, by a stratagem of the count of Dunois: a body of the English,
under Lord Willoughby, was defeated at St. Celerin upon the Sarte:[*]
the fair in the suburbs of Caen, seated in the midst of the English
territories, was pillaged by De Lore, a French officer: the duke of
Bedford himself was obliged by Dunois to raise the siege of Lagni with
some loss of reputation: and all these misfortunes, though light, yet
being continued and uninterrupted, brought discredit on the English,
and menaced them with an approaching revolution. But the chief detriment
which the regent sustained, was by the death of his duchess, who had
hitherto preserved some appearance of friendship between him and her
brother, the duke of Burgundy:[**] and his marriage, soon afterwards,
with Jaqueline of Luxembourg, was the beginning of a breach between
them.[***] Philip complained, that the regent had never had the civility
to inform him of his intentions, and that so sudden a marriage was a
slight on his sister’s memory.
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 100.
** Monstrolet, vol. ii. p. 87.
*** Stowe, p. 373. Grafton, p. 554.
The cardinal of Winchester meditated a reconciliation between these
princes, and brought both of them to St. Omers for that purpose. The
duke of Bedford here expected the first visit, both as he was son,
brother, and uncle to a king, and because he had already made such
advances as to come into the duke of Burgundy’s territories, in order
to have an interview with him: but Philip, proud of his great power and
independent dominions, refused to pay this compliment to the regent; and
the two princes, unable to adjust the ceremonial, parted without seeing
each other.[*] A bad prognostic of their cordial intentions to renew
past amity!
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 90. Grafton, p. 561.
Nothing could be more repugnant to the interests of the house of
Burgundy, than to unite the crowns of France and England on the same
head; an event which, had it taken place, would have reduced the duke
to the rank of a petty prince, and have rendered his situation entirely
dependent and precarious. The title also to the crown of France, which,
after the failure of the elder branches, might accrue to the duke or his
posterity, had been sacrificed by the treaty of Troye; and strangers and
enemies were thereby irrevocably fixed upon the throne. Revenge alone
had carried Philip into these impolitic measures; and a point of honor
had hitherto induced him to maintain them. But as it is the nature of
passion gradually to decay, while the sense of interest maintains
a permanent influence and authority, the duke had, for some years,
appeared sensibly to relent in his animosity against Charles, and to
hearken willingly to the apologies made by that prince for the murder of
the late duke of Burgundy. His extreme youth was pleaded in his favor;
his incapacity to judge for himself; the ascendant gained over him by
his ministers; and his inability to resent a deed which, without his
knowledge, had been perpetrated by those under whose guidance he was
then placed. The more to flatter the pride of Philip, the king of France
had banished from his court and presence Tanegui de Chatel, and all
those who were concerned in that assassination; and had offered to make
every other atonement which could be required of him. The distress which
Charles had already suffered, had tended to gratify the duke’s revenge;
the miseries to which France had been so long exposed, had begun to move
his compassion; and the cries of all Europe admonished him, that his
resentment, which might hitherto be deemed pious, would, if carried
further, be universally condemned as barbarous and unrelenting. While
the duke was in this disposition, every disgust which he received from
England made a double impression upon him; the entreaties of the count
of Richemont and the duke of Bourbon, who had married his two sisters,
had weight; and he finally determined to unite himself to the royal
family of France, from which his own was descended.
{1435.} For this purpose, a congress was appointed at Arras under the
mediation of deputies from the pope and the council of Basle: the duke
of Burgundy came thither in person: the duke of Bourbon, the count of
Richemont, and other persons of high rank, appeared as ambassadors from
France: and the English having also been invited to attend, the cardinal
of Winchester, the bishops of Norwich and St. David’s, the earls of
Huntingdon and Suffolk, with others, received from the protector and
council a commission for that purpose.[*]
The conferences were held in the abbey of St. Vaast, and began with
discussing the proposals of the two crowns which were so wide of each
other as to admit of no hopes of accommodation. France offered to cede
Normandy with Guienne, but both of them loaded with the usual homage
and vassalage to the crown. As the claims of England upon France were
universally unpopular in Europe, the mediators declared the offers of
Charles very reasonable, and the cardinal of Winchester, with the
other English ambassadors, without giving a particular detail of their
demands, immediately left the congress. There remained nothing but to
discuss the mutual pretensions of Charles and Philip. These were easily
adjusted: the vassal was in a situation to give law to his superior; and
he exacted conditions which, had it not been for the present
necessity, would have been deemed, to the last degree, dishonorable
and disadvantageous to the crown of France. Besides making repeated
atonements and acknowledgments for the murder of the duke of Burgundy,
Charles was obliged to cede all the towns of Picardy which lay between
the Somme and the Low Countries; he yielded several other territories;
he agreed that these and all the other dominions of Philip should be
held by him, during his life, without doing any homage, or swearing
fealty to the present king; and he freed his subjects from all
obligations to allegiance, if ever he infringed this treaty.[**] Such
were the conditions upon which France purchased the friendship of the
duke of Burgundy.
* Rymer, vol. x. p. 611, 612.
** Monstrelet, vol ii. p. 112. Grafton, p. 565.
The duke sent a herald to England with a letter, in which he notified the
conclusion of the treaty of Arras, and apologized for his departure from
that of Troye. The council received the herald with great coldness: they
even assigned him his lodgings in a shoemaker’s house, by way of insult;
and the populace were so incensed, that if the duke of Glocester had not
given him guards, his life had been exposed to danger when he appeared
in the streets. The Flemings, and other subjects of Philip, were
insulted, and some of them murdered by the Londoners; and every thing
seemed to tend towards a rupture between the two nations.[*] These
violences were not disagreeable to the duke of Burgundy; as they
afforded him a pretence for the further measures which he intended
to take against the English, whom he now regarded as implacable and
dangerous enemies.
A few days after the duke of Bedford received intelligence of this
treaty, so fatal to the interests of England, he died at Rouen; a prince
of great abilities, and of many virtues; and whose memory, except from
the barbarous execution of the maid of Orleans, was unsullied by any
considerable blemish. Isabella, queen of France, died a little before
him, despised by the English, detested by the French, and reduced, in
her latter years, to regard with an unnatural horror the progress and
success of her own son, in recovering possession of his kingdom. This
period was also signalized by the death of the earl of Arundel,[**] a
great English general, who, though he commanded three thousand men,
was foiled by Xaintrailles at the head of six hundred, and soon after
expired of the wounds which he received in the action.
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 120. Holing. p. 612.
** Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 105. Holing, p. 610.
{1436} The violent factions which prevailed between the duke of
Glocester and the cardinal of Winchester, prevented the English from
taking the proper measures for repairing these multiplied losses, and
threw all their affairs into confusion. The popularity of the duke,
and his near relation to the crown, gave him advantages in the contest,
which he often lost by his open and unguarded temper, unfit to struggle
with the politic and interested spirit of his rival. The balance,
meanwhile, of these parties, kept every thing in suspense; foreign
affairs were much neglected; and though the duke of York, son to that
earl of Cambridge who was executed in the beginning of the last reign,
was appointed successor to the duke of Bedford, it was seven months
before his commission passed the seals; and the English remained so long
in an enemy’s country, without a proper head or governor.
The new governor, on his arrival, found the capital already lost. The
Parisians had always been more attached to the Burgundian than to the
English interest; and after the conclusion of the treaty of Arras, their
affections, without any further control, universally led them to
return to their allegiance under their native sovereign. The constable,
together with Lile-Adam, the same person who had before put Paris into
the hands of the duke of Burgundy, was introduced in the night-time by
intelligence with the citizens: Lord Willoughby, who commanded only
a small garrison of fifteen hundred men, was expelled: this nobleman
discovered valor and presence of mind on the occasion; but unable to
guard so large a place against such multitudes, he retired into the
Bastile, and being there invested, he delivered up that fortress, and
was contented to stipulate for the safe retreat of his troops into
Normandy.[*]
In the same season, the duke of Burgundy openly took part against
England, and commenced hostilities by the siege of Calais, the only
place which now gave the English any sure hold of France, and still
rendered them dangerous. As he was beloved among his own subjects, and
had acquired the epithet of Good, from his popular qualities, he was
able to interest all the inhabitants of the Low Countries in the success
of this enterprise; and he invested that place with an army formidable
from its numbers, but without experience, discipline, or military
spirit.[**] On the first alarm of this siege, the duke of Glocester
assembled some forces, sent a defiance to Philip, and challenged him to
wait the event of a battle, which he promised to give, as soon as the
wind would permit him to reach Calais. The warlike genius of the English
had at that time rendered them terrible to all the northern parts of
Europe; especially to the Flemings, who were more expert in manufactures
than in arms; and the duke of Burgundy, being already foiled in some
attempts before Calais, and observing the discontent and terror of his
own army, thought proper to raise the siege, and to retreat before the
arrival of the enemy.[***]
* Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 127. Grafton, p. 568.
** Monstrelet, vol. ii, p. 126, 130, 132. Holing. p. 613.
Grafton, p 571.
*** Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 136. Holing. p. 614.
The English were still masters of many fine provinces in France; but
retained possession more by the extreme weakness of Charles, than by the
strength of their own garrisons or the force of their armies. Nothing,
indeed, can be more surprising than the feeble efforts made, during the
course of several years, by these two potent nations against each other
while the one struggled for independence, and the other aspired to a
total conquest of its rival. The general want of industry, commerce, and
police in that age, had rendered all the European nations, and France
and England no less than the others, unfit for bearing the burdens of
war, when it was prolonged beyond one season; and the continuance of
hostilities had, long ere this time, exhausted the force and patience of
both kingdoms. Scarcely could the appearance of an army be brought
into the field on either side; and all the operations consisted in
the surprisal of places, in the rencounter of detached parties, and in
incursions upon the open country; which were performed by small bodies,
assembled on a sudden from the neighboring garrisons. In this method
of conducting the war, the French king had much the advantage: the
affections of the people were entirely on his side: intelligence was
early brought him of the state and motions of the enemy: the inhabitants
were ready to join in any attempts against the garrisons: and thus
ground was continually, though slowly, gained upon the English. The
duke of York, who was a prince of abilities, struggled against these
difficulties during the course of five years; and being assisted by
the valor of Lord Talbot, soon after created earl of Shrewsbury, he
performed actions which acquired him honor, but merit not the attention
of posterity. It would have been well, had this feeble war, in sparing
the blood of the people, prevented likewise all other oppressions; and
had the fury of men, which reason and justice cannot restrain, thus
happily received a check from their impotence and inability. But the
French and English, though they exerted such small force, were, however,
stretching beyond their resources, which were still smaller; and the
troops, destitute of pay, were obliged to subsist by plundering and
oppressing the country, both of friends and enemies. The fields in all
the north of France, which was the seat of war, were laid waste and left
uncultivated.[*]
* Grafton, p 562.
{1440.} The cities were gradually depopulated, not by the blood spilt
in battle, but by the more destructive pillage of the garrisons;[*] and
both parties, weary of hostilities which decided nothing, seemed at last
desirous of peace, and they set on foot negotiations for that purpose.
But the proposals of France, and the demands of England, were still so
wide of each other, that all hope of accommodation immediately vanished.
The English ambassadors demanded restitution of all the provinces which
had once been annexed to England, together with the final cession of
Calais and its district; and required the possession of these extensive
territories without the burden of any fealty or homage on the part of
their prince: the French offered only part of Guienne, part of Normandy,
and Calais, loaded with the usual burdens. It appeared in vain
to continue the negotiation while there was so little prospect of
agreement. The English were still too haughty to stoop from the vast
hopes which they had formerly entertained, and to accept of terms more
suitable to the present condition of the two kingdoms.
The duke of York soon after resigned his government to the earl of
Warwick, a nobleman of reputation, whom death prevented from long
enjoying this dignity. The duke, upon the demise of that nobleman,
returned to his charge; and during his administration, a truce was
concluded between the king of England and the duke of Burgundy, which
had become necessary for the commercial interests of their subjects.[**]
The war with France continued in the same languid and feeble state as
before.
The captivity of five princes of the blood, taken prisoners in the
battle of Azincour, was a considerable advantage, which England long
enjoyed over its enemy; but this superiority was now entirely lost.
Some of these princes had died; some had been ransomed; and the duke of
Orleans, the most powerful among them, was the last that remained in
the hands of the English. He offered the sum of fifty-four thousand
nobles[***] for his liberty; and when this proposal was laid before the
council of England, as every question was there an object of faction,
the party of the duke of Glocester, and that of the cardinal of
Winchester, were divided in their sentiments with regard to it.
* Fortescue, who soon after this period visited France, in
the train of Prince Henry, speaks of that kingdom as a
desert, in comparison of England. See his treatise De
Laudibus Legum Angliæ. Though we make allowance for the
partialities of Fortescue, there must have been some
foundation for his account; and these destructive wars are
the most likely reason to be assigned for the difference
remarked by this author.
** Grafton, p. 673.
*** Rymer, vol. x. p. 764, 776, 782, 795, 796. This sum was
equal to thirty-six thousand pounds sterling of our present
money. A subsidy of a tenth and fifteenth was fixed by
Edward III. at twenty-nine thousand pounds, which, in the
reign of Henry VI., made only fifty-eight thousand pounds of
our present money. The parliament granted only one subsidy
during the course of seven years, from 1437 to 1444.
The duke reminded the council of the dying advice of the late king, that
none of these prisoners should on any account be released, till his son
should be of sufficient age to hold himself the reins of government.
The cardinal insisted on the greatness of the sum offered, which,
in reality, was nearly equal to two thirds of all the extraordinary
supplies that the parliament, during the course of seven years, granted
for the support of the war. And he added, that the release of this
prince was more likely to be advantageous than prejudicial to the
English interests; by filling the court of France with faction, and
giving a head to those numerous malecontents whom Charles was at present
able with great difficulty to restrain. The cardinal’s party, as
usual, prevailed: the duke of Orleans was released, after a melancholy
captivity of twenty-five years:[*] and the duke of Burgundy, as a pledge
of his entire reconciliation with the family of Orleans, facilitated to
that prince the payment of his ransom. It must be confessed, that the
princes and nobility, in those ages, went to war on very disadvantageous
terms. If they were taken prisoners, they either remained in captivity
during life, or purchased their liberty at the price which the victors
were pleased to impose, and which often reduced their families to want
and beggary.
* Grafton, p. 578.
{1443.} The sentiments of the cardinal, some time after, prevailed
in another point of still greater moment. That prelate had always
encouraged every proposal of accommodation with France; and had
represented the utter impossibility, in the present circumstances, of
pushing farther the conquests in that kingdom, and the great difficulty
of even maintaining those which were already made. He insisted on the
extreme reluctance of the parliament to grant supplies; the disorders in
which the English affairs in Normandy were involved; the daily progress
made by the French king; and the advantage of stopping his hand by a
temporary accommodation which might leave room for time and accidents
to operate in favor of the English. The duke of Glocester, high-spirited
and haughty, and educated in the lofty pretensions which the first
successes of his two brothers had rendered familiar to him, could not
yet be induced to relinquish all hopes of prevailing over France; much
less could he see with patience his own opinion thwarted and rejected by
the influence of his rival in the English council. But, notwithstanding
his opposition, the earl of Suffolk, a nobleman who adhered to the
cardinal’s party, was despatched to Tours, in order to negotiate with
the French ministers. It was found impossible to adjust the terms of a
lasting peace; but a truce for twenty-two months was concluded, which
left every thing on the present footing between the parties. The
numerous disorders under which the French government labored, and which
time alone could remedy, induced Charles to assent to this truce; and
the same motives engaged him afterwards to prolong it.[*] But Suffolk,
not content with executing this object of his commission, proceeded also
to finish another business, which seems rather to have been implied than
expressed in the powers that had been granted him.[**]