THE LAST CAMPAIGNS
The coronation of Queen Katherine was performed on February 24th. About
a month later came the news of a great disaster to the English arms
in France. The Duke of Clarence had been defeated and slain at Beaujé
in Anjou. He had made a plundering expedition into that province,
and lay at Angers, on the Mayenne, when he heard of the presence of
the Dauphin’s army a few miles to the east. Misinformed of the real
strength of the enemy, or perhaps taught by a long succession of
victories to despise him, he hurried to the attack, refusing even to
wait till his whole force could be brought up, and riding on with his
cavalry only. The details of the conflict that followed are obscure,
but the result was a disastrous defeat. The Duke was killed, and with
him fifteen hundred, or, according to some accounts, two thousand of
his troops, among whom were the Lords Ross and Gray, and the Earls of
Huntingdon and Somerset. The honours of the victory belonged to the
Scotch, seven thousand of whom were present under command of the Earl
of Buchan, youngest son of the Duke of Albany.
And in other ways things were not going well. The Duke of Exeter’s
position in Paris was unsafe, while in Northern France, of which
the English had seemed to have undisputed possession, the party
of the Dauphin was again making head. Henry saw that his presence
was imperatively needed, and hastened his preparations for another
expedition.
There were signs of exhaustion in the country. It was becoming
increasingly difficult to raise both men and money. At least a
hundred thousand troops had already crossed the Channel; and the
losses, by battle and disease, had been very large. The difficulty
of money had, as we have seen, always been serious; and six years of
incessant war had greatly increased it. Henry, however, persevered with
indomitable energy, and the nation, among whom his popularity seems
to have suffered no diminution, seconded his efforts. On June 10th he
embarked with an army numbering no less than four thousand men-at-arms
and twenty-four thousand archers. This time Dover was his point of
departure, and a prosperous voyage brought him to Calais on the same
day at noon.
His first care was to relieve the Duke of Exeter. A force of twelve
hundred men was at once despatched, and reached Paris without
encountering the enemy. The King’s presence, indeed, seemed to revive
the English cause almost instantaneously throughout Normandy and
Northern France. One of the principal operations of the campaign
was the relief of Chartres, which the Dauphin had invested while
Henry was still in England. On the approach of the English army the
French retired without fighting a battle: the victory of Beaujé had
not restored the confidence which had been lost at Agincourt. It is
significant to find that in the account of a battle fought in the
course of the campaign between the Dauphin and the Duke of Burgundy the
chronicler tells us that the French were much encouraged by finding
that there were no English in the Duke’s army. The capture of Dreux,
which was surrendered on August 20th, was also an important gain.
Henry--and the fact is a notable proof of his military capacity--had in
the course of some ten weeks regained all that had been lost during his
absence.
The English arms being again supreme in Northern France, he proceeded
to extend the limits of the territory which they occupied, and marched
southwards to the Loire. Vendôme fell into his hands, and, after
Vendôme, Beaugency. Crossing the Loire, he proceeded as far south as
Bourges, where the Dauphin, who steadily persisted in his policy of
avoiding a battle, had shut himself up. But Bourges was too strong
to be taken except by operations for which Henry had not then the
means; and Orleans, still unreduced, was in his rear. A more pressing
necessity was the capture of Meaux. As long as this fortress remained
in the hands of the Dauphin, the position of the English in Paris was
not safe. Meaux was accordingly invested on October 6th. The King left
the conduct of the siege for a time in the hands of the Duke of Exeter,
and returned to Paris, where many civil matters called for his presence.
The pressure on his supply of troops had now become exceedingly severe.
He was forced to enlist large numbers of French soldiers to fill up
the gaps in his English army: he sent envoys to the Emperor Sigismund
soliciting help in men-at-arms and archers; and a similar request was
also made to John, King of Portugal. In addition to losses in the field
and by sickness, four thousand of his men are said to have died of an
epidemic in the course of a single march during the campaign on the
Loire; and still it was necessary to garrison every town or fortress of
military importance that might be won from the enemy. Arthur, younger
brother of the Duke of Britanny, who had some time before been released
from his long imprisonment, came with a considerable reinforcement to
join the army; and after Christmas the Duke of Burgundy paid a visit
to the King, who had by that time returned to the camp. But the Duke
did not stay long, for a serious family quarrel had arisen between the
two Princes. Jacqueline, Duchess of Brabant, had left her husband and
taken refuge at the English court, where Henry had welcomed her with
assurance of his protection. The Duke of Burgundy, on the other hand,
took up the cause of his kinsman the Duke of Brabant with much energy,
and a serious difference was the result.
Meanwhile, on December 6th, Queen Katherine had given birth to a son,
the unfortunate Henry of Windsor. The King, for some reason that is not
explained, found an augury of evil--so at least runs the story--in the
fact that Windsor was the birthplace of his heir. He is reported to
have said to his chamberlain, “I, Henry born at Monmouth, shall small
time reign, and get much; and Henry born at Windsor shall long, long
reign, and lose all; but God’s will be done.” The prophecy, whether
made before or after the event, was certainly fulfilled with singular
exactness. Perhaps the great conqueror already felt that his own time
was short, and he had certainly had sufficient proof that, when his
own presence was withdrawn, things were not likely to go well.
During the winter and early spring the siege of Meaux was vigorously
prosecuted. The King had, however, scarcely sufficient troops for the
work, the more so as he was more than once obliged to detach a force to
serve elsewhere. The Dauphin’s troops had surprised Auraches, and it
had to be recovered from them. More ominous, as showing the insecurity
of the conquests made, was the call for troops in Normandy, where
Oliver de Mauny, Lord of Falaise, who had sworn allegiance to the King
of England, was ravaging the country. The Dauphin could not relieve
Auraches, and De Mauny was taken prisoner; but it was evident that a
work of immense difficulty and extent still remained to be done.
Meaux held out for seven months. Its Governor, who went by the name of
the Bastard of Maurus, had offended so deeply against the laws of war
that he could have no hope of pardon were he to capitulate. Instead
of carrying on hostilities according to ordinary methods, he had
behaved like a robber chief. Any party that ventured without sufficient
strength near his fortress he would sally forth and attack; nor did
he make any difference whether it was bent on a peaceable or warlike
errand. Nor was he careful to inquire into its nationality, especially
if it carried anything worth plundering. Any prisoners that he supposed
or alleged to be English or Burgundians he used to hang on an elm that
grew outside the walls and was called by his name.
In April the state of affairs in the town grew desperate. An attempt
at relief made by the Dauphin had failed, ending in the capture of
the leader who commanded it. The first proceeding of the besieged was
to abandon the main part of the town, and concentrate their force in
what was called the market-place, which was separated from the rest of
the city by the river. The attempt of the townspeople to remove their
property to this stronghold was interrupted by a sudden attack from the
besiegers, but the garrison made good their escape into it.
Henry proceeded to attack this stronghold. He began by occupying a
small island in the river, from which he kept up a vigorous attack
with several siege-cannon and catapults. An important position was
lost to the besieged by the capture of the mill, and a breach was made
in the wall. Before ordering an assault Henry summoned the garrison
to surrender. This summons the besieged met with an insulting answer,
which they followed up by a successful sally, killing the whole of a
party which they surprised in a meadow under the walls.
Orders were now given for a general and immediate assault. For seven or
eight hours the conflict raged fiercely. So obstinate was the courage
of the besieged, that when their lances were broken they defended
themselves with iron spits, and night fell before an entrance could be
effected. At one time the storming party had gained the ditch, but they
were driven out of it again.
Further resistance, however, was hopeless. The walls lay in ruins,
and another assault could hardly be repulsed. Henry again offered
terms. He had been personally insulted during the siege, but this did
not affect his temper, which indeed was remarkably imperturbable,
either by pity or anger. The terms offered and accepted were not more
severe than the military practice of the time permitted. Four persons,
among whom was the Bastard of Maurus, with all English, Scotch, and
Irish soldiers, were excepted from the King’s clemency: the rest of
the captives were to be kept close prisoners till the close of the
war. On May 11th Meaux was given into the King’s hands. The Bastard
of Maurus was beheaded, and his body hanged on the tree which he had
made notorious by his cruelty. The other excepted prisoners were taken
to Paris, and executed after due trial. We do not hear of any other
severities.
The capture of this town was Henry’s last exploit.