ページの画像
PDF
ePub

A.D. 1413. HERE BEGINS THE FIFTH VOLUME OF THE CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, WHICH CONTAINS IN ITSELF SIX SEPARATE BOOKS, EACH DIVIDED INTO CHAPTERS THE FIRST BOOK CONTAINING THIRTY-FOUR CHAPTERS, IN THE FIRST OF WHICH IT SPEAKS OF THE CORONATION OF KING HENRY THE FIFTH OF THAT NAME, AND OF THE EMBASSY WHICH HE SENT TO CONSTANCE. CHAPTER I.

As has been already told at the end of the fourth volume, King Henry of Lancaster ended his days, and was buried with great honour. He left four sons, of whom the first, named Henry, was Prince of Wales, and succeeded to the crown of England at the death of King Henry his father, as I shall tell in continuing the matter of this present volume. The second son was named Thomas Duke of Clarence; the third, John Duke of Bedford; the fourth, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. And he had also a daughter, who was married to Duke Louis of Bavaria, who was called the red duke. Which four sons above named were all good knights, and well educated in moral science, and each of them afterwards held a high command in the wars between France and England, in which they all behaved valiantly as will be hereafter set forth in continuing our present work. Now then, after the said King Henry the Fourth was dead, and his funeral rites performed, Henry his son, Prince of Wales, and his three brothers set out from Canterbury, and with them all the other princes, barons, knights, bishops, abbots, and other noblemen, of whom there was a great number; so they came to London, where they brought the said Prince of Wales, and where all matters necessary and suitable for his coronation were prepared. And then

the said Prince of Wales went to his palace at West- A.D. 1413. minster, accompanied in high state by his three brothers above-named, and also by all the princes, prelates, and barons of his kingdom; there he was anointed, consecrated, and crowned king; and there appeared no man of whatever estate that wished to oppose it. After the coronation of King Henry the fifth of that name the affairs of the kingdom were attended to, to keep it in good order.

The Duke of York, who at the time of the death of the king his brother was in Guienne with a large army, hearing these tidings repaired to London; but before his departure, left the fortresses in Guienne and Bordelois well supplied with men-at-arms and archers, to hold their frontiers against the French. When the said Duke of York had arrived, and been grandly entertained, many councils were held about the wars with France, for the truce had not yet expired which had before been made between the two kings and kingdoms, but it had still a certain time to continue. Finally, however, this new king, in order to gratify the Londoners and the people of his kingdom, sent men-at-arms to Calais, and gave orders to begin the war against the French, which the people of Calais were ready to listen to; so they began to overrun and greatly to trouble the country of Boullenois, in such wise that the Constable of France. reinforced the garrisons of the castles which were on the frontiers of Calais; so they began to make inroads the one upon the other, carrying on the bitterest possible warfare, to the great oppression and injury of the poor people; but pretty soon afterwards the truce was renewed for two years.

While these things were going on, and in this same year 1413,1 the new King Henry sent to the King of France to request a safe-conduct for an embassy which

1 Quatre cens et treize in A.

A.D. 1413. he was sending to Constance in Germany, and of which the chief was the Earl of Warick, which safe-conduct was granted by the king and his great council, and was carried by Garter the herald of England to Calais, at which place the Earl of Warwick, three bishops, three abbots, and many notable knights, and clergy, doctors in theology and law, to the number of eight hundred horse, were awaiting it. So they set out from Calais and made such good way that they came to the said place, Constance, where the council then was. Here the English lords were honourably received and grandly entertained by the King of the Romans, Emperor of Germany, at whose coronation the said English ambassadors were present.

During this year there was great quarrelling among the princes of the kingdom of France, arising out of the death of the Duke of Orleans, whom the Duke of Burgundy had caused to be killed, as you have heard already in the fourth volume.

How King Henry of England sent an embassy to
King Charles of France. CHAPTER II.

A SHORT time afterwards, King Henry of England sent to the King of France an embassy, of which the Earl of Dorset was chief, and with him were Earl Grey, the Admiral of England, the Bishop of Norwich, and other bishops, abbots, and many noblemen and clergy, to the number of fully six hundred horse, all as an embassy to endeavour to negotiate the marriage of the Lady Catherine, daughter of the King of France, with King Henry of England; which ambassadors being come to Paris, were lodged in the hotel of the Temple. The French people were sorely amazed at the

grand and pompous style which they kept up, and A.D. 1413. their lavish expenditure both in their hotels and in going through the town. Soon after the arrival of the said ambassadors at Paris, there was given a splendid entertainment of jousts and tourneys, dances, and various amusements, in which the English appeared everywhere with such display as showed they belonged to a very powerful prince; for they were so richly dressed, and adorned with cloth of gold and silk, with chains and collars of gold set with precious stones, so that the company marvelled greatly at the sight of their luxuries, for most of the highest princes of the kingdom. of France were then at Paris. Here also was the queen, and in her company many duchesses, countesses, and baronesses, with other noble dames and damsels in surpassing numbers; and as for the names of the dukes, earls, barons, knights, and esquires, to set them forth would occasion great prolixity and lengthening out of my matter, so I will pass it by. The said festival lasted eight whole days; and the people of Paris especially entered cordially into it, because the Duke of Burgundy was restored to the favour of the king, at which every one showed great joy; and on account of which it seemed indeed to the French people as if none could ever harm them again.

During this festival the ambassadors from England were called, and audience was granted for them to make known their message and the commission which they had from King Henry and the English council; all which they declared at length and in the manner that had been commanded them. Then there was made to them a rather cold reply concerning their demand, for with the Lady Catherine, the daughter of King Charles, they (the English) required to have the country of Normandy with a large sum of money; also they demanded several fortresses, castles, and towns in the country of Guienne, which the King of France and

A.D. 1413. his counsellors were not willing to grant. Therefore, when the reply had been made to the said ambassadors, they took leave of the king and the lords. So they left Paris, and ceased not to ride on their journey till they got to Calais, from which they crossed the sea to Dover, and thence to London, where they found the king and with him his uncle the Duke of York and a large gathering of nobility. The ambassadors were joyfully received and congratulated by the king, who inquired concerning their journey, and how they had managed. They told at full length all they had met with, and the answer which had been given them by the King of France and his council, with which answer the king and his English people were not pleased, therefore after mature deliberation letters and summonses were promptly written, and sent every where to the princes, prelates, and barons of the kingdom of England, signifying that they all should be with the king on the fifteenth day of March, in the year one thousand four hundred and fourteen, about some business touching the honour, welfare, and advantage of the kingdom. None of those who were thus called failed to take the journey; rather all who were summoned came quickly and willingly. But before they had either arrived or assembled, King Henry, who was the most virtuous and prudent of all the Christian princes reigning in his time, in order to clear and release the soul of his late father, had a chariot made covered with black; then he sent to seek the corpse of King Richard, which King Henry his father had buried in a little church near Pontefract; and he had it brought to London accompanied by bishops, abbots, knights, and esquires, with a great number of lighted torches; and they passed through London to the church of St. Paul, where the corpse rested that night, and the next day it was taken to Westminster, and there after a funeral service performed it was with great solemnity placed

« 前へ次へ »