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bishoprics and one archbishopric, and one hundred towns and castles, not including those which have been destroyed by the fortune of war.

The king ordered six hundred lances, with a proper proportion of archers, to remain in the duchy for its defence, and sent the remainder into Guienne. He then set out for Tours, where he arrived in the month of September, and there resolved in council that a general thanksgiving, with processions, should take place in all the churches throughout the realm on the 14th day of the ensuing October, and every year afterwards on the 12th day of August, for the happy success of his arms, and the expulsion of his ancient enemies the English from his duchy of Normandy.

CHAPTER XXXIV.-THE AUTHOR PARTICULARISES THE VALOUR OF SEVERAL OF THE NOBLES IN THE CONQUEST OF NORMANDY. THE KING OF FRANCE SENDS THE COUNT DE PENTHIEVRE, AS HIS LIEUTENANT, INTO GUIENNE.

WERE I to attempt particularising every valiant man and his gallant deeds, on the reconquering of the duchy of Normandy, it would tire my reader's patience; but still I must mention some of the most renowned, for the benefit of those who, in future times, may peruse this account of the reduction of that duchy.

In the first place, the king of France had placed his army on a most excellent establishment; and, as it was a novelty, it is worth describing. He had supplied all the men-at-arms and archers with good and secure habiliments, namely, the men-at-arms with cuirasses, greaves, salades*, and swords mounted with silver, as well as the lances which their pages bore; each man-at-arms had three horses, for himself, his page, and his varlet, which last was armed with a light helmet, a brigandine+, jacket or haubergeon‡, battle-axe or guisarme. Every man-at-arms had attached to him two archers on horseback, dressed in brigandines, greaves, and salades, the greater part of which were ornamented with silver; or wanting these, they had strong leathern jackets and haubergeons. The soldiers, when on service, were always paid monthly, and under such strict discipline that none dared to seize anything unpaid for, nor to make prisoners, or ransom man or beast, unless they belonged to the English or to their friends. It was lawful to make plunder of whatever was their property, but not otherwise.

The chief captains on this expedition were the count de Dunois, lieutenant-general for the king, the counts de Nevers, de Castres, d'Eu, de St. Pol, the lord de Culant, grand-master of the household, the lords d'Orval, de Touteville, de Blainville, de Beauveau, de Bueil, de Beaunoir, de Moy in the Beauvoisis, the marshal de Jalognes, the seneschal de Poitou, John of Lorraine, Poton de Saintrailles, the bailiff of Evreux, Robert Conigan§, and very many other great lords, knights, and esquires, who most valiantly conducted themselves, regardless of all the pains and discomforts they were bodily put to on several occasions.

In like manner the king had made ample provision of all sorts of artillery for his defence, and for the attack of towns and castles. He had the greatest number and variety of battering cannon and bombards, veuglaires, serpentines, crapaudines, culverines, and ribaudequins ||, that had ever been collected in the memory of man; and never king had such a train so well supplied with ammunition and every implement for battering towns, nor so numerous a body of men and horses to draw them. These received their pay daily, and were under the command of master John Bureau, treasurer of France, and of his brother Jasper Bureau,

the Isle of France; on the south, by Maine and Perche; on the west, by the ocean; on the north, by the Channel, which separates it from England. It contains seven dioceses, or bishoprics,-Rouen, Bayeux, Avranches, Evreux, Sées, Lisieux, and Coutances,-in which are computed 4189 parishes, and 80 abbeys, &c.-Gazetteer.

Salades,-light helmets or head-pieces.

+ Brigandine,- -armour consisting of many-jointed and

scale like plates, very pliant and easy for the body. Haubergeon, a little coat of mail, or only sleeves and gorget of mail.

§ Conigan. Q. Cuningham ? commander of the Scots auxiliaries.

Ribaudequins,-huge cross-bows, fourteen feet in length. Veuglaires, serpentines and crapaudines-different sorts of fire-arms, greater or less.

both of whom suffered many difficulties during the sieges of the different towns and castles, for they were very active and attentive to their duty. It was wonderful to see their diligence in planning and forming the trenches and mines that were opened at almost every siege during this expedition; for, to say the truth, there was scarcely any place that surrendered on capitulation, but what might have been won by storm, had not the king, out of his benign nature, insisted on the contrary, to prevent the effusion of blood and the total ruin of such places and their inhabitants.

The late duke of Brittany was the leader of the conquest of lower Normandy, having with him his uncle the count de Richemont, constable of France, the late Pregent de Coictivy, lord of Retz and admiral of France, who laboured hard at the business, the count de Laval, the lord de Lohéac, marshal of France, his brother de Montauban, marshal of Brittany, Geoffry de Couvran, James de Tilly, bailiff of the Vermandois. Tuddual le Bourgeois was of this party during his life.

To find supplies for the support of the king's armies, and for the better government of this duchy of Normandy, the lord de Trainel, chancellor of France, the lord de Gaucour, sir Thibaut de Vaulpergue, bailiff of Lyon, sir James Coeur, counsellor, and master of the king's wardrobe, exerted themselves greatly; the last, in particular, employed every means in his power to prevent the soldiers, who were daily increasing, from being disappointed of their regular monthly payment. Sir John du Bar, lord of Baugey, and sir John Harduyn, treasurer of France, gained great credit, and all others who laboured at this time in the service of the king.

When king Charles of France, the seventh of the name, had thus, by the divine grace, and his puissant chivalry, made the conquest of the duchy of Normandy, which had been occupied about thirty years by his ancient enemies the English, and had replaced all the strong castles and principal towns with sufficient garrisons, and regulated the government of each,-confiding always in the grace and mercy of the King of kings, who wills that every one should have his own, as is declared in that chapter of St. Matthew's gospel, where our Lord says to the pharisee, "Render unto Cæsar the things that be Cæsar's, and unto God the things that be God's ;" he consequently resolved to march an army into Guienne against Bordeaux, which had been occupied by the English time immemorial, contrary to all reason and justice, and in direct contradiction to the said gospel. The nobles and people of this country have ever been rebellious against the French kings, at least for two hundred years, which is a long lapse of time, although it forms part of the realm of France.

The king, desirous to act with prudence and circumspection, summoned a council of his principal barons and knights on the 5th day of September, in the year 1450, in the city of Tours, where the matter was fully discussed in their presence, and also in the presence of the princes of his blood and the chief prelates of the realm. It was then determined to send a force into Guienne, after proper provision had been made for the defence of Normandy, which was entrusted to the constable, having under him some Norman knights and esquires, together with six hundred spears and a body of archers, paid monthly,—and a great number of franc-archers were likewise ordered thither by the king. The government of the city of Rouen and the country of Caux was given to sir Pierre de Brézé, grand seneschal of Normandy. The king then arranged the army that was to invade Guienne and besiege Bergerac *, situated in the county of Perigord, on the river Dordogne. He appointed the count de Penthievre and de Perigord, viscount de Limoges, his lieutenant-general in those parts, who accepted the command of this siege, and departed thither, accompanied by sir Charles de Culant lord de Jalognes, marshal of France, Poton de Saintrailles, bailiff of Berry and master of the horse to the king, with many other knights, esquires, and others, to the amount of five hundred lances, and archers in proportion.

They commenced the siege with great vigour, insomuch that on the arrival of master John Bureau with his train of artillery, the garrison, alarmed at their numbers and activity, surrendered Bergerac to the king of France. The English marched away with their horses, arms, and baggage, and the inhabitants that chose to remain were, on taking the oaths of allegiance, to remain unmolested in their different occupations as before. The count de

* Bergerac,-seven leagues from Perigueux.

Penthievre then marched his army into the winter quarters that had been allotted him, and sir Philip de Culant remained governor of Bergerac, with a garrison of one hundred lances and a body of archers. On their march they came before a castle called Jansac *, situated on the Dordogne, with the intent of besieging it; but they won it by storm, with the loss of seven or eight of their men killed and wounded: about thirty-five of the English were slain, and the rest made prisoners: the castle remained under the obedience of the king of France. The army advanced thence without delay to the town of St. Foy, on the same river, which surrendered without hesitation. Pursuing their good fortune, they came before the town of Chalais†, and besieged it for some time; but the English garrison, amounting to fifty lances, alarmed at seeing so large an army before it, delivered up the place, on condition that they should march away in safety, with arms and baggage. On their departure, Pierre de Louvain was made governor of it.

On the 26th day of October in this year, master John de Xancoins, receiver-general of the royal finances, was arrested, and confined prisoner in the castle of Tours, for having, as it was currently reported, wickedly employed for his own use the king's finances; so that his majesty was greatly distressed to pay the troops in Guienne; and had he not found extraordinary means of raising money for this purpose, his plans against that country would have failed. During his imprisonment, he was examined by some of the great council and others skilled in matters of finance, and convicted, on his own confession, of high treason. He owned having taken very large sums of money from the king's treasury, and that he had made many erasures in his accounts which convicted him guilty of forgery,—a capital offence! and he would have suffered the penalty, had not the king's mercy converted the matter into a civil suit,- following in this the example of our SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, who declared that "he wished not for the death of a sinner, but would rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live." The capital part of the offence being thus done away, he was sentenced by the mouth of the chancellor, to be imprisoned for a certain time, and his property confiscated to the king; from which the king gave to the count de Dunois a handsome house that he had built at Tours. Xancoins was also condemned to pay to the king the sum of sixty thousand gold crowns, which seemed but a trifling fine for the immense sums he owned to have pillaged from the treasury for his own pleasures.

James Carrier, his clerk, was confined at the same time with him, but in a separate prison, for having been an accomplice in the crimes of his master, and for having erased numerous articles in the account of receipts, through the instigation of the enemy of mankind, and converted many sums from the king's profit to his own; for all of which, he would have suffered the sentence due to such capital crimes, had not the king's mercy been extended also to him.

CHAPTER XXXV.-THE LORD D'ORVAL DEFEATS THE MEN OF BORDEAUX.-DUKE PETER OF BRITTANY DOES HOMAGE TO THE KING OF FRANCE.-THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY ATTEMPTS TO LAY A TAX ON SALT THROUGHOUT FLANDERS.

On the last day of October in this year, the lord d'Orval, third son to the lord d'Albreth, set out from Bazas‡ with his companions, and from four to five hundred combatants, to invade the peninsula of Medoc §; and they halted for the night to refresh themselves in a forest within two leagues of Bordeaux. On the morrow, All-saints-day, they were early mounted, thinking to enter the peninsula, when they received information from Bordeaux, that from eight to nine thousand persons on horseback and on foot, as well soldiers as others, were on their march to combat them. The lord d'Orval did not for this abandon his enterprise, but drew up his men in order of battle, although so greatly inferior in numbers to the English, who were under the command of the mayor of Bordeaux. His light troops showed a good countenance, advancing in battle-array, and made prisoner a gentleman from Jansac. Gensac. Several villages in Gascony of that from the Garonne, capital of the Bazadois, twelve leagues. from Bordeaux.

name.

+ Chalais, a town in Perigord, near La Grolle.
Bazas, a city of Gascony, on a rock, two leagues

§ Medoc,-a country of Guienne, near the sea, in the Bordelois : it is not fertile. Esparre is the capital.

Bordeaux, near to a coppice. The battle now commenced, and was so well fought by the French, that eighteen hundred English and Bordelois were slain on the spot or in the pursuit. The first runaway was the mayor, who, being on horseback, abandoned his van who were on foot, and whom he had advanced as a frontier to his main division. The French made twelve hundred prisoners, which was very honourable and profitable to them, considering how few they were in comparison with their enemies. At the conclusion of this business, the lord d'Orval marched his men back, with their prisoners to Bazas, much rejoiced at their good success.

On the morrow of the feast of All-saints, duke Peter of Brittany waited on the king of France, as his sovereign lord, to do him homage for his duchy of Brittany, and took the accustomed oaths before the count de Dunois and de Longueville; when the king's great chamberlain took his baudrick, sword and buckler, for his fee. After he had taken the oaths, the chancellor of France said, that he was liege-man to the king of France on account of this duchy; but the duke's chancellor replied, that, saving his respect to the king, he was not liege-man to his majesty on account of this duchy, which caused a long altercation. At length, the king accepted his homage according to the usages and manner that his predecessors, the dukes of Brittany, had done. Shortly after, he did another homage for his county of Montfort, for which he acknowledged himself the king's liegeman and vassal. He was grandly entertained by the king and his chivalry, at the small town and castle of Montbazon*, where the court then resided, and also by the ladies and damsels, to whom he acquitted himself handsomely. Many sports and pastimes of wrestling and other amusements took place during the fortnight the duke staid with the king, who was in high spirits and health. He had with him the count de Richemont his constable, and many barons, knights and esquires, to the number of from four to five hundred horses.

In the same year, according to the chronicles of Arras, Philip, then aged about fifty-four years, duke of Burgundy, Lotrichet, Brabant, Limbourg and Luxembourg, count of Flanders, Artois, Burgundy, Hainault, Holland, Zealand and Namur, marquis of the Holy Roman Empire, lord of Frizeland, Salins and Mechlin, required from the states of Flanders (whom he had assembled for this purpose,) that they would allow him to lay a tax of twenty-four groats, Flemish money, on each sack of salt that should be used in that country; promising in return, that during his life, he would not lay any additional impositions by taxes on land or otherwise. The deputies from Ghent having heard this proposal, demanded time to consider of it. These deputies took the lead; and having fully weighed he matter, and considering that the principal food of the commonalty was salted meats and fish, absolutely refused their consent; adding, that they would never, while alive, suffer such a tax to be laid upon their country. The deputies from Bruges, Ypres, and the Franc, in conformity to what the Ghent men had said, declared that they would act in unison with Ghent, and refused their assent.

CHAPTER XXXVI.-THE KING APPOINTS THE COUNT DE DUNOIS HIS LIEUTENANT-GENERAL
IN GUIENNE, WHO BESIEGES MONT-GUYON.-IT SURRENDERS TO HIM. HE LAYS SIEGE
TO THE TOWN OF BLAYE, WHICH IS TAKEN BY STORM.-THE CASTLE CAPITULATES.
[A. D. 1451,]

In the month of May, of the year 1451, according to the Chronicles of St. Denis, during the king's residence at Tours, he appointed the count de Dunois and de Longueville, who had come thither for that purpose, his lieutenant-general in Guienne, to reduce that duchy to his obedience. Early in May, the king had issued his summons to several kinghts and esquires, that they might prepare themselves for accompanying the count on this expedition. The lieutenant-general left Tours with a noble company, and marched to lay siege to a castle called Mont-Guyon, where he was joined by the count d'Angoulême, legitimate brother to the duke of Orleans, master John Bureau, treasurer of France, Pierre de Louvain, and others, to the amount of four hundred spears, with archers and guisarmes, and four * Montbazon,-in Touraine five leagues from Tours. † Lotriche. Q. Docs this mean Austria? "de l'Autriche.

thousand franc-archers, who instantly commenced the siege, without waiting for the other great barons who were to come thither. This siege lasted eight days; but the governor for the English, Regnault de St. Jean, esquire, and attached to the captal de Buch, and a few men-at-arms, seeing the inutility of defence against such an army, entered into a capitulation, by which the place was yielded up to the king of France.

On the 16th day of May, after the reduction of Mont-Guyon, the lieutenant-general laid siege to one of the gates of Blayet. He was there joined by sir Pierre de Beauveau lord of La Bessieret, lieutenant to the count du Maine and captain of his men-at-arms, and by sir Geoffry de St. Belin, having in their company about eight-score spears, guisarmes and archers. Thither came also sir James de Chabannes, grand-master of the household, and Joachim Rohault, who posted themselves opposite the castle, and took their quarters at the hospital: they had with them two hundred lances and archers, and two thousand franc-archers. At the same time, a large fleet arrived under the command of sir John le Boucher, general of France, in which were numbers of men-at-arms and archers, with great stores of provision for the supply of the besieging army. This fleet, as it came near to Blaye, found anchored in the port five large vessels well armed, which had arrived from Bordeaux with stores for the relief of those in the town of Blaye. An engagement took place, when the French fought valiantly, and killed so many of the enemy that they were forced to weigh anchor and fly to Bordeaux, whither they were chased into the harbour. The French fleet then returned to Blaye, where they anchored before the port, to prevent any supplies from being thrown into the town.

Thus was Blaye besieged on all sides, by land and water; and as this was completed, the count de Penthievre arrived, with one hundred lances and three hundred cross-bows, and was quartered near to the count de Dunois. Many gallant deeds were done, and deep trenches and mines made; and the walls were so much battered, by heavy cannon and bombards, that there were breaches in several places. The most valiant warriors on the part of the king of England, in Guyenne, were then in the town; but a little before sunset, on the 28th day of May, at the hour of sounding to mount the guard, some franc-archers of the company of John de Meauze, called the lord of Maugouverne, captain of the franc-archers of Touraine, mounted the walls of the town, and a storm regularly followed, when the place was won, and the English lost, in killed and prisoners, full two hundred men. The mayor of Bordeaux, together with the lord de l'Esparre, the lord de Montferrant, and others—in all, about two hundred-hastily retreated into the castle; but, consulting together, they thought further resistance would be vain against such numbers, without hope of being succoured, and surrendered the castle on capitulation.

Instantly on the reduction of the castle of Blaye, the count de Dunois marched his forces to besiege the town and castle of Le Bourg§. The siege did not, however, continue more than five or six days; for the garrison, observing the preparations for such large batteries of cannon and bombards, and the great strength of the besiegers, offered to surrender on being allowed to march away in safety with arms and baggage. There were from four to five hundred combatants in the place, under the command of sir Beraud de Montferrant, who departed with them for Bordeaux; and sir James de Chabannes, grand-master of the household, remained governor of it for the king of France.

In this same month of May, the count d'Albreth ||, with his two sons the lords of Tartas and of Orval, three hundred lances and two thousand cross-bows, laid siege to Dax¶¶, on the side toward Bordeaux, and at the end of the bridge over the Adour. About ten or twelve hours after the siege had commenced, the count de Foix came thither, attended by

* Gaston, count of Longueville and Benanges, second son of Archambaud count of Foix, enjoyed this title and transmitted it to his son John, who married a niece of the great William de la Pole duke of Suffolk, and was created by king Henry VI. earl of Kendal.

Blaye, on the Garonne, thirteen leagues and a half from Bordeaux.

Descended from a younger son of Matthew, lord of Beauveau, who died about 1400. He was killed soon afterwards at the siege of Castillon.

§ Le Bourg,-a village near Bordeaux.

Charles II. count of Dreux, &c., of the house of Albret, son of the constable; John viscount of Tartas, his eldest son, (who died before his father, leaving Alan, lord Albret, his only son and heir,) and Arnaud Amanjeu, lord of Orval, his third son, afterwards lieutenant-general for the king in Roussillon. The second son of the count was Louis cardinal bishop of Cahors.

¶ Dax,—an ancient city of Gascony, on the Adour.

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