BAD FAITH OF THE DAUPHIN. -- THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY BRINGS ABOUT AN
INTERVIEW BETWEEN HENRY AND THE FRENCH AUTHORITIES. -- HENRY'S FIRST
INTERVIEW WITH THE PRINCESS KATHARINE OF VALOIS. -- HER CONQUEST. --
THE QUEEN'S OVER-ANXIETY AND INDISCRETION. -- DOUBLE-DEALING OF THE
DUKE OF BURGUNDY; HE JOINS THE DAUPHIN; IS MURDERED ON THE BRIDGE OF
MONTEREAU. -- THE DAUPHIN DISINHERITED. -- HENRY'S ANXIETY TO PREVENT
THE ESCAPE OF HIS PRISONERS.
1419-1420.
About the month of March in the year 1419, the Dauphin proposed to
meet Henry with a view to the formation of an alliance, to which Henry
was at this time by no means averse. The Dauphin, however, acted with
very bad faith on the occasion; and, by neglecting to come according
to his solemn engagement,[187] gave unintentionally another opening to
the Duke of Burgundy to advocate a treaty between France and England.
So utterly, indeed, had the Dauphin thrown aside all thoughts of an
interview with Henry, on which he had appeared very anxiously (p. 250)
bent, that he even made a vigorous attack on the English ambassadors
and their escort when on their road to the King of France.
[Footnote 187: A letter from T.F., dated Evreux,
(March 27th, 1419,) addressed to his friends in
England, tells us that "the Dauphin made great
instance sundry times to have personal speech with
the King, for the good of peace between both
realms;" and, on obtaining the King's consent, "he
fixed on the third Sunday in Lent (March 19th), at
his own desire and instance, making surety by his
oath and his letters sealed to keep that day. The
foresaid Rule Regent hath broke the surety
aforesaid, and made the King a Beau Nient [made a
fool of him]; so that there may be no hope had yet
of peace.... And so now men suppose that the King
will henceforth war on France; for Normandy is all
his, except Gysors, Euere, the Castle Gaylard, and
the Roche."
This writer gives us to understand that he and his
friends were heartily tired of the Continental
warfare, which had so long kept them from the
comforts of their home, and they longed to revisit
the white cliffs of Britain. "Pray for us, that we
may come soon out of this unlusty [unpleasant]
soldier's life, unto the life of England."--MS.
Donat. 4001. Sir H. Ellis assigns this to the year
1420; but it must have been written March 27th (the
Monday before Passion Sunday), 1419, just eight
days after the Dauphin had broken his word.
The same writer speaks in no very measured terms of
the intrigue and duplicity of foreign courts. "And
certes, all the ambassadors that we deal with are
incongrue, that is to say, in old manner of speech
in England, 'they be double and false;' with which
manner of men, I pray God, let never no true men be
coupled with."
The reasons which had induced Henry some time
previously to wish for an alliance with the Dauphin
are found in the Cot. MS.--See "Acts of Privy
Council," vol. ii. p. 350.]
The Duke of Burgundy, taking advantage of this juncture, succeeded,
not only in persuading the two Kings to interchange ambassadors, but
in effecting a personal conference between the royal parties. (p. 251)
Henry agreed to come to Mante, on condition that Charles and the Duke
of Burgundy would come to Ponthoise. A large field on the banks of the
Seine, near to the gate of Melun, was selected for the meeting. The
preparations for the interview are described with great minuteness by
historians. A pavilion at an equal distance from the tents of both
nations was erected by the Queen of France, and presented to Henry;
adjoining to it were two withdrawing apartments. The King of France
was detained by indisposition at Ponthoise on the day appointed, May
30, 1419; but the Queen, the Princess, the Duke of Burgundy, and the
Count de St. Pol, on the one side, with their council and guards, and,
on the other, Henry, his two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, his
two uncles, the Duke of Exeter and the Bishop of Winchester, the Earls
of March and Salisbury, with his council and his guard, met in this
"fair and wide mead of Melun." The Queen's tent was "a fair pavilion
of blue velvet richly embroidered with flower-de-luces; and on the top
was the figure of a flying hart, in silver, with wings enamelled."
Henry's tent was of blue and green velvet, with the figures of two
antelopes embroidered; one drawing in a mill, the other seated on high
with a branch of olive in his mouth, with this motto wrought in
several places, "After busy labour, comes victorious rest." A great
eagle of gold, with eyes of diamond, was placed above. At three (p. 252)
in the afternoon the royal parties, having entered within the
barriers, approached each other, the Queen led by the Duke of
Burgundy, the Princess by the Count de St. Pol. Henry with a solemn
bow took the Queen by the hand and saluted her, and afterwards the
Princess; as did also his brothers, bending one knee almost to the
ground. The Duke of Burgundy paid his respects to Henry, and was
honourably received by him. Henry led the Queen into the pavilion,
taking the upper hand of her after a long dispute about this ceremony;
and having placed her in one chair of state, of cloth of gold, himself
occupied the other. Nothing further than ceremony was the apparent
object of that day's conference, though the fate of Henry perhaps
turned upon it. The Earl of Warwick, "the father of courtesy,"
addressed the Queen, and the parties separated,--the Queen's for
Ponthoise, Henry's for Mante; having first engaged to meet each other
again on the following Thursday. These conferences were carried on at
intervals till June 30th, without any satisfactory progress being made
towards peace; on that day they agreed to meet on the 3rd July, and
Henry kept his engagement, but the French disappointed him; and then,
convinced of their insincerity, and the total absence of all real
intentions on their part to bring the proceedings to a favourable
issue, he dissolved the conference, complaining loudly of the unfair
dealings of his enemies. He was chiefly, however, angry with the Duke
of Burgundy, to whom he ascribed all the blame; and who is said (p. 253)
to have been guilty of such double-dealing as to have had frequent
interviews with the Dauphin in the neighbourhood of Paris, even during
the conference.
A circumstance connected with this meeting is too closely interwoven
with Henry's character, and conduct, and destiny, to be passed over in
silence. In preparing for the interview, the Queen had shown much
courteous attention to secure Henry's gratification; and she looked
forward to it as the hour of her daughter Katharine's[188] conquest
over his heart. That Princess was a lovely young person, and in the
very prime and bloom of her beauty; and her mother had flattered
herself that her charms would prevail over the young conqueror more
than the arms or the statesmen of France. Nor had the designing lady
altogether miscalculated the power of her daughter's charms, or the
extent of Henry's susceptibility. His heart was touched at the first
sight of Katharine, and the practised eyes of her mother saw that the
victory was won. Her daughter (she observed) had overcome a prince who
appeared till then invincible. But the wily Queen outwitted (p. 254)
herself; and, for the present, by her own act disengaged the toils in
which Henry had been unquestionably taken. With a view of inflaming
his love for her daughter the more by her absence, and of compelling
him to comply with any conditions of a treaty, one of which would be
Katharine's hand and heart, she would not suffer the Princess to be
present at any of the following interviews: the first sight of so much
beauty had so triumphant an effect, that she would not permit a
second. But her scheme, however finely drawn, was observed by Henry;
and, indignant at the artifice, he became more inflexible than ever,
and insisted more firmly than before on his first proposals; assuring
the Duke of Burgundy that he was resolved to have the Princess with
all his other demands, or force the King of France from his throne,
and drive the Duke from the kingdom.
[Footnote 188: Katharine of Valois, the youngest
child of Charles VI. of France, (he had twelve
children,) was born on the 27th of October 1401;
just two months subsequently to her elder sister
Isabel's return from England after the death of her
husband, the unfortunate King Richard.
Consequently, at the date of this interview, May
30th, 1419, she was only in her eighteenth year;
Henry himself was in his thirty-second year.]
The unsuccessful issue of this famous conference was undoubtedly owing
in some measure to the Duke of Burgundy, who was for a long time
balancing in his mind the policy of joining Henry or the Dauphin.
Henry openly charged the Duke with dishonourable conduct; and then the
Duke, in a conference at Melun,[189] on Tuesday, July 11th, 1419, made
a solemn league, offensive and defensive, with the Dauphin. They (p. 255)
engaged to join in the administration of the government without
jealousy and envy; and after mutual acts of courtesy, and ratifying
the covenant of peace by solemn oaths, they parted, professedly sworn
friends, but having war against each other in their hearts.
[Footnote 189: This treaty is recorded in Rymer,
vol. ix. p. 776. The circumstances of outward
courtesy, and concealed suspicion, and want of
faith, with which the contracting parties met,
deliberated, and separated on this occasion, are
detailed by Goodwin, p. 237.]
Henry, after the respite of these abortive negociations, again entered
upon his career of war and conquest. The next fortified town was
Ponthoise, possession of which would open his way to Paris. His
soldiers were in the highest spirits; and he seems himself, so far
from being dismayed by the union of the Duke of Burgundy with the
French court, to have been roused by a sense of his difficulties and
dangers to a still higher spirit of valour and enterprise. Ponthoise
was taken by surprise, and Henry regarded it as the most important
place he had taken during the war. How resolved soever he was to be
master of it, he would not make the attempt till after the expiration
of the truce with the Duke of Burgundy, "so punctual was he to the
observance of his faith and honour, which in brave princes are
inviolable." And, to use the words of Goodwin, "his soul was so little
altered from its natural moderation by this success, that he sent to
the King of France to tell him, that though he had taken so
considerable a town, which, being only a few leagues from Paris,
opened a way to the conquest of that capital, yet he now offered him
peace upon the same terms which he had propounded in the treaty (p. 256)
of Melun; with this only addition, that Ponthoise also should now be
confirmed to him."
The Dauphin's troops diminished the joy of this victory by taking one
or two places by surprise. Still all Paris was in great consternation,
and the panic ran through the Isle of France; whilst Clarence marched
his troops to the very walls of the metropolis. Shortly after the fall
of Ponthoise Henry despatched letters to the citizens of London; which
were intercepted by the enemy, who took the bearer of them prisoner.
He consequently sent another despatch to the same purport, from Trie
Le Chastel, near Gisors, on the 12th of the next month. The importance
he attached to this communication, his repetition of the intercepted
letters clearly intimates: it is chiefly interesting now because it
assures us that Henry believed himself to be almost within reach of
the objects of his enterprise; whilst it acquaints us also with the
fact, that he had applied for aid to all his friends through
Christendom. The letter, it is believed, has never yet been published.
"BY THE KING.
"Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well; and we thank you
with all our heart of the good-will and service that we have
always found in you hither-to-ward; and specially of your kind
and notable proffer of an aid, the which ye have granted to us of
your own good motion, as our brother of Bedford and our
Chancellor of England have written unto us, giving therein (p. 257)
good example in diverse wise to all the remanent of our subjects
in our land. And so we pray you, as our trust is ye will, for to
continue. And as to the said aid, the which ye have concluded to
do unto us now at this time, we pray you specially that we may
have [it] at such time and in such days as our brother of Bedford
shall more plainly declare unto you on our behalf; letting you
fully wit [giving you fully to understand] that we have written to
all our friends and allies through Christendom, for to have
succours and help of them against the same time that our said
brother shall declare you: the which, when they hear of the arming
and the array that ye and other of our subjects make at home in
help of us, shall give them great courage to haste their coming
unto us much the rather, and not fail, as we trust fully.
Wherefore we pray you heartily that ye would do, touching the
foresaid aid, as our said brother shall declare unto you on our
behalf: considering that [neither] so necessary ne [nor] so
acceptable a service as ye may do, and will do (as we trust into
you at this time), ye might never have done into us since our wars
in France began. For we trust fully to God's might and his mercy,
with good help of your aid and of our land, to have a good end of
our said war in short time, and for to come home unto you to great
comfort and singular joy of our heart, as God knoweth: the which
He grant us to his pleasance, and have you ever in his keeping!
Given under our signet in our town of Pontoise, the 17th day of
August.
"And weteth [know], that, the foresaid 17th day of August,
departed from us at Pontoise our letters to you direct in the
same tenour; and because it is said the bearer of them is by our
enemies taken into Crotey, we renouelle [renew] them here at Trye
the Castle, the 12th day of September."
"To the Mayor and Citizens of London."
Henry's arms were victorious through this autumn, town after (p. 258)
town, and fortress after fortress, yielding to him; when an event took
place which had a most decided and immediate influence on his affairs
and those of France.[190] The Dauphin solicited another interview with
the Duke of Burgundy, who was cautioned by some of his friends against
trusting his person again to that prince's power; whilst others
deprecated the appearance in the Duke of any suspicion of the
Dauphin's faith and honour. The Duke proceeded to Montereau; where, on
the bridge which led to the town, a room of wood-work was prepared for
the conference; and at the end, towards the town, were successive
barriers. These excited suspicion; still the Duke quitted the town,
and entered into the place appointed. There he met the Dauphin, who
was surrounded by assassins ready to despatch his enemy at a
word.[191] Never was a more base and foul murder committed than that
by which the Duke of Burgundy was butchered on the bridge of (p. 259)
Montereau. His own guilt is no justification of his murderers; and it
is an unsafe interpretation of the inscrutable acts of Providence to
regard his death "as the requital of divine justice."[192] He had
caused the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated in the streets of Paris,
and he now falls himself by the murderous hands of assassins. He was a
bold, presumptuous, ambitious, and licentious man; and his own vices
betrayed him to his ruin. But those by whom he fell were equally
guilty of treachery and murder, as though he had through his life been
guiltless of blood, and an example of virtue.
[Footnote 190: The Author is fully aware that the
brief notice he is able to take of many of the
transactions of this period, whether diplomatic or
military, (especially with reference to the
proceedings of the different parties in France,)
must leave his readers unfurnished with information
on many points, and in some instances may cause the
accounts which he thought indispensable in this
work to appear obscure and confused. He could not,
however, have avoided such a result of his plan in
these Memoirs, without changing their character
altogether. Goodwin, whose labours seem scarcely to
have been ever duly appreciated, has filled up the
outline here given, generally in a satisfactory
manner, though many original documents which have
been brought to light since his time have been
employed.]
[Footnote 191: See Monstrelet, c. 211.]
[Footnote 192: Goodwin thus comments on his
death:--"Thus fell the Duke of Burgundy, who, as he
had caused the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated
in the streets of Paris, so, _by the requital of
divine justice_, his own life was abandoned to vile
treachery." How very unwise and unsafe are such
comments upon the dispensations of Providence is
most clearly evinced here. Never was a more foul
murder, or more desperate defiance of all law,
human and divine, than the Dauphin was guilty of on
the bridge of Montereau: and yet, instead of "his
life being abandoned to vile treachery by the
requital of divine justice," he lived forty-two
years after his deed of blood, succeeded to the
throne of his father, rescued his kingdom from the
hands of the English, and died through abstinence
from food, self-imposed from fear of poison. Far
more wise and more pious is it to leave such
speculations, and to refer all to that day of final
retribution, when the _righteousness of_ the
supreme Ruler of man's destinies shall be made _as
clear as the light, and his just dealing as the
noon day_.]
This tragedy filled the people of France with affliction for the
murdered Duke, and with horror at the Dauphin's perfidy and (p. 260)
cruelty; but no one seemed to be rendered more decidedly hostile to
him for this act than his own mother and father. And whilst the son of
the murdered Duke swore he would never lay down his arms till he had
avenged his father's death upon his murderers, the King himself, by a
proclamation dated Troyes, January 27, 1420, declared that Charles,
Count of Ponthieu, condemned and cursed by God, by nature, and his own
parents, could have no title to the throne; and that it was just and
expedient, for the peace of the nation, that Henry, King of England,
should be established Regent of France.
Henry at this time seems to have been exceedingly apprehensive lest,
by the escape of the princes and nobles of France, his prisoners in
England, the prospect of securing his conquests by a treaty of peace
might be interrupted. An original letter, addressed by him to his
Chancellor, dated Gisors, October 1, 1419, acquaints us with his
anxiety on this subject; whilst it affords another interesting
specimen of the English language at that time, and Henry's own style.
"Worshipful Father in God, right trusty and well-beloved, we
greet you well.
"And we wol and pray you, and also charge you, that as we trust
unto you, and as ye look to have our good lordship, ye see and
ordain that good heed be taken unto the sure keeping of our
French prisoners within our realm, and in especial the Duke of
Orleans, and after to the Duke of Bourbon. For their escaping,
and principally the said Duke of Orleans, might never have (p. 261)
been so harmful nor prejudicial to us as it might be now if
any of them escaped, and namely [especially] the said Duke of
Orleans, which God forbid! And therefore, as we trust, you seeth
that Robert Waterton, for no trust, fair speech, nor promises
that might be made unto him, nor for none other manner of cause,
be so blinded by the said Duke that he be the more reckless of
his keeping; but that, in eschewing of all perils that may befal,
he take as good heed unto the sure keeping of his person as
possible.
"And inquire if Robert of Waterton use any reckless governance
about the keeping of the said Duke, and writeth to him thereof
that it may be amended. And God have you in his keeping!--Given
under our signet, at Gizors, the first day of October.
"To the worshipful Father in God,[193] and right
trusty and well-beloved, the Bishop of
Durham, our Chancellor of England."
[Footnote 193: This was Thomas Langley, who was
elected Bishop of Durham in 1406. He succeeded
Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, as
Chancellor, on the 23rd of July, 1417, and
continued in that office till July 1424, when Henry
Beaufort succeeded him. Thomas Langley was in
possession of the see of Durham from May 17th,
1406, till his death in November 1437. Dugdale,
(Orig. Judic.) by mistake, refers Bishop Langley's
appointment as Chancellor to 1418. It was July
23rd, 5 Henry V. in 1417.]