THE SIEGE OF MELUN
Henry did not give any long time to his honeymoon. The story indeed
is told of him that when some English knights asked him whether
a tournament should not be included among the festivities of his
marriage, he answered that they should have tilting enough, but that
it should be tilting in earnest. He was as good as his word, for he
was not going to waste the best time for campaigning. Early in June
he laid siege to Sens, a Burgundian town of which the Dauphin had
possessed himself. Sens capitulated after a resistance of twelve days.
From Sens he proceeded to Montereau, the place where the Duke of
Burgundy had been murdered. The town was taken with little difficulty,
but the castle held out for some days. Henry, loath to waste his
time in reducing it, had recourse to a proceeding which is another
proof how pitiless was his temper when any military advantage was
concerned. Some of the principal prisoners captured in the town were
sent to parley with the commander of the citadel. Their lives, they
said, depended upon his at once surrendering it; and they represented
that he could not hold out long against the overwhelming force of
the English king. The Governor met them with a refusal, and Henry,
aware that such threats would lose all efficacy for the future if they
were not executed, ordered them all to be hanged. But when, eight
days after, the garrison offered to surrender, he granted favourable
conditions. He observed what may be called the rules of the game with
undeviating strictness. The execution of the prisoners was, according
to the notions of the time, within his right; and the Governor was
equally within his right in holding out as long as he could. Monstrelet
mentions at the same time another incident which illustrates the same
aspect of Henry’s character. A running footman who always followed his
horse, and was a great favourite with him, had the misfortune to kill a
knight in a quarrel. The King ordered him at once to be hanged.
The next event of importance was the siege of Melun, a strongly
fortified town on the Seine, and of great importance as commanding the
passage of the river. Henry, who had recently been joined by his second
brother the Duke of Bedford, invested it on one side, and the Duke of
Burgundy on the other. It was no easy task which they had undertaken,
for they had themselves to be on their guard against attack from
without; Meaux and other towns in the neighbourhood were garrisoned by
the Dauphin’s troops, and frequent sallies were made on the besiegers’
trenches. The camps were accordingly strongly fortified. A bridge of
boats connected them with one another, and also prevented any relief of
the town by water.
The English cannon played upon the walls with such effect that what
appeared a practicable breach was made. Henry’s quick eye, however,
discovered that the attempt would cost too many lives, and refused to
make it, even when urged by the Duke of Burgundy. Another ally who
soon afterwards arrived in the camp, the Duke of Bavaria, expressed
his surprise that the attempt had not been made. Henry heard him with
patience, represented to him his own views, but finally consented that
an assault should be delivered. It does not, however, appear that he
allowed his own troops to be employed. As commander-in-chief he gave
permission to the two Dukes to make the attempt. The storming party
from the Burgundian camp advanced boldly to the assault, but was
repulsed with great loss.
The next attempt was made by mining. The work was discovered when it
was brought close to the walls of the city. A counter-mine was made
by the garrison, and before long the two partitions between the two
mines were broken down, and the passage, which was now of considerable
breadth, became the scene of frequent combats. On one occasion we hear
of Henry fighting in person. Monstrelet speaks of him and the Duke of
Burgundy engaging two of the Dauphinois “with push of pike.” Titus
Livius tells a more romantic story, how, entering at the head of his
men, he engaged in single combat with the commander of the garrison,
the Lord de Barbasan. Neither of them knew the other. After a while
they paused. The King asked his antagonist who he was. “I am Barbasan,”
said he, “and you?” “You have fought,” said Henry, “with the King of
England.” Henry was a stout man-at-arms, and loved the excitement
of changing blows; but he did not neglect for this delight the more
important duties of a general, which seldom permit such an indulgence.
It is only here and at Agincourt, when indeed a desperate situation
demanded his display of personal valour, that we hear of his actual
prowess in the field.
Melun held out bravely till far in the winter. Barbasan had strictly
forbidden any talk of surrender, and the townspeople lived in hope of
relief from the Dauphin. Meanwhile the besiegers were suffering greatly
from the same disease that had caused such loss before the walls of
Harfleur. The Prince of Orange, too, withdrew all his troops. “He was
ready,” he declared, “to serve the Duke of Burgundy, but he would not
put France under the power of her ancient enemy.” But the presence
of famine became more and more intolerable, and when towards the end
of November a definite message came from the Dauphin that he was not
strong enough to attempt a relief, Barbasan proposed a capitulation.
The terms granted were not liberal: those who surrendered were to have
life but not liberty; they must remain prisoners unless they could give
security not to bear arms again against the King of France and his
Regent, the King of England. Special exception was made against all who
had been concerned in the murder of the Duke of Burgundy. The Governor
himself was charged with having been an accomplice in this crime, and
remained in prison for nine years. There was a considerable number of
Scotch soldiers among the prisoners: these, too, had been exempted from
the offer of mercy, and twenty of them were executed. Henry’s increased
severity was probably due not to any change of temper, but to the
feeling that he was now dealing with rebels rather than enemies. Melun
was surrendered at the beginning of December, after holding out between
three and four months.
From Melun Henry proceeded to Corbeuil, where the French court had
taken up its abode; and from Corbeuil the two Kings, with the Duke of
Burgundy, made a solemn entry into Paris, where they were received
with what appeared to be an enthusiastic welcome. The first business
transacted was to cite and to condemn as contumacious the murderers
of the late Duke. The Dauphin, summoned under the title of Charles,
Duke of Touraine, was declared to be attainted and convicted of the
crime laid to his charge, banished from France, and pronounced for
ever incapable of succeeding to the inheritance of the crown or of
any dominions that might be acquired for it. Henry thus saw another
obstacle to the ambition of his life cleared out of his way. This done,
King Charles, sitting in the hall of his palace of St. Paul, publicly
declared his assent to the treaty which had given the reversion of the
crown to the king of England.
The two sovereigns kept distinct courts. That of Henry was by far the
more splendidly equipped and numerously attended of the two. He was the
rising sun, and all men looked to him. All offices of trust and profit
were at his disposal, and the nobles and gentlemen of France flocked
into his ante-chambers. More important visitors than these courtiers
were the two Lords of Albret, a family of the highest importance, who
offered him their homage as Duke of Acquitaine; and many other great
lords, spiritual and temporal, followed their example.
Meanwhile Henry busied himself with the duties of government. He set
himself to redress the grievances and reform the abuses which a time
of disorder and division had produced in abundance. He devoted special
attention to the coinage, which, to the great injury of trade, had been
much debased. At Paris, as in Normandy, his subjects were favourably
impressed with the promise of a just and vigorous rule that his civil
administration held out.
Shortly after Christmas Henry left Paris for Rouen, where he devoted
some days to settling the affairs of the Norman duchy. From Rouen he
went to Amiens, and thence again to Calais, crossing over to Dover on
February 1st. A few days were spent at Canterbury, and then followed a
triumphal entry into London and the coronation of Queen Katherine at
Westminster Abbey. The Duke of Clarence had been left as the King’s
Lieutenant-General in France, but with a special charge as Governor of
Normandy. Paris was put under the care of the Duke of Exeter.