of all things has decreed that I should ascend the throne of
France ?"
Hist, of England, by Hugh Clarendon,
147
« Ursino would have pour'd the balm of peace
" Into our wounds, Ambition's ear best pleas'd
" With the war's clamour and the groan of Death,
94 Was deaf to prayer. Day after day fled on ;
94 We heard no voice of comfort. From the walls
44 Could we behold the savage Irish * Kernes,
99 Ruffians half-clothed, half-human, f half-baptized,
* " With the English sixteen hundred Irish Kernes were
enrolled from the Prior of Kilmainham ; able men but almost
naked ; their arms were targets, darts and swords, their horses
little and bare no saddle, yet nevertheless nimble, on which
upon every advantage they plaied with the French, in spoiling
the country, rifeling the houses, and carrying away children
with their baggage upon their cowes backs."
Speed. P. 638.
f " In some corners of Connaught, the people leave the
right armes of their infants male unchristend (as they terme it)
to the end that at any time afterwards they might give a more
deadly and ungracious blow when they strike, which things
doe not only show how palpably they are carried away by
traditious obscurities, but doe also intimate how full their
hearts be of inveterate revenge.'*
The book from which this extract is taken wants the title.
The tide of the second part is, A prospect of the most famous
148
" Come with their spoil, mingling their hideous shouts
" With the moan of weary flocks, and the piteous low
" Of kine sore-laden, in the mirthful camp
" Scattering abundance 5 while the lothliest food
<c We prized above all price } while in our streets
" The dying groan of hunger, and the scream
" Of famishing infants echoed, . . and we heard,,
" With the strange selfishness of misery,
" We heard and heeded not.
" Thou wouldst have deem'd
u Roan must have fallen an easy sacrifice,
4< Young warrior ! hadst thou seen our meagre limbs
" And pale and shrunken cheeks, and hollow eyes \
t€ Yet still we struggled nobly ! Blanchard still
" Spake of the savage fury of the foe
" Of Harfleur's wretched race cast on the * world
parts of the world. Printed for William Humble, in Pope's-
Mead Palace. 1646.
* " Some writing of this yeelding up of Harflue, doo in like
sort make mention of the distresse whereto the people, thea
149
" Houseless and destitute, while that fierce King
expelled out of their habitations were driven : insomuch as
parents with their children, yong maids and old folke went
out of the towne gates with heavie harts, (God wot), as put
to their present shifts to seek them a new abode."
Holinshed. 550.
This act of despotic barbarity was perpetrated by Henry
that he might people the town with English inhabitants.
u This doth Anglorum praelia report, saieng (not without good
ground I believe), as folio weth :
Turn flentes tenera cum prole parentes
Virgineusque chorus veteres liquere penates:
Turn populus cunctus de portis Gallicus exit
Moestus, inarmatus, vacuus, miser, aeger, inopsque ;
Utque novas sedes quaerat migrare coactus :
Oppidulo belli potiuntur jure Britanni 1"
Holinshed.
There is a way of telling truth so as to convey falsehood.
After the capture of Harfleur, Stowe says, " all the soldiers
and inhabitants, both of the towne and towers, were suf-
fered to goe freely, unharmed, whither they would.'* 348.
Henry's conduct was the same at Caen : he " commanded
all women and children to bee avoyded out of the towne, and
so the towne was inhabited of new possessors/'
Stowe,,
150
u Knelt at the * altar, and with impious prayer
" Gave God the glory, even while the blood
" That he had shed was reeking up to Heaven.
" He bade us think what mercy they had found
" Who yielded on the plain of Agincourt,
** And what the gallant sons of Caen, by him,
" In + cold blood murder'd. Then his scanty food
" Sharing with the most wretched, he would bid us
" Bear with our miseries bravely.
" Thus distressed
" Lest all should perish thus, our chiefs decreed
u Women and children, the infirm and old,
u All who were useless in the work of war,
* Before Henry took possession of Harfleur, he went bare-
footed to the Church to give God thanks*
De Serves*
•f* Henry, not satisfied with the reduction of Caen, put seve-
ral of the inhabitants to death, who had signalized their valour
in the defence of their liberty.
H. Clarendon,
151
* r Should forth and find their fortunes. Age, that makes
" The joys and sorrows of the distant years
4( Like a half-remembered dream, yet on my heart
" Leaves deep impress'd the horrors of that hour.
" Then as our widow- wives clung round our necks,
" And the deep sob of anguish interrupted
" The prayer of parting, even the pious priest
" As he implored his God to strengthen us,
•' And told us we should meet again in Heaven,
u He groan'd and * curs'd in bitterness of heart
t€ That merciless man. The wretched crowd passd on :
" My wife — my children — thro' the gates they pass'd,
" Then the gates clos'd. — Would I were in my grave
" That I might lose remembrance.
" What is man
* After the capture of the city " Luca Italico, the Vicar
Generall of the archbishoprike of Rouen for denouncing the
King accursed, was delivered to him and deteined in prison till
he died."
Holinshed, Titus Livius.
152
" That he can hear the groan , of wretchedness
" And feel no fleshy pang ! Why did the All-Good
" Create these warrior scourges of mankind,
" These who delight in slaughter ? I did think
u There was not on this earth a heart so hard %
" Could hear a famish'd woman cry for bread,
" And know no pity. As the outcast train
u Drew near, the English Monarch bade his troop*
V Force * back the miserable multitude.
" They drove them to the walls — it was the depth
" Of winter — we had no relief to grant.
" The aged ones groan'd to our foe in vain,
* (< A great number of poore sillie creatures were put out
of the gates, which were by the Englishmen that kept the
trenches, beaten and driven back againe to the same gates,
which they found closed and shut against them, and so they
laie betweene the wals of the citie and the trendies of the ene-
mies, still crieing for help and releefe, for lack whereof great
numbers of them dailie died."
Holinshed*
153
w The mother pleaded for her dying child
" And they felt no remorse V
The mission d Maid
Starts from her seat— " The old and the infirm
" The mother and her babes — and yet no lightning
" Blasted this man !"
" Aye Lady/* Bertram cried,
** And when we sent the * herald to implore
* One of the deputed citizens " shewing himself more rash
than wise, more arrogant than learned, took upon him to*
shew wherein the glorie of victorie consisted; advising the
King not to shew his manhood in famishing a multitude of
poore simple and innocent people, but rather suffer such mise-
rable wretches as laie betwixt the walls of the citie and the
trenches of his siege, to passe through the camp, that theie
might get their living in other places ; then if he durst man-
fullie assault the place, and by force subdue it, he should win
both worldlie fame, and merit great meed from the hands of
Almightie God, for having compassion of the poore, needie
and indigent people. When this orator had said, the King
with a fierce countenance and bold spirit, reproved them for
their malapert presumption, in that they should seeme to go
154
* c His mercy on the helpless, he relax'd
l< His stern face into savage merriment,.
" Scoffing their agonies. On the high wall
" I stood and mark'd the miserable outcasts,
€t And every moment thought that Henry's heart,
" Hard as it was, must feel. All night I stood —
" Their deep groans sounded on the midnight gale,
r< Fainter they grew, for the cold wintry wind
" Blew bleak $ fainter they grew, and at the last
M All was still, save that ever and anon
about to teach him what belonged to the dutie of a conqueror,
and therefore since it appeared that the same was unknown
to them, he declared that the Goddesse of Battell called Bel-
lona had three handmaidens, ever of necessitie attending upon
her, as Blood, Fire, and Famine, and whereas it laie in his
choice to use them all three, he had appointed onelie the
meekest maid of those three damsels to punish them of that
citie till they were brought to reason. This answer put the
French ambassador in a great studie, musing much at his ex-
cellent wit and hawtinesse of courage.
HolinshecL
155
" Some mother shriek'd o'er her expiring child
** The * shriek of frenzying anguish.
" From that hour
4C On all the busy turmoil of the world
" I gazM with strange indifference ; bearing want
" With the sick patience of a mind worn out.
* The names of our Edwards and Henrys are usually cited
together, but it is disgracing the Black Prince and his father
to mention them with Henry of Monmouth. We have seen
what was the conduct of this cold-hearted and brutal soldier
to the famished fugitives from Roan. The same circumstance
oocuned at the siege of Calais, and the difference between the
monarchs cannot be better exemplified than in the difference
of their conduct upon the same occasion. u When Sir John
de Vienne perceived that King Edward intended to lie long
there, he thought to rid the town of as many useless mouths
as he could ; and so on a Wednesday, being the 13th of Sep-
tember, he forced out of the town more than seventeen hun-
dred of the poorest and least necessary people, old men, women
and children, and shut the gates upon them : who being de-
manded, wherefore they came out of the town, answered with
great lamentation, that it was because they had nothing to
live on. Then King Edward, who was so fierce in battle,
156
fc Nor * when the traitor yielded up our town
tc Ought heeded I as through our ruin'd streets,
" Thro' putrid heaps of famish'd carcasses,
" Pass'd the long pomp of triumph. One keen pang
" I felt, when by that bloody King's command
" The t gallant Blanchard died. Calmly he died,
shewed a truly royal disposition, by considering the sad con-
dition of these forlorn wretches ; for he not only would not
force them back again into the town, whereby they might
help to consume the victuals, but he gave them all a dinner
and two-pence a-piece, and leave to pass through the army
without the least molestation : whereby he so wrought uport
the hearts of these poor creatures, that many of them prayed
to God for his prosperity."
Joshua Barnes.
This was the conduct of policy, but it was also that of huma-
nity. The royal disposition of Edward did not appear till the
conclusion of the siege.
* Roan was betrayed by its Burgundian Governor Bouthellier.
During this siege fifty thousand men perished through fatigue,
want, and the use of unwholesome provisions.
+ Roy d* Angleterre fist coupper la teste a Allain Blanchart
cappitaine du commun.
Monstrcllet* Feuillet exevii,
II. 157
€t And as he bow'd beneath the axe, thank'd God
" That he had done his duty.
" I survive,
" A solitary friendless wretched one,
<( Knowing no joy save in the faith I feel
" That I shall soon be gather' d to my sires,
u And soon repose, there * where the wicked cease
" From troubling, and the weary are at rest."
" And happy," cried the delegated Maid,
" And happy they who in that holy faith
u Bow meekly to the rod ! a little while
ic Shall they endure the proud man's contumely,
" The hard wrongs of the great. A little while
" Tho' shelterless they feel the wintry wind,
" The wind shall whistle o'er their turf-grown grave,
m And all be peace below. But woe to those,
* There the wicked cease from troubling ; and the weary
be at rest.
Job. in, 1.7.
VOL. I. H
II. 158
<( Woe to the Mighty Ones who send abroad
" Their train'd assassins, and who give to Fury
u The flaming firebrand -, these indeed shall live
f< The heroes of the wandering minstrel's song ;
•** But they have their reward 5 the innocent blood
" Steams up to Heaven against them. — God shall hear
" The widow's groan/'
" I saw him/' Bertram cried,
u Henry of Azincour, this conqueror King,
tf Go to his grave. The long procession past
" Slowly from town to town, and when I heard
<( The deep- toned dirge, and saw the banners wave
<x A pompous * shade, and the high torches glare
** In the mid-day sun a dim and gloomy f light,
* Cent drapeaux funebres
Etaloient en plein jour de pompeuses tenebres.
Le Moyne. St. Louis. Liv. xvi.
•f* " When all things necessary were prepared for the con-
veyance of the dead King into England, his body was laid in
a chariot, which was drawn by four great horses : and above
the dead corpse, they laid a figure made of boiled hides, or
II. U9
a I thought what he had been on earth who now
leather, representing his person, as near to the semblance of
him as could be devised, painted curiously to the similitude of
a living creature; upon whose head was set an imperial diademc
of gold and precious stones, on his body a purple robe furred
with ermine, and in his right hand he held a sceptre royal,
and in his left hand a ball of gold, with a crosse fixed thereon.
And in this manner adorned, was this figure laid in a bed in
the said chariot, with his visage uncovered towards the hea-
ren : and the coverture of his bed was red silke beaten with
gold ; and besides that, when the body should passe thro any
good towne, a canopy of marvellous great value was borne
over the chariot by men of great worship. In this manner,
accompanied of the King of Scots and of all princes, lords, and
knights of his house, he was brought from Roane to Abville,
where the corpse was set in the church of Saint Offrane.
From Abville he was brought to Hedin, and from thence to
Menstreuil, so to Bulloigne, and so to Calice. In all this
journey were many men about the chariot clothed all in
white, which bare in their hands torches burning; after whomc
followed all the household servants in blacke, and after them
came the princes, lords, and estates of the King's blood,
adorned in vestures of mourning ; and after all this, from the
said corpse the distance of two English myles, followed the
Queene of England right honourably accompanied. In thi*
manner they entered Calice.
H 2
II. 260
" Was gone to his account, and blest my God
u I was not such as he P •
So spake the old man
And they betook them to their homely rest.
JOAN of ARC.
THE THIRD BOOK.
Fair dawn'd the morning, and the early sun
Pour'd on the latticed cot a chearful gleam.
And up the travellers rose, and on their way
Hasten' d, their * dangerous way, thro' fertile tracks
The waste of war. They pass'd the Auxerrois -,
* The Governor of Vaucouleur appointed Deux Gentilshommes
to conduct the Maid to Chinon. " lis eurent peine a se
charger de cette commission, a cause qu'il falloit passer au
travers du pays ennemi ; mais elle leur dit avec fermete quMs
ne ciaignissent rien, et que surement eux et elle arriveroient
aupres du Roi, sans qu'il leur arrivat rien de facheux.
lis partirent, passerent par rAuxerrois sans obstacle quoi-
que les Anglois en fussent les maitres, traverserent plusiturs
rivieres a la nage, entrertnt dans les pays de la domination du
Koi, ou les parties ennemis couroient de tous cotes, sans en
h3
III. 162
The * autumnal rains had beaten to the earth
The unreap'd "harvest, from the village church
No. even-song bell was heard, the shepherd's dog
Prey'd on the scatter'd flock, for there was now
No hand to feed him, and upon the hearth
Where he had slumber'd at his master's feet
The rank weed flourish'd. Did they sometimes find
A welcome, he who welcomed them was one
rencontrer aucun ; arriverent heureusement a Chinon ou le Roi
etoit, et lui donnerent avis de leur arrivee et du sujet qui les
amenoit. Tout le monde fut extremement surpris d'un si
long voyage fait avec tant de bonheur.
Fere Daniel.
* " Nil Gallia perturbatius, nil spoliatius, nil egentius esset,
Sed neque cum milite melius agebatur, qui tametsi gaudebat
praada, interim tamen trucidabatur passim, dum uterque rex
civitates suae factionis principes in fide retinere studeret. Igi.
tur jam casdium satietas utrumque populum ceperat, jamque
tot damna utrinque illata erant, ut quisque generatim se op-
pressum, laceratum, perditum ingemisceret, doloreque summo
angeretur, disrumperetur, cruciaretur, ac per id animi quamvis
obstinatissimi ad pacem inclinarentur. Simul urgefcat ad hoc
rerum omnium inopia; passim enim agri devastati inculti
III. 163
Who lingered in the place where he was born,
For that alone was left him now to love.
They past the Yonne, they past the rapid Loire,
Still urging on their way with cautious speed,
manebant, cum praesertim homines pro vita tuenda, non arva
colere sed bello servire necessario cogerentur. Ita tot urgen-
tibus malis, neuter a pace abhorrebat, sed alter ab altero earn
aut petere, vel admittere turpe putabat."
Polydore Virgil,
The effect of this contest upon England was scarcely less
ruinous. " In the last year of the victorious Henry V. there
was not a sufficient number of gentlemen left in England to
carry on the business of civil government.
But if the victories of Henry were so fatal to the population
of his country, the defeats and disasters of the succeeding
reign were still more destructive. In the 25th year of this
war, the instructions given to the Cardinal of Winchester and
other plenipotentiaries appointed to treat about a peace, autho-
rise them to represent to those of France, " that there haan
been moo men slayne in these wars for the title and claime of
the coroune of Fiance, of oon nacion and other, than been at
this daye in both landys, and so much Christiene blode shed,
that it is to grete a sorow and an orrour to think or here it."
Henry. Rymer's Fader a.
h4
III. 164
Shunning Auxerre ai.d Ear* embattled wall
And Romorantins towers.
So journeying on,
Fast by a spring, which welling at his feet
With many a winding crept along the mead,
A Knight they saw, who at his plain repast
Let the west wind play round his ungirt brow*
Approaching near, the Bastard recognrz'd
The gallant friend of Orleans, the brave chief
Da Chastel 3 and the mutual greeting pass'd,
They, on the streamlet's mossy bank reclin'd,
Paus'd on their way, the frugal fare partook,
And drank the running waters.
<( Art thou bound
" For the Court Dunois ?" exclaim' d the aged Knight;
" I deem'd thee far away, coop'd in the walls
" Of Orleans ; a hard siege her valiant sons
" Right loyally endure ! M
" I left the town/'
Dunois reply'd, u thinking that my prompt speed
III. 165
cr Might seize the hostile stores, and with fresh force
" Re-enter. Fastoffe s * better fate prevail'd,
" And from the field of shame my maddening horse
<e Bore me, for the barb'd arrow gored his flank.
" Fatigued and faint with that day's dangerous toil,
" My deep wounds bleeding, vainly with weak hand
" Cheek'd I the powerless rein. Nor ought avail a
fC When heal'd at length, defeated and alone
" Again to enter Orleans. In Lorraine
u I sought to raise new powers, and now return'd
1 ' With strangest and most unexpected aid
' ' Sent by high Heaven, I seek the Court, and thence
" To that beleager'd town shall lead such force,
" That the proud English in their fields of blood
* Shall perish/'
ft I too," Tanneguy reply'd,
" In. the field of battle once again perchance
* Dunois was wounded in the battle of Herrings or Rouvrai
Saint-Dcnys.
H 5
III. 166
" May serve my royal Master ; in his cause
94 My youth adventur'd much, nor can my age
94 Find better close than in the clang of arms
99 To die for him whom I have liv'd to * serve.
rt Thou art for the Court ; Son of the Chief I lov'd t
94 Be wise by my experience. He who seeks
" Court favour, ventures like the boy who leans
94 Over the brink of some high precipice
" To reach the o'er-hanging -j- fruit. Thou seest me here
* Tannegny du Chatel had saved the life of Charles when
Paris was seized by the Burgundians. Lisle Adam, a man
noted for ferocity even in that age, was admitted at midnight
into the city with eight hundred horse. The partizans of Bur-
gundy were under arms to assist them, and a dreadful slaughter
of the Armagnacs ensued. Du Chatel, then Governor of th§*
Bastile, being unable to restrain the tumult, ran to the Louvre,
and carried away the Dauphin in his shirt, in order to secure
him in his fortress.
Rapin.
+ High favours like as fig-trees are
That grow upon the sides of rocks, where they
Who reach their fruit adventure must so far
As to hazard their deep downfall.
Daniel.
III. 167'
€ < A banish'd * man, Dunois ! so to appease
" Richemontf, who jealous of the royal ear,
u With midnight murder leagues, and down the Loire,
a Rolls the black carcase of his strangled foe.
* De Serres says, " the King was wonderfully discontented
for the departure of Tanneguy of Chastel, whom he called
father. A man beloved, and of amiable conditions. But there
was no remedy. He had given the chief stroke to John Bur-
gongne. So likewise he protested without any difficulty, to
retire himself whithersoever his master should command him.
f Richemont caused De Giac to be strangled in his bed,
and thrown into the Loire, to punish the negligence that had
occasioned him to be defeated by an inferior force at Avran-
ches. The Constable had laid siege to St. James de Beuvron,
a place strongly garrisoned by the English. He had been pro-
mised a convoy of money, which De Giac, who had the ma-
nagement of the treasury, purposely detained to mortify the
constable. Richemont openly accused the treasurer, and re*
venged himself thus violently. After this, he boldly declared
that he would serve in the same manner any person whatso-
ever that should endeavour to engross the King's favour. The
G.amus of Beaulieu accepted De Giac's place, and was by the
Constable's means assassinated in the King's presence.
H 5
III. 168
" Now confident of strength, at the King's feet
<c He stabs the Kings best friends, and then demands,
" As with a conqueror's imperious tone,
<f The post of honour. Son of that lov'd Chief
" Whose death my * arm avenged, may thy days
* " The Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy had agreed to
bury all past quarrels in oblivion, and to enter into strict
amity : they swore before the altar the sincerity of their friend-
ship ; the priest administered the sacrament to both of them ;
they gave to each other every pledge which could be deem-
ed sacred among men. But all this solemn preparation
was only a cover for the basest treachery, which was delibe-
rately premeditated by the Duke of Burgundy. He procured
his rival to be assassinated in the streets of Paris ; he endea-
voured for some time to conceal the part which he took in the
crime, but being detected, he embraced a resolution still more
criminal and more dangerous to society, by openly avowing
and justifying it. The Parliament itself of Paris, the tribunal
of justice, heard the harangues of the Duke's advocate, in
defence of assassination, which he termed tyrannicide ; and
that assembly, partly influenced by faction, partly overawed
by power, pronounced no sentence of condemnation against
this detestable doctrine " " This murder, and still more
the open avowal of the deed, and defence of the doctrine,
tended to dissolve all bands of civil society, and even men of
III. 169
e * Be happy ; serve thy country in the field,
*' And in the hour of peace amid thy friends
" Dwell thou without ambition."
honour, who detested the example, might deem it just, on a
favourable opportunity, to retaliate upon the author. Bur-
gundy had entered into a secret treaty with the Dauphin, and
the two Princes agreed to an interview, in order to concert the
means of rendering effectual their common attack on the
English ; but how both or either of them could with safety
venture upon this conference, *it seemed somewhat difficult to
contrive. The Duke, therefore, who neither dared to give,
nor could pretend to expect any trust, agreed to all the contri-
vances for mutual sjcurity which were proposed by the Mini-
sters of the Dauphin. The two Princes came to Monteseau ;
the Duke lodged in the castle, the Dauphin in the town, which
was divided from the castle by the river Yonne ; the bridge
between them was chosen for the place of interview; two
high rails were drawn across the bridge ; the gates on each