CHAPTER ONE The most serene prince, the king of England and France and lord of Ireland, Henry, the fifth after the Conquest, was crowned at Westminster on Passion Sunday, the ninth day of the month of April, in the year of Our Lord's Incarnation 1413. When, young in yearss but old in experience, he began his reign, like the true elect of God savouring the things that are above,s he applied his mind with all devotion to encom- pass what could promote the honour of God, the extension of the Church, the deliverance of his country, and the peace and tranquillity of kingdoms, and especially (because they were more closely connected and associated) the peace and tran- quillity of the two kingdoms of England and France, which over a long and lamentable period of time have done injury to themselves by their internal conflicts, not without a great and grievous shedding of human blood. And while these most sacred meditations quite possessed the mind of the king, God himself, Who is the searcher of heartss and in Whose hand are the hearts of kings, in order that at one and the same time vexation might furnish under- standing and His elect be proved in the furnace of tribulation, allowed an adversary to rise up against him, a certain Sir John Oldcastle,s one of the most valued and more intimate mem- bers of his household. This man, of great popular reputation, proud of heart, strong in body but weak in virtue, dared to presume not only against the king but also against the Uni- versal Church.s For so poisoned had he been by Wycliffite malevolence that (reviving almost all the errors and heresies which, dressed up in new terms, that false prophet of accursed memory John Wycliffe had lately summoned up from ancient paganism in order to overthrow both the spiritual and the temporal estates) he became as it were the leader and captain brothers, with the prelates and other magnates of the realm, the transfer- ence of the religious to secular employments, the spoliation and destruc- tion of all cathedrals, churches, and monasteries, and the elevation of Oldcastle to the position of regent of the kingdom' (James Tait, <1D.N.B>1. xiv. 984b). s Lit.: the estate of both Swords. 5 over those turbulent people who throughout divers parts of England had been grievously afflicted by such a malignant disease. And he was not even afraid, by cunning verbal deceptions of that kind, to assail his royal highness with the deadly venom. But a just and merciful God, Who allows no one to be tried beyond his strength but always provides a way of escape for His elect in time of temptation,s not only made steadfast the king's heart but also armed him against both the traitor's person and his poison. The king, in fact, rebuked him for having revived such great wickedness, and poured into him now oil, now wine, so that, had it been at all possible, he would have scarified the ulcers of his venomous pre- sumption. But when, at length, this man of sedition could not be turned from his obstinate and damnable belief by either coaxing or intimidation or, indeed, by any means of per- suasion, the king ordered him to be smitten with the sword, first the spiritual, then the temporal--him whom neither soft words nor harsh threats could wean from those udders from which he had sucked his most impious notions. And directly, in the following September in London, supported by the authority of the king, who himself took the initiative in the matter, the lord Thomas Arundels of happy memory, the archbishop of Canterbury--a man of exalted ancestry and profound wisdom, a noble defender of the Church, whom neither good fortnne could lift up nor adversi-ty cast down, and than whom from olden times no man has anywhere been found braver in fighting Christ's battles and opposing seditious men of that kind--condemned this traitor to God and man as a heretic (he being convicted by his own confession, nay, indeed, by his own vehement and obsti- nate assertion) and handed him over to the secular arm for further punishment according to the established laws of the realm.s 1391-Nov. 1396, Aug.-Sept. 1399, Jan. 1407-Dec. 1409, and Jan. 1412- 21 Mar. 1413 (the first day of Henry V's reign, when his dismissal, in favour of Henry Beaufort, was only to be expected). s Of chroniclers, Walsingham (pp. 70-6) has by far the best account of the proceedings against Oldcastle; he drew on the official record (see below, p. 9 n. 8). 7 The king, however, in consideration of the knightly rank of this apostate, charitably deferred sentence of death by fire and, in the hope of leading back the lost sheep from the waylessness of his error to the way of truth (from which the dogmas of evil men had led the foolish man astray), ordered him for a time to be put in chains in the Tower of London. But before the end of October, having been freed from his chains under promise that he would recant his heretical opinions and abide by the judgement of the Church, the renegade, although still held in custody until he could be brought before a tribunal of the clergy summoned for the purpose, broke prison and fled. And, conspiring thenceforward with his confederates in holes and corners against the power of both Swords as he had done previously, during the next solemn festival of Our Lord's Nativity--when, according to the song of the angels,s there should be peace on earth towards men of good will, and when all men of true faith were engaged in praise and rejoicing at the celebration of these solemnities and had no such evil thing in mind, and when the king with the majority of the lords of his realm, spiritual and temporal, was intending to keep Our Lord's Epiphany [6 January], like the preced- ing feast, in his manor of Eltham--that man of bloody and unheard-of treachery resolved to make a surprise attack by night upon the king and his men and consign them all indiscriminately to death by the sword. However, the treason of that follower of Satan having been discovered and resis- tance organized, God delivered the innocent from the hands of the ungodly.s Even now, however, this sly deceiver would not forbear but, engaging as before in sedition that was twofold, that is, against the king and the Universal Church, did his utmost to accomplish his most criminal design. For on the next day after the king had moved to his palace of Westmi-nster [9 January], this same raven of treachery--with those his crows who, as arranged, were to flock to him from almost every part of England--there, in the near neighbourhood of the city, p. 108). Moreover, Henry's spies had been supplying him with information (Devon, p. 333; <1C.P.R. 1413-16>1, pp. 149, 157). The king himself came up from Eltham to Westminster on Monday, 8 January (<1E.H.R>1. xx. 640). 9 next to St. Giles's Hospitals (which is within a mile of the palace), resolved to take the field by night, as though to provoke his king and liege lord, as an opponent, into settling their respective beliefs by contest and into fighting a pitched battle. Oh! what amazing, lamentable, and bitter madness, which presumes at one and the same time against the Lord and the Lord's anointed; it must surely be punished far more grievously than was the son of the Israelitish woman,s nay rather even more severely than were Dathan and Abiram.s However, this third act of treason having by God's will been discovered and guards and watches set throughout the city of Londons (now made unwholesome by that pestilence, which was manifold throughout England), the king arrived at the field that night before him. His adversary, being forewarned of this, disappeared. And of his followers who came up from the country in the morning expecting to have found him in the field, as well as of others of their sect who had been arrested previously, some were adjudged to be hanged and burnt and some only to be hanged, depending on whether the nature of their crime had been found to be one of treason or blasphemy or of both.s But Oldcastle himself, who, with his both archaic and new- fangled ideas,s had devoted himself to Satan, from that time on lurked in holes and corners out of the sight of men, and indeed still does, like another Cain, a vagabond and a fugitive upon the face of the earth.s The sentence of his condemna- tion, together with the legal record, is contained in the archbishop's register.s demned were hanged two days later, the pronounced Lollards being burned as well. A few more were executed later in the week, but Henry soon showed leniency, although inquiries continued to be held in various parts of the country until early in March. The first par 23 January(ibid., p. 162), and a general pardon offered on 28 March to all (save a few headed by Oldcastle) who sued for it before 24 June (Rymer, ix. 119). The parliament which met at Leicester ('the heretics' metro- polis') on 30 April 1414 passed a statute which "placed the responsibility for hunting out and destroying Lollardy upon the shoulders of every royal and municipal officer' (McFarlane, p. 172). s See above, p. 3. s Gen. 4: 12. s The "sentence' is in Arundel's Register (ii, ff. 142s ff.), from which it was printed by Wilkins (iii. 353 ff.). The text was apparently circulated by the archbishop to his suffragans (for Walsingham's use of it see Gal- braith, p. xxii). THE DEEDS OF HENRY THE FIFTH 11 And, just when our king with his faithful band of men-at- arms had, in order to resist the hostile stratagems of this son of darkness, taken up his stand in that field under a clear sky, suddenly, to the west of us, it seemed as if the heavens opened and sent forth a brilliant star which, moving rapidly across Where the the slope of the firmament between us and the north, with a great glitter of light grew to a length (as men reckoned) of more than two bow-shots; and concerning its significance many men said many things.s But I who am writing, not wishing to blaspheme,s leave what it foretold to God, the Creator of nature, and to the operation of the elements. Even so, it was devoutly believed by many that it had appeared to us in order to give light to our faith, and to our adversary as if to strike him with the thunderbolt of vengeance. This enemy and subverter of the Church, nature, indeed, had at first made humble in rank. Then, slaughtering and pillaging the Welsh secured his promotion to knighthood, and, later still, flattering fortune called him through marriage to be Lord Cobham. And then, last of all, swollen with the lust to dominate, he desired, great as he was, to be made greater, rich as he was, to be made richer, and though but a subject, to become a ruler. And to fulfil his filthily corrupt design under a cloak of sanctity, abominating the misdeeds of others but careless of his own, he endeavoured, led by Satan, at one and the same time to arm the laity in order to despoil the Church and also to limit both heavenly and terres- trial authority in order to enlarge his own. But God would not have it so. Nay rather, in His anger, He suddenly struck the sinner down, and not undeservedly he plunged from the heights to the lowest depths, and passed from lordship to bondage and from the security of competent estate to the semblance of death, he whom arrogant presumption had so easily deformed into a beast. For he himself condemned all tyranny and arrogance, and yet none could possibly have been more truculent and tyrannous than he. From this it is clearly evident that God scourges the sons whom He receivess in one way, and those He decides to root out like barren trees in another. For He scourged the king through him and him also He scourged through the king. That He might utterly destroy the one, and that He might perfect the other. 13 CHAPTER TWO And so, amid the storms and stresses caused by these painful experiences, the mind of the king remained firm and was unshakable; nay rather, abiding by his former most devout intention to extend the Church and encompass the peace of kingdoms, he first began the foundation of three monas- teries,s one of the order, etc., to the honour, etc., another of the order, etc., to the honour, etc., and a third of the order, etc., to the honour, etc., all near his manor-house of Sheen which, razed to the ground ever since the time of the death of Queen Anne,s he had resolved to restore to a better, a more sumptuous, and a far grander state than before. And then, after solemn embassies had been dispatched to the most superillustrious prince, Sigismund,s king of Hun- gary, the emperor-elect--than whom no man (so far as one can read) has ever laboured more zealously for the reforma- tion of the Church and her release from the gloomy prisons isn which, long out of reach of the many sighs of Christian men, a dreadful schism has held her captive under its cruel tyrannys--and when similar embassies had also been sent to the king of Aragons and to other Christian princes, he entered fiefs held by John the Fearless in Flanders (H. Finke, <1Acta Concilii>1 <1Constanciensis,>1 i. 377-9). (For a valuable, general discussion of this dip- lomacy, see <1Historical Studies IV, Papers read before the Fifth Irish>1 <1Conference of Historians,>1 ed. G. A. Hayes-McCoy, C. M. D. Crowder, "Henry V, Sigismund, and the Council of Constance, a Re-examination', pp. 93-110.) Henry V, in the will he made on 24 July 1415, showed the great regard he already had for Sigismund by bequeathing him ('fratri nostro precharissimo') the sword, worth 500 marks, received by him from the altar at his coronation; he 'commended' it ('ensis Ecclesie et Ch1isti- anitatis') to Sigismund as to the one who, in his judgement, was 'Ecclesie et Fidei fidissimus Defensator' (Rymer, ix. 291). s It was largely because of pressure exerted by Sigismund on John XXIII that a General Council was summoned to meet at Constance on 1 November 1414, its chief object being to end the papal schism which, originating in 1378, had been aggravated by the election of a third pope (Alexander V, John's predecessor) at the Council of Pisa in 1409. Sigis- mund soon established himself as 'patron' of the Council. s Ferdinand I, declared king of Aragon on 28 June 1412, had only been accepted by the Cortes in January 1414 and crowned on 11 February. From Henry V's accession he had desired an alliance. A marriage between Henry and Maria, Ferdinand's eldest daughter, and then Leonora, his second daughter, was vainly canvassed in the summer of 1415. 15 into mutual friendship and alliance with them all. The pur- port and texts of these alliances you may find in a book of royal evidences and records. And in the meantime solemn embassies had been exchanged between the two kingdoms of England and Frances to secure a perpetual peace, and our king employed several such em- bassies and engaged in the most thoroughgoing negotiations. But all to no avail. This was because the French council (cleaving inordinately to its own will, which it treats as though it were law) could not, by any equitable course or just means, be induced to accept such a peace without immense injury to the crown of England and perpetual disinheritance of the samein certain of the most noble parts of it belonging to us in that kingdom, although to procure that peace the king had been willing to make concessions noble and notable enough. At length, not perceiving any other remedy or means by which he might attain his right, he hastened to seek a ruling from the Supreme Judge, deciding to wield, with His help, the power of his just sword and by use of this blameless sword to exact what the French, by their blameworthy and unjust violence, have for so long a period of time strivento usurp and withhold. And having for this reasons summoned a fleet and assembled (Rymer, ix. 208-15). The state of truce was meanwhile extended. In the Winchester negotiations of July 1415 the archbishop of Bourges, the French leader, promised a further territorial addition, viz. the seneschalcy of Limoges, this being apparently the only such addition suggested by the French since their offer at the beginning of the exchanges. But when Henry V offered to send his secretary to France to arrange details respect- ing this and the dowry question (the French embassy meanwhile remain- ing in England), they raised such difficulties and then became so defiant and insulting that the negotiations were broken off, Henry's chancellor protest- ing that he was being driven t0 seek other remedies because of a denial of justice (<1St. Denys,>1 v. 512-26; Wylie, i, chapters xxiii-xxvi). s The words "propter hoc' are misleading. Henry had been preparing for war for some time and, as the <1Gesta>1 always insists, made peace con- ditional upon justice. On 10 March 1415, three days before his second embassy officially presented the English case before the dauphin, Henry had appealed to the city of London for funds for his intended invasion (Riley, pp. 603-4). Preparations of all kinds for the "voyage' were well in progress by the spring of 1415 (Rymer, ix. 251, 253) ; the manufacture of guns and other engines of war had been ordered the prev1ous autumn (ibid., pp. 159-60; Devon, p. 336). On 16 April the final announcement of Henry's arrangements for the government of England in his absence was made to an assembly of prelates and magnates at Westminster (<1P.P.C>1. ii. 150-1, 155-7; Rymer, ix. 222). 8222319 E 17 an army, bringing up all that seemed necessary for the defence of his men and to attack the enemy, and having concealed from all save his closest councillors the destination of the ships, he prepared to cross to Normandy in order first to recover his duchy of Normandy, which belongs to him entirely by a right dating from the time of William the first, the Conqueror, even though now, as for a long time past, it is thus withheld, against God and all justice, by the violence of the French. And when, at the abbey of Titchfield,s not far from the port of Southampton, he had spent some time Concerning waiting for the arrival of his army and in company with the privy council of the realm, he ordered to be transcribed, under letters and seal of the archbishop of Canterburys and the subscription of a notary, the pacts and covenants not so long ago entered into between the most serene prince the king of England, Henry the fourth, his father, and certain of the great princes of France on the subject of his divine right and claim to the duchy of Aquitaine,s from which, contrary to their personal oaths, signatures, and seals, they had rashly withdrawn. And he sent some of these transcripts to the General Councils and to Sigismund the emperor and other catholic princes, to this end: that all Christendom might know what greats acts of injustice the French in their duplicity had inflicted on him, and that, as it were reluctantly and against his will, he was being compelled to raise his French war had been exemplary (yielding seven tenths in 1414-17). For further details see <1Chichele Reg.>1 and E. F. Jacob, Archbishop <1Henry>1 <1Chichele>1 (London, 1967). s The agreement in question was the treaty concluded on behalf of Henry IV with the Armagnac princes at Bourges and, on 15 May 1412, ratified in London. Its most important clause from the English standpoint was the recognition, by the dukes of Berry, Orleans, and Bourbon, and the count of Alenc#on, of Henry IV's just claim to the duchy of Guienne, and they offered to help him recover it (Vaughan, Wohn <1the Fearless>1, pp. 94-5). Henry IV's counterpart was delivered from the Treasury to Bishop Courtenay at Lambeth on 10 May 1415 (F. Palgrave, <1Antient Kalendars,>1 ii. 53-4), apparently for the transcripts to be made. One of these, deposited in the Treasury of the Receipt, is extant (as P.R.O. Dipl. Doc. [Exch. T.R.] 1695); it is dated at Titchfield, 10 July 1415, and from it we learn that the archbishop ordered the agreement it exemplifies to be transumed, to be published by John Stevenys, canon of Exeter, notary public, and his scribe, and to be affirmed by the affixing of the archiepiscopal seal. The seal is now missing, but the notarial certificate and sign appear at the foot of the document. s The Council of Constance, 1414-18. 19 standards against rebels. The tenor of this transcript you : may find in another book amongst the royal evidences and records. And then, while he was waiting for a short time at his castle of Porchester before making the crossing, behold! God, still wishing to make trial of the constancy of His elect, allowed him again to be tested and smitten by yet another hammer-blow causing great perturbation; for our adversary the Devil (who is at all times evilly disposed to any good purpose) entered into the hearts of certain men close at hand, namely, the lords Richard, earl of Cambridge, his cousin- german, Henry, lord Scrope, an intimate member of his own household and one who was almost second to none in the kingdom among those in the king's confidence, and also Thomas Grey, a knight famous and noble if only he had not been dishonoured by this stain of treason. These men, in their brutal madness and mad brutality, tainted with a lust for power, but even more so by the stench of French promises or bribes, had conspired all too viciously and inhumanly, not only to prevent the intended expedition but also to inflict disaster by killing the king. But He Who sits above the cherubim and beholds the depths,s and knows how vain are the deliberations of men, soon delivered the just from the ungodly and revealed the Judas-like iniquity and treason of these evil men through the lord Mortimer, the earl of March, whose innocence they had assaulted as part of this murderous design.s And when, in consequence of this, they had immediately, although quietly and discreetly, been summoned by the king along with the rest of the peers as if to a council in the same castle, and had there been arrested and taken away to the port of Southampton, on the following Monday, the fifth day of August, in the year of Our Lord, 1415, after they had made public confession and sentence had been pronounced, the lords Richard, earl of Cambridge, and Thomas Grey under- went punishment by beheading. And Henry, lord Scrope, the more culpable an enemy because the more intimate a friend, having on account of the infamy of his offence been drawn through the middle of the town to the place of execution, was there decapitated. 21 CHAPTER THREE And while even many of those most devoted to the king still wanted him to abandon his resolve to make such a crossing, both in case there should be any su- nilar acts of treason still undiscovered and also, and especially, on account of the mania of Sir John Oldcastle and those of his persuasion (a rumour of an insurrection by whom during the king s absence treasons had begun to be spread abroad), this fearless and great- hearted prince, who assuredly was moved by the spirit of God, did nevertheless refuse to be deflected from his former plan; rather, when, as the result of an agreed decision, some of those most loyal to him, and who in fact were to have accompanied him, had been assigned to every shire where there was fear of such treason or insurrection and given fully adequate authority to keep the peace and put down evil- doers, he himself, on the following Wednesday [7 August], went down by barge from his castle of Porchester to the sea, going aboard his ship called <1le Trinite>1 between the port of Southampton and Portsmouth. And at once he had the yard of her sail hoisted half-way up the mast to indicate his immediate readiness to set sail and at the same time to serve as a signal to the ships of the fleet, which were dispersed in various places along the coast, to make haste to join him as soon as they could. And when, on the following Sunday [11 August], almost all of them had arrived, seeing that the wind was blowing in his favour he spread his sails to the breeze in company with about fifteen hundred vessels,s not including those which stayed behind, of which there were about a hundred. And, as we were leaving the coast of the Isle of Wight behind, swans were seen swimming about among the fleet, and they were spoken of as a happy augury for the task we had undertaken and generally considered to be so. And on the next Tuesday, plus 5,900 (who made the Agincourt campaign), apart from those who died during the siege and deserters (below, p. 58). For a reference to 'lancea' meaning either three or four combatants see R. Vaughan, <1Philip the>1 Good (London, 1970), p. 364. On the basis of our author's use of the word 'lancea' On p. 58, it would appear that in the <1Gesta>1 it means one man-at- arms only. 23 at about five o'clock in the afternoon, the king entered the mouth of the River Seine, which, from Paris, past Rouen and Harfleur, flows down into a bay of the sea, and dropped anchor off a small hamlet called Chef de Caux,s about three miles from Harfleur, where he had resolved to make a landing. And, after the banner of council had been at once unfurled and the captains had assembled, following the hold- ing of a council an order was issued throughout the whole fleet that, under pain of death, no one should land before the king, but rather that they should make ready to land early on the following morning when he did, lest, if it were done otherwise, the English in their recklessness, not foreseeing the dangers and coming ashore too soon and at the wrong time, might perhaps scatter in search of plunder and leave the king's own landing too exposed. And when it had become light on the following day, that is, on Wednesday [14 August], the Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the sun revealed a beautiful dawn. And after the king, before daybreak and in the stillness of the night, had sent his cousin, the noble knight, the lord [John] Holland, the earl of Huntingdon,s with a mounted patrols to explore the countryside and find somewhere to quarter, he himself, between the sixth and the seventh hour, with the greater part of his army, came in to land in barges, launches, and skiffs; and he at once made for the nearest high ground in the direction of Harfleur,s on one side of which, on s John Holland was the surviving younger son of John Holland, duke of Exeter and half-brother of Richard II, who in 1400 had been beheaded for treason and, by a judgement of the parliament of 14o1, had incurred forfeiture of his estates. His mother was Elizabeth, sister of Henry IV. He had been knighted on the eve of Henry V's coronation. His indentured retinue in 1415 comprised 20 men-at-arms and 60 archers. He then held the title of earl only by courtesy but, having been made K.G. on 4 May 1416 and next day appointed Lieutenant of the fleet going to the relief of Harfleur, he petitioned in the following October to be restored in blood and to the earldom when he should come of age (on 29 March 1417). Henry V granted the petition but restored only the entailed estates of the family. s Hardyng (p. 374) names also Gilbert Umfraville, John Cornwall, John Grey, William Porter, and John Stewart (cf. below, p. 47 n. 1). s Le Fevre (i. 225) and Monstrelet (iii. 82) add that Henry V lodged in the priory at Graville, and his brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, near by; the rest lodged where they could. 25 a slope down towards the lower ground in the direction of the River Seine, was a wood (not of large trees but of brushwood), and, on the other side, hamlets, closes, and orchards, where he and his army could quarter until the rest of his men and the horses and other necessary means of transport could be unloaded from the ships. Now the shore and the place where we disembarked were very stony, with large boulders, against which the ships were liable to be dashed, and with other smaller stones, pebbles, handy for throwing, with which the enemy, had they wished to oppose our landing, could have attacked us and defended themselves. And at the back of the shore, between us and the land, there had been made deep ditches which were full of water and, b ehind these, again towards the land, walls of earth of great thickness, furnished with angles and ramparts for defence after the manner of the walls of a tower or castle; and between every two ditches the earth was left intact for the breadth of a cubit, permitting only one man at a time to enter or leave between them. And so that place, from the point at which the boulders first occurred in the sea (where a landing was inconceivable except with the greatest diffi- culty) as far as a marsh about half a mile or more away in the direction of Harfleur, was defensible both by such stones as the shore of the river provided and by the ditches and fortified walls prepared by the labour of the French. However, as a result of their slackness, folly, or, at any rate, lack of foresight, the place was left completely undefended by men when, as far as one could judge, the resistance of a few, had they but had manly hearts, would have kept us at bay certainly for a long time and perhaps indefinitely. Entry into the marsh, too, was most difficult, both by reason of the ditches and gullies along which the river ebbed and flowed and because of the narrow tracks where resistance even by the smallest of forces would have been enough to withstand an assault by many thousands. CHAPTER FOUR By Saturday [17 August] everything needed for the expedition had been unloaded from the ships; and when, meanwhile, the king had prudently issued, among other most worthy ordi- nances, s a command to the army that under pain of death there should be no more setting fire to places (as there had been to begin with) and that churches and sacred buildings along with their property should be preserved intact, and that no one should lay hands upon a woman or on a priest or servant of a church, unless he happened to be armed, offered violence, or attacked anyone, he moved off in the direction of the town of Hatfleur with his army disposed in three "battles'; and he made his appearance before the town over the crest of a hill on that side of it [Mont Lecomte] in his own "battle', which was the centre one, the other "battles' being positioned as wings on its flanks, only not so far forward. In fact, he was not able to get at the town from the other side on account of the ebb and flow of the tide from the river [R. Seine] on one side [i.e. the south side] of the town and because of a fresh- water river [R. Lezarde]s running down through a valley on the other [i.e. the north side]. For the town is situated, at the very end of the valley, on the banks of the River Seine, from which the sea flows in past the middle of the town, ebbing away to a distance of a mile and more. And the fresh-water river [R. Le/zarde], which descends through the middle of the valley fills to a good depth and breadth the ditches which are outside and right under the walls facing the valley and facing also the place where the king made his appearance, and which extend as far as that side of the town nearest the River Seine; and this river runs through the middle of the town, entering by separate courses underneath the walls through a single water-gate and along two parallel arched culvertss which can s Two arched culverts are still visible. The R. Lezarde (flowing down the valley from Montivilliers and entering the town on the north side roughly midway between the Leure and Montivilliers gates) and the St. Laurent (a stream which flows down the Gournay valley) join almost immediately outside the culverts and flow through them. Both still fill the ditch to each side of the culverts outside the walls. 29 be shut or opened, completely or partly, as the inhabitants wish. And, inside, close up to the walls, two mills, which serve to grind corn into food for the citizens and common people, are turned by the force of the water as it enters the town. And, after passing the mills, the river emerges from the culverts, broadens out,s and then, along an open course, flows through the middle of the town to the harbour. The other side of the town, the side away from the king,s is dry but defended by a double ditch, of which the inner one is of an unascertained depth but of a width adequate to its purpose. The town itself is of no great size and yet is very fine, being fortified and surrounded by an outer wall polygonal in plans (and on that account, according to Master Giles,s all the more difficult to attack and all the more easy and safe to defend), with high and well-built towers and other defen- sive works, not so high, in between; and it has three gatess by which to enter and leave, one on that side where the king made his appearance and two on the side opposite, both of the latter being protected against our close approach by bastions surrounded by the water in the ditches already mentioned. And in front of the entrance to every one of these gates the enemy had already cunningly constructed a strong defensive work which we call a "barbican' but the common people "bulwerkis'; and the one on the king's side was the strongest and largest of them all, being reinforced on the outside almost up to the height of the town walls by thick tree-trunks driven in all the way round, close up against one another, and firmly lashed together; and it was reinforced on the inside, too, by timber, earth, and beams, hollowed out into cavities and recesses from which to receive an enemy and his attacks, ad with apertures, embrasures, and small casemates with loop-holes through which, with their <1canelle>1 (which in our language we call <1Gunnys)>1 and with missiles, crossbows, and other weapons of offence, they could harass us. And it was at the south-west corner of the town, near the modern road to Le Havre. The Porte de Montivilliers was at the north-east corner, facing up the valley of the Lezarde. Remains of the Porte de Rouen at the south-east cornet of the town (through which Gaucourt entered and which was invested by Clarence) may still be seen. Monstrelet (iii. 84) mentions only two gates, those of Montivilliers and Caux. 31 circular in construction, with a diameter greater than the putting-distance of the "shot' which our common people in England are used to playing with at the butts. And there surrounded it water of great depth which at its narrowest point was twice as wide as a spear's length; and, facing the town, it had a bridge by which one could enter or leave and, facing away from the town, a small wooden bridge which could be put in position and withdrawn as the enemy pleased, as often as it seemed worth their while to make a sally against our men. And, within, the town is adorned with really fine buildings, set close together, but is graced with only a single parish church.s Its harbour, too, for the mooring of ships, for which it provides berths as far as the middle of the town,s is protected by walls which, higher than the town walls,s enclose it on both sides of the channel, and also by adequate defensive towers built at intervals. And at the harbour entrance are two fine towerss between which the water flows in and out; one of these, lofty and very imposing, was furnished in two places, at the top and half-way up, and the other, the lower one, from the top only, with chains stretching from one to the other, the object of which was to prevent any ship from entering or leaving between them without permission. This entrance, together with a great portion of the harbour wall on the side which was clear and accessible to shipping when the tide was up, the enemy had prudently fortified in advance with piles and large tree-trunks thicker than a man's thigh, driven in very close together, one end pointing inwards towards the town and the other outwards towards the river [R. Seine]; so that if our ships should come in on the tide to make an attack across the harbour or to carry out an assault on the walls, either, becoming aware of the piles, they would withdraw, or, regardless of their own safety, or if perhaps the piles were covered by the tide, they would be suddenly dashed against them and most likely wrecked. officer in the First World War. The original street lines of Harfleur are closely retained in the present town. s The harbour was enclosed on its north side by the town walls them- selves. s Monstrelet (iii. 95) states that these towers held out for almost ten days after Harfleur had yielded. Le Fevre (i. 229) has two days. 8222319 F 33 CHAPTER FIVE And when, as previously mentioned, on the aforesaid Satur- day [17 August], our king had made his appearance before the town, and the army had been lodged in fields, gardens, closes, and other near-by places, in accordance with military requirements he took counsel how to lay siege on every side to a place of such great strength, and how, among other things, detachments might be sent out to obtain food for men and horses for the sustenance of the army, and how, besides, in case of sallies and ambushes by the enemy, day and night watches could best and most safely be organized. On the morrow, the Sunday, on the other side of the town, which was still freely open to the enemy but inaccessible to us because (as previously mentioned) the rivers were in the way, there entered, with about three hundred lances, the Sire de Gaucourt,s a Frenchman, who was said to have been sent to take charge of the town by the French council.s And on the following night, as the result of an agreed plan, the king sent the illustrious prince, the lord Thomas, the duke of Clarence,s his eldest brother (a knight no less renowned in the practice of war than for personal courage), with a part of the army to lay siege on the other side. His route involved a detour of some nine or ten miles because of the steepness captain of Rouen in 1449, and "grand-maitre de l'hotel de France' in 1453, dying in 1461-2 (Wylie, iii. 16, 39-41 ; Anselme, <1Hist. gen. et>1 <1chronol. de la 'naison royale de France,>1 etc. [3rd edn.], viii (1733), 366-7). s The previous garrison strength appears to have been about 1c0 men- at-arms, and so with these 3o0 we get a total of about 40o, the figure given by Monstrelet (iii. 83). Le Fevre (i. 225) has 3oo. Gaucourt entered the town from the east. There seems to be some doubt as to whether he sup- planted d'Estouteville as captain. Monstrelet (loc. cit.) says not. But cf. below, p. 48: 'de Gaucourt, qui se gerebat pro capitaneo'. s The earl of Salisbury accompanied Clarence (Hardyng, p. 374). The latter was Henry IV's second son, born on 29 September 1388. He had been created duke of Clarence and earl of Aumale on 9 July 1412, shortly before leading an expedition to help the Armagnacs against the Burgun- dians, a reversal of his elder brother's policy in 1411. He was said to be still anti-Burgundian, but was now evidently on good terms with Henry, who had confirmed him in his titles in 1414. His own retinue in this campaign of 1415 numbered 240 men-at-arms and 72o archers. His com- mand on the east side of Harfleur was to make a notable contribution to the success of the siege, following which he was invalided home. 35 of the roads and the dangers in the valleys, and particularly because the road across the valley in which Harfleur was situated was unusable; for the townspeople, on the first hearing of our landing, having broken the bridges, had dammed the flow of the river [R. Lezarde]s which runs down the middle of the valley into the town in such a way that, as a result, while we were making our approach the water flooded all the meadows in the valley right up to the ditches outside the walls, reaching as high as a man's thighs at its shallowest and being a quarter as wide again as is the River Thames at London. And that night the duke captured on his march certain carts and wagons belonging to the enemy, with a great quan- tity of guns and powder-barrels and missiles and catapults, which were thought to have come from Rouen for the defence of the town. And on the Monday [19 August], at dawn in clear sunlight, he made his appearance over the crest of the hill facing the town on that side [Mont Cabert],s not without causing real fear and dread among the besieged. CHAPTER SIX And, after orders had been given for a blockade on the sea- ward side by the fleet and on the side of the valley and the fresh-water river by small boats (which would also serve, necessary, as a means of communication between the king and the duke and their divisions of the army), our king, who sought not war but peace, in order to arm with the shield of innocence the just cause of the great enterprise upon which he had embarked, offered, in accordance with the twentieth chapter of the Deuteronomic law,s peace to the besieged if, freely and without coercion, they would open their gates to him and, as was their duty, restore that town, which was a noble and hereditary portion of his crown of England and of his duchy of Normandy. enseigne que, a quelque cite que l'omme viendra pour icelle impugner et combatre, il lui offre paix' (Monstrelet, iii. 79; <1St. Denys,>1 v. 528. Monstrelet and Le Fevre (i. 221 and n. 6) date it 5 August). The other references to the Law in the <1Gesta>1 occur below, pp. 48, 154. 37 But when, spurning and making light of this offer, they strove to hold and defend that town against him, our king, summoned as it were unwillingly to do battle, called upon God as witness to his blameless quarrel, informing them of the penal edicts contained in the aforesaid law which it would be necessary to execute upon them as a rebellious peoples should they thus persist in their obstinacy to the end. How- ever, wishing first to apply the remedy of a comparatively mild attack and scourging as a more prudent way of both harassing the enemy and safeguarding his own men---in the hope that in this way rebellious action on the part of his adversaries might perhaps even yet be avoided before he proceeded to sterner measures against them---he did not allow his eyelids to close in sleep. Rather, he stayed awake night and days until, having prepared and positioned his engines and guns close to the walls (in range of the enemy), he had aimed them at the face of the town and against its walls, gates, and towers, and had set up in front of this artillery, to withstand the shots and attacks of the enemy, defences and protective screens; these latter, consisting of long and thick planks, were so constructed and fitted with appliances of wood and iron that when the top was pulled down the bottom was lifted up so as to give a view of the towns until, a target having been selected, the guns from immedi- ately behind them discharged their stones by the explosive force of ignited gunpowder. On both sides of these defences he also had trenches made by means of which, as well as by earth dug out and thrown up on top of bundles of faggots placed there, were protected those appointed to serve the guns and engines as well as those assigned to guard them throughout the day- and night- defences watches in case of enemy sallies. He also had similar defences constructed for those who night and day kept watch facing the strongest barbican, lest the enemy should sally from it. And those who were appointed to this guard-duty dug cease- lessly day after day, gaining ground towards that barbican ; nor did they stop until at length they reached its far side, or at least in view od the water, as close to it as they could. <1of the Middle Ages,>1 ed. Joan Evans (London, 1966), p. 139, and Philip Warner, <1Sieges of the Middle Ages>1 (London, 1968), p. 27. 39 And, meanwhile, from every side our king with his guns and engines so pounded the barbican and the walls and towers---at all events those from which the opposing enemy aimed their guns and catapults at us--that within a few days, when by the violence and fury of the stones the barbican was in process of being largely demolished, the walls and towers from which the enemy had discharged his offensives were rendered defenceless with their ramparts destroyed; and really fine buildings, almost as far as the middle of the town, were either totally demolished or threatened with inevitable collapse or, at least, their framework falling apart, had suffered excessive damage.s And while describing all these different harassments in the course of both attack and defence, I do not wish to be altogether silent in commending the enemy. For the latter, cleverly using their guns, catapults, and engines, did what harm and damage they could from the barbican and from the walls and towers as long as these were defensible, and, after they had been rendered indefensible, from inside the ruins also, from behind screens, and through shattered openings in walls, and from other places where shelter would not have been thought possible. And, however much our guns im- paired the defences of the barbican or the walls and towers by day, by night the enemy made good the damage on top of the barbican and walls with timber, fascines, and tubs filled with earth, dung, sand, or stones, and that to the walls inside which were falling asunder with bundles of faggots packed with clay, earth, and dung, as well as with other means of support. They also covered the alleys and lanes quite thickly with such-like clay, earth, and dung in order that when the stones from our guns came down along them or landed in them, they should be swallowed up in it, their intention being to prevent any of the besieged who happened to be in those lanes or alleys at the time from suffering injury, wounds, or death as a result of the sudden and unexpected impact of the stones or of splinters from them. Also, the enemy had craftily made ready on the walls, in considerable quantity, jars filled with burning powders, sulphur and quicklime, to throw in Colchester, mason, was ordered to impress workmen for the repairs (Rymer, ix. 327). See also <1Brut,>1 ii. 376; <1Eng. Hist. Lit.,>1 p. 325. 41 the eyes of our men if an assault should be made, and barrels of inflammable powders and oils and burning fats, to set fire to and burn our siege equipment when brought close up to the walls for an assault. Nor, in men's judgement, could a people under siege have resisted our attacks more saga- ciously, or with greater security to themselves, than they did. And while these activities were in progress the king decided to attack by means of mines and, after a "sow' had been made ready, to undermine with passages below ground the walls on the duke of Clarence's side. But this operation (which, con- trary to the teaching of Master Giles,s was begun in full view of the enemy since it could not be accomplished in any other way at that point on account of the nearness of the hill and for other reasons),s having been twice foiled by hard work on the part of the enemy, who used counter-mines and other technical skills in opposition to ours, and recommenced yet a third time, brought no advantage at all---unless, perhaps, either by striking fear into the besieged to make them surren- der the town sooner, or by putting off an assault and the scaling of the walls to save human blood from being shed, it might thus have been, ad perhaps indeed was, the cause of a greater good. Our king had also ordered bundles of faggots ten feet long to be made ready and carried by the army to fill up the ditches on his own side, and further had had wooden towers and 'bel- fries' prepared, as high as the walls, along with ladders and other such apparatus, in addition to what he had brought with him for an assault. On the duke of Clarence's side as well, similar bundles of faggots had been made ready and collected in enormous stacks to fill up the ditches there also. However, having discovered the enemy's intention, which was, by means of powders and combustibles and other materials made ready on the walls, to set fire to the faggots and, when our men too were in the ditches, to set fire to them as well, he abandoned that plan. The faggots, nevertheless, served as a protection against the shots of the enemy for our men at the bottom of the hill [Mont Cabert], and under cover of them they often made light of the furious onslaught of enemy missiles. 43 And, in the meantime, our watch posted over the mining operations mentioned above took possession of the outer one of the ditches in front of the walls, and discharged at the enemy guards missiles from catapults and stones from siege engines in order to keep them off the walls; and, by harassing them in various other ways from under cover of it, they so confounded the cunning ruses of the enemy that that ditch, which previously had been regarded as affording the latter a powerful defence, eventually became a tower of strength to the besiegers and no less a source of discomfiture to the besieged. And, in addition to these various vexations, because the siege on that side was exceptionally dangerous (on account of the army's being divided and of the extreme difficulty of access from that part of it which was with the king to the remainder which was with the duke of Clarence,s such access only being possible by using small boats or making a trouble- some detour) and because, too, of the possibility of an enemy sally (on account of the position being closer and more ex- posed to their attacks), the duke, in accordance with the theory of Master Giless and by an order from the king, had a ditch of good depth and breadth dug between him and the enemy, and the soil that had been excavated, following the same Master Giles,s thrown up on the inside towards his men; and he proceeded to fortify this ditch by driving into the soil trunks of large trees and stakes, from between which, at various points, stones from guns and missiles from catapults and bows could be shot at the enemy, so providing a consi- derable and most effective means of defending his own men and no less a means of injuring the enemy, should the latter approach. And, having appointed masters of the works, he ordered this ditch to be constructed by his men-at-arms and archers, assigning so many feet to every spear and so many to every bow until the work was entirely completed. great French lords assembled with a mounted body 5oo or 600 strong as near to the town as they conveniently- could, and that they arranged ambushes and sent out skirmishers, two of whom were captured by the English. According to Monstrelet (iii. 83) the English were wandering about the country round Harfleur and took many prisoners and much booty. s <1De Reg. Princ.,>1 loc. cit. 45 CHAPTER SEVEN And, after these operations and the anxieties occasioned by the enemy, a just and merciful God, wishing to test the patience of our king and His anointed, as well as by the deaths of several other noble men in his armys touched him deeply by the death of one of the most loving and dearest of his friends, namely, the lord Richard Courtenay, the bishop of Norwich. He, a man of noble birth, imposing stature, and superior intelligence, distinguished no less for his gifts of great eloquence and learning than for other noble endow- ments of nature, was regarded as agreeabl to members of the king's retinue and councils.s He fell ill with dysenterys on Tuesday, 10 September, and on the following Sunday, in the presence of the king who, after extreme unction, with his own hands wiped his feet and closed his eyes, released his soul from its prison, to the bitter and tearful grief of many. Out of a most tender love, our king at once had his body sent across to England to be buried with honour among the royal tombs at Westminster.s And on that same day there occurred another event which was sufficiently serious to cause the king disquiet; for our adversaries who were on guard at the strongest barbican made a sally against our guard facing them and, because of the inattention and indolence of our men, set fire to their defences. But eventually, by God's will, the fire was extin- guished and the enemy put to flight without our men incur- ring serious hurt. The enemy, however, taunted us with being only half-awake and lazy, in that when on watch we had not been able to keep a better look-out. the army to Normandy (see T. F. Tout, <1D.N.B.>1 iv. 1265-7; Emden, i. 500-2). s The flux or dysentery at Harfleur originated in or was aggravated by the indiscriminate eating of unripe grapes and other fmit and shellfish (cf. <1Strecche,>1 p. 152), together with the wretched sanitary conditions and the treacherous Lezarde salt marshes. Providing a common theme for the chroniclers, French and English, it was more destructive than the actual fighting, causing the deaths of over 2,000 according to Monstrelet (iii. 85), who probably exaggerates. s Courtenay's body was buried behind the high altar in Westminster Abbey, near the Confessor's shrine. 47 And, because good things are neighbours to bail and sweet things commonly follow bitter, on the morrow God was mindful of us and offered us the palm of victory over that same barbican which the French had always arrogantly con- tended was quite impregnable. For, in command of our guard facing it was John Holland, the earl of Huntingdon,s a knight brave and high-spirited though young ; and, following an engagement in the afternoon with the French, who had sallied out against the guard but had been repulsed, and after fire and flame had later on been shot into the barbican by arrow and also applied by the work of men's hands to that part of it previously shattered by gun-stones (and so made the more liable to catch fire), our men, continuously feeding the flames with inflammable powders, at length gained possession of the stronger part of it, crossing the ditch lying between them and the barbican which earlier, during the silence and under cover of night, the king had been at pains to have filled up with the long bundles of faggots previously mentioned. And, the earl's pennon having been sent in, they at once set fire to the barbican in the centre where the French were in greater strength; and they attacked those of them who still offered resistance and were making every effort to extinguish the fire until, by dint of our weapons and missiles and because of the conflagration, the strength of the French was finally spent; and so, abandoning the position to our men, they fled inside the walls and took refuge, blocking the entrance as skilfully as they could with timber, stone, earth, and dung to prevent our men rushing through after them, which would have been to their great confusion and to our considerable satisfaction. And although our men later on worked as hard as they could to extinguish the blaze, the flames could not be completely put out for two or even three days. In fact, the smoke from the dung could not be smothered for another fortnight. s A prose note to Hardyng (p. 390) states that the sally was made upon Huntingdon, Cornwall, Bourchier, Grey, Porter, and Stewart, but they repulsed it, killing many and driving the rest back into the town. These were mostly the men who, according to the same source, had been sent to reconnoitre at the landing (see above, p. 23 n. 3). 8222318 G 49 CHAPTER EIGHT And on the following day negotiations were entered into with the aforesaid [Raoul], Sire de Gaucourt, who was acting as captain, and with the worthies of the town council, in the hope that they would still be mindful of the punishments in hope that they would still be mindful of the punishments in Deuteronomys and surrender the town without further hard- ships of death or war; but these negotiations were spurned and, when the king saw that the enemy could not be overcome by the comparatively mild sufferings caused by our attacks, he decided to proceed to sterner measures against this stiff- necked people whom neither persuasive kindliness nor destructive harshness could make more amenable. And towards nightfall he had it proclaimed by trumpet throughout the battle-lines that all, the seamen as well as the others, should, as their captains ordained, make themselves ready towards morning on the following day to storm and mount the walls, which, to this end, the shots from our guns had rendered safer for us to attack, but much less easy for the enemy to defend, nay rather disastrous for them to do so. And towards nightfall he began to batter the enemy more than usual with stones, to prevent them from sleeping and so make them easier to defeat on the morrow. But God Himself, gracious and merciful to His people, sparing the bloodshed which must undoubtedly have oc- curred in an assault upon the walls, turned away the sword from us and struck terror into our enemies, who were quite broken in spirit at the loss of the barbican; they were frightened, too, on hearing that an assault was so suddenly to be carried out, and also because of the punishments of the law of Deuteronomys if the town should be recovered from them by force while they were offering resistance; and they were sorely troubled by the scourge of the stones and almost despairing of being rescued by the French, a rescue for which they had waited long beyond the time promised. So that cium S s tam <1om.>1 S s marrinarii MSS. s iactus <1om.>1 S s verisimliter J s Deut. 20: 13-14. See pp. 34, 154. 51 night they entered into negotiations with the kings to the end that, if he would deign to put off the assault and spare them the destruction caused by the hail of stones, they would sur- render to him the town and themselves and their possessions, provided that before one o'clock in the afternoon on the following Sunday [22 September] the French king or the dauphin,s his eldest son, having previously been given warn- ing, did not raise the siege by force of arms and deliver them. This acceptable offer being consented to (although it dis- pleased many who were avaricious, but only such as had, after the deaths and reverses recently suffered, resolved only to go after plunder), on the following day, that is Wed- nesday 18 September indentures were made of the agree ments between those negotiating on the king's part and the acting-captain and worthies of the town, the indentures being strengthened by reciprocal oaths on the Host which the venerable father the lord Benedict, the bishop of Bangor,s preceded in procession by all the royal chapel in their copes as ordered by the king, had carried for this purpose from the royal tents to the foot of the walls; and, after twenty-four hostages had been given from the more noble and important among thems and a knight had been sent on behalf of the town, as agreed, to take word of these events to the French king or the dauphin,s hostile attacks by both sides and the tumults of war were stilled until the day and hour appointed. And on the same Wednesday there died at that siege a knight of excellent and most gracious name, the lord Michael de la Pole,s the earl of Suffolk, leaving behind him in the field a young heir, not yet twenty-one, as strong, as daring, and as active as any member of the court.s s The names of twenty-four hostages are given in <1Brut,>1 ii. 553-4; <1Chron. Lond.,>1 p. 1 17. Walsingham (p. 91) speaks of 22, and Tito Livio (p. 11) and the Pseudo-Elmham <1(Vita,>1 p. 47) of only 12. s The messenger was Guillaume II de Leon, Seigneur de Hacqueville, and he was accompanied by 12 others (Riley, p. 619; <1Wals>1., p. 91). There had been previous vain appeals, e.g. about 1 September (Juv., p. 292) and about 13 September (Hellot, <1Recit du siege d'Karfleur,>1 p. 26 n. 34). s The earl's body, having been shipped to England on 4 October 1415 (Exch. Acc. Various, P.R.O. E101/46/24), was buried at Wingfield (Suffolk). s Suffolk's heir, his eldest son, Michael (b. 1394 or 1395), was still under age. His younger brother William also served at Harfleur but was invalided home in October. Michael was to fall at Agincourt. 53 And when, neither at the appointed hour on the following Sunday nor before, the French king, the dauphin, or anyone else had offered to raise the siege,s our king straightway ascended his royal throne, over which was spread cloth of gold and fine linen, in a pavilion at the top of the hill in front of the town [Mont Lecomte], and he was attended by men of high rank, his magnates and nobles, in large number and wearing their richest apparel; and to his right, carried on a staff by Sir Gilbert Umfraville,s was his triumphal helm bearing his crown. From the town there came into his presence the aforesaid [Raoul], Sire de Gaucourt, accom- panied by those persons who had previously sworn to keep the agreements,s and he restored to the king the keys of the tom and at the same time surrendered himself and the townspeople to his mercy. And, when by royal command the keys had been received by the Earl Marshal,s the king promised [Raoul], Sire de Gaucourt, that, although he and his company had, in God's despite and contrary to all justice, retained against him a town which, being a noble portion of his inheritance, be- longed to him, nevertheless, because they had submitted themselves to his mercy, even though tardily, they should not depart entirely without mercy, although he said he might wish to modify this after careful consideration. And then he sent him with his party to his tents, together with the hostages who, being close at hand, had been made to join them, and in all they numbered sixty-six; and at the next meal he entertained them with some magnificence upon what sumptuous fare he had, after the meal dividing them and committing them to the custody of certain of his trusty men. s Walsingham (p. 92) says that the French lords were accompanied by 64 hostages, and Adam of Usk (p. 125) that they had ropes round their necks. Cotton MS. Cleopatra C IV says that the king at first would not look at them, but kept them waiting on their knees in adjoining tents <1(Chron. Lond.>1, pp. 118-19). On the day of surrender Henry sent a letter to the mayor of London announcing his success (Riley, pp. 619-20). s John Mowbray (b. 1392), younger son of Thomas, 1st duke of Norfolk, had succeeded his elder brother Thomas (executed for treason in 1405) and become Earl Marshal and 4th earl of Nottingham, the ducal title having been withheld since the death of their father in 1399. Taken ill at Harfleur, he was one of the many invalided home. 55 And immediately after the keys had been handed over and surrendered, and when standards of St. George and royal standards had been set up over the gates of the town, and the others, those of the enemy, taken down, the king delivered the keys to his illustrious uncle, the lord Thomas Beaufort,s the earl of Dorset, and appointed him warden and captain of the town. And he entereds on the morrow with his closest friends to inspect the town, its people, and all that was in it; and he had the women, together with the poor, the children and the infants, separated from those who had sworn him fealty and from others whom it was thought proper to keep in prison against their ransoming. And on the following day [24 Sep- tember] he sent them away from the town further inland into France wherever they wanted to go, and they numbered about two thousand ;s and, amid much lamentation, grief, and tears for the loss of their customary although unlawful habitation, he had them escorted under armed guard beyond long as they can lay their hands on plunder. And thus, by the true judgement of God, they were proved sojourners where they had thought themselves inhabitants.s CHAPTER NINE And on the following Friday [27 September] the king gave [Raoul], Sire de Gaucourt, permission to leave, along with many of the prisoners from the town who, citizens apart, numbered about sixty knights and more than two hundred other gentlemen, almost all the nobility from that part of Normandy up to the marches of Picardy. And he sent them up the right bank of the Seine to Lillebonne, where they were met by Marshal Boucicaut, who sent them in boats to Rouen. s Lamotte <1(Antiquites de la ville d'Harfleur>1 [Paris, 1799], p. 64) quotes a charter of Charles VIII (1492) mentioning that Henry had the muni- ments of the town and the title-deeds of its inhabitants publicly burned in the market-place, reserved the sale and hereditary possession of property to English immigrants, and reduced such Harfleurais as remained in the town to the status of lessees. 57 away with the intention and in the hope that by their instiga- tion and good offices the peace which he so much desired might be the sooner restored, but nevertheless under inden- tures and covenants, confirmed by oaths and other solemn assurances, that they would return and, at Calais on the feast of St. Martin in the winter [11 November], surrender them- selves, as prisoners who had kept faith, to our lord the king himself or to his lieutenant or special deputy; and certain other conditions were laid down which, along with the other agreements concerning the restitution of Harfleur, reduced into legally valid written from, you will find in one of the books of records. And our king, in order to seek after and inquire into every means which appeared to offer a prospect of deliverance for both peoples, that is, his own and the adversary's, sent a single herald, called Guienne Herald,s with [Raoul], Sire de Gaucourt, to his adversary's first-born son the dauphin, deferring to send to the adversary himself because the latter was afflicted with his usual mental disorder.s The king's purpose was to notify the dauphin that he had been waiting for him at his town of Harfleur and would continue to wait for him there for a further eight days, and to invite an answer from him within that period in the hope that he might yet feel compunction at the shedding of human blood, cause his right to be conceded to him without further rigours of war, and reach peace with him; or that, at least sparing the many, they might bring to an end that controversy respecting the right and dominion over the kingdom, begun long ago, then interrupted, and now revived afresh but still unresolved, and (following an exchange of certain legal securities and con- ditions to be established by the councils of the two kingdoms) vision was made for this officer, and on 23 April 1423 it was agreed that each Knight of the Garter should, according to rank, pay him an annual fee until Henry VI came of age (when, presumably, other arrangements would be made). William Bruges died between 26 February and 12 March 1450, and was buried in St. George's, Stamford <1(Bruges,>1 p. 23). The editors find H. S. London's attribution of the institution of the office of Garter King of Arms to 1415 <1(Bruges,>1 pp. 12-14) unconvincing. It is hardly conceivable that Bruges, if promoted Garter in 1415, should still have been called Guienne in a formal royal letter of 1417 (see above). s Charles VI had been subject to recurrent attacks of madness since about 1393. 59 might do so without any other shedding of fraternal blood whatsoever, by a duel between them, man to man.s However, after the eight days had elapsed and neither the herald nor any other intermediary whatsoever had returned, arrangements having been made in the meantime to stock up and guard the town,s and certain barons and knights diligent in warfare placed at the captain's disposal along with the three the king resolved to start out on the march for which he had already made arrangements, a march through his duchy of Normandy towards his town of Calais, which was said to be more than a hundred English miles distant.s But because the dysentery, which had carried off far more of our men, both nobles and others, than had the sword, so direly afflicted and disabled many of the remainder that they could not journey on with him any further, he caused them to be separated from those who were fit and well and gave He gave them leave to return to England, and these (quite apart from those whom death had carried off, those who had been appointed to guard the town, and those who, out of sheer cowardice leaving or rather deserting their king in the field, had stealthily slipped away to England beforehand), num- bered about five thousand,s so that of what was left of the army there remained no more than nine hundred lances and five thousand archers able to draw sword or fit to fight.s stone-masons, tilers, etc., were sent out to repair the damage done dur1ng the siege (e.g. Rymer, ix. 314, 327). s The numbers are confirmed by an order for the payment of the gar- rison on 25 November 1415 (<1P.P.C.>1 ii. 184-5). s Actually Calais was over 150 rniles distant by the shortest route. s This figure for the men invalided home is a round number and probably excessive, although rolls of the sick containing 1,700 names have survived (P.R.O., Exch. K.R. 44/30/1 and 45/1) and these are incomplete. Among the invalids were Clarence, the Earl Marshal, and the earls of March and Arundel (<1Wals.>1, p. 92). Adam of Usk (p. 126) speaks of the king's indignation at those who deserted the army "ignominiose'. s Cf. p. 94 ('nostra paucitas sex milia virorum pugnancium non ex- cessit'). No other English estimate much exceeds this total: Walsingham (p. 93) has not more than 8,000 ('ut fertur'); Hardyng (p. 375) and Adam of Usk (p. 126), who have the highest figures, give respectively 'With nyne thousand, no more' and 'scarcely 10,000'. French estimates (e.g. Mon- strelet's (iii. 95) of 2,000 men-at-arms and 13,ooo archers) are much too high. 61 And although a large majority of the royal council advised against such a proposal, as it would be highly dangerous for him in this way to send his small force, daily growing smaller, against the multitude of the French which, constantly grow- ing larger, would surely enclose them on every side like sheep in folds, our king---relying on divine grace and the justice of his cause, piously reflecting that victory consists not in a multitudes but with Him for Whom it is not impossible to enclose the many in the hand of the fews and Who bestows victory upon whom He wills, whether they be many or few ---with God, as is believed, affording him His leadership, did nevertheless decide to make that march, which was an eight days' journey. And, commanding the army to lay in stores of provisions for a journey of eight days,s on Tuesday [8 October], the day before the feast of St. Denys, on the nones of October,s with this army of his, so very small yet arrayed bravely enough in three "battles',s he resolutely and fearlessly began the march, leaving the town of Montivilliers, which was some two miles distant from Harfleur, half a mile away on his right.s Among other most pious and worthy ordinances,s he commanded that, under pain of death, no man should burn and lay waste, or take anything save only food and what was necessary for the march, or capture any rebels save only those he might happen to find offering resistance. And, pressing forward on the march,s we arrived on the following Friday [11 October] before the town of Arques, which had a fresh-water rivers running down to the port of Dieppe (about three miles to our left on the sea coast) and also narrow bridges and a castle, within the area and under s The main division was led by the king, supported by Gloucester, Huntingdon, and John de Roos. John Cornwall and Gilbert Umfraville captained the vanguard, while York and Oxford brought up the rear (Wylie, ii. 88-9). s There was a sally from the town in which a lancer was killed and at least five English captured (Nicolas, p. 82; Wylie, ii. 90 n. 10). Monti- villiers remained in French hands, a constant menace to Harfleur, until the English turned to complete their subjugation of Upper Normandy early in 1419. s See above, p. 26 n. 1. s Before reaching Arques, Henry passed (on 9 October) near Fecamp <1(Chron. Lond.,>1 pp. 1 19, 304), where three of his men were captured. s R. Varenne which, after R. Bethune joins it, becomes R. Arques; this reaches the sea at Dieppe. 63 threat of which our passage lay. The king himself appeared in the "battles' and wings and had them take up their positions in full view of the castle. And its garrison shot stones at us from their guns to make us keep our distance and prevent us from coming close. The stones, however, by God's will, did not harm anyone. And after a short time the king sent to the garrison to ask for free passage, and they, after negotiating for terms and having given hostages, granted the king free passage and a fixed amount of bread and wine with which to refresh the army, in order to ransom their town and neigh- bourhood from being burnt. We therefore passed through that area by way of the middle of the town, the entrance to which we found strongly barricaded with large trees placed across our route and with other obstacles. And on the next day, leaving it half a mile away to the left, we went past the town of Eu,s a walled and strong town, in which a part of the French army assembled against us had then up quarters. And this force made a sally against our men; however, they were soon put to flight, making back to the town as a refuge in their retreat, not without incurring losses in killed and wounded. But some of our men, too, did not return free from injury. And on the night after, the inhabitants of the town, following a parley and the giving of hostages, ransomed from burning those neighbouring towns in which we had spent the night, in return for a fixed amount of bread and wine with which to refresh the army. And, meanwhile, a report was spread in the army by certain prisoners that a great host of the French had made ready to engage us, and some stated that in their opinion the engage- ment was bound to take place, on the Sunday or Monday following, at our crossing of the River Somme. Butthere were different opinions amongst us as to when battle would be joined. For some persisted in maintaining that, in view of the civil discord and deadly hatred existing between the French princes and the duke of Burgundy,s the French would be crown, in June 1415 he denied any such agreement. All the same, he is known to have kept in touch with the English, even during the siege of Harfleur. His offer to bring his whole force--in answer to Charles VI's summons (on 1 September) to join the dauphin in resisting the English-- was judged inconvenient, and he was asked to send his son, Philip of Charolais, instead. When, on 10 October, Philip was at Oudenaarde, he 8222319 H 65 unwilling to move away from the interior of the country and the source of their strength, for fear that, while they were doing so, a hostile force of the duke of Burgundy might either come upon them from behind or, in their despite, usurp dominion over their territories by force. Some, how- ever, said the opposite: that the military strength and armed forces of the French, once so noble, could not possibly (if they still retained any heart or manliness bear the stain of the great dishonour which, to their everlasting reproach, would be attributed to them throughout the world, namely, that they had become so irresolute and cowardly and had so much fallen away from their ancient nobility of character that against the king of England (who had entered their land, remained there for so long, besieged and taken a town, and, at length, with so small a following and so reduced an army, laid waste their country at so great a distance from it) they did not dare, nay rather feared, to exert their military strength. CHAPTER TEN Now on the morrow of these events, which was Sunday [13 October], we came near to the town of Abbevilles where, on the following day, we were hoping to cross the River Somme. But then all at once we were told by our scouts and mounted patrols that the bridges and causeways had been broken, and that a great part of the French army was opposite bank to obstruct our passage.s We therefore reined round along the shore of the river, expecting to have no alternative but to go into parts of France higher up and to the head of the river (which was said to be over sixty miles away), where rumour had it that a great host of the French discussing this intelligence Henry decided to turn aside. According to Le Fevre the man's statements were found to be false. But Monstreet (iii. 96), who does not give this story, says that about the 14th D'Albret, Marshal Boucicaut, and other notables were at Abbeville, and there was certainly a large enemy force on the opposite bank the following day. Henry now followed the left bank of the river, looking for a ford, and thus was marching south-east towards Airaines. On Sunday night (13 October) he stayed at Bailleul (Monstrelet, loc. cit.). 67 was making ready to do battle with us with every sort of practice and stratagem of war and with engines and other subtle contrivances, and expecting, too, that they would not allow us to cross the river before then anywhere in between. Dejected therefore at these rumours of battle and bemoan- ing the obstruction of our passage, we moved off on the next day [14 October] to another crossing of the river.s But there, too, the bridges and causeways had been broken down, and Another the French confronted us on the other side in great arrogance ; and they disposed themselves in line of battle as if prepared to engage us there and then. However, the fact that the river at that point had a broad marsh on both sides prevented either of us from coming any closer, so that not one of us, even had he sworn to do so, could have inflicted injury on the other. And then at that time we thought of nothing else but this : that, after the eight days assigned for the march had expired and our provisions had run out, the enemy, craftily hastening on ahead and laying waste the countryside in advance, would impose on us, hungry as we should be, a really dire need of food, and at the head of the river, if God did not provide otherwise, would, with their great and countless host and the engines of war and devices available to them, overwhelm us, so very few as we were and made faint by great weariness and weak from lack of food. I who am writing, and many of the rest of the army, looked up in bitterness to Heaven, seeking the clemency of Provi- dence, and called upon the Glorious Virgin and the Blessed George, under whose protection the most invincible crown of England has flourished from of old, to intercede between God and His people, that the Judge Supreme, Who foresees all things, might take pity on the grief all England would feel at the price we would pay with our blood and, in His infinite mercy, deliver from the swords of the French our king and us his people, who have sought not war but peace, and bring us, to the honour and glory of His name, in triumph to Calais. Without any other hope but this, we hastened on from there in the direction of the head of the river, leaving on the next day [15 October] the city of Amiens about a league to our left.s 69 And on the following day [16 October] we came to a part of the country where there was a town belonging to the duke of Burgundy called Boves, with a river, and bridges and a castle, and our passage lay under threat of hostile attack from these latter s However after we had had a parley with those in command of the castle and they had given hostages, we occupied the town for our night's rest, and it was well stocked with wine by which the army was greatly refreshed; and from the castle we had a free passage and bread in return for ran- soming the town and its vineyards from burning. And when on the Thursday [17 October] we arrived at a field next to the walled town of Corbie which itself was to our left there sallied out from it against our men a part of the French army which had assembled there also. But they were soon put to flight by our men, some of them being killed and two of their men-at-arms captured. And there was brought to the king in that field a certain robber, an Englishman who, in God's despite and contrary to the royal decree had stolen and carried off from a church (perhaps thinking it was made of gold) a pyx of copper-gilt stole from a in which the Host was reserved, that pyx having been found church in his sleeve.s And in the next hamlet where we spent the night, by command of the king, who was punishing in the creature the wrong done to the Creator (as Phinehas did with Zimri),s and after sentence had been passed, he met his death by hanging. CHAPTER ELEVEN Meanwhile, as a result of information divulged by some prisoners, a rumour went the rounds of the army that the enemy command had assigned certain squadrons of cavalry, many hundreds strong and mounted on barded horses, to break the formation and resistance of our archers when they engaged us in battle. The king, therefore, had it proclaimed below, p. 70). According to Livio (p. 13) and the Pseudo-Elmham <1(Vita,>1 p. 53), the thief was hanged on a tree near the church he had robbed. s Num. 25: 6-8, 14. 71 throughout the army that every archer was to prepare and fashion for himself a stake or staff, either square or round, but six feet long, of sufficient thickness, and sharpened at both ends; and he commanded that whenever the French army drew near to do battle and to break their ranks by such columns of horse, all the archers were to drive in their stakes in front of them in line abreast and that some of them should do this further back and in between, one end being driven into the ground pointing down towards themselves, the other end pointing up towards the enemy above waist-height, so that the cavalry, when their charge had brought them close and in sight of the stakes, would either withdraw in great fear or, reckless of their own safety, run the risk of having both horses and riders impaled. Moving from that place, we were lodged on the following day [18 October] in quite small hamlets near the walled town of Nesle.s And the king sent word to the townspeople to arrange The king for the ransoming of the neighbouring hamlets from burning. But when the inhabitants refused, he ordered these places on the morrow to be set on fire and utterly destroyed. And suddenly, by God's will, news was there brought to the king that nearly a league away was a suitable passage across the River Somme. The king, therefore, sent mounted patrols ahead to test the passage, the depth of the channel, and the current of the river, and soon followed with the army. However, before he reached the river at that point, about a mile short of it, he crossed a marsh through which ran a stream [R. Ingon] making its way down from near by into the etc. main river, and so he was hemmed in, as it were, in the angle between the two; but, by God's will, the enemy were not aware of this. And when the River Somme itself was reached, there were found two places where it could be crossed overs (the water at the fords reaching only a little higher than a horse's belly), the approach to which places was by two long but narrow causeways which, previously, the French had astutely broken up the middle in such a way that it was scarcely possible, and then only with difficulty, to ride across the passa la bataille et l'arridre-garde; et ... il fut nuyt avant que tous fussent passez.' 73 broken parts in single file. And when, immediately, Sir John Cornwalls and Sir Gilbert Umfraville, with their pennons and a number of lances and archers on foot, had been sent across the water and a bridgehead firmly established to protect the remainder of the army when climbing up the bank (in case of a sally by the French), the king ordered the broken parts to be filled in with wood, bundles of faggots, and straw until it was possible for three men to ride through abreast without difficulty. And he ordered that the baggage of the army should cross by one of the causeways and his fighting men by the other. At the entrance to the latter he positioned himself to one side and certain persons of his own choosing to the other side, lest the throng of men, tightly packed and not under control, should, in their eagerness to cross, become jammed and choke the narrow passage with obstructions of their own making. And straightway, using these two places, the army increased greatly in strength on the far side of the water. Even so, before a hundred of our men had waded across the river, enemy cavalry, which had been ordered in accor- dance with a plan of the French to prevent our crossing, made their appearance and emerged in columns and platoons from near-by hamlets within one, two, and three miles on that side ; and, while in the process of joining up (although, as was God's will, too late), they drew nearer to our men, sending their swifter riders on ahead, perhaps to find out whether it still seemed possible for them to drive us back. Our mounted patrols, however, immediately went out to meet them and, meanwhile (before they, being dilatory or lacking foresight, could in fact join up and continually add to their numbers), our strength in that fine bridgehead across the water had greatly increased. For this reason, the French, s taking up a position at a distance and having estimated our capacity to stand firm and their own incapacity to resist, abandoned the place and vanished from our sight.s at Bapaume (Wylie, ii. 120). Some of them must also have gone to inform D'Albret who, endeavouring to prevent the English from crossing (by following them on the opposite bank), had left Abbeville and proceeded to Corbie and then to Peronne (Le Fevre, i. 234-5). When Henry temporarily left the river and marched across c0untry, they apparently lost him. 75 Now we started our crossing about one o'clock in the afternoon, and it was only an hour short of nightfall before we were all across. It was, then, a cheerful night that we spent in those ham- letss very near by, from which, when first we began our movement across the river, the French had emerged; and we thought it a matter for great rejoicing on our part that we eight days' journey. And we were of the firm hope that the Nevertheless, on the morrow, namely the Sunday [20 Octo- ber], the duke of Orleanss and the duke of Bourbon,s who are very closely related to the French king and were in command of the French army, sent a message to our king by three heraldss that they would do battle with him before he reached Calais, although they did not assign a day or place. Whereupon our king, readily accepting this as an act of grace on God's part and relying entirely on divine help and the justice of his own cause, with great resolution and manly spirit gave encouragement to his army and made ready to do battle on the morrow [21 October]. Proceeding on his march when the morrow came, he found no one opposing him. And, while we were passing the walled town of Peronne, which we left behind a short distance away to our left, we Clermont, and there is reason to believe that he had lost patience with the intrigues and misgovernment of the dauphin: certainly he did not join the muster of the royal army at Rouen until 17 October (nearly four weeks after the fall of Harfleur). s In the <1Liber Metricus>1 (p. 118) Elmham names two of them, Jacques de Heilly and Jean de Graville. Livio (p. 14) adds that they were brought before the king by the duke of York. On hearing their message Henry replied that he was marching to Calais and would neither seek nor avoid the enemy; he then dismissed them with 100 crowns (100 each, according to the <1Vita,>1 p. 55). The account given by Le Fevre (i. 236-7) is the fullest, although he does not include all these details. He adds that, when the French princes asked for deputies to decide a time and place for battle, Henry replied that there was no need, as he was not skulking in towns or fortresses but was in the open fields where they could find him. Le Fevre stresses the joy of the English at hearing that they were shortly to do battle. The incident must have taken place at or near Athies. One of the French heralds, de Heilly, was afterwards killed at Agincourt <1(Tit. Liv.,>1 p.21). 77 caught sight of cavalry of the French army coming from the town towards us as a decoy, in order perhaps to entice us within range of enemy shots and the damage these would do. However, as soon as our cavalry went out against them, they promptly turned tail and made back to the town. And after we had gone past the town, we found, about a mile away, the roads quite remarkably churned up by the French army as if it had crossed ahead of us many thousands strong. And the rest of us in the army (for I will say nothing of those in command), fearing battle to be imminent raised our hearts and eyes to heaven, crying out, with voices express- ing our inmost thoughts, that God would have pity on us and, of His ineffable goodness, turn away from us the violence of the French. CHAPTER TWELVE From there we marched away in the direction of the River of Swords [R. Ternoise], leaving on the following Wednesday [23 October] the walled town of [? Doullens] a league away on our left flank.s And when on the next day, namely the Thursday [24 October], we were moving down a valley towards the River of Swords, word was brought to the king by our scouts and mounted patrols that an enemy force of many thousands was on the other side of the river, about a league away to our right. We therefore crossed over the river as quickly as possible, but, just as we reached the top of the hill on the other side, we saw emerging from higher up the valley, about half a mile away from us, the grim-looking ranks of the French. These, in compact masses, 'battles' and columns, their numbers being so great as not to be even comparable with ours, at length took up a position facing us and rather more than half a mile away, filling a very broad field like a countless swarm of locusts, and there was only a valley, and not so wide at that, between us and them. the 24th across the R. Ternoise at Blangy to Maisoncelles <1(Chron. Lond.,>1 pp. 304-5; Wylie, ii. 126-30, and the sources there). During the march, of course, the army was frequently separated into several villages. 79 And in the meantime, our king, very calmly and quite heedless of danger, gave encouragement to his army, and he drew them up in "battles' and wings as if they were to go immediately into action. And then every man who had not previously cleansed his conscience by confession, put on the armour of peni-tence; and there was no shortage then save only one of the priests. And amongst other things which I noted as said at that time,s a certain knight, Sir Walter Hungerford,s expressed a desire to the king's face that he might have had, added to the little company he already had with him, ten thousand of the best archers in England who would have been only too glad to be there. 'That is a foolish way to talk', the king said to him, "because, by the God in Heaven upon Whose grace I have relied and in Whom is my firm hope of victory, I would not, even if I could, have a single man more than I do. For these I have here with me are God's people, whom He deigns to let me have at this time. Do you not believe', he asked, "that the Almighty, with these His humble few, is able to overcome the opposing arrogance of the French who boast of their great number and their own strength?' as if to say, He can if He wishes. And, as I myself believe, it was not possible, because of the true righteousness of God, for misfortune to befall a son of His with so sublime a faith, any more than it befell Judas Maccabeuss until he lapsed into lack of faith and so, deservedly, met with disaster. And when for a short while the enemy from their positions had watched us, taken our measure, and noted how few we were, they withdrew to a field, at the far side of a certain wood which was close at hand to our left between us and them, where lay our road towards Calais. And our king on the assumption that by so doing they would either circle round the wood, in order that way to make a surprise attack upon him, or else would circle round the somewhat more distant woodlands in the neighbourhood and so surround us on every side, immediately moved his lines again, always positioning them so that they faced the enemy. Roskell, <1The Common and their Speakers>1 (Manchester, 1965), pp- 157-9' 357-8). s It is hard to square this passage with the heroic end of Judas Mac- cabeus as related in 1 Macc. 9. But cf. verse 7. 8222318 81 And when at length, after some time had passed, it was almost sunset, the French, perhaps realizing that battle was not to bejoined (which in any case was not feasible with night coming on), occupied the hamlets and scrub close by, intend- ing to rest until morning. And when at last the light failed and darkness had fallen between us and them, and we, still standing our ground in the field, could hear the enemy after they had taken up quarters, each one of them calling out, as usual, for his fellow, servant, and comrade (perhaps separated from him in so great a host), and our men had begun to do the same, the king ordered silence throughout the whole army under pain of forfeiture of horse and harness on the part of a gentleman should he offend, and of loss of his right ear by a yeoman and anyone else of lower rank who presumed to infringe the royal order, without hope of obtaining pardon. And he at once moved off in silence to a hamlet near by,s where we had houses, although very few of them, and gardens and orchards in which to rest, and heavy rain almost the whole night through. And when our adversaries noted how still and silent we were, thinking that, being so few, we were smitten with fear and perhaps intended to make off during the night, they had fires lit and set heavily manned watches across the fields and roadways. And, it was said, they thought themselves so sure of us that that night they cast dice for our king and his nobles. And on the morrow,s that is Friday, on the feast of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, the 25th of October, the French, in the early dawn, arrayed themselves in battle-lines, columns, and platoons and took up position in front of us in that field, called the field of Agincourt across which lay our road towards Calais, and the number of them was really terrifying. And they placed squadrons of cavalry, many hundreds strong on each flank of their vanguard, to break the formation and resistance of our archers. And that vanguard was composed of dismounted men drawn from all their nobles and the pick of their forces and, with its forest of spears and the great number of helmets gleaming in between them and of cavalry s For the value of this account of the battle see the Introduction, pp. xxxiv-xxxvi. 83 on the flanks, it was at a rough thirty times more than all our man put together. Their rearguard and its wings, columns and platoons, however, were all mounted as if more ready to flee than to tarry, and compared with our man they were a multitude hardly to be counted. And meanwhile our king, after offering praises to God and hearing Masses, made ready for the field, which was at no great distance from his quarters, and, in view of his want of numbers, he drew up only a single line of battle, placing his vanguard, commanded by the duke of York,s as a wing on the right and the rearguard, commanded by Lord Camoys,s as a wing on the left; and he positioned "wedges' of his archers in between each "battle' and had them drive in their stakes in front of them, as previously arranged in case of a cavalry charge. The enemy, made aware of this by scouts riding out in between, either on that account or for some other reason for caution known to God but not to me, astutely kept at a distance to our front and came no nearer to us. When, by so delaying, they had used up much of the day, both armies standing still and neither moving a foot towards the other, the king realized that the enemy host were putting off the assault he had been expecting them to make, and would so stand astride our route as either to break up our array or infect our hearts with fear of their numbers, or else as if they would obstruct our advance and were awaiting reinforcements, perhaps on the point of arrival, or, at any rate, as if aware of our serious lack of provisions they would overcome us by hunger, not daring to do so with the sword. after etc. And so he decided to move against them, sending for the army Clarence's abortive expedition to France in aid of the Armagnacs. He took to Harfleur a retinue of 100 men-at-arms and 300 archers. After Harfleur surrendered and when the army was <1en route>1 through Picardy, he had been associated with the earl of Oxford in command of the third and rear "battle'. He had been K.G. since 1387. s Thomas, lord Camoys, of Broadwater and Trotton (Sussex), had been a peer since 1383. Under Henry IV he had fought against Scots, French, and Welsh. He became K.G. almost certainly in April 1415. His second wife was Elizabeth, the widow of Henry Percy (Hotspur) and mother of the heir to the earldom of Northumberland; a daughter of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd earl of March, by Philippa, daughter and heir of Lionel, 1st duke of Clarence, she was a great-grand-daughter of Edward III and aunt of Edmund, 5th earl of March. Camoys had contracted to serve in the expedition of 1415 with a retinue of 30 men-at-arms and 6o archers. 85 baggage in order to have it at the rear of the engagement lest it should fall as booty into the hands of the enemy. (He had previously arranged that this baggage, together with the priests who were to celebrate the divine offices and make fervent prayer for him and his men, should await him in the aforesaid hamlet and closes, where he had been the night before, until the fighting was over.) And at that time French pillagers were watching it from almost every side intending to make an attack upon it immediately both armies engage; in fact, directly battle was joined they fell upon the tail end of it where, owing to the negligence of the royal servants, the king's own baggage was, seizing on royal treasure of great value, a sword and a crown among other precious objects, as well as all the bedding.s But once, however, the king thought that almost all this baggage had reached his rear, in the name of Jesus (to Whom is bowed every knee, of those in Heaven, on earth, and under advanced towards the enemy, and the enemy, too, advanced the earth) and of the Glorious VIgin and St. George,s he But then, indeed, and for as long as the conflict lasted, I, who am now writing this and was then sitting on a horse among the baggage at the rear of the battle, and the other priests present did humble our souls before God and, bring- ing to mind . . . which at that time the Church was reciting aloud, said in our hearts: sRemember us, O Lord, our enemies are gathered together and boast themselves in their excellence. Destroy their strength and scatter them, that they may understand, because there is none other that fighteth for us but only Thou, our God.' And also, in fear and trembling s In the mandate of 4 January 1416, in which Archbishop Chichele ordered the feast of St. George to be proclaimed as a 'greater double' ("magis duplex'), the saint is described as 'the special patron and protector of the English nation', whose recent military success might safely be attributed to his intercession <1(Chichele Reg.,>1 iii. 8-10). It was not until 17 December 1416 that Chichele, prompted by the king and with the agreement of Convocation, made special provision for observing the deposition (7 May) and the translation (25 October) of St. John of Beverley, on which latter feast (also the day of SS. Crispin and Crispinian Which was to be similarly honoured) had befallen the joyful and always memorable victory of Agincourt, where St. John had demonstrated his special patronage of the English people (ibid., pp. 25-6, 28-9). 87 with our eyes raised to heaven we cried out that God would have compassion upon us and upon the crown of England, and not suffer the supplications and tears which the English Church had poured forth and, at this very hour and in her accustomed processions, did undoubtedly pour forth on our behalf, to come to nothing, but would admit them to the bosom of His mercy and not allow that devotion which our king had taken unto himself--to the worship of God, the extension of the Church, and the peace of kingdoms--to be brought to naught by his enemies, nay rather, in the manifest bountiful- ness of His mercy, would now and hereafter cause him to be more exalted and mercifully deliver him from these perilous events as from others. CHAPTER THIRTEEN And then, when the enemy were nearly ready to attack, the French cavalry posted on the flanks made charges against those of our archers who were on both sides of our army. But soon, by God's will, they were forced to fall back under showers of arrows and to flee to their rearguard, save for a very few who, although not without Iosses in dead and wounded, rode through between the archers and the wood- lands, and save, too, of course, for the many who were stopped by the stakes driven into the ground and prevented from fleeing very far by the stinging hail of missiles shot at both horses and riders in their flight. And the enemy catapultss which were at the back of the men-at-arms and on the flanks, after a first but over-hasty volley by which they did injury to very few, withdrew for fear of our bows. And when the men-at-arms had from each side advanced towards one another over roughly the same distance, the flanks of both battle-lines, ours, that is, and the enemy's, extended into the woodlands which were on both sides of the armies. But the French nobility, who had previously ad- vanced in line abreast and had all but come to grips with us, either from fear of the missiles which by their very force pierced the sides and visors of their helmets, or in order the 89 sooner to break through our strongest points and reach the standards, divided into three columns, attacking our line of battle at the three places where the standards were. And in the melee of spears which then followed, they hurled them- selves against our men in such a fierce charge as to force them to fall back almost a spear's length. And then we who have been assigned to the clerical militia and were watching fell upon our faces in prayer before the great mercy-seat of God, crying out aloud in bitterness of spirits that God might even yet remember us and the crown of England and, by the grace of His supreme bounty, deliver us from this iron furnaces and the terrible death which menaced us. Nor was God unmindful of the multitude of prayers and supplications being made in England, by which, as it is devoutly believed, our men soon regained their strength and, valiantly resisting, pushed back the enemy until they had recovered the ground that had been lost. And then the battle raged at its fiercest, and our archers notcheds their sharp-pointed arrows and loosed them into the enemy's flanks, keeping up the fight without pause. And when their arrows were all used up, seizing axes, stakes and swords and spear-heads that were lying about, they struck down, hacked, and stabbed the enemy. For the Almighty and Merciful God, Who is ever marvellous in His works and Whose will it was to deal mercifully with us, and Whom also it pleased that, under our gracious king, His own soldier, and with that little band, the crown of England should remain invincible as of old, did, as soon as the lines of battle had so come to grips and the fighting had begun, increase the strength of our men which dire want of food had previously weakened and wasted, took away from them their fear, and gave them dauntless hearts. Nor, it seemed to our older men, had Englishmen ever fallen upon their- enemies more boldly and fearlessly or with a better will. And that same just Judge, Whose intention it was to strike with the thunderbolt of His vengeance the proud host of the enemy, turned His face away from them and broke their s 'transfixerunt et immisemnt'. Cf. the acti0n "nockynge' described by Roger Ascham in his <1Toxophilus (English Works,>1 ed. W. A. Wright [Cambridge, 1904], <1Toxophilus,>1 p. 104). 91 strength--the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle.s Nor, in any former times which chronicle or history records, does it ever appear that so many of the very pick and most sturdy of warriors had offered opposition so lacking in vigour, and so confused and faint-hearted, or so unmanly. Indeed, fear and trembling seized them, for, so it was said among the army, there were some of them, even of their more nobly born, who that day surrendered themselves more the ten times. No one, however, had time to take them prisoner, but almost all, without distinction of person, were, as soon as they were struck down, put to death without respite, either by those who had laid them low or by others following after, by what secret judgement of God is not known. God, indeed, had also smitten them with another great blow from which there could be no recovery. For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fell at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well, with the result that, in each of the three places where the strong contingents guarding our standards were, such a great heap grew of the slain and of those lying crushed in between that our men climbed up those heaps, which had risen above a man's height, and butchered their enemies down below with swords, axes, and other weapons. And when at long last, after two or three hours, their vanguard had been riddled through and through and broken up and the rest were being put to flight, our men began to pull those heaps apart and to separate the living from the dead, intending to hold them as prisoners for ransom. But then, all at once, because of what wrathfulness on God's part no one knows, a shout went up that the enemy's mounted rearguard (in incomparable number and still fresh) were re-establishing their position and line of battle in order to launch an attack on us, few and weary as we were.s And immediately, regardless of distinction of person, the prisoners, save for the dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, certain other illustrious men who were in the king's "battle', and a very few s Cf. Ps. 75: 4. s See Introduction, p. xxxvi. 93 others, were killed by the swords either of their captors or of others following after, lest they should involve us in utter disaster in the fighting that would ensue.s After but a short time, however, the enemy ranks, having experienced the bitter taste of our missiles and with our king advancing towards them, by God's will abandoned to us that field of blood together with their wagons and other baggage- carts, many of these loaded with provisions and missiles, spears, and bows. And when, at God's behest, the strength of that people had been thus utterly wasted and the rigours of battle had ended, we who had gained the victory came back through the masses, the mounds, and the heaps of the slain and, seeing them, reflected (though not without grief and tears on the part of many) upon the fact that so great a number of warriors, famous and most valiant had only God been with them, should have sought their own deaths in such a manner at our hands, quite contrary to any wish of ours, and should thus have effaced and destroyed, all to no avail, the glory and honour of their own country. And if that sight gave rise to compunction and pity in us, strangers passing by, how much more was it a cause of grief and mourning to their own people, awaiting expectantly the warriors of their country and then seeing them so crushed and made defenceless. And, as I truly believe, there is not a man with heart of flesh or even of stone who, had he seen and pondered on the horrible deaths and bitter wounds of so many Christian men, would not have dissolved into tears, time and again, for grief. Indeed, having previously been despoiled by English pillagers,s none of them, however illustrious or distinguished, possessed at our depar- ture any more covering, save only to conceal his nature, than that with which Nature had endowed him when first he saw the light. probable, as Anthony of Brabant's appearance had shown. Henry clearly thought that he must fight again (cf. 'in venienti prelio') and had to make a quick decision to enable his men to face the danger with least disadvan- tage to themselves. s Monstrelet (iii. 121) says that peasants, men and women, from neighbouring villages, despoiled the French dead of everything. Henry sent a herald amongst the English, to order them not to take more booty than was essential to their needs, as they were still in danger. 95 CHAPTER FOURTEEN Would that the French nation might soon attain to peace and unity with the English, repudiate their acts of injustice, and abandon those most wicked ways by which, lured and confused, they are being led astray, lest they be reproached by that saying of the prophet: "God is a just judge, strong ad patient, is He angry every day? Except you will be con- verted, He will brandish His sword; He hath bent His bow and made it ready, and in it He hath prepared the instru- ments of death.'s And if they do not very soon come to their senses, then let them bear in mind what follows: "Behold, he hath been in labour with injustice, he hath conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity, he hath opened a pit and dug it, and he hath fallen into the hole he made. His sorrow shall be turned on his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown.'s For God is merciful and One who waits in long-suffering; but, when He has exhausted the balm of His mercy and long-suffering, He is a stern avenger and oft takes away the powers of strong men when not accompanied by justice. This was made manifest in the multitude of our enemies, all of whom, by means of that little band of ours that was striving for justice,s He delivered up, indiscriminately, to flight, to capture, or to the sword. For there were of them, by their own reckoning, more than sixty thousand who drew the sword, whereas our little band did not exceed six thousand fighting men.s Of that great host there fell the dukes of Bar,s Brabant,s and Alencon,s five counts, more than ninety barons and bannerets, whose names are set down in a volume of records, and upwards of one (Philip, count of Nevers, younger brother of John and Anthony, was also killed at Agincourt.) s John, first duke of Alencon and son-in-law of Joan of Navarre (Henry IV's consort). It had been agreed that, with the Constable (D'Albret) and Charles of Orleans, he should share the command of the French army when it did battle with the English. According to Monstrelet (iii. 104) he was put in the second line, and it was perhaps therefore on his own initiative that he joined the melee at the front where he was killed. There is no contemporary support for the later legend that he made a personal attack on Henry V and damaged the crown wom by the king, or that it was he also who first cut down the duke of York. 822219 K 97 thousand and five hundred knights according to their own estimate, and between four and five thousand other gentlemen, almost the whole nobility among the soldiery of France.s And of the number remaining there were tken prisoner the dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, the counts fo RIchemont,s Vendome,s and Eu,s and also that most worthy knight the Sire de Boucicaut, the Marshal of France,s but few others of gentle birth.s And indeed there was great rejoicing among our folk and also considerable amazement because, out of all our little band there were found slain upon the field no more than nine or ten persons, apart from the illustrious and most prudent prince, the lord Edward, duke of York,s the lord Michael, earl of Suffolk (a brave young man),s and two newly dubbed knights who had fallen in the line of battle.s <15>1 John le Meingre II de Boucicaut (b. c. 1366) had had a long and eventful military career which, almost uninterruptedly since 1378, had kept him busy in one or another of the main trouble-spots in Europe and the Near East. He was appointed Charles VI's lieutenant-general on 28 July 1415; and his plan after the surrender of Harfleur was to stop the English on the lower Somme and, when this failed of its main object, he counselled that the enemy should be allowed to get away without being compelled to do battle. When this advice was overruled, it was settled that he and Bourbon should lead the French van. He died in captivity, at Methley (Yorks.), on 29 June 1421 (Wylie, iii. 39 n.). s The 'pauci . . . generosi' of the <1Gesta>1 must exclude the slaughtered prisoners. Walsingham (p. 97) puts the captured at 7oo (cf. also <1Brut,>1 ii. 379). The leading French chroniclers (Monstrelet, iii. 120; Le Fevre, i. 268 ; <1St. Denys,>1 v. 574) place the number at about 1,5oo. Accuracy is impossible, but it seems safe to assume that the higher figures include the prisoners who were massacred. s York's remains were brought home and buried at Fotheringay on 1 December. Cf. <1Wals.,>1 p. 98. s Suffolk left three daughters and was succeeded in the title by his brother William. s Again there is much variation amongst chroniclers, although no English account gives a total of more than 100 (Tit. <1Liv.,>1 p. 21). Elmham's <1Lib Metricus>1 (p. 122) has 'scarcely 30'. Other low figures, excluding York and Suffolk, are 12 (B.M. Harley MS. 782, f. 49), "about 15' (Ancestor, xi. 29; this record, now in the Salisbury archives, is apparently an official report), 25 (Adam of Usk, p. 126), 'not over 26' <1(Brut,>1 ii. 379), and 33 (Wals., p. 97). French estimates are round about 600 (e.g. Mon- strelet, iii. 110); Le Fevre (i. 26o) has 'Et, a la verite, les Anglois n'y firent pas grant perte, sinon de ces deux la' (i.e. York and Oxford [sic]). The <1Gesta>1 may be omitting the common soldiers, although this seems un- likely; but its figures here, along with those of the majority of 99 And our duke of Gloucester, Humphrey, the king's youngest brother,s a brave prince, like as he gave, in part received. Fighting in the king's "battle', he was seriously wounded. And no wonder among so many furiously wielded swords, spears, and axes! After his arrival at Calais, however, he soon re covered, God be praised. Our England, therefore, has reason to rejoice and reason to grieve. Reason to rejoice at the victory gained and the de- liverance of her men, and reason to grieve for the suffering and destruction wrought in the deaths of Christians. But far be it from our people to ascribe the triumph to their own glory or strength ; rather let it be ascribed to God alone, from Whom is every victory, lest the Lord be wrathful at our ingratitude and at another time turn from us, which Heaven forbid, His victorious hand. And let our England be zealous in pleasing God un- ceasingly, in purging herself of heresies and errors along with other acts of sedition and unrighteousness, in making acknowledgement, more fully and perfectly than before, in hymns, by confession, and with chants, and in singing psalms to the Lord Who hath done marvellous things in Israel and given the victory to His anointed. And let her pour forth prayers, supplications, and tears, in the sight of God's great clemency, that for our sake, with the shield of His omni- potence, He may long watch over, protect, visit, and defend our most victorious king and likewise his desire and devout concern for the extension of the Church and the peace of kingdoms. And let us together sing that . . . which the Church sings year in, year out: "Thine is the power, Thine the king- dom, O Lord; Thou art above all nations. Give peace in our time, O Lord.'s And when, the battle over, our king, out of consideration for his men, had spent that night in the same place where he had lodged the previous night, on the morrow he resumed his march towards Calais, past that mound of pity and blood 7 May 1413 and created him duke of Gloucester and earl of Pembroke on 16 May 1414. At Agincourt he was wounded in the groin and, according to the <1Liber Metricus>1 (p. 121) and Tito Livio (p. 20), rescued by the king himself. (See K. H. Vickers, <1Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester>1 [London, 1907], pp. 30-1.) s Cf. 1 Paral. 29: 11-12. 101 where had fallen the might of the French. And on the Tues- day [29 October], the morrow of Saints Simon and Jude, he came to Calais. And on the Saturday [16 November] after the festival of St. Martin, when [Raoul], Sire de Gaucourt, and the other prisoners from Harfleur had arrived, as bound by their agree- ment,s he returned to England, by the port of Dover, with his prisoners.s Nor do our older men remember any prince ever having com- manded his people on the march with more effort, bravery, or consideration, or having, with his own hand, performed greater feats of strength in the field. Nor, indeed, is evidence to be found in the chronicles or annals of kings of which our long history makes mention, that any king of England ever achieved so much in so short a time and returned home with so great and so glorious a triumph. To God alone be the honour and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. CHAPTER FIFTEEN And (to link up what follows with what has gone before), having taken a day's rest in the port previously mentioned, he resumed his journey, by way of the sacred thresholds of Canterbury Cathedral and the church of St. Augustine,s to his manor of Eltham, it being his intention to honour his ci-ty of London on the following Saturday with his personal presence. And the citizens, having heard the greatly longed- for, nay indeed most joyful, news of his arrival, had in the meantime made ready themselves and their city, as far as the time available allowed,s for the reception of the most loving s It must be remembered that the activities and whereabouts of the army had been quite unknown to the Londoners. As late as 25 October the only news they had waa 'a lamentable report, replete with sadness, and cause for endless sorrow, [which] had alarmed the community throughout all the City, in the boundless grief that it caused; it being to the effect that, as to the army of our Lord the King . . . in which all our affections lay centred, all particulars lay shrouded here in mystery' (Riley, p. 621). It was not until the early morning of Tuesday, 29 October, the day Henry reached Calais, that they heard of his victory at Agincourt (ibid.; <1Letter>1 Book 1, p. 144). 103 and most beloved prince whom God of His mercy had so gloriously and marvellously brought back home in triumph from a rebellious and stubborn people. And as soon as it was light on that eagerly awaited Saturday [23 November], the citizens went out to meet the king as far as the heights of Blackheath,s that is, the mayor and the twenty-four aldermen in scarlet and other citizens of lower degree in red gowns with parti-coloured hoods of red and white, to the number of about twenty thousand on horses. All of them, according to their crafts, wore some particular richly fashioned badge which conspicuously distinguished the crafts one from another. And when, about ten o'clock, the king came through their midst and the citizens had given to God glory and honour, and to the king congratulations and thanks for the victory he had gained and for his efforts on behalf of the common weal, the citizens hastened on ahead towards the city, and the king followed with his own, though only quite modest, retinue.s And now to let my pen interpose, amid these glorious deeds, some account of what the city and so many of its noble citizens had done to express its praise and to embellish itself-s When the tower at the entrance to the bridge was reached, there was seen placed high on top of it, and repre- senting as it were the entrance into the city's jurisdiction, an image of a giant of astonishing size who, looking down upon the king's face, held, like a champion, a great axe in his right hand and, like a warder, the keys of the city hanging from a baton in his left. At his right side stood a figure of a woman, not much smaller in size, wearing a scarlet mantle and adorn- ments appropriate to her sex; and they were like a man and his wife who, in their richest attire, were bent upon seeing the eagerly awaited face of their lord and welcoming him with abundant praise. And, all around them, projecting from the ramparts, staffs bearing the royal arms and trumpets, clarions, and horns ringing outs in multiple harmony embel- lished the tower, and the face of it bore this choice and appropriate legend inscribed on the wall : <1Civitas Regis Iusticie.>1 s For the value of this account of the London pageant, see above, Introduction, p. xxxvii. For the verses, formerly ascribed to Lydgate, there mentioned see Appendix IV. s Cf. Exod. 19: 16. 105 And, proceeding further as far as the little drawbridge,s in front of this, on each side, there was found a lofty pillar resembling a turret which, constructed of timberwork with no less skill than artistry, was covered with linen cloth painted the colour of white marble and green jasper as if made of stones squared and dressed by the handiwork of masons. And the top of the pillar to the right bore the figure of an ante- lope, standing erect, with a shield of the royal arms resplen- dent hanging from its neck, and in its extended right forefoot it held a royal sceptre. And the top of the other pillar sup- ported the figure of a lion, also standing erect, which in the claws of its right paw held aloft a staff with a royal standard unfurled. And over the foot of the bridge and spanning the route had been raised a tower, constructed and painted like the said pillars, and half-way up it, in a canopied niche richly fashioned, there stood a most beautiful statue of St. George, in armour save for his head which was adorned with laurel studded with gems sparkling like precious stones; and behind the statue was a crimson tapestry all aglow with his heraldic arms on a large number of shields. And to its right hung his triumphal helm, and to its left a shield of his arms of matching size. With his right hand he held the hilt of the sword with which he was girded, and with his left a scroll which extended over the ramparts, containing these words: <1Soli deo honor et gloria.>1 And the tower was distinguished by this prophetic message of congratulation on the front: <1Fluminis impetus letificat civitatem dei,>1s and, at the top, it was embellished by spears bearing the royal arms unfurled, stand- ing above the canopies and the ramparts. And in a house next to and behind the tower were innumerable boys representing the hierarchy of angels, clad in pure white, their faces glowing with gold, their wings gleaming, and their youthful locks entwined with costly sprays of laurel, who, at the king's approach, sang together in sweetly sounding chant accom- panied by organs, following their texts, this angelic anthem: <1[Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini].s>1 s Cf. Adam of Usk (p. 128), 'In medio pontis, ante ejus levabilem pontem . s ps 45: 5. s Cf. Appendix IV. 107 And when, further on, the tower of the conduit in Cornhill was reached,s that tower was found to be covered over with crimson cloth stretched out, like a tent, on staffs wrapped in similar cloth. Lower down, in four prominent places, the arms of St. George, St. Edward, and St. Edmund and of England encircled the middle of the tower, with, in between them, escutcheons of the royal arms, amongst which was set this legend of pious import : <1Quoniam Rex sperat in domino et>1 it <1misericordia altissimi non commovebitur.>1s And, higher up, on the ramparts and serving for their adornment, were the arms of the royal house, borne aloft on staffs. And under an awning was a company of prophets with venerable white hair, in tunicles and golden copes, their heads wrapped and tur- baned with gold and crimson, who, when the king came by, released in a great flock, as an acceptable sacrifice to God for the victory He had conferred, sparrows and other tiny birds, of which some descended on to the king's breast, some settled upon his shoulders, and some circled around in twisting flight. And the prophets sang in sweetly sounding chant, following their texts, this psalm of approbation : <1Cantate>1 <1domino canticum novum, Alleluia. Quia mirabilia fecit, Alle->1 <1luia. Salvavit,>1 etc. s From there they proceeded to the tower of the conduit at the entrance to Cheapside,s which, to make it look like a building, had had spread over it a green cover strewn and inwoven with escutcheons of the city's arms in gay profu- sion, on poles draped in the same colour. And there adorned the tower higher up, on the ramparts, staffs with coats of arms, borne aloft as elsewhere, and the middle of it, all round, . . . And under an awning were men of venerable old age in the garb and of the number of the apostles, having the names of the twelve apostles written in front of them, together with twelve kings of the English succession, martyrs and con- fessors, girt about the loins with golden belts, with sceptres in their hands, crowns upon their heads, and their emblems of sanctity plain to see, who, at the king's approach, in perfect time and in sweetly sounding chant, following their texts, sang the psalm <1[Salvasti enim nos de affligentibus nos, et>1 s PS. 97. s Cf. Appendix IV and <1Lib. Met.>1, pp. 126-7. 109 <1odientes nos conrudisti.>1s And they delivered to him round leaves of silver intermingled with wafers of bread, equally thin and of the same size and shape, and wine from the pipes and spouts of the conduit, that they might receive him with bread and wine just as Melchizedek did Abraham when he returned with victory from the slaughter of the four kings.s And when they had proceeded further, to the cross in Cheapside,s that cross was not to be seen. Instead, built round it was what resembled a very fine castle, which, con- structed of timberwork with no less ingenuity than decorative effect, was adorned with graceful towers, pillars, and ram- parts in rich profusion, having on both sides of it, to a good height of almost a spear's length and a half, vaulted arches, one end of each of which had, with considerable skill, been made to rest on the castle itself, and, reaching out over the street, the other end rose up from among the adjacent build- ings as if originally built when they had been; and under these arches, through a space that was wide enough and to spare, being as broad as a spear's length, people rode as if through two gateways. And there was written on the front of the gateways on each side : <1Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, civitas>1 <1dei.s And the covering of the castle was of linen fabric painted>1 in colours to look like white marble and green and crimson jasper, as if the whole work had been made by the art of masonry from squared and well-polished stones of great price. There adorned the top of the castle and a very high tower the arms of St. George, with, on one side, the king's arms and, on the other, those of the emperor, borne aloft on spears; and the arms of members of the royal house and of the great nobles of the realm adorned the lower turrets. And from the middle of the castle there projected out towards the king a gatehouse, very fine indeed and no less ingeniously constructed, from which extended a wooden bridge with about fifteen steps, and it was of a fair width and waist-high from the ground; and the gatehouse, covered and elegantly furnished with hangings on the posts and pales on either side to enhance its appearance, was constructed elaborately and yet securely enough to prevent anyone from forcing a way in. Over this bridge there went out from the castle to meet the king a choir of most beautiful young maidens, very chastely 111 adorned in pure white raiment and virgin attire, singing together with timbrel and dance, as if to another David com- ing from the slaying of Goliaths (who might appropriately be represented by the arrogant French), this song of congratula- tion, following their texts : <1Welcome henry ye fifte, kinge of>1 <1Englond' and of Fraunce.>1 And from the very top of the castle to the bottom, on the towers, ramparts, arches, and pillars, were innumerable boys, like a host of archangels and angels, beautiful in heavenly splendour, in pure white raiment, with gleaming wings, their youthful locks entwined with jewels and other resplendent and exquisite ornaments; and they let fall upon the king's head as he passed beneath golden coins and leaves of laurel, singing together in perfect time and in sweetly sounding chant accompanied by organs, to the honour of Almighty God and as a token of victory, this angelic hymn, following their texts : <1Te deum laudamus, te dominum confite->1 <1mur,>1 etc. And when, further on, they had come to the tower of the conduit in the way out from Cheapside towards St. Paul's, they saw encircling that tower, about half-way up, many canopied niches skilfully contrived, and in each one was a most exquisite young maiden, like a statue, decked out with emblems of chastity, richly fashioned; and all of them, crowned with laurels and girt about with golden belts, held in their hands chalices of gold from which, with gentlest breath scarcely perceptible, they puffed out round leaves of gold upon the king's head as he passed by. And, higher up, the tower was covered by a canopy, sky-blue in colour, with clouds inwoven, massed with great artistry. There adorned the very top of it the figure of an archangel seemingly made of the brightest gold, and with other vivid colours resplendently intermingled, and the four poles on which the canopy was borne were themselves upheld by four angels of a design no less artistic. And underneath the canopy was, enthroned, a figure of majesty in the form of a sun and, emitting dazzling rays, it shone more brightly than all else. Around it, i~ heavenly splendour, archangels moved rhythmically to- gether, psalming sweetly and accompanied by every kind of musical instrument, following their texts . . . And there adorned the ramparts of the tower . . .s borne aloft on posts. 8222319 L 113 And in order that that tower should with its legend seem to conclude, in the same strain as the preceding legends, the tributes of praise to the honour and glory not of men but of God, it presented, to the gaze of those passing by, this culmination of praise : <1Deo gracias.>1 And apart from the dense crowd of men standing still or hurrying along the streets, and the great number of those, men and women together, gazing from windows and openings, however small, along the route from the bridge, so great was the throng of people in Cheapside, from one end to the other, that the horsemen were only just able, although not without difficulty, to ride through. And the upper rooms and windows on both sides were packed with some of the noblest ladies and womenfolk of the kingdom and men of honour and renown, who had assembled for this pleasing spectacle, and who were so very becomingly and elegantly decked out in cloth of gold, fine linen, and scarlet, and other rich apparel of various kinds, that no one could recall there ever having previously been in London a greater assemblage or a more noble array. Amid these public expressions of praise and the display made by the citizens, however, the king himself, wearing a gown of purple, proceeded, not in exalted pride and with an imposing escort or impressively large retinue, but with an impassive countenance and at a dignified pace, and with only a few of the most trusted members of his household in atten- dance,s there following him, under a guard of knights, the dukes, counts, and marshal,s his prisoners. Indeed, from his quiet demeanour, gentle pace, and sober progress, it might have been gathered that the king, silently pondering the matter in his heart, was rendering thanks and glory to God alone, not to man. And then, after he had visited the thresholds of the Apostles Peter and Paul, he departed to his palace of Westminster,s the citizens escorting him. mitratis', who led him in procession to the high altar. Here, having kissed the relics, he made an offering and then knelt at the shrine of St. Brkenwald (Adam of Usk, p. 129; <1Lib. Met.,>1 p. 129). He then rode to Westminster Abbey, to offer at the Confessor's shrine. There he was met by the abbot- and monks in procession and a crowd the size of which astonished him <1(Lib. Met.,>1 loc. cit.; <1Wals.,>1 p. 98). Thence he rode into the palace, where, on the following day (24 November), the mayor and 2oo leading citizens brought him a present of #1,000 in two gold basins (Wylie, ii. 268-9; Adam of Usk, pp. 128-9, places this incident during the pageant). 115 CHAPTER SIXTEEN And after the celebrations of the next feast of Our Lord's Nativity were at an end, by the common counsel of the mag- nates of the realm he decided that parliament should be summoned for the first day of March,s to make provision, by the common counsel of all, for what, after due con- sideration, should further be done for the general good and for the benefit and tranquillity of the kingdom and commonalty. It happened in the meantime, shortly before the beginning of the parliament, that the noble and illustrious prince, the earl of Dorset, uncle to the king and the captain of Harfleur, had resolved upon a mounted expedition into the interior of Normandy in order to augment the stocks of food in the town.s It happened also that, unknown to the earl, the French were aware of this intention, possibly owing to some undis- covered treachery. And when, at length, the earl had started out on the pro- posed journey with about a thousand cavalry,3 and was between Fecamp and Dieppe, more than twenty miles from Harfleur, and fully occupied in collecting provisions and spoils to stock up the town and hearten his men, there suddenly sprang out of an ambush a strong force of French and, quite apart from ambushes comprising great numbers of troops positioned between there and Harfleur, they appeared before the earl to the number of about five thousand, drawn from deficient despite c0nstant appears by Dorset (P.P.C. ii. 196) : in April he threatened to quit the town if food and ammunition were not forth- coming; in May the garrison was on another foraging expedition; and one of Henry V's demands during the negotiations in June was for enough land round Harfleur to support its garrison (Rymer, ix. 787). In any case, nothing like the whole garrison was engaged in Dorset's raid. The garrison was no longer 1,200 (see above, p. 58); it had been doubled at the beginning of 1416 (900 men-at-anns and 1,5o0 archers, Wylie, ii. 332). With 1,000 men Dorset would be able to forage more thoroughly and bring back more supplies, while at the same time their absence would relieve the strain on provisions within the town. s Later, after the first battle, estimated at 'not many more than 900' (below, p. 120). Walsingham's figure (p. 99) is 1,500, the highest English one given and probably too high. 117 the very pick of their mens and led by the count of Armagnac, the constable of France.s And then, that noble earl our captain, being quite suddenly and unexpectedly taken by surprise in this way, calling upon none but divine aid to defend him and the right of the crown of England, from his small company drew up a line of battle an foot, placing the horses and transport to his rear. And meanwhile the French had made ready, and so had the English.s But at length, after negotiations had been entered into, the French representatives urged the earl to consider that he could not possibly resist them with so small a force, and that therefore he should surrenders with his men rather than expose them to capture and the sword; and they made him an offer that if he did so they would spare him and his force and, in return for a fixed ransom from each one according to his rank or degree, let them go home without having to do battle. Then the earl, scorning these offers, it being wholly cowardly and foolish to accept them, replied that he was in no way inclined to yield to their dishonourable inducements or to reject God's favour, but that, with the armed justice of his king and of the realm of England and under divine protection, he would oppose their rebellion. Whereupon the French sent forward from their positions a very large force of cavalry to attack and break up our position. This force, notwithstanding our sharp arrows and the points s Armagnac came from Valmont, where he was posted, and cut off Dorset near Ouainville on 11 March as he was returning from Cany; there is much disagreement among French chroniclers as to the exact date and place of the battle. Armagnac's aim seems to have been to drive Dorset back into Harfleur without his booty; thus, later, he ordered Marshal Loigny not to attack the English and he himself allowed Dorset to escape. 'His strategy was directed towards the recapture of Harfleur itself' (Newhall, op. cit., p. 19), although the Burgundians interpreted his actions as treachery. s In Walsingham (p. 99) Armagnac sends a message to Dorset advising him to yield, as he is trapped between the French and the sea, and promis- ing him treatment worthy of his birth; but this occurs after Dorset's withdrawal. Strecche (p. 156) states that Annagnac demanded pompously that every gentleman should surrender and every archer lose his right hand; this demand he places before Dorset's withdrawal, as does the <1Gesta.>1 In all three, Dorset prefers death to acceptance. Strecche, whose account is full and independent, although his figures are unreliable, adds a battle 'circa horam vesperarum' in which the English, without loss, killed 2,000 French (p. 156) . 119 of our spears levelled at their horses' breasts (the other end being driven into the ground), charged through and scattered the English positions in the centre. But, while they were busy pillaging the booty and spoils which were behind our positions and slaughtering the youths who had stayed with the trans- port as well as certain of the archers who had fled from the line, this brave earl, although he had been seriously wounded when they broke through, reassembled his men in battle array and drew them up again in a more secure place. But, with night coming on, the enemy, perhaps appreciating their losses in that melee, refrained from further attack, maybe thinking that they could overcome us more easily by hunger than with the sword. And when at length the stillness of night lay over all, the earl entered into counsel with his men;s and in view of their utter lack of provisions and the fact that they really were more liable to perish by hunger than by the sword, and considering also that the French would continually increase in number and they themselves most probably decrease, they eventually agreed unanimously upon a silent withdrawal; and in case there should be am- bushes set between them and Harfleur, they turned aside quietly towards the coast, so that they might have it as a ad in dire need, ad yet hopeful of Heavenly favour, they toiled on all night with great exertion until they reached the shore of the River Seine at Chef de Caux, over twenty miles from where the French had first taken up position. And just when they believed they had been wholly de- livered from the power of their enemies, lo! suddenly, after daybreak, the French, who had discovered during the night that the English had slipped away, sprang out of an ambush lation by Armagnac's arrival. Strecche (p. 157), Walsingham (p. 99), an1 Chastellain (Williams, pp. 174, 223) differ, making no mention of Loigny Chastellain, a fervent Burgundian, throws as much of the onus on Armagnac as possible; he represents him as remaining on the slopes whil the rest of the French engaged the English in the marshes, "par quoy le that Amagnac sent 5,000 men down against the English; the English defeated these and then advanced up the slopes against Armagnac and attacked him so fiercely that he fled. Walsingham (p. 99) represents Almagnac as dashing furiously down to engage the English; but while his account is a good general one, it seems to be confused on some points. 121 many thousands strong and, moving forward, took up position facing the English, the French occupying the high ground, and the English the low ground that was between them and the river. And then the English, being so taken by surprise, lifted up their eyes to Heaven, humbled themselves before God, and besought Him in His mercy to be mindful of them, to take compassion on them, and to deliver them by His mighty hand from the sword of vengeance. And at length, inspired by the earl, they took heart again. And, although they were faint with overmuch toil and wearied by the weight of their arms, by hunger, and by their exertions, and although the great force of the enemy had now begun to move down towards them, nevertheless, in firm hope of triumph, manfully and fearlessly they went up to meet them with missiles, spears, and axes, calling upon God and St. George. And at last, after they had manfully come to grips with the enemy and on both sides the harsh violence of battle had begun to rage, God Himself, gracious and merciful to the English people (and Who, with three hundred men separated from the rest of the multitude of the people of Israel, triumphed with the sword of Gideon over the countless host of Midian),s did, with not many more than nine hundred Englishmen, make subject to the crown of England upwards of fifteen thousand rebel Frenchmen,s in that we put them to flight, captured them, or smote them with the sword. "This was the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes.s Blessed be the name of the Lord.' And, having gained this miraculous victory, the illustrious earl, with joy and exultation and prais- ing God, returned with his men in peace to Harfleur. And when, by letter, he had sent word to our king of this gracious and glorious act of God, the king fell upon his face in prayer, giving thanks to God before His great mercy-seat that the day-spring from on high had so deigned to visit him and his people.s And he straightway ordered to be chanted by his chapel the angelic hymn: <1Te>1 <1deum laudamus,>1 etc. to the praise and glory of God Who had so marvellously deigned to receive His England and her people as His very own. s Mark 12: 11, quoting Ps. 117: 23. s Luke 1: 78. 123 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN And while these events were taking place, parliament had begun,s and the venerable father, Henry, bishop of Win- chester, uncle to the king and the brother of the said earl, the chancellor of England,s by virtue of his office delivered its opening speech; in that speech,3 after touching in general on matters relating to the commonalty of the realm, he referred to the triumphs of our king which God had afforded him against the obstinacy of the rebellious French, and to God's clemency made manifest in His secret judgements, declaring that just as a dispute between those having a superior on earth is resolved by an earthly judgement, so one between those having no superior under Heaven is made plain by a Heavenly arbitrament carried out by the sword. And just as in earthly judgements three similar definitive sentences are regarded as making a title fully plain in favour of the right of a claimant and must be completely obeyed, so too in a heavenly judgement is a sequence of three divine sentences regarded as determining a title absolutely and must also be in every respect obeyed; and he concluded from this that the title of the crown of England to the kingdom of France had been divinely made plain by three similar sen- tences, and that these should in no way, therefore, be persis- tently opposed. First, that is, in the naval battle at Sluys in the time of the most famous king the last King Edward, to whom by right of inheritance from his mother's family descended the crown of 1403, but continued in office only until 2 March 1405. He remained a royal councillor until November 1411, being especially prominent during 1410 and 1411 when Henry of Monmouth was head of the council. On the day of Henry V's accession (21 March 1413) he became chancellor again, retaining office until 23 July 1417. s The speech attributed to Beaufort here is not on the parliament-roll. The sermon given there (Rot. <1Parl.,>1 iv. 70) is much briefer, but very similar in character: preaching from the text " Iniciavit vobis viam' (Heb. 10: 20), he stated that it was the king's purpose to recover his rights overseas and instanced Harfleur and Agincourt (the latter, however, not mentioned by name) as proofs that that purpose was approved by Al- mighty God. There is no mention in the parliament-roll of Sluys (1340) and Poitiers (1356) or of the taking of Calais (1347). Neither the roll nor the <1Gesta>1 alludes to the victory at Crecy (1346). 125 France;s where, in the destruction of Frenchmen by God's judgement, was the first sentence seen to have been pro- nounced. Then, secondly, in the battle fought on the field of Poitiers by the most famous prince Edward, his first-born son and heir, waging war for his inheritance; where, in the slaughter of French nobility and the capture of Johns the usurper of that kingdom, the second sentence was seen to have been conceded by divine command in favour of the crown of England. And now, thirdly, by our most serene king on the field of Agincourt; where, the unwarlike host of the French having been put to flight, the sword of the French yielded to the sceptre of England in the third avengieng sentence, their leading men being captured and their nobles done to death. O God, why does this wretched and stiff-necked nation not obey these divine sentences, so many and so terrible, which, by a vengeance most clearly made manifest, obedience is demanded of them? The chancellor also mentioned how, in addition to these three avenging sentences and because the French have de- clined to obey them, Our Lord, Who is a just Judge, has de- prived them of three things, with and by means of which they might have done us further injury. First of all, the great advantage of their chief ports: of Calais, which some time ago was most troublesome to us, but also, and particularly, of Harfleur, which has been so from of old. Secondly, their bravery, as a result of their being infected with fear by the terrible and irreparable disasters befalling them when their men were butchered in those encounters, and especially now most recently, at Agincourt; and those contemptuous of these disasters might well suspect that their contempt for God's judgement had led to His avenging it. And thirdly, their military might, as a result of their losing their nobles and brave men in all these battles, and especially in that last dread sentence of God at Agincourt. his ransom of 3 million golden crowns (#500,000), he voluntarily went back to England in 1364 and died there on 8 April that year. By time the French had paid off about half his ransom. (For the early diffi- culties over what was still an issue under Henry V see D. M. Broome, 'The Ransom of John II, King of France, 1360-1370', R.H.S., Camden 3rd Ser. xxxvii (1926), <1Camden Misc.,>1 xiv.) 127 Oh, if only that stubborn nation would come to its senses ad feel compunction for its own kith and kin and, reflecting upon these dreadful and marvellous judgements of God, would, even though so late in the day, hasten to reach a reasonable settlement with the English, lest a patient and loving God, so often perplexed by the contempt shown for His judgement, should at last (which Heaven forbid where Christian blood is involved) avenge Himself implacably upon those who have rebelled against Him! CHAPTER EIGHTEEN And it was while this parliament was continuing its proceed- ings that it was first made public throughout the length and breadth of England that the most Christian and superillus- trious prince the Emperor Sigismunds had decided to inter- vene. Inwardly touched by grief of heart at the lamentable misfortunes and immoderate dissensions of the two kingdoms of England and France, moved by the almost irremediable disasters and inconsolable sorrows arising from the sufferings and deaths of Christian men and the irreparable wrongs that would ensue if God did not soon apply a remedy, and attach- ing greater importance to the delicate problem of improving this situation than to his own repose, he suspended for a time his laborious but very necessary efforts in aid of the liberation of the Universal Church from the rule of the Synagogue and from the effects of the rent in the seam- less robe of the King Eternal, a liberation he had so very zealously exerted himself to achieve. In fact, having been partly prompted to do so by the French council, he had re- solved to take upon himself the responsibility for mediating between the councils of the two kingdoms in order to bring about the deliverance of them both. It was his hope, indeed, that by such mediatory efforts, and with God's help, he might be able to bring into harmony the minds of those who were at variance and to restore to its former state the peace of the decided to carry his proposals for some compromise or truce to Henry V in person, and crossed from Calais to Dover on 1 May (Wylie, iii, chapters xlviii-ix). 129 two kingdoms, a peace almost exhausted by their bloody swords. And, to accomplish this most felicitous undertaking, he descended from his imperial throne and, about the begin- ning of March, came to Paris. And when, for some considerable time, he had been deeply engaged in discussions and consultations with them, and our England had long and eagerly awaited his coming for this most beneficial purpose (a coming so much desired) until the approach of Easter,s the king, having had word that he was not able to come before then and being unwilling to dissolve parliament before his arrival, wishing rather to keep it to- gether in order to have firmer and weightier counsel on a matter of such great importance as that of the peace on which he had set his hopes, adjourned it until the quinzaine of the feast.s Meanwhile, it was announced in England that the illus- trious prince, William, the duke of Holland,a wished to visit the kingdom about this very same matter. And then, after the octave of Our Lord's Resurrection had ended, that most superillustrious prince the emperor, having in his retinue, as the French representative, the archbishop of Rheims,4 came to England with about a thousand horse.s He was received, first, at Calais by that brave knight the earl of Warwick,s the captain; then, at Dovers by the illustrious prince, Humphrey, for Henry V, who desired a Burgundian as well as an imperial alliance and was hoping to bring Sigismund and John the Fearless nearer together. 4 Renaud de Chartres, archbishop of Rheims (1414-44), had joined Sigismund at Beauvais. A safe-conduct to return to France was given him on 20 June. s For members of Sigismund's suite see <1Chron. Lond.,>1 pp. 124, 306; Hardyng, p. 376. s Richard Beauchamp (b. 28 January 1382) had succeeded his father as earl of Warwick on the latter's death (14o1). He had been appointed captain of Calais and govemor of the marches of Picardy on 3 February 1714, and in October following was sent to represent Henry V at Sigis- Mund's coronation at Aachen. From here he joined the English embassy at the Council of Constance, his own special function being to continue to act as a channel of communication with the emperor (with whom he was on excellent terms). He was at the siege of Harfleur, but after its surrender assumed personal command at Calais, where, on 29 October, he welcomed the king after Agincourt. s Sigismund landed at Dover on the evening of 1 May. For a credible report of the circumstances of his reception on shore see Kingsford, <1The>1 <1First English Life of Henry V>1, p. 67. 131 the duke of Gloucester, the king's youngest brother, the constable of the castle; at Canterbury by the archbishop ; at Rochester by the noble prince, John, the duke of Bedford,s the next younger brother of the king; at Dartford by the victorious prince, Thomas, the duke of Clarence, the king's eldest brother; then, on the heights of Blackheath, towards the city, by the citizens; and, lastly, at London, about a mile from the city, by the king, with some five thousand of the nobles and magnates of Englands in their most elegant attire and offering all the honour and praise appropriate to the majesty of their two persons. And from there the king con- ducted him through the middle of the city to his palace of Westminster, which he had had most sumptuously made ready for his stay. And he himself proceeded towards the archbishop's manor-house at Lambeth, which he had ordered to be refurbished for his own reception. And when, on the following Monday [4 May], in the quin- zaine of Easter, parliament had resumed in the great hall at Westminster and continued its proceedings there for several days; and the alliances and fraternal friendship previously contracted between the king and the emperor had in the -- meantime been strengthened and renewed, their own and directly personal guarantees being embodied in written instruments and due and solemn forms which you will find cited in one of the books of records; and great and con- tinuous efforts had also been made, in negotiating for peace, by their imperial highnesses in their own persons and be tween the councils of both England and France; at length, our king, wishing to take a short respite and to favour the most superillustrious prince his brother, amid all these cares, resigned the wardenship of the East March towards Scotland (which he had held since 1403), possibly so that he might the more readily become "Custos Anglie' during Henry's absence in Normandy. s On 7 April the sheriffs had been ordered to summon all knights and esquires to be in London by the 16th to welcome Sigismund, every lord, knight, esquire, and gentleman to be in his best array and horsed (Rymer, ix. 339; <1Letter-Book I>1, pp. xxviii, 160). With Bedford at Rochester were the earl of Oxford, lords Camoys and Powys, and Sir William Bourchier, and with Clarence at Dartford the earls of March and Huntingdon, lords Grey of Ruthin, Poynings, and Abergavenny, and Sir John Cornwall (P.P.C., ii. 193-5). s On this point see the Introduction, pp. xxvii, xliv-xlvi. 133 with some, even if only modest, entertainment, on the Sunday at the opening of Rogationtide [24 May]s performed in his college in Windsor castle the solemn ceremonies of the feast of St. George,s now urgently called for because hitherto deferred out of reverence for the emperor and in view of his visit. Our king had previously obtained, from a provincial council of the clergy, permission for the feast to be celebrated in England for evermore as a double feast.s And during these solemn ceremonies the same supreme prince the emperor was first elected and then admitted into the fraternity of the knights, four other nobles, too, being received into the same by virtue of their diligence in arms, in place of those others who (save Lord Lescrope, who had been condemned to death for his treason in conspiring against the commonalty) had died during that year on behalf of the commonalty; and they received the insignia of installation,s our king, as sovereign of that college of knights, presiding. And about the time of the mysteries of Our Lord's Ascen- sion [28 May], there came to England the illustrious prince, Duke Wilham of Holland,s with about eight hundred men. He was soon intimately associated with the king's most firmly held intention fully to restore, with the aid of so many illus- trious negotiators and with God's help, that peace on which he had set his hopes. greater double feasts as 'distinguished by having a procession, two canons and two vicars to rule the choir, elaborate censing at Matins and Vespers, and other marks of their dignity. (p. 53). s During the previous year five deaths had occurred in the Order: (1) Henry lord Scrope, succeeded by Sir William Harrington; (2) the earl of Arundel, succeeded by the earl of Huntingdon; (3) the duke of York, succeeded by the earl of Oxford; (4) Sir John Dabridgecourt, succeeded by William lord Zouche of Harringworth. But (5) Zouche died on 3 Novem- ber 1415, and it was his place to which Sigismund succeeded (Beltz, pp. 17-i, lvii). Sigismund sat in the stall occupied by Henry V when Prince of Wales, Dabridgecourt having succeeded Henry when he became king and therefore Sovereign of the Order. s William maintained a real interest in his membership of the Order of the Garter to which Richard II had admitted him in 1390, having occsaionally attended its chapters, and in 1416 it was only bad weather which prevented his crossing the Channel in time to be present at Sigis- mund's installation at Windsor. He reached London on 28 May, sailing up the Thames to join Henry at Lambeth <1(Chron. Lond.,>1 p. 125). After his reception he was lodged in the bishop of Ely's house in Holborn. The <1Liber Metricus>1 (p. 134) gives his retinue as 100 knights. 135 CHAPTER NINETEEN But while these affairs were being transacted with all sincerity of purpose on the part of these princes, just see what double- dealers the French were! For they brought out into the open what, under cover of pretended negotiation for this peace,s they really had in mind---not negotiation for peace at all, but rather talk of peace, prolonged in order to cause its postpone- ment. And having in the meantime summoned in great numbers carracks from Genoa and other galleys and vessels from allied states, they assembled a powerful fleet and, when it had entered the mouth of the Seine, laid siege to the town of Harfleur.s And then, being secure from seaward, they endeavoured, simultaneously, with one part of their fleet to capture the town by siege when it was in dire need of provisions, and with the remaining part to ravage and destroy the English fleet. The stronger part, therefore, drew near to the port of Southampton, where, amongst others, were the more powerful of the royal ships; and they tried for several days as far as they could to bring about their destruction with engines of war and by fire. But God, Who is the author and lover of peace and Who hates disquiet and deception, limited their evil intent (praise be to Him) to but a few English ships. They then tried with rapine and fire to invade the land in divers other places along the coast but, being at God's bid- ding always manfully repelled, incurred greater loss than they inflicted, save only that in their first attack they burnt the occupy Harfleur and, although this plan fell through, it was decided that an attempt should be made to negotiate a truce for 3 years and that, to this end, the English and French kings, along with Sigismund and William, should meet on the frontier of the Marches of Calais. And Henry made no extensive preparati0ns until compelled in June to relieve Harfleur (cf. Newhall, <1The English Conquest of Normandy,>1 pp. 23-4 n. 109). Notice "[the French] are scheming with all their might to deceive and defraud the king of the Romans, the duke (of Holland] and the king' (C.C.R., 1413-19, 353). s In a letter of 5 June 1416 Henry speaks of Harfleur as besieged by the French and others (Wylie, ii. 352). For the ships of the Genoese and other allies see the accounts in La Roncidre, ii. 217ff. and Wylie, ii. 347-9. 137 quite small island of Portland,s from which almost all the inhabitants had previously been evacuated. And while our king affected to ignore all these wrongful deeds and, because of his hopes of making peace with his neighbour with the help of so many illustrious negotiators and intermediaries, would have done so indefinitely, the French, imagining that under cover of these unprofitable delays all would go their way, at length cunningly refused to be per- suaded by any manner of means to make a reasonable peace; rather, hoping to destroy England at feasts of verbosity (in much the same way as Absalom did Amnon)s and with swords fashioned of words (as Joab did Amasa),s after she had as usual been drawn into negotiations while preparing to relieve the town of Harfleur (to obtain which she had striven with great ardour), they kept the king engaged in talk. But the king, being only too well aware of this, having dissolved parliament, ordered war to be declared, the fleet assembled, and the army made ready so that the siege might be raised, the enemy engaged in the attack dispersed, and the rebels overcome. The French then persisted in their trickery and in order, in their own interests, to delay what the king had resolved upon, offered him much larger and more liberal terms than before. To these terms, because of the peace which he still hoped for and yearned after more than all the desir- able things of this world, the king agreed; and the noise of war was hushed. But when the English council had come very near to accepting the deceitful offers expressed in those specious terms, the French, having firmly promised to give assent to certain entirely just requests, in their duplici-ty refused to do so. And then, seeing himself in this way once again deceived and tricked by mere talk, and realizing only too well that the French were guilefully trying to make good by force of words what they were unable to achieve by main force, the king, although coerced into doing so, against his will indeed but quite necessarily if he was to save his people and the town of Harfleur, took up arms again and ordered his forces to be summoned to the port of South- ampton. s 2 Sam. 20: 9-10. 139 CHAPTER TWENTY And meanwhile there came to the king solemn ambassadors from the Scots to treat for the release of their king, whom fortune had some time ago delivered into the hands of the most serene king his [Henry's] father. s But because the Scottish council refused to assent to submission, homage, and other peculiar rights due from of old to the crown of England from the kings of the Scots and their people (demanded on behalf of the king in accordance with lawful documents which are listed in a volume of records), the sending of that embassy led to no result, or at least to no useful one. And after this, following the feast of the Bountiful Trinity [14 June], the duke of Holland returned home.s The emperor, as the king had arranged, proceeded to Leeds Castle in Kent,s Meanwhile, however, amid all these cares, there were sent to the council at Paris, at the emperor's instance, solemn ambassadors, the great count palatine of Hungarys and, in his retinue, other noblemen.s And there followed them, at the king's instance, other solemn ambassadors in the hope s William of Holland left England abruptly on 21 June without taking leave of Henry or Sigismund. This was partly due to trouble with Sigis- mund over the recognition of William's daughter Jacqueline as his heir, but he may also have thought that neither party sincerely desired peace (cf. Wylie, iii. 16). s This was on 26 June, the day Henry left London for Southampton via Mortlake which he left on 30 June <1(Chron. Lond.,>1 p. 126). s Nicholas of Gara, count palatine of Hungary. s Sigismund's embassy was sent on 21 June (Lenz, op. cit., p. 100). It was followed almost at once by the archbishop of Rheims and his party, who were granted a safe-conduct on 20 June allowing them 25 days in which to visit France and return (Rymer, ix. 364). Gaucourt accompanied them <1(St. Denys,>1 vi. 20; see also the note by Lenz, op. cit., p. 101 n. 2). A truce for three years with a view to a meeting in Picardy in the near future between Henry V and Charles VI was to be proposed and, if this should be accepted, the archbishop of Rheims or Gaucourt was to notify Sigismund within three weeks of their departure from London. (For the full proposals see <1St. Denys'>1 vi. 18-22.) The English embassy referred to in the next sentence was that of 28 June and consisted of Sir Ralph Roch- ford, Robert Waterton, and Philip Morgan, who had power t0 conclude a general or special truce (Rymer, ix. 365 ff.). Before they reached Paris Charles VI had agreed to a meeting at Beauvais to settle the terms of the truce, 'et super novis istis uterque gavisus est valde' (below, p. 140). 141 that after all these wrongful acts a reputable peace might by some just means even yet be secured, without the harsher rigours of war and the execution of a divine judgement. And then, when the king was at the port of Southampton for the purpose of organizing his naval forces in order to raise the siege and of repelling the attacks of those pirates, there came to the emperor from France, by the hand of Sire [Raoul] de Gaucourt, letters under the name and seal of the king of the French. These letters, emanating (according to their attesta- tion) from a discussion by the great council of the realm, gave full consent to the articles formulated by the English council respecting a final settlement of England's demands for justice and a perpetual peace between the two kingdoms, which articles the emperor had sent to the king of the French by his ambassadors and he had returned to the emperor enclosed in those same letters of his; and the letters also specified that the French council had done their utmost to come to an agree- ment with the English ambassadors as to a day and place when and where both kings might meet for such a permanent settlement, and that meanwhile hostile attacks should cease on both sides. When, at the instance of the emperor, word of this was at once brought to the king at Southampton, he instantly went to join the emperor. And at this news both were quite overjoyed. The king even proposed to dismiss his fleet in the belief that his adversary had done the same with his. However, the French, double-dealers that they are, were cunningly aware that they would not destroy those besieged in Harfleur by such means, but rather would do so (as Tryphon had Jonathan)s by taking advantage of the delay and decep- tions contained in their words and promises. Indeed, two days (spent by the king and the emperor in the enjoyment of each other's company) had not elapsed before information, undoubtedly true, reached the king that the enemy's naval forces, or at least the more powerful part of them, had closed the approach to Portsmouth harbour and, maintaining care- ful watch in order to prevent that part of our fleet at Southampton from leaving to join the remaining part or that remaining part from entering to join up with it, had tried both to make an assault upon the former and to 143 invade the Isle of Wight, intending, if possible, to haras them by fire or attack them by some other stratagem.s Word also came from the English ambassadors who wer with the French council that they had been badly treated, had had to pay their own expenses, and had been so confined to their lodgings as to have been prevented from going out a any time, neither side having hitherto been in the habit of acting like this or behaving so inconsiderately and peculiarly and that the promise made by the French, regarding the articles formulated by the English council and the negotia- tions for the meeting of the two kings, had been nothing but pretence, merely to ensure the usual delay and procrastina- tion until, by means of the naval blockade, they might obtain possession of the town of Harfleur which, because of the scarcity of its food-supplies, they believed to be then on the very point of surrender;s and also that they had almost entirely withdrawn their assent to the said articles and were even refusing to agree to any negotiations about a day and place for such a meeting. And then our king, greatly angered, feeling himself completely deceived as a result of this double- dealing, allowed himself no sleep until he had set about the rescue of his fleet. And then, after our adversaries had tried for some days to inflict what damage they could on the fleet and on the Isle [of Wight] but, God forbidding it, had eventually gone empty away, achieving nothing, and had rejoined the original s The correctness of the motives attributed to the enemy here is vouched for by St. Denys, who relates (vi. 22-4) that, when the propoals brought from England were read before the French court, a majority was in favour of them. They would doubtless have been accepted but for the violent opposition of Armagnac who, taking each article separately, illustrated the dishonour their acceptance would entail, urging that no good had ever come from the repeated English promises; moreover, he was suspicious of Sigismund's intentions. Henry had demanded that the siege of Harfleur be raised as a preliminary to peace. Armagnac seized an this proposal at once: "Why", he asked, "do they demand a three years' truce and the raising of the blockade of Harfleur, unless it be in that time to make it an impregnable base from which to make hostile attacks upon Normandy? Let not therefore the conditions offered for the arrangement of a truce move the King's majesty to refuse the navy permission to bring these attacks to a favourable end" (ibid. vi. 24). Armagnac's efficient siege had reduced Harfleur to such a con- dition that he was sure its surrender was imminent (see below, p. 144 n. 3). 8222319 N 145 blockade where the count of Armagnac, so it was said, was affording them his spirited leadership, the king, not wishing personally to assume the conduct of that affair and leave the emperor alone in his country without someone of equal rank being present, appointed the illustrious prince his brother, the duke of Bedford,s as the leader of his naval force and the one responsible for relieving the siege, reprovisioning the town, and overthrowing the enemy. And he himself went to other necessary affairs of state, to London. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE But when, because of the long persistence of a contrary wind, that part of our fleet outside [Southampton] was unable to join the one inside, at length, having hoisted sail, it headed for another part, which was in the Camber (off Winchelsea]. However, the force of the winds continuing hostile, both parts were for a long time driven hither and thither, only to be eventually, after many days, reunited by God's favour; what they had been unable to accomplish by the friendly aid of the winds they achieved by making use of the contrary move- ments of the tides until they arrived off Beachy Head, almost opposite the River Seine. And on Friday [14 August], the Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, when a friendly wind began to blow into the face of the sails--doing so at God's command as a result of the intercession of His Mother (Who, as is devoutly believed, had compassion on the people of Her dower of England, so long distressed by the waves, and also on their comrades in Harfleur suffering from lack of food and from hunger)s---they rendered praise to God, shortly afterwards weighed anchor, and then proceeded in the direction of the mouth of the Seine. were being eaten <1(Strecche,>1 p. 158; Williams, p. 86 n. 1). Dorset's urgent appeals for help have already been noticed (p. 1 14 n. 2). One English ship had brought temporary relief, slipping through the blockading fleet by flying the French flag <1(Strecche,>1 loc. cit. ; <1St. Denys,>1 vi. 12). The Franco- Genoese attacks on the English coast made further assistance almost impossible. 147 And when, towards nightfall, a report of this from those on watch had been made to our king at Westminster, like the famous Maccabeuss he prayed to God from a tender heart that He would be mindful of him and his people and take care to deliver and save those of his people who, amid s, the powers of the enemy, were striving for justice and for the well-being of the Kingdom. And in order that, by increas- ing the number of those making intercession, he might the better obtain from God's bountifulness a favourable out- come to his prayer, he sent word on the following morning to the man of God, the hermit at Westminster,s and to the saintly monks of the London Charterhouse and his own house at Sheen, that among their private prayers and lamentations, and especially at the altar of Christ where the Son is offered up as a sacrifice to the Father for the salvation of His people, they should pray with all possible tenderness and devotion, and that they should send word to other saintly men who, because of their merits, they believed would be heard by God more favourably, so that they, too, might make supplication, in like manner continuously and untiringly. Nor was God willing that a prince of such great humility and trust in prayer should go unheard or be cast down by unpropitious events; nay, rather, on that same day He did mightily deliver from the plague of the enemy His England, for whom the king was making supplication. For when, in the early dawn, the two fleets were both enjoying a share of what each desired [sc. the wind] and as a result had drawn close to one another in the mouth of the River Seine, and then, having grappled, had come to grips ; and when, follow- ing an exchange of missiles, iron gads, stones, and other weapons of offence, the fury of the combatants had reached boiling-point; at last, after a long-drawn-out and most bitter fight of five or six hours, during which, of them some fifteen hundred souls had been slain and about four hundred made prisoner, and of our men nearly a hundred had been killed under the heavy rain of missiles, and when three great alternative candidate might be Humphrey of Lambeth, a former sub- prior, who had first become a recluse at the beginning of Henry IV's reign. 149 carracks had been captured and one hulk sunk,s by God's command victory was yielded to the English, and the remain- der of the many ships of the enemy fled to Honfleur, opposite Harfleur on the other side of the River Seine. These our men did not dare follow because of the untried channels, unknown sandbanks and peculiarities of an unfamiliar river, where the greatest of the carracks which had been put to flight (and she was called "the mother' of them all) was, in fear of her pur- suers, driven violently upon a sandbank and wrecked. And another of the enemy carracks which had also been in the approaches to the River Seine for many days before the engagement, having been battered by the force of the winds, dragged her anchors, was driven on to a sandbank, and foundered.s And when, after the engagement, all praise had been ren- dered to God for the grace of His magnanimity made mani- fest, the leader of the force, the duke of Bedford (than whom, it was said, no one had borne himself more bravely in that battle), being mindful of the dire need and wretchedness of his comrades in Harfleur, sought out and relieved them, and with a plentiful supply of victuals brought to an end the hardship caused by the hunger they had long endured.s And while all this was going on, for several days after the engagement there were to be seen floating in the mouth of the Seine the corpses of those killed, being carried backwards and forwards on the ebb and flow of the tide as if seeking other interment than the fishes would provide, or rather as if lamenting and bewailing being deprived of human burial. Oh what a bitter memory and great cause for tears, to see and hear Christian people so rage against one another! But oh, too, what a stubborn and unhappy people are the French, who would rather suffer manifest vengeance than submit to justice ! sank near Southampton with Soo men on board <1(Walls.,>1 p. 1o1). Mention is also made of a Genoese cog that broke up at Falmouth (A. Morosini, <1Chronique,>1 ed. L. Dorez and G. Lefevre-Pontalis, 4 vols. [Soc. de l'Hist. de France, Paris, 1898-1902], ii. 128; cf. <1Lib. Met.,>1 p- 139)- s Part of Bedford's fleet returned to England with the prizes; the remainder went at once to Harfleur <1(St. Denys,>1 vi. 42). To relieve im- mediate needs provisions were sent from the captured enemy vessels (Adam of Usk, p. 130). 151 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO And meanwhile, in the course of these events, the emperor travelled to Canterbury on his way to Calais;1 and the king soon followed to make the same journey, in order to meet and speak personally with the duke of Burgundy2 and to reach final agreement with him regarding certain matters previously formulated by the councils of both, as well as to confer with the French ambassadors who, as agreed, were to come to that place in the hope that something might still be done towards achieving peace. And on the Friday [21 August] in the octave of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, when the king was returning to Canterbury from Small by the in Kent (where he had certain ships being built),s he received news of the victory in the naval engagement, news which had been most eagerly longed for and was a source of great joy to him. Having, therefore, given thanks to God, he did not dismount from his horse until he had brought this news to the emperor at Canterbury. And straightway both of them (who in the opinion of all were as eager as blood-brothers for one another's suc- cess), coming to the cathedral church, with the hymn <1Te>1 <1Deum Iaudamus>1 and other offerings of propitiation gave glory and honour to God Who had so visited and wrought the redemption of His people.s And then the king, being mindful that, in the histories of the patriarchs, judges, kings, and prophets,s God's chosen people had sung praise to the laud and blessing of the Most High whenever He had prospered them with some act of grace or victory, ordained that from that time forward, to God's praise and in glorification of His marvellous doings, every day before the solemn Mass following the customary procession and litany with which he had long been wont to invoke divine aid, there should solemnly be begun by the clergy of his chapel a respond of the Trinity, to be followed by the psalm . . . And, after the psalm was ended, the respond should be repeated with versicle and the <1Gloria>1 <1Patri;>1 namely, on Sunday the psalm <1Cantemus,>1 respond s Luke 1: 68. s Cf. <1Lib. Met.,>1 pp. 140-1; <1Eng. Hist. Lit.,>1 p. 329. 153 <1Summe Trinitata>1; on the third day [sic] the psalm <1Jubilate>1 respond <1Benedicamus.>1 And immediately after the Mass there should also be a solemn memorial of the Trinity beginning with the versicle <1Tibi laus>1 and the antiphon <1O beata et bene->1 <1dicta,>1 with the versicle and collect at the altar by the priest celebrating the Mass. Then, there should similarly be a memorial of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, on Whose feast the naval victory had been yielded to the English: the antiphon <1Ascendit Christus super celos et Preparavit,>1 etc., with the versicle and collect of the feast. And thirdly, one of St. George, our champion and protector : the antiphon <1hic vir>1 <1despicies mundum,>1 with the versicle and collect of the same. And he provided that daily, immediately after compline, there should be the six similar solemn memorials which a devotion he had conceived almost from the very beginning of his reign had constrained him to observe. Namely, the first, of the Trinity: the antiphon <1Libera nos,>1 with the versicle <1Bene->1 <1dicamus patrem>1 and the collect <1Omnipotens.>1 The second, of the Holy Spirit: the antiphon <1Veni sancte spiritus,>1 with the versicle <1Emitte>1 and the collect <1Deus qui corda.>1 The third, of St. Edward: the antiphon <1Ave sancte Rex Edwarde inter celi>1 <1lilia,>1 with the versicle <1Ora pro nobis>1 and the collect <1Deus qui>1 <1beatum Regem Edwardum.>1 The fourth, of St. John the Baptist: the antiphon <1Inter natos,>1 the versicle <1Fuit homo,>1 the collect <1Perpetuis nos.>1 The fifth, of St. George: the antiphon <1hic est>1 <1vere martir,>1 the versicle <1Ora pro nobis,>1 the collect <1Deus qui nos>1 <1beati.>1 The sixth, of St. Mary, at the option of the choir: the versicle <1Ave Maria,>1 the collect <1In omni tribulacione.>1 And apart from the private communings and prayers between God and himself secreted in the sanctuary of his breast, after the mani- fest clemency of God in the naval battle he added to these six memorials the other memorials mentioned above, so that, as the gifts of grace and titles to victory had been multiplied for him, so might he himself multiply the recompenses of praise 155 and songs of triumph: with the former beginning the praises . of the morning, and with the latter concluding the har- monies of the evening. O God of warriors, England is indebted to Thee--England, whom Thou hast graced with a prince of such great felicity and devotion. But, O you his people, how deserving of dis- pleasure if you heed not, more zealously than is your wont, In his example in praising and honouring the Most High, parti- me cularly for a benefaction so freely bestowed! For this prince, after he had first taken his seat upon the throne of his king- dom, wrote out for himself the law of Deuteronomys in the volume of his breast; and may God of His immeasurable mercy grant that, as he began, he may read it all the days of his life, in orderthat he may learn so to fear the Lord his God and keep the precepts and ceremoniess inscribed in that law that he may long reign, and his son after him, over his people Israel. And among other things proclaimed in his praise which, as a result of an inpouring of the Holy Spirit, reflect favour- ably upon this prince, there is one which smells fully as sweet to God as to all his people. For from the very beginning of his assumption of government, so fervently had he been devoted to the hearing of divine praises and to his own private prayers that, once he had begun them, there was not anyone, even from amongst his nobles and magnates, who was able, by conversation however brief, at any time to interrupt them. There cannot, therefore, be denied by the Prince of princes to a prince who, in the judgement of all men, is of such goodness and obedience, whatever he might justly ask of Him. In these virtues may the bountiful Saviour, in His mercy, preserve him for the sake of his own and all England's prosperity and peace, that he may persevere to the end. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE And now, lest I should seem to digress too far, I return to proceed with my former theme. For soon after the above- mentioned news of the naval victory and when praises therefor 157 had been rendered to God, the emperor journeyed to Calais by way of Dover ;s and when his retainers on horseback were leaving Canterbury, they unobtrusively let fall along the streets and thoroughfares, to the glorification and honour of the English nation, numerous broadsides with these words written on them:s "Farewell and rejoice in glorious triumph, O thou happy England. And, being angelic by nature and worshipping Jesus with glorious praise, rightly art thou said to be blessed. This praise I give thee, and justly dost thou deserve it.' That they had wanted to bless our nation so warmly and so spontaneously was because their affection and esteem for us had grown as much as had ours for them. And, within a few days after, the king, as previously arranged, undertook the same journey, putting to sea at Sand- which about noon on the fourth day of September, in company with some sixty ships.s And when the wind had so eased that by its friendly aid we could make little or no headway, taking advantage of the tide and making use of the oars we reached the coast of Calais about twelve o'clock on the following day. And never had the weather seemed milder than during that passage, or the sea more calm. And when the emperor, having in the morning been in- farmed of the king's coming, had waited for a long time at the shore to see his eagerly desired face, and the king, being then very close in, had disembarked, each of them rushed with great joy into the other's embrace. And when, passing through the town together, they had conversed and enter- tained one another in a manner befitting their imperial highnesses and had, at length, taken leave, the king was received at the castle and the emperor at the Prince's Inn.s And in the following week there came, as representatives of the French, the archbishop of Rheims and, in his suite, the s Henry originally intended crossing from Dover <1(Letter>1 Book I, p. 164; C.C.R., 1413-19, pp. 317, 364-5) but, hearing thatthe French and others had put out to hinder his passage, decided to cross from Sandwich (Wylie, iii. 21). A protecting fleet of ships, barges, and balingers filled wild men-at-arms and archers was assembled to take him across. I The Prince's Inn, where Sigismund was lodged, was in the Staple buildings, afterwards the Hotel de Guise. 159 vicomte de Bretteville;s but, having been received with due honour when entering the town, when reporting, and when speaking with the king, they were afterwards not allowed to buy provisions (and even then at their own expense and only when that servant was accompanied by the master of the inn), so that in this respect their treatment should not differ from that accorded to our own last ambassadors. And there were appointed, to examine their credentials and negotiate with them, the lord the earl of Dorset, captain of Harfleur, who had arrived there after the naval battle, and other lords of the council. And at that time the coming of the duke of Burgundy was generally expected. However, an opinion gained ground that his council was unwilling to allow him to come unless two illustrious dukes and four of the most eminent of the earls of England would act as hostages. And during the several days this opinion persisted his spokesmen arrived, men of high ar standing who, freely and gladly admitted into the king's confidence, at length, having concealed the purpose for which they had come from all save the council, went back with their answer, looking cheerful and, so it was said, not unrewarded personally. And during these events, after the king had had his priW seal in his personal possession for some length of time, and people had been very uncertain who would be promoted to its keepership, some by voice and wish favouring one, some another, he, strictly keeping his own counsel for a while, in the end prudently appointed to that office a man held in great respect, Master Henry Ware, a person of considerable repute in the office of the court of Canterburys and, according to popular report, not unknown to God and men, but regarding whom, until we came to Dover, no views had been expressed, and even then only tentative and very uncertain ones. <1Canterbury Adminstration>1 (London, 1933), i. 266-7, 368 n., 378, 439, 449 n.; ii. 136, 238, 256). A practised diplomat, under Henry V he was frequently employed on embassies, particularly to France and the duke of Burgundy. He was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal on 1 1 September 1416 and held office until 21 September 1418. In the meantime, on 6 April 1418, he had been provided to the see of Chichester, which he held until his death on 19 July 1420. 8222319 O 161 And after the departure of the duke of Burgundy's spokes- men it was said that the duke himself, with a mounted retinue of four hundred men, was bound to come soon, that the lord duke of Gloucester, with a suitable company, was to be sent as a hostage for him, and that, approaching from different directions, they were to meet at an agreed boundary, the one coming towards Calais, the other proceeding towards the town of St. Omer, which, by the presence of a company of lords and magnates offering a welcome as well as by other civilities and acts of hospitality, was being as sumptuously made ready for his reception, so it was said, as it could have been for the reception of any prince. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR During these events, too, the king, in accordance with a decision of the council, sent written word that a parliament should begin on the nineteenth day of October following at Westminster.s And after this, on the Thursday [24 Septem- ber] next after the feast of St. Matthew, about one o'clock in the afternoon, a large enemy carrack was seen in mid-channel between Calais and Dover sailing under full canvas and before the wind; and there was general doubt as to whether she was making for Sluys or somewhere else. And immediately the lord Warwick, the captain of Calais, with members of the garrison of the town, and the lord Talbot,s Thomas West,s and Gilbert Umfraville, knights of distinction, and others prompted by manly courage, having armed six balingers and passangers, went in pursuit of the carrack with what speed their sails made possible. However, before these ships could be so armed and had left harbour, the carrack, having the wind just as she wanted it, disappeared from our sight. later did his younger brother Reginald. Knighted on the eve of Henry V's coronation, Thomas had livery of his father's lands on 8 August 1413 although he had not yet offered proof of age. His wardship had been held by Eleanor, widow of Amauri, 3rd baron St. Amand, and Thomas had married their younger daughter and co-heir, Ida, who, when 24 years old (the same age as her husband), died, apparently in childbirth (see below, p. 166), shortly before he died. He had served in the Agincourt campaign. 163 And, long before nightfall on the same day, news reached the king that the merchants of Dartmouth had captured a carrack from Genoa, laden with merchandise, which the violence of the winds had driven into those parts at God's bidding, perhaps because He was angry with the Genoese for having supported the French in the naval engagement. And on the morrow the duke of Burgundy's spokesmen came back again and, having delivered their message, returned within three days, leaving us to believe that within eight days we should see the duke himself at Calais. And on the next day, Saturday [26 September], one balinger of those six which had gone in pursuit of the carrack returned; but, having been separated from her consorts on the first night out, she had not caught up with the carrack and did not know what had become of them. And on the same Saturday the king and the emperor, with their nobles, were at a solemn requiem Mass in St. Mary's church for Lord Morley,s who, coming to the king at Calais safe and sound from the naval battle at Harfleur and having been received by the king and all men with much favour and honour on account of his valiant conduct in that battle, soon fell ill and, dying within ten days from ague and dysentery, winged his way to Heaven, to the grief of almost everyone. And on the Sunday [27 September] another one of the company of the six ships mentioned above, having been separated from her consorts by the force of the winds, was driven from off the shores of England to the port of Calais; and she reported that on the morrow of their departure from Calais, that is, at dawn on the Friday, they had caught up with the carrack, the deck of which was more than a spear's length higher than the highest of theirs. Then, with sides grappled (despite the great disparity in their height), they fiercely attacked one another for a very long time. But when our ships, taking turns to disengage, had enjoyed a respite and then, recovering their strength and with decks grappled once more, had re-engaged time and time again until it was nearly dark, at long last, having run out of missiles and other weapons of offence, and with a great number of those on the His body was taken home for burial in the Austin friary at Norwich (C.P. ix. 216-17). 165 carrack killed on this side and that,s and with some of our own men also killed, and with many of both parties seriously wounded, just when our men were on the point of taking possession of the carrack they had to break off further attacks on her because of the lack of missiles, boarding-ladders, and weapons of offence, and she made off at speed on a straight course towards Sluys. And, because the contrary wind which was then blowing did not allow our men to return to Calais, they decided to make for the port of Orwell. However, the following night there sprang up a great gale by which they were suddenly separated one from another. But, apart from this, the ship could not answer for her consorts; and she herself, being unable to enter harbour because of the severity of the winds and the fact that the tide was going out, and not daring because of the fury of the storm to put out to sea again, was driven on to a sandbank, so forcing the crew, if they wanted to get ashore, to wade through what water remained. And during that gale, towards nightfall, the wind, which had now been increasing in force for two days, began to rage into a hurricane which convulsed both sea and land. And the tent housing the king's chapel, erected on level ground in front of the castle, was torn and split up the middle; and then the tent housing the hall and other adjoining offices began to break loose, so that, had it not been for the hard work of the servants who ran to the ropes and secured them, and for the fact that a watch was set until the hurricane had eased, the whole erection, violently shaken, would most likely have col- lapsed. Now on the morrow [28 September] there arrived another ship, a consort of those mentioned above, bringing news of the safety of the rest on the shores of England, whither she too had been driven by the force of the winds faster than she had liked. And she was received with a great welcome, as, like her consorts, she had left Calais almost without provisions and was returning exhausted after going without food for three whole days; and the same was said, without exaggeration, to be true of her consorts. Now on the morrow [30 September] of Michaelmas Lord Warwick returned with the remaining ships; and then we had a true report of what had previously been vague, namely, that Thomas West, an agreeable and handsome 167 young knight, had been killed aboard his own ship before the engagement.s For when he was at no distance from the car- rack and had begun to put on his armour at the foot of the mast, a stone which was being hurriedly hoisted to the top of the mast fell from its sling on to his bare head and in so doing inflicted a wound and a fatal one. He reached England, how- ever, on the day before he breathed his last. His death, because of the gallantry and valour expected in the future of one so young, brought sorrow to many. The young man was heir to Lord La Warre and had married the daughter and heir of Lord de St. Amand whom, however, along with her child who would otherwise have succeeded him, death had carried off a short while before. He, nevertheless, did have an heir, the lord Reginald, his younger brother, who was un- married. And we lost during the engagement Sir Baldwin Strange,s a worthy knight, but, thanks be to God, few others. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE And on the following Saturday [3 October], after the recep- tion of certain members of the duke of Burgundy's household who, on their lord's behalf, had come on ahead to inspect the lodgings and arrangements, and of some of the servants of our duke of Gloucester who had left for St. Omer to do the same for him, and when what was believed regarding the duke's coming had now become all but a fact, the archbishop of Rheimss (whom the duke himself was said to have long loathed with a deadly hatred) was given leave with his men to return home, escorted by members of the garrison of the town as far as the marches of Boulogne. So far he had accomplished nothing, or at any rate nothing that was made public, save an extension of the truce to the feast of the Purification next 555-6). There is evidence that he did in fact go <1(Cal.>1 of <1Papal Registers,>1 <1Papal Letters,>1 vi. 354, 361, 457). He had married Margaret, the daughter of Edward Ludlow, before Februsry 1410 when Ludlow's feoffees were granted a royal pardon for having, with0ut licence, conveyed the manor of Chipping Campden (Glos.) to them and their bodies' heirs (C.P.R., 1408-13, p. 159). s See above, p. 129 n. 4. 169 coming [2 February]:s by sea, from the Pillars of Hercules, that is, the Straits of Morocco,s as far as the kingdom of Norway, inclusive, and, by land, over certain specified areas in West Flanders and in Picardy as far as the River Somme, on behalf of each of the parties and the allies of both. And when, on the following night, at the second hour after the silence of midnight, the members of the garrison assigned to this duty had been roused by the blare of trumpets, our duke of Gloucester---with them and with others, retainers arrayed in fine armour (whose lords were moved by a desire to see the spectacle), together with those of his own house- hold appointed for the journey, the latter, however, not armed---left the town at four o'clock. And he reached the arm of the sea at Gravelines between six and seven o'clock, at which time the salt-tide had already ebbed away and the shores had dried out as far down as a channel of fresh water.s And our duke took up position, in the midst of the members of his household appointed for the journey, on the bank at a ford where he was to cross the river-bed, the members of the garrison and the armed escort being drawn up apart to one side to the number of about eight hundred men. It was only, however, after the keeper of the Privy Seals and Lord Camoys and Robert Watertons (an esquire of distinction and of an age s Now the Straits of Gibraltar. s River Aa. s Herry Ware (see above, p. 158 n. 2). s This was Robert Waterton of Methley (Yorks.) (Thoresby Society, xv. 81-102; <1Yorks. Arch. Journal,>1 xxx. 368-83; R. Somerville, <1Duchy of>1 <1Lancaster,>1 i, <1passim),>1 3rd son of William Waterton of Waterton (Lincs.). From before John of Gaunt's death until his own in 1425, he was steward of the duchy of Lancaster honors, and constable of the castles, of Ponte- fract and Tickhill. From 8 May 14o7 he was chief steward of the duchy estates north of Trent, until replaced, at the beginning of Henry V's reign, by Sir Roger Leche, on whose death (1416) he succeeded to the office of chamberlain of the duchy. At one time or another the dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, Arthur of Brittany, Marshal Boucicaut, and the count of Eu all came into Waterton's custody at Pontefract. Henry V had already more than once made use of Waterton's diplomatic capabilities: in July 1414 the latter had proceeded to Paris as one of the powerful embassy authorised to negotiate for a peace with France on the basis of a marriage between Henry and Katherine of Valois; more recently, on 28 June 1416, he had been commissioned to share in the discussions for a truce (see above, p. 134 n. 1); and in September following he was again one of the English mission treating with the French at Calais. His being party to the conclusion of arrangements for Burgundy's visit (here men- tioned in our text) was, of course, an additional diplomatic assignment. 171 and standing such as commanded respect among all men of both countries), who together had been sent on ahead into the town to confer with the duke of Burgundy, had delivered and received reciprocal guarantees and safe-conducts, con- firmed by documents, oaths, and other solemn undertakings previously formulated by both councils, and had returned, that the duke of Burgundy left the town and stationed himself with the members of his household appointed for the journey opposite our duke, his armed escort being drawn up apart, facing ours and, like ours, to one side. And, after standing there for some time, the duke of Burgundy sent on the appointed members of his household towards our party across the river-bed. And our duke likewise sent on his men towards theirs. And when, after this, both princes had for a time stood quite alone, the duke of Burgundy eventually began, step by step, to move briskly forward over the bank of the river-bed, then in process of drying out, towards our duke. And, similarly, our duke advanced towards him until from their opposite directions they met in the middle of the channel of fresh water. And then, after they had shaken hands, kissed, exchanged greetings, and taken leave of one another, our duke was received by the other party in the person of the count of Foix,s the other's son and heir, and the other duke, on behalf of our party, by the earl of Salisbury,s our duke with two hundred horse and the other with four hundred, the one proceeding towards St. Omer, the other towards Calais, their own retinues leading and the armed escorts, in support, following on behind. And, near Calais, there went out to meet the duke of Burgundy the lord Warwick, the captain of the town, and Thomas Erpingham, the steward of the royal household,3 and together they escorted him through the s Sir Thomas Erpingham, K.G., of Erpingham (Norfolk) (b. 1357), had served the house of Lancaster from early manhood. He was one of the most constant friends of Henry IV, whose exile in France in 1398-9 he had shared. From 1399 to 1409 he was warden of the Cinque Ports and constable of Dover castle, in the meantime, in 1404, occupying the Office of steward of the royal household. It was to this office that Henry V restored him on the third day of his reign (23 March 1413), and he retained it until 10 May 1417 (see above, p. 78 n. 2). He had served in the Agincourt campaign and more recently, in July 1416, had been sent with Bishop Wakering of Norwich to Calais and Beauvais to treat with the French (Monstrelet, iii. 147). 173 centre of the town, just as it was striking eleven o'clock, to the lodging prepared for him. And at three o'clock in the afternoon, after an old quarrel between him and the emperor had previously been com- posed (by the king, it was said)s and the way so prepared, the duke approached the imperial presence. When, doing so, he first perceived the emperor and, approaching nearer, had made two obeisances and, when close to, would have made a third almost to the ground, the emperor would not have it so, but, moving quickly forward from where he was, raised him by the arms and placed him at his side. And then, after they had partaken of spices, kissed, and taken leave, the duke approached the king's presence at the castle. Escorted into the great chamber, he was received by the king in all respects as when with the emperor, according to the accounts of those who were present on both occasions. Led from there into a more private room, he was engaged with the king alone, until the dusk of evening, in secret consultation. And when, thereafter, they had spent a period of three days in conference and negotiations, on the Thursday [8 October] the king held a great banquet for him and his nobles outside the castle in tents. And when yet another four days had passed in the most confidential exchanges, on the following Tuesday [13 October], both dukes, ours, that is Gloucester, and he of Burgundy, in the very same manner in which they had been brought from their own territories were conducted back to them. What kind of conclusion, however, these enigmatic talks and exchanges had produced went no further than the king's breast or the reticence with which he Professor Vaughan is right to describe these diplomatic exchanges as mere 'Posturings', the death of Anthony of Brabant at Agincourt, by diminish- ing the general Burgundian threat to Sigismund, led the latter to seek an understanding with John the Fearless in 1416, and to a treaty between them in April 1417. It was at Calais that, in the meantime (October 1416), John the Fearless, according to Monstrelet (iii. 163, 'comme je fuz informe'), did homage to Sigismund for the counties of Burgundy and Almost, which were imperial fiefs (cf. also <1Wals.,>1 p. 102). They continued, however, to disagree: over the succession to Brabant of John's nephew (John IV), over the latter's marriage to the heiress (Jacqueline) of William of Bavaria, over Jacqueline's succession to Hainault-Holland, and over the interests in Upper Alsace acquired in marriage by John's sister Katherine, whom her late husband's brother, Frederick of Austria, supported by Sigismund, successfully opposed (Vaughan, pp. 256-7). 175 kept his counsel.s I who am writing know that the general view was that Burgundy had all this time detained our king with ambiguities and prevarications and had so left him , and that in the end, like all Frenchmen, he would be found a double-dealer, one person in public and another in private. Let him beware, however, lest while attempting under cover of his two-facedness to seduce Abner he should die upon the sword of Solomon.s And after his departure the king made ready to return to England, and the emperor to return by sea to Dordrecht, on his way back to his own country.3 And now, save a favourable wind, there was nothing for either of them to wait for; and yet at the end of it all they despaired of a peace between us and the French unless it were to be achieved by the edge of the sword. And the emperor bore the frustration of his labours on their behalf with much dissatisfaction. Yet, even so, he gloried in the exploits of our king no less than he abominated the machinations and trickery of the French. And there was no secret, no matter how close, which the one concealed from the other; and it is the general belief, praise be to God, that never before was there a greater trust or affection between two Christian princes. And the testimony of the royal officials who had been in attendance upon him, as well as that of everyone else, leaves the fragrant impression that it is inconceivable that a better or more kindly prince, or one with a more gentle-mannered or more agreeable household, should ever enter or have entered England, or should depart or have departed from her, with greater honour and love on the part of all men. one of his subjects; (3) Burgundy was to support Henry's purpose of obtaining the peaceful possession of the French crown and kingdom and and him generally against all contrariants; (4) any promise Burgundy should make not to bear arms against the actual king of France was to be regarded as a meaningless formality (Rymer, ix. 395 ff.; Sanderson, B.M. Add. MS. 19979, ff. 95v-96). Sanderson (f. 95v) states that Burgundy obliged himself by oath to perform these things. That Henry could advance such terms at least suggests that Burgundy's consent was a possibility. s Cf. 1 Sam. 26; 2 Sam. 2 and 3. Solomon is apparently a mistake for Joab. s Henry sailed on 16 October and Sigiamund, after a delay caused by William of Holland's refusal to provide the necessary ships, on the 24th (E. Windecke, <1Denkwurdigkeiten,>1 ed. W. Altmann [Berlin, 1893], p. 69). 8222318 P 177 And when, on the next Friday [16 October], the day dawning fair for us and with both wind and weather favour- able, the king had gone down to the shore escorted by the emperor and (after many mutual leave-takings and oft- repeated embraces from which, in tears, they could hardly be parted because of the ardour of their affection) had gone aboard ship, we spread our sails for Dover. However, we had hardly gone a quarter of the way across when the sky became overcast with clouds, it began to thunder, the winds drove into the sails, and violent rain mixed with hail came down with such severity as to threaten to destroy almost everything, so much so that both mariners and ship- master, despairing of their seamanship, had made up their minds to entrust everything to Neptune. And at one moment, because of the raging of the storm, the sea erupted into precipitous mountains of water; at the next, when the heavens became calm, it was reduced to its original level; then, the hurricane in the meantime renewing its force, it was stirred up afresh to wondrous heights. And now the storm threatened to drive us on to enemy territory, now to carry us home, at one moment to make us head for the un- known dangers of the deep, at another cast anchor among steep and rugged rocks. And amid such merciless hurricanes we laboured on in distress until the darkness of night, separated from one another. But, then, after these marvellous upheavals of the sea, the yet more marvellous Lord on high,s He who rules the storms and the sea, decreed that the storm should become a breeze; and the waves were stilleds under a clear sky, the cold, however, being intense. And some of the ships, scattered by that gale along the shores of England, lay at anchor for the greater part of the night; others, sailing amid the dangers of the turbulent waters the whole night through, kept their canvas aloft. But on the morrow [17 October] all, by God's bountiful grace, reached the appointed harbour safe and sound; the king and some of our men in the morning, others later in the day, blessing God in His gifts, that He had deigned to deliver our king and us from such great perils. And on the following Monday [19 October] the parliament began at Westminster. And the opening speech was delivered by the venerable father the bishop of Winchester, the 179 chancellor of England; who, amongst other things,s gave an account of the most thoroughgoing negotiations, recently worked out in detail by so many most illustrious negotiators, for justice and the perpetual peace between the two kingdoms that had been so long yearned after, and stated that, because a just peace could not be obtained by any manner of negotia- tion, there seemed to be no alternative but to have prompt recourse again to a divine judgement in favour of accomplish- ing it by the sword, and to achieve this it would be necessary to ask for their expedient advice and service as well as for their wealth. And while proceedings in the same parliament continued and there came round in due course the feast of Saints Crispin and Crispinian [25 October], on which feast, the year before, God had shown His clemency to England in her resistance to the rebellious people of France at Agincourt, the king, not unmindful of God's goodness, renewed praises to Him in the hymn <1Te Deum laudamus,>1 which was solemnly chanted in his chapel before Mass. And towards the end of the parliament the royal officials who had escorted the emperor to his own country returned,s not without having experienced his boundless generosity in the form of gifts, the like of which, in amount or in kind, our generation does not remember ever hearing about, at any rate for services over so limited a period and considering the rank of the recipients. And they brought back a report of him and his men as honourable as could be made of any Christian prince or people. And the parliament came to an end on Friday the twentieth day of November with the creation of that noble earl of <1Parl.,>1 iv. 94). Parliament granted two tenths and fifteenths, three-quarters being made payable at Candlemas, the remainder at Martinmas following. The Commons, however, showed their concern at the increases in direct taxation, by stipulating that no fresh tax should be demanded before the present grant had been collected, and that there should be no repet1t1on of the recent practice of advancing the date of payment originally agreed for subsidies. The <1Gesta>1 omits to mention that the Treaty of Canterbury was brought before this parliament for ratification (see above, pp. xliv- xlvi). s Sigismund and his company left Calais in English ships and were accompanied as far as Dordrecht by Gloucester, Sir John Tiptoft (who had acted as steward of his household during his visit to England), and several other English knights 181 Dorset as duke of Exeter,s because of his most distinguished efforts and great exertions both at home and abroad on behalf of the realm and commonalty, royal letters patent being granted to him in respect of his status and endowment as a duke, as appears in one of the volumes of records. It ended also with the final adoption of the king's unbreakable resolve to go overseas in the following summer to subdue the stub- born and more than adamantine obduracy of the French, which neither the tender milk of goats nor the consuming wine of vengeance, nor yet the most thoroughgoing negotia- tions, could soften. And may God of His most merciful goodness grant that, just as our king, under His protection and by His judgement in respect of the public enemies of his crown, has already triumphed twice, so may he triumph yet a third time, to the end that the two Swords, the sword of the French and the sword of England,s may return to the rightful government of a single ruler, cease from their own destruction, and turn as soon as possible against the unsubdued and bloody faces of the heathen. Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!s Do Thou grant of Thine ineffable mercy that there may rest upon our king the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel ad of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness, and grant that he may be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord,s so that, as he began, he may keep His judgements and justicess until the end, that, with the prophet, we may be able to say of him: "For Thy servant keepeth them, and in keeping them there is a great reward.'s Amen. s Rom. 11: 33. s Isaiah 11: 2-3. s Cf. 2 Sam. 8: 15; 1 Kings 10: 9; 1 Paral. 18: 14; 2 Paral.9: 8. s Ps. 18: 12.