HENRY CROSSES THE SEA: LANDS AT CLEF DE CAUS: LAYS SIEGE TO HARFLEUR.
-- DEVOTED ATTENDANCE ON HIS DYING FRIEND THE BISHOP OF NORWICH. --
VAST TREASURE FALLS INTO HIS HANDS ON THE SURRENDER OF HARFLEUR. -- HE
CHALLENGES THE DAUPHIN. -- FUTILE MODERN CHARGE BROUGHT AGAINST HIM ON
THAT GROUND.
1415.
From this time Henry's is the life rather of a general than of a King.
His successive battles, and sieges, and victories throw but
occasionally more or new light on his character; and it is not within
the limits of these Memoirs to describe his military achievements, or
to enter upon a detailed examination of his campaigns, except so far
only as the events elucidate his character, or as a knowledge of them
may be necessary for a fuller acquaintance with his life. Many
circumstances of this kind occur between the day when he quitted his
port of Southampton, and the hour which terminated his brief but
eventful career on earth. The enemies of his fair fame cite some one
or other of those transactions to prove him a mass of ambition,
superstition, and cruelty. It will be the reader's part to decide (p. 144)
for himself whether the facts in evidence bear out those charges, or
whether a more equitable judgment would not rather pronounce him to be
a man who, in the midst of a most exciting and distracting career,
never forgot the principles of piety, justice, and mercy. To attest
his valour we need summon no evidence; though even in that point,
which the universal voice of Europe had pronounced to be unassailable,
his challenge to the Dauphin has been cited by one author as an act
that must tarnish his character. The justness of the reflection we
shall weigh hereafter. Of licentiousness after his accession to the
throne his enemies themselves have never ventured to whisper a
suspicion.
As Henry's fleet was leaving his native shores, two incidents are said
to have occurred of opposite omen, such as in those days of
superstition were wont to exercise powerful influence over the minds
of men far removed from the lowest ranks of the people. Swans were
seen swimming gaily and fearlessly around the ships, as if hailing
them on their own watery element; and their appearance was noted as a
happy and encouraging auspice. On the other hand, a fire broke out in
one of the large ships before Henry sailed, which did considerable
damage among the vessels, not without loss of many lives; and this was
deemed an omen of such dire portent, that many of the King's followers
would have dissuaded him from persevering in his expedition.
Henry's was a pious, but not a religiously timid or superstitious (p. 145)
mind; and, unaffected by this incident, or the entreaties of his
friends, he proceeded on his voyage forthwith, and on Friday, August
13, at five o'clock in the afternoon, he entered the mouth of the
Seine, and anchored at a place called Clef de Caus,[115] between
Honfleur and Harfleur, three miles from the latter town. He landed his
forces without opposition; and, on coming on shore himself, he knelt
down, and prayed to Almighty God to prosper his just cause.[116]
[Footnote 115: At the place also where he encamped,
he solemnly celebrated the festival of the
Assumption [so called] of the Virgin Mary, a feast
observed, in the countries on the Continent in
communion with Rome, with great rejoicings and
religious ceremonies, in the present day.]
[Footnote 116: See Chronicler A, and St. Remy, p.
82, quoted in Nicolas' Agincourt.]
Henry resolved on laying siege to Harfleur, the inhabitants of which
seemed equally determined to resist him. The siege of Harfleur, which
commenced on Sunday, August 18, is described with great minuteness by
several writers. His brother, the Duke of Clarence, appears to have
held the most prominent place among Henry's officers; and much praise
is ascribed to him for his prowess and military talent. Every mode of
attack and defence then reckoned among martial tactics was carried out
on both sides.
In addition, however, to the wonted privations and hardships of a
protracted siege, the English host was visited by a violent (p. 146)
disease, which spread rapidly through every grade of the army,
unsparingly thinning its ranks and carrying off its officers, and
threatening annihilation to the whole body. Whilst this calamity was
raging at its height, and making dreadful havoc among the soldiery, an
incident is recorded to have taken place, to which the mind gladly
turns from the din and turmoil of the siege, and the devastations of
that fatal scourge; and though the scene is itself the chamber of
death, we cannot but feel a melancholy satisfaction in contemplating
it for a while. An ecclesiastic, who was present in the camp, and in
attendance on his royal master, records the anecdote in the most
casual manner,[117] without a word of admiration or remark to call our
attention to it, as though he were relating a circumstance of no
unusual occurrence, and such merely as those who knew his master might
hear of without surprise; whilst few pages of history bear to any
monarch more beautiful and affecting evidence of habitual kindness of
heart, pure sympathy with a suffering fellow-creature, and devoted
fulfilment of the dearest offices of friendship. Whilst Richard
Courtenay, Bishop of Norwich, one of the victims of the dysentery, was
lingering in the agonies of death, we find Henry in the midst of his
besieging army, at the height of a very severe struggle, war and
disease raging on every side,--not in a council of his officers, (p. 147)
planning the operations of to-morrow,--nor on his couch, giving his
body and mind repose from the fatigues and excitement of his opening
campaign,--but we see him on his knees at the death-bed of a dying
minister of religion, joining in the offices of the church so long as
the waning spirit could partake of its consolations; and then not
commissioning others, however faithful representatives they might have
been, to act in his stead, but by his own hands soothing the
sufferings of the dying prelate, and striving to make the struggle of
his latter moments less bitter. Had Henry visited the tent of the good
Bishop when he first knew of his malady, and charged any of his
numerous retinue to pay especial attention to his wants and comforts,
it would have been regarded, at such an hour of pressing emergence, as
an act worthy of a Christian King. But Henry, who in no department of
his public duties ever willingly deputed to others what he could
personally attend to himself, carried the same principle into the
exercise of the charities of private life; and has here left a pattern
of Christian sympathy and lowliness of mind, of genuine philanthropy,
and the sincere affection of true friendship, worthy of prince and
peasant alike to imitate. Bishop Courtenay is said to have been among
Henry's chosen friends, recommended to him by the singular qualities
of his head and his heart. He was a person (we are told) endowed with
intellectual and moral excellences of a very high character; (p. 148)
and Henry knew how to appreciate the value, and cultivate the friendship,
of such a man. Having enjoyed the satisfaction and benefit of his
society in life, now, when he was on the point of quitting this world
for ever, Henry never withdrew from his bed; but, watching him with
tender anxiety till the ministers of religion had solemnized the last
rite according to the prevailing practice of the church in those days,
even then, "in his own person," he continued to supply the wants of
sinking mortality, "with his own hands[118] wiping the chilled feet"
of his dying friend. The manuscript proceeds to say, that, when life
was extinct, with pious regard for his memory, Henry caused his body
to be conveyed to England, and to be honourably buried among the royal
corpses in Westminster.
[Footnote 117: Sloane MS. 1776.]
[Footnote 118: A very curious turn has been given
inadvertently to this circumstance by the
translation of the ecclesiastic's sentence, and the
comment upon it, now found in the Appendix to the
"Battle of Agincourt." "Rege præsente, pedes ejus
tergente post extremam unctionem propriis
manibus,"--words which can only be translated so as
to represent the King, "after extreme unction,
wiping the feet" of the Bishop,--the Editor of that
work, by the careless blunder of an amanuensis, or
some unaccountable accident, is made to render by
the strange sentence, "_covering_ his feet _with_
extreme unction;" and he is then led, as a comment
upon that text, to observe, that "the Bishop
received from Henry's own hand the last offices of
_religion_." Extreme unction, the last of the seven
sacraments of the see of Rome, was administered
doubtless by an attendant priest.]
Three days after this prelate's death, on Wednesday, September 18th,
an agreement to surrender on the following Sunday was entered (p. 149)
into; the inhabitants of the town pledging themselves by a most solemn
oath to abide by the terms of the agreement. The ceremony on this
occasion must have had a very imposing effect. The King's chaplain,
Benedict Bishop of Bangor, in his pontifical dress, carried the
consecrated Host to the walls of the town, preceded by thirty-two
chaplains, each in full canonicals, and attended by as many esquires,
one of whom bore a lighted taper before each priest. As soon as the
parties were sworn on the elements, the townsmen were assured that
they need fear no acts of wrong or violence, for the King wished
rather to preserve than to destroy his own territory.
On Sunday, September 22, the town was surrendered with much solemn
state into Henry's hands. At the appointed hour, Henry, being dressed
in the robes of royalty, ascended a throne erected under a silk
pavilion on the top of the hill opposite to the town. All his peers
and great men were assembled around him. "Our King"[119] (says a
writer who was probably an eye-witness) "sat in his estate as royal as
did ever any King; and, as it is said, there never was a Christian
King so royal, neither so lordly, sat in his seat as did he." From
this seat to the town a passage was formed by the English soldiers,
through which the late governor, Sir Lionel Braquemont, the Lord de
Gaucourt, and others, with the Host borne before them, attended by (p. 150)
those who had sworn to observe the treaty, and by thirty-four of the
chief inhabitants, passed to Henry's presence, "who forgave them their
injustice in keeping his own town from him; and, having hospitably
entertained them, dismissed them courteously." Thus fell into Henry's
hand one of the most important towns of Normandy, after a siege of
about thirty-six days, during which the zeal and valour of the
assailants and the besieged were equally displayed.[120]
[Footnote 119: Cotton MS. Cleopatra, C. iv. f. 24.]
[Footnote 120: Monstrelet informs us that the
treasure found by Henry at Harfleur was immense. A
letter to Henry from two of his officers,
"_counters of your receipt_," specifies that they
were then in possession for the King of treasure to
this amount: of coined gold, 30,000_l._; in silver
coined, 1,000,000_l._; and in wedges of silver,
drawing by estimation to half a ton weight; at the
same time desiring to receive instructions as to
the mode of conveying it to Rouen. This letter,
dated 19th of May, must belong to the year 1419, in
the January of which Rouen was taken.--Ellis's
Letters, xxvi.]
On the following day Henry entered the town, dismounting at the gate,
and walking barefoot to St. Martin's church, in which he gave solemn
thanks to God for his success. He then commanded all the women and
children, and the disabled, to be separated from those who had sworn
allegiance to him, as well as from those who, having refused that
oath, were regarded as prisoners. The persons thus separated were next
day sent out of the town, to the number of nearly two thousand, loudly
lamenting their fate. They were escorted by the English; and all (p. 151)
persons belonging to the church, and the women and children, had a
present of five sous for their journey, and were permitted to dress
themselves in their best apparel, and carry each a moderate bundle
with them. It was forbidden to search the priests, and also the heads
or the bosoms of the women. At St. Aubon, about four miles from
Harfleur, they were entreated to refresh themselves with bread and
cheese and wine; at Lislebone the Marshal Boucicault received them,
and they were forwarded by water to Rouen. At Henry's invitation, many
tradesmen and others came over from England, and became inhabitants of
Harfleur; the King, with the desire of strengthening the place, having
guaranteed, by a proclamation through England, a house of inheritance
to all who would settle there.
About this time Henry sent a message to the Dauphin, challenging him
to single combat, and so to decide the dreadful struggle in which the
two kingdoms were engaged, without the further effusion of blood.
Occasion has been taken to reflect on this act of Henry's, as a stain
both on his personal valour and on his principles of justice: the
first, because he was twenty-seven years old, and the Dauphin not
twenty; the latter, because it were unjust "to expect that so
important a stake should be hazarded on the result of such a meeting."
To enhance Henry's guilt of cowardice, we are told that he challenged
"a mere youth, of whose prowess or bodily strength there is not (p. 152)
the slightest evidence, and who died _in the December following_."
This is not the first time we have had occasion to remark on this same
writer's injustice towards Henry's memory. Why mention the Dauphin's
death in the following December, except to insinuate that Henry _knew_
he was then in a weak state of bodily health? Of this, however, there
is not the shadow of reason for suspecting Henry. On the contrary, the
evidence tends to the directly opposite conclusion. The Dauphin died
on the 25th December following; but so sudden was his decease, that a
suspicion was excited of his having been poisoned. He had for a long
time been actively engaged in heading one of the contending parties in
France, and he is reported to have been a bold and presumptuous
prince.[121] And, even a month after the battle of Agincourt, we find
him, apparently in full strength both of body and mind, exercising the
authority of the King, his father, in Paris; vigorously and
effectually resisting the entrance of the Duke of Burgundy, who
marched with his army direct to the gates of that city, determined to
force for himself an entrance into it. And, on his father's relapsing
into his malady, he vigorously seized the government, setting the Duke
of Orleans at defiance, and carrying off the King, his father, ill as
he was, to the siege of Arras.[122] Whether the difference of (p. 153)
age between these two young warriors is so great as to justify such
strong reflections on Henry's courage, must be left to the judgment of
impartial minds. But, when the Dauphin is called a mere youth, it must
be borne in mind that he was considerably older than Henry was when he
headed his father's troops in Wales, or fought so gallantly in the
field of Shrewsbury.
[Footnote 121: Abrégé Historique.]
[Footnote 122: Ibid. p. 114.]
But we must not let this charge, affecting Henry's valour and justice,
be dismissed without observing that not only did Henry believe, but it
was the universal belief of the age, that "trial by battle" was a
proper way of ending a dispute, and one acceptable to God: one in
which the justice of the quarrel decided, more than the strength or
skill of the combatants. We have proved that there could have been no
grounds for Henry's supposing that he was sending a challenge to a
youth enervated by sickness; and the difference of age alleged now, at
length, in disparagement of Henry's valour, would have been scouted by
all the good knights of Christendom, had it been pleaded as an apology
for the Dauphin declining the challenge. Surely it indicates a
conviction that the points in which the character of a man, famed for
bravery and justice, is assailable, are few and unimportant, when such
frivolous attacks as this are made on his fair fame.
HENRY'S CHALLENGE TO THE DAUPHIN may be thus translated:-- (p. 154)
Henry, by the grace of God, King of France and England, Lord of
Ireland, to the high and mighty Prince, the Dauphin of Vienne,
our cousin, eldest son of the most mighty Prince, our cousin and
adversary of France. Whereas, from reverence to God, and to avoid
the shedding of human blood, we have many times and in many ways
followed and sought for peace, and have not been able to possess
it, yet our desire to secure it increases more and more; and well
considering that our wars are followed by the death of men, the
destruction of countries, the wailings of women and children, and
so many evils generally as every good Christian must lament and
pity, especially ourselves, whom this affair most affects, as it
does, to take all pains and diligence to find every means within
our knowledge to avoid the above-mentioned evils and distresses,
and to acquire the grace of God and the praise of the world. And,
since we have thought and advised, it has seemed to us,
considering it has pleased God to visit our cousin with
infirmity, that the remedy rests upon us and you. And to the end
that every one might know that we withdraw not ourselves from it,
nor from our part in it, we offer you to put our whole quarrel,
with God's grace, between our person and yours. And if it should
seem to you that you cannot agree to this, because of the
interest which you conceive our cousin, your father, has in it,
we declare to you in this our intention, that if you will
entertain it, and engage in it, we are well pleased that our said
cousin, for our reverence to God, and because he is a sacred
person, shall have and enjoy all he has at present for the term
of his life, whatever shall happen by the will of God between us
and you, as it shall be agreed between his council, ours, (p. 155)
and yours.
So that if God shall give us the victory, the crown of France
with its appurtenances, as our right, shall be immediately
rendered to us without difficulty after his decease. And to this
all the lords and estates of France shall be bound, as it shall
be agreed between us.
For it is better for us, cousin, thus to decide this war for ever
between our two persons, than to suffer the misbelievers, by
occasion of our wars, to destroy Christianity, our holy mother
the church to remain in divisions, and the people of God to
destroy one another. We pray much that you may have as strong a
desire to avoid that, and to come to peace, and seek all means of
finding it. And let us trust in God that no better way than this
can be found. And, therefore, in discharge of our soul, and in
charge of yours, if such great evils follow, we make to you the
above offer.
Protesting ever that we make this offer for the honour and fear
of God, and for the above causes, of our own motion, without our
royal relations, councillors, and subjects daring in so high a
matter to advise us. Nor can it at any time to come be urged to
our prejudice, nor in prejudice of our good right and title which
we have at present to the said crown with its appurtenances, nor
to the good right and title which we now have to other our lands
and heritages on this side the sea, nor to our heirs and
successors, if this our offer does not take full effect between
us and you in the manner aforesaid. Given under our privy seal,
at our town of Harfleur, the 16th[123] day of September."
[Footnote 123: There is a doubt whether it is the
xvi. or the xxvi.--the first x in the manuscript
having, perhaps, been obliterated by the fire which
damaged it.--Foed. vol. ix. 313.]