governed by a child of nine months old. The late King had
thoughtfully arranged for the government by the nomination of
Gloucester to the regency in England, Bedford to the regency in
France; but experience of former regencies, and the constant
adherence to constitutional forms which marked the English
nobility, led the Privy Council to make different arrangements. It
was determined, in fact, that the Council should be virtually the
governing body. This was in accordance with several precedents;
even as late as the reign of Henry IV., a council named in
Parliament had, during the last years of that monarch’s life,
governed England. When the hero, whose popularity and ability had
for a time carried all men with him, was dead, it was natural that
the kingdom should fall back into the same system of government.
In the first Parliament therefore, by the advice of the Council,
Bedford was made Regent of both France and England, while to
Gloucester was given the title of Defender or Protector of the
kingdom, which amounted to little more than the position of
President of the Council, by whose advice he was bound to act, and
of which the members were nominated in Parliament. After this, the
grant of the wool tax and of tonnage and poundage, for two years,
closed the session.
[Sidenote: Position of parties in France.]
[Sidenote: Bedford’s marriage. 1423.]
All interests were still centred in France. To all appearance,
both in geographical position and in the talents of their leader,
the advantage lay with the English. Bedford shared all the better
qualities of his elder brother; as able, both as a general and
a statesman, he was of a gentler and a finer character; on the
other hand, the Dauphin Charles was a man without vigour, sunk in
sensual pleasure, and still under the influence of unprincipled
adventurers. His possessions, too, were much restricted. He found
himself confined to the centre and south-east of France. It was
only from south of the Loire to Languedoc that his power was
unquestioned. Either England or its great ally Burgundy possessed
or dominated all other parts of France; while Savoy and Brittany,
at the extreme and opposite corners, were professedly neutral.
The strength of this position, such as it was, lay in its central
situation. The immense extent of country the English held required
resources beyond the power of that country single-handed to
produce; by alliance with Burgundy alone was it possible. But
misgovernment and party feeling prevented any great exhibition
of strength on the part of France. She had to rely chiefly on
mercenaries, and the war was merely kept alive. In 1423, Bedford
succeeded in forming anew a close alliance with Burgundy, in which
Brittany also joined. It was cemented by a double marriage; on the
one hand, Bedford married Anne, Philip’s sister, while Arthur of
Richemont, the brother of the Duke of Brittany, married her elder
sister Margaret.
[Sidenote: Release of the Scotch King.]
[Sidenote: It is useless.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Verneuil. 1424.]
[Sidenote: Consequent strength of the English in France.]
The treaty was scarcely finished when Bedford had to move southward
to relieve Crévant on the Yonne, closely besieged by the Scotch and
French. The expedition was very successful. A simultaneous attack
from the city and the relieving army destroyed the besiegers; 1200
knights, chiefly Scotch, were said to have been left on the field.
But fresh recruits were continually coming to the French, some
from Italy, some from Scotland; notably 5,000 men under Archibald
Douglas, who was raised to the Duchy of Touraine; while Stewart of
Darnley, their former leader, received the lordships of Aubigné
and of Dreux. Bedford attempted to cut off this source of help
by arranging for the release of the Scottish King, who had now
been twenty-four years a captive in England. In September 1423,
his freedom was arranged, on the payment of £40,000 for his past
expenses, and upon a promise on his part that he would keep peace
with England, and marry an English lady. He was told to choose his
own wife, as English ladies were not in the habit of proposing
for husbands, and married Joan Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of
Somerset, granddaughter of John of Gaunt. He did his best, though
not always successfully, to keep his promise of peace. But this
step on the part of Bedford did not stop the Scotch in France.
They pushed on even to the borders of Normandy, and captured
Ivry. Bedford addressed himself to the recovery of that fortress.
18,000 troops, Scotch, French, and Italians, led by the Duke of
Alençon and Earl of Buchan, now Constable of France, marched to
relieve it. This they were unable to do, but revenged themselves
by the capture of the neighbouring town of Verneuil. Thither the
Regent pursued them, and there he brought them to action. It was
the old story over again. The French had not yet learnt wisdom by
experience; and again the mass of heavy-armed foot, with cavalry
on the flanks, was shattered by the English archers from behind
their impenetrable wall of pointed stakes. The Scotch auxiliaries
were nearly destroyed; and among the 5000 dead were the Earls of
Douglas, Buchan and Aumale. The victory was likened in Parliament
to the Battle of Agincourt. Its effects were almost as complete.
For the time the French had to withdraw completely behind the Loire.
[Sidenote: It is disturbed by Gloucester’s marriage.]
[Sidenote: First blow to Burgundian alliance. 1424.]
It was the unbridled folly of Gloucester which disturbed the
favourable position which Bedford had secured. The Countess
Jacqueline of Hainault and Holland had married John of Brabant,
and had fled from her husband. She had taken refuge in England,
and just before the death of Henry V., Gloucester, during the life
of her former husband, had taken her for his wife. The Duke of
Burgundy was the cousin and close ally of John of Brabant, and had
hoped to bring all the Netherlands under his power by his kinsman’s
marriage with Jacqueline. Gloucester would hear of no compromise,
but, in 1424, appeared with 5000 English troops in Calais, and
took possession of Hainault. Philip of Burgundy at once wavered
in his friendship for England, drew closer his connection with
Brabant, and even procured a truce with the Dauphin. Preparations
for a duel, to which he had challenged Burgundy, called Gloucester
home. The immediate effect of his departure was the occupation of
Hainault by John of Brabant. Jacqueline herself was taken prisoner,
but managing to escape in man’s clothes, she reached her other
dominions in Holland, and thence proceeded to begin a war with
Burgundy. Her English lover could send her but little help, and
at last, after her husband’s death in 1428, she surrendered to
Philip, and declared him her heir. Gloucester’s infidelity broke
off relations between them, and eventually, in 1436, the whole of
the Netherlands came into the power of Burgundy. It has been said
that, without the friendship of Burgundy, the English resources
were insufficient to retain France. This was the first shock that
friendship received.
[Sidenote: Rivalry of Beaufort and Gloucester.]
[Sidenote: Gloucester’s marriage with Eleanor Cobham.]
This outbreak of Gloucester’s was but one instance of his
intemperate and ambitious character. At home, he had already
involved the government in difficulties, by his constant rivalry
with Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, second son of John of
Gaunt by Catherine Swinford. This Prince had already been engaged
in all the prominent affairs of the last reign. But though a man
of vast wealth and large ambition, his aspirations in England
were rather for his family than for himself; and in the financial
difficulties which began to beset England his money was freely
advanced without interest to Government. In 1424, he had been made
Chancellor, for the express purpose of counterbalancing the power
of his nephew Gloucester, and in pursuance of this object, he had,
during Gloucester’s absence in Hainault, garrisoned the Tower,
from which Gloucester on his return found himself excluded. This
produced an open quarrel and an appeal to arms, only repressed
by the intervention of the Prince of Portugal, at that time in
England. There was one man only who could decide this quarrel,
and that was the Duke of Bedford, who on coming to England would
at once become the constitutional Regent. He found it therefore
necessary to leave France, where he was much wanted, and to return
to England. He contrived to bring about a reconciliation, at a
Parliament held at Leicester. The Bishop of Winchester, from
patriotic motives, resigned his chancellorship, and got leave to
absent himself from England to go on a pilgrimage. At the same
time, the Parliament defined as before the power of Gloucester,
establishing the practical supremacy of the Council. This
definition Bedford accepted. Eventually, though much against his
will, Gloucester was induced to do so also; but his real view was
expressed in the words attributed to him, “Lat my brother governe
as hym lust, whiles he is in this lande, for after his going overe
to Fraunce, I wol governe as me semethe goode.” It was plain that
the views of Bedford and Gloucester as to the government of England
were very different. Nor had Bedford long left England to return
to France when his brother gave rise to a fresh scandal. He had
already forgotten Jacqueline, and even while getting supplies from
the Commons, with whom he was very popular, for the purpose of
upholding her cause, had married his former mistress Eleanor Cobham.
[Sidenote: Bedford again secures Burgundy,]
[Sidenote: and attacks Orleans.]
[Sidenote: Battle of the Herrings.]
On his return to France, the Duke of Bedford found that his
brother’s conduct had increased his difficulties. Richemont, the
brother of the Duke of Brittany, had been won to the French side,
and received the rank of Constable, vacant by the death of Buchan,
and was now using all his influence to induce his brother-in-law
Burgundy to follow his example. Bedford’s presence for the moment
improved the position of the English. He contrived to renew an
alliance with both Burgundy and Brittany, and was thus secured
upon either side of Normandy. Encouraged by this success, the
English generals were eager to press forward beyond the Loire,
which had hitherto been the limit of their conquests. It seems
probable that Bedford, with a clearer view of the difficulties
of his position, would have been well content to have carried
out the wishes of his brother Henry by securing Normandy. He,
however, yielded to the pressure brought to bear upon him, and in
October, the siege of Orleans, situated on the northernmost angle
of the river Loire, and from its position holding command of that
river, was undertaken. The town itself stands upon the northern
bank, but is connected with a southern suburb, the Portereau, by
a bridge, terminating in a strong castle called Les Tournelles.
The siege was intrusted to Salisbury,[90] who began the attack
upon the southern side. He established his troops in a fortified
camp in the ruins of a monastery of Augustinians, and before long
succeeded in capturing Les Tournelles, and breaking the bridge.
He was unfortunately killed, while examining the country from
that fortress, with a view to further investment of the town. The
command devolved upon the Earl of Suffolk, who succeeded before the
close of the year in erecting a string of thirteen strongholds,
called bastides, round the Northern city. But the weather and want
of resources compelled him to put these too far apart, and the
intercourse of the defenders with an army of relief under the Count
of Clermont at Blois was not broken off. Early in the following
year, this army hoped to raise the siege by falling on a large
body of provisions coming to the besiegers from Paris under Sir
John Fastolf. The attack was made at Rouvray, but Fastolf had made
careful preparations. The waggons were arranged in a square, and,
with the stakes of the archers, formed a fortification on which
the disorderly attack of the French made but little impression.
Broken in the assault, they fell an easy prey to the English, as
they advanced beyond their lines. The skirmish is known by the name
of the Battle of the Herrings. This victory, which deprived the
besieged of hope of external succour, seemed to render the capture
of the city certain.
[Sidenote: Danger of Orleans.]
Already at the French King’s court at Chinon there was talk of
a hasty withdrawal to Dauphiné, Spain, or even Scotland; when
suddenly there arose one of those strange effects of enthusiasm
which sometimes set all calculation at defiance.
[Sidenote: Joan of Arc.]
[Sidenote: Causes of her success.]
[Sidenote: The siege is raised. May 8.]
In Domrémi, a village belonging to the duchy of Bar, the
inhabitants of which, though in the midst of Lorraine, a province
under Burgundian influence, were of patriotic views, lived a
village maiden called Joan of Arc. The period was one of great
mental excitement; as in other times of wide prevailing misery,
prophecies and mystical preachings were current. Joan of Arc’s
mind was particularly susceptible to such influences, and from
the time she was thirteen years old, she had fancied that she
heard voices, and had even seen forms, sometimes of the Archangel
Michael, sometimes of St. Catherine and St. Margaret, who called
her to the assistance of the Dauphin. She persuaded herself that
she was destined to fulfil an old prophecy which said that the
kingdom, destroyed by a woman--meaning, as she thought, Queen
Isabella,--should be saved by a maiden of Lorraine. The burning
of Domrémi in the summer of 1428 by a troop of Burgundians at
length gave a practical form to her imaginations, and early in the
following year she succeeded in persuading Robert of Baudricourt
to send her, armed and accompanied by a herald, to Chinon. She
there, as it is said by the wonderful knowledge she displayed,
convinced the court of the truth of her mission. At all events, it
was thought wise to take advantage of the infectious enthusiasm she
displayed, and in April she was intrusted with an army of 6000 or
7000 men, which was to march up the river from Blois to the relief
of Orleans. When she appeared upon the scene of war, she supplied
exactly that element of success which the French required.
Already long and bitter experience had taught them the art of war.
They were commanded no longer by favourites of the Court, but by
professional soldiers, such as Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, La
Hire and Saintrailles; and the cause of their weakness was the
deep-rooted immorality both of public and private life, which
the disastrous party struggles of the last reign had produced.
A national instead of a party cry, strict morality enforced
by a Heaven-sent virgin, and the enthusiasm of religion, were
well calculated to remove this cause of weakness. It is to this
combination of experience with enthusiasm that the success of the
French henceforward must be traced. Aided by the skill of Dunois,
Joan succeeded in entering Orleans by water, while her army the day
after marched in unopposed upon the northern side. After various
attacks upon the Bastides, she at length, on the 6th and 7th of
May, attacked the lines upon the south of the river. The camp in
the Augustinian monastery was captured, and after a fierce assault
the Tower of the Tournelles fell into the hands of the French,
Gladsdale, the commander on the left bank, being killed. The effect
of her uniform success, and the superstitious dread she inspired,
is shown by the fact that three such generals as Suffolk, Talbot
and Fastolf, who commanded on the northern side of the river, took
no steps to assist their distressed comrades, and on the following
day raised the siege.
[Illustration: ORLEANS
1429]
[Sidenote: March to Rheims to crown the Dauphin,]
[Sidenote: and unsuccessful attack on Paris.]
The release of Orleans was quickly followed up. The English were
hotly pressed. In June, Jargeau on the Loire was taken, and
Suffolk with it; while on the 18th of the same month, Talbot and
Fastolf suffered a thorough defeat at Pataye, while attempting to
save other fortresses lower down the river. Joan of Arc had set
herself two great duties to perform--the relief of Orleans, and the
coronation of the Dauphin at Rheims. To this second duty she now
addressed herself. Her difficulties arose chiefly from the folly
of the Dauphin, who was under the influence of his favourite, La
Tremouille, a strong Armagnac, whose object it was to prevent his
master from entering upon an independent course of action. These
difficulties were at length overcome. At the head of a small army,
Charles and the Maid of Orleans marched successfully into the
heart of their enemy’s country, securing either by force or by
negotiation the strong cities on the way. At Rheims the coronation
was completed, and thence the French generals directed their march
on Paris at the persuasion of Joan. But there, while Joan had
been overcoming the reluctance of the French Prince, Bedford had
assembled an army of sufficient strength to resist them. He had
summoned to his aid the Bishop of Winchester, who had returned
from his pilgrimage to Rome with instructions to collect troops
to assist the Emperor Sigismund against the heretic Hussites of
Bohemia. With this little army he now joined his nephew; and
Bedford, alarmed by the rapid defection of great towns such as
Blois, Beauvais and Compiègne, determined, if possible, to destroy
the superstitious confidence of the French by a successful battle.
In this he was disappointed, for, after an indecisive skirmish
near Senlis, he was compelled to fall back to cover Paris. For the
present, however, this formed the limit of the French successes. A
fruitless attack on the city, in which the Maid was wounded, caused
timid counsels to prevail, and the army withdrew behind the Loire.
[Sidenote: Capture of Joan of Arc. 1430.]
[Sidenote: Coronation of King Henry.]
[Sidenote: Joan’s death. 1431.]
The winter was employed by Bedford in continued efforts to retain
the friendship of the Duke of Burgundy; and the united armies of
Burgundy and England were attempting to regain Compiègne, when in
March Joan of Arc again took the field. She succeeded in passing
through the two armies, and in entering the city, but was surprised
during a sally and taken prisoner. Her capture gave the English
hopes that they might still retain their conquests, as the sluggish
and vacillating character of the French King was well known.
Bedford set to work to do all he could to regain the prestige
he had lost the preceding year. Shortly after the coronation of
Rheims, he had caused King Henry to be crowned at Westminster,
and with his brother Gloucester had retired from his official
situation. He now determined to have the coronation repeated in
France. Henry was brought over for that purpose, but it was found
impossible to crown him at Rheims, now completely in the hands of
the French. Bedford had to content himself with a coronation at
Paris. Meanwhile the unfortunate prisoner had been given up to be
tried as a sorceress. She was found guilty, and handed over to
the secular arm: for a moment she was induced to confess herself
guilty, abjuring the truth of her Divine calling; her resumption
of arms in the prison was regarded as a relapse into heresy: she
was therefore burnt at Rouen. The strangely superstitious character
of the age, and the devout belief which existed in sorcery, cannot
excuse what was, in fact, an act of base revenge.
[Sidenote: Increasing difficulties of the English. 1432.]
[Sidenote: Conduct of Gloucester.]
[Sidenote: Bedford re-marries. Second blow to the Burgundian
alliance.]
[Sidenote: Formation of peace and war parties.]
[Sidenote: Great peace congress at Arras. 1435.]