Henry had intended to cross the Somme at Blanchetaque, where Edward
III. had passed it. False information was brought him that the ford
was guarded. In reality, the feudal army was as yet only collecting
near Abbeville, around the standard of the Constable d’Albret, a
man but little fitted for his post. Had Henry passed at once he
might have reached Calais without a great battle; as it was, he was
compelled to follow the river upwards, and time was afforded to the
French to collect their forces, and seek their own destruction in
a pitched battle. Henry sought a ford across the river for a long
time in vain. He passed Amiens, and had got within a league of
Ham, in a very dangerous position among the strong fortresses of
Ham, St. Quentin and Péronne, when at length a ford was discovered
near Béthancourt. The Constable, who was at Péronne, might have
destroyed him in the passage. He let him pass unmolested. Following
feudal fashion, he sent to ask Henry to name a day and place for
the battle; but whatever external chivalry may have been visible in
Henry, his military character was that of a hard, practical, modern
soldier. He answered that there was no need to name day or place,
as he was always to be found in the open fields. For four days the
armies followed almost parallel lines of march, the French making
no use of their superiority in numbers to disturb the quiet advance
of the English, although they spread nightly among the villages for
shelter. At length the Constable, with singular want of prudence,
took up his position a little to the north of Hesdin and Cressy, on
a small confined plain, where his large army, of at least 50,000
fighting men, was jammed in between two woods. This force consisted
almost entirely of nobles and their feudal followers, who in their
foolish pride of class had rejected the assistance of the infantry
of the towns. The ground was arable land, and the soil deep and
heavy, so that the heavy armed French in their splendid harness
sank deep at every step, while the English, clad mostly in leather
jerkins, and many of them barefoot, moved with comparative ease.
The night, we are told, was passed in riot by the French; in sober
preparation or religious exercise by the English.
[Illustration: AGINCOURT.
_October 25. 1415._
1. English Archers.
2. English men at arms.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Agincourt. Oct. 25, 1415.]
The French drew themselves up in three massive lines or battles;
the two first dismounted and fought on foot, for which their heavy
armour but little fitted them; the third line retained their
horses, as did two small wings intended to crush the archers.
The state of the soil obliged them to adopt a defensive method
of fighting quite contrary to their habits. The English advanced
upon them--the archers in front, the heavy-armed infantry behind,
the mixed archers and infantry on the flanks. They are described
as having a miserable, ragged appearance after their weary march,
as contrasted with the splendour of the French. Henry rode among
them, cheering them with the memories of bygone victories. He had
previously ordered every archer to supply himself with a stake
sharpened at each end, which he was to plant before him, and
thus make a moveable palisade. At eleven o’clock, after a brief
and useless parley between the armies, Sir Thomas Erpingham, the
English Marshal of the Host, tossed up his baton with the cry
“Now strike,” and the battle began. The English advanced a few
steps, expecting a charge from the enemy, but the hostile ranks
remained immoveable; they were, in fact, planted knee-deep in the
mud, and afforded a fine aim for the English archers, who did not
spare them. At length, putting their heads down to avoid as much
as possible the fatal arrows, the first line came heavily on, and
the mounted wings began to close round the English; but the stakes
of the archers served them in good stead. Of the horses, a large
proportion tripped and fell in the rough ploughed land; not one
in ten of their riders, we are told, came hand to hand with the
archers. Unsupported and almost immoveable, the infantry broke.
The archers seeing their plight, issued from between their stakes,
threw down bow and arrow, seized their axes and maces, and fell
headlong upon them. “It seemed,” says the chronicler, “as though
they were hammering upon anvils.” The men-at-arms fell beneath the
furious charge, and were smothered by their own companions as they
fell over them. The same fate awaited the second line. The English
men-at-arms had come up to support the archers, and the battle was
fiercer, and for a time more equal. Certain of the French knights,
under the Duke of Alençon, swore to take the life of Henry, and
did their best to keep their oath. One of them cleft in two the
golden crown on the helmet worn by Henry, and Alençon killed his
cousin, the Duke of York, at his side. It was in vain; the English
steadily advanced; the defeat of the first line, the rush of the
fugitives, disordered and confused the cavalry, and they turned
and fled. The English were already masters of the field, when news
was brought that a fresh enemy was in their rear, and flames were
seen arising from the village of Maisoncelle behind them. Henry,
afraid of this new attack, and of a rally of the fugitives, gave
the terrible order that all the prisoners should be killed. When
his troops hesitated, he told off 200 archers to do the work; and
already very many had been killed in cold blood, when the discovery
that the alarm was a false one induced Henry to revoke his order.
Of the 10,000 Frenchmen who died 8000 were of noble blood; among
them were the Dukes of Alençon, Brabant, and Bar, the Constable
d’Albret, and all the chief officers of the army. The Dukes of
Orleans and Bourbon, the Counts of Vendôme and Richemont, and
Marshal Boucicaut, with 15,000 knights, remained prisoners. Besides
the Duke of York and the Earl of Oxford, the English had lost
1600 men. The King, with his triumphant army, at once proceeded
to Calais, and thence to England. He attributed his wonderful
success to Heaven, whose instrument he was in punishing the crimes
in France. “Never,” said he to the Duke of Orleans, “was greater
disorganization or licentiousness, or greater sins, or worse vices
than reign in France now. It is pitiful even to hear the story of
them, and a horror for the listeners. No wonder if God is enraged
at it.”
[Sidenote: The French Government falls into the hands of the
Armagnacs.]
The destruction of princes and feudal nobles at Agincourt seems to
have annihilated the Armagnac party. The hatred of the Dauphin for
the Duke of Burgundy prevented the unity which such an event might
have produced. He summoned Bernard of Armagnac from the south of
France, where he then was, and gave himself completely into his
hands, making him Constable, Governor-General of the finances, and
Captain of all the fortresses of France.
The party of the Constable, which had once been that of most of the
princes of the royal blood, consisted now of adventurers, pledged
to continue a civil war, to which they owed their importance.
The real governors of France and Paris were the Gascon noble
D’Armagnac and the Breton Tannegui Duchâtel. Their tyranny was of
the bitterest description; their hired men-at-arms did all the
harm an undisciplined soldiery can do; the people were taxed, in
the midst of bitter famine, to the last farthing; their bloody
tyranny induced them to forbid bathing in the Seine, lest the
bathers should find there the corpses of their victims. The sole
virtue of the party was that they continued the war with England,
while Burgundy renewed his treaty with that nation. The Constable’s
efforts were not successful. An attempt to regain Harfleur was
defeated by the Duke of Bedford. But Henry for the present
was content to stand on the defensive. The Parliament, in its
enthusiasm at his great success, had granted him large subsidies,
and the tax on wool for life; and he was spending his time in
recruiting the strength of his army, and in giving a magnificent
reception to Sigismund, King of the Romans.
[Sidenote: Visit of Sigismund. His position in Europe. 1416.]
[Sidenote: His close union with Henry.]
That Prince had succeeded in re-establishing the obsolete supremacy
of the head of the Roman Empire. This he had done by the activity
and success with which he collected a general council of the Church
at Constance. His object at the council was to heal the great
schism, which since 1378 had divided the Church. On the death
of Gregory XI., who had brought back the Papacy to Rome, after
its seventy years’ servitude to the French at Avignon, a double
election took place, and the world was divided between Urbanists,
who owned Urban VI., the Roman Pontiff, and the Clementines, who
acknowledged Clement VII. of Avignon. Each Pope had his successors,
and an attempted compromise at Pisa in 1409 had produced a third
Pope. The three claimants to the honour were now Gregory XII. at
Rome, Benedict XIII. at Avignon, John XXIII. at Pisa. The new
council declared itself superior to all Popes, and proceeded to
secure the dismissal or resignation of these three prelates. It
also undertook to suppress the Wicliffite heresy, which had spread
to Bohemia. Its efforts in this direction led to the condemnation
and burning of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. The negotiations
with Pope Benedict, who was acknowledged in Spain, were intrusted
to Sigismund, who thus not unreasonably thought himself the arbiter
of Europe, and determined to add to his ecclesiastical successes
the healing of the war between France and England. For this purpose
he passed through Paris, but met with indifferent success, and
then betook himself to England. With Henry, as suppresser of
heresy and champion of the Church, he had much in common, and
he soon laid aside his position of arbiter to become an English
partisan.[89] One incident of his visit is interesting, as marking
both his position and the determined independence of the English.
While in Paris he was present at a trial, and one party to the
dispute seemed on the point of losing his case because he was
not of knightly rank. Sigismund immediately knighted him. This
interference was not pleasant to the French, and gave rise to the
idea that the Emperor was claiming universal supremacy. On his
approach to England, therefore, one of the King’s brothers and
some other lords rode out into the water by the side of the ship,
and there made him solemnly assert that he came as a friend, and
claimed no jurisdiction in England.
[Sidenote: Failure of Sigismund’s mediation.]
[Sidenote: Armagnac attacks Queen Isabella. 1417.]
[Sidenote: She allies herself with Burgundy.]
[Sidenote: Henry’s second invasion.]
Sigismund’s efforts at procuring peace had been thwarted in Paris
by the determination of D’Armagnac, whose position had become
apparently more assured than ever. One after the other, Charles
VI.’s two elder sons died, and his third son, Charles, who had
been brought up by the Armagnac party, was now Dauphin. Besides
the Constable, there was no one but his mother who had influence
over him. That influence Bernard was determined to destroy. The
avaricious character and licentiousness of the Queen afforded easy
opportunity. He drove her into privacy at Tours, and seized her
money. Henceforward she hated the Dauphin heartily, and was ready
to do anything to injure him. Thus, when Burgundy approached Paris
with an army, he was suddenly summoned to rescue the Queen from
her captivity, and France became still more distinctly divided
into the party of the Dauphin and the party of the Queen. Still
further to complete the separation, and to give a shadow of
legitimacy to their action, the Queen and Burgundy established a
counter-Parliament at Amiens, and a rival Great Council of France.
The civil war went on increasing in atrocity, and D’Armagnac was
too hard pressed to interfere with Henry, who, on August 14th,
landed at Honfleur for his second invasion, and proceeded to
master Normandy. With Flanders, Artois and Picardy on the one hand
rendered neutral by the friendship of Burgundy, and Brittany on
the other under a truce with him, he could act at his ease. Caen,
Bayeux, L’Aigle, were captured one after the other, and the next
year, with four divisions spreading from Artois to Brittany, he
pushed southward, conquering all the strong towns as he went. He
was not a merciful conqueror. He exacted to the full the rights of
war. Most of the towns were treated as Harfleur had been, but in
nearly every case a certain number of the citizens were beheaded
under the title of rebels.
[Sidenote: The Parisians, anxious for peace, admit the Burgundians.]
It was impossible for the French parties, savage as they were,
to look on calmly at the English successes; a great attempt at
reconciliation was made, but again the obstinacy of the Constable
brought it to nothing. The idea of the cessation of the civil war
had filled the Parisians with hope. The failure of that hope was
more than they could bear. The keys of the gates were secured,
and L’Ile-Adam, who commanded one of the garrisons which the
Burgundians had pushed close to Paris, was admitted within the
walls. The people rose in thousands upon their hated tyrants.
Tannegui Duchâtel succeeded in saving the young Dauphin, and
retired with him to Melun. Meanwhile, the prisons were crowded with
captive Armagnacs, and a few days afterwards the passions of the
extreme Burgundian partisans broke loose. The Cabochiens, who had
lived as exiles in Burgundy, and returned with the Duke, again made
their appearance. A fearful massacre took place at all the prisons;
among the number slain was the Constable himself. From this time
onward, the Armagnacs were spoken of as the Dauphinois; their
leading spirit was Duchâtel, who followed closely in the footsteps
of the late D’Armagnac. He would hear of no peace with Burgundy.
[Sidenote: Fall of Rouen. Jan. 15, 1419.]
Yet that peace was terribly wanted, for Henry had now laid siege
to Rouen, the capital of Normandy. The defence was in the highest
degree gallant. Promises were given by Burgundy that help should be
sent, but none came. At length a part of the garrison determined to
cut their way through. When a portion of them had already crossed
the bridge, it broke with the remainder, and the attempt had to
be given up. Men charged Guy Bouteiller, the governor, and not
unreasonably, with treacherously sawing the supports. At length
all hope, unless succour arrived, was gone. Every eatable thing
had been devoured. Hundreds of useless mouths had been driven
without the walls, and not being allowed to pass the English lines,
lay starving in the ditches. The extent of charity the garrison
could afford to show, was to draw the new-born babes up the walls
in baskets, to have them baptized, and then return them to their
mothers to starve. Driven to extremities, the garrison sent
deputies demanding assistance from the King, and threatening if
it did not come to become his fiercest enemies. They were bidden
to wait till the fourth day after Christmas. In spite of their
miserable plight, they resolved to wait the fortnight that was
left. On that day there arrived, not assistance, but a message
from the Duke of Burgundy to make what terms they could with the
King of England. They asked what those terms would be. He bade
them surrender at discretion. But they knew his character too well
to trust to his mercy, and resolved to fire the town and make
their way out as they could. This threat brought Henry to reason,
and for a ransom of 300,000 crowns he gave them the same sort of
terms as he usually did. Seven men were excepted from pardon; of
these all but one were ransomed. That one, Alain Blanchart, the
King, ever unable to appreciate bravery in an enemy, caused to be
beheaded.
[Sidenote: Negotiation for peace.]
[Sidenote: Attempted reconciliation of the French parties.]
[Sidenote: Murder of Burgundy.]
At length it seemed as though the French factions had come to
an understanding; the cry of the whole nation was too strong to
resist. A truce was made between the parties for three months, and
the Duke of Burgundy, with the Queen and the King, who had been in
their custody since the recapture of Paris, met Henry at Meulan,
and attempted to come to terms. But Henry still demanded more than
it was possible to grant. Burgundy therefore withdrew in anger, and
at Pouilli-le-Fort held a personal meeting with the Dauphin, and
apparently came to terms with him. The show of friendship was only
hollow. Shortly after, at the instigation of Duchâtel, a second
meeting was demanded at Montereau sur Yonne. It was nothing but an
ambush. The meeting was to be held on the bridge, and barricades
were to keep back all but ten partisans of either side; but no
sooner was the Duke with two followers within the barrier than
Tannegui Duchâtel shut the door on that side, while from the other
end the Dauphinois crowded in. The Duke was there murdered, and of
his following one man alone escaped.
[Sidenote: Young Burgundy joins England. Treaty of Troyes, 1420.]
The effect of this murder was instantaneous. The son of Jean
sans peur, Philip, Count of Charolais, at once put himself at
the head of his party, and forgetting everything but revenge,
opened negotiations with the English. On October 17th, the
plenipotentiaries met at Arras, and the preliminaries of the treaty
were drawn up; by which Henry was to marry Catherine of France,
and to be recognised as heir after the death of the reigning king.
Meanwhile he was to have the administration of the country. All the
exchange asked was, that he would make no peace with the Dauphin,
and join in carrying on war with that Prince. These preliminaries
were to be ratified by the King, the Queen, and States General.
The King’s imbecility prevented any opposition from him, and the
Queen was only too glad of an opportunity of disinheriting her
son; she calculated that at least her daughter Catherine, whom she
loved dearly, would enjoy the crown. An unexpected consequence
followed this treaty, which was completed at Troyes. This was the
resurrection of the party of the Dauphin, which henceforward became
the national party. Henry was at once called upon to give vigorous
assistance, and found occupation for all his army at the siege of
Melun, which was defended with extreme courage. But in December
he found an opportunity of making a triumphal entry into Paris,
where his stern and haughty manner, and “his words which cut like
razors,” won him but little favour; and thence he passed to England
to meet a magnificent reception with his wife.
[Sidenote: English defeat at Beaugé.]
[Sidenote: Henry hurries to Paris.]
He there heard bad news. One of the signs of the renewed activity
of his enemies had been a treaty with Castile, and the employment
of the Castilian fleet. Already, in the preceding year, the Spanish
fleet had defeated the English, and then proceeding to Scotland,
had returned with a reinforcement of some 4000 men under the
Earl of Buchan and Lord Stewart of Darnley. Strengthened with
these troops, the Dauphin’s party had attacked the English in the
west. Clarence, the King’s brother, who had been left in charge
of the kingdom, advanced to meet them. The armies encountered at
Beaugé in Anjou, and there, forgetting the national tactics, and
neglecting the use of the archers, they suffered a complete defeat,
in which the King’s brother was killed. It was the first reverse
the English arms had met with, and Henry well understood the moral
effect it might have. He hastened at once to France, and leaving
alone for the present the disaffection which was showing itself
in Picardy, went direct to Paris to re-establish his prestige.
Thence he marched to the attack of Meaux, whence an Armagnac
garrison was pillaging the country to the very gates of Paris. It
was under the command of the Bastard of Vaurus, a savage soldier,
who delighted to hang his prisoners by dozens on the branches of a
large elm outside his town. The bravery of his defence equalled his
barbarity. It was not without the greatest efforts that the town
and castle, called the Marché, were reduced.
[Sidenote: While re-establishing his affairs he dies. 1422.]
[Sidenote: Death of Charles VI.]
Meanwhile the war had broken out again in Burgundy, and Henry was
summoned to the support of his allies at the siege of Cosne. He
would not send help, he said, but would come at the head of his
whole army. The boast was a vain one. His army, indeed, set out
under the command of the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Warwick,
but the King’s health, which had been failing for the last two
years, quite broke down, and the generals were hastily recalled
to be present at the deathbed of their sovereign, who died on the
31st of August 1422. Conscious of his approaching end, he had
made dispositions to meet it; he had laid special stress on the
continuation of the treaty with Burgundy; had begged Bedford never
to make peace under less advantageous terms than the entire cession
of Normandy; had intrusted the regency of France to the same
brother should the Duke of Burgundy decline it; put England into
the hands of Gloucester; and intrusted the education of his infant
son to Warwick. He then died amid all those signs of religious
enthusiasm which had marked his life, declaring that he had
intended to lead a crusade to Jerusalem, and covering all remorse,
which his cruel war might well have excited, by the thought that he
had acted with the approbation of those most holy men the English
bishops. Stern, haughty, an unpitying soldier, he had yet by his
exhibition of firm justice and love of order gained the admiration
and respect, if not the love, of his new subjects; and Englishmen
forgot his reactionary policy, and misjudged the want of wisdom in
his foreign undertakings, amid the enthusiasm his successful career
excited. Very shortly after his conqueror, the old King Charles
VI. also died, and his son Charles became the representative of
the French monarchy. He caused himself to be at once crowned at
Poitiers; but the English failed to recognise his title, and spoke
of him as the Dauphin.
HENRY VI.
1422-1461.
Born 1421 = Margaret of Anjou, 1445.
|
Edward. Died.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES
_Scotland._ | _France._ | _Germany._ | _Spain._
| | |
James I., 1406. | Charles VI., | Sigismund, 1410. | John II., 1406.
James II., 1436. | 1380. | Albert II., 1438. | Henry IV., 1454.
| Charles VII., | Frederick III., |
| 1423. | 1440. |
POPES.--Martin V., 1417. Eugenius IV., 1431. Nicolas V., 1447.
Calixtus III., 1455. Pius II., 1458.
_Archbishops._ | _Chancellors._
|
Henry Chicheley, 1414. | Thomas Longley, 1417.
John Stafford, 1443. | Cardinal Beaufort, 1424.
John Kemp, 1452. | Cardinal Kemp, 1426.
Thomas Bouchier, 1454. | John Stafford, 1432.
| Cardinal Kemp, 1450.
| Earl of Salisbury, 1454.
| Cardinal Bouchier, 1455.
| William Waynflete, 1456.
| George Neville, 1460.
| Sir John Fortescue, 1461.
[Sidenote: Arrangements of the kingdom. 1422.]