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HERE BEGINS THE SECOND BOOK, WHICH CONTAINS
THIRTY CHAPTERS. IN THE FIRST IT TELLS HOW
THE KINGS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND, AFTER
HAVING MADE THE AGREEMENT, JOINED TOGETHER,
AND THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY WITH THEM, AS WELL
TO RE-CONQUER THE KINGDOM AS TO AVENGE THE
DEATH OF DUKE JOHN. CHAPTER I.

AFTER all the treaties above explained had been thus A.D. 1420. made and finished between the Kings of France and England, the nuptials were solemnised, as has been said. Then the two kings departed, and the queens their wives, and Duke Philip of Burgundy, with all their troops, from the town and city of Troyes in Champagne and the surrounding parts; and they proceeded towards Sens in Burgundy, which the dauphinists were occupying, and they laid siege to it all round; but at the end of twelve days the people of Sens, having no hope of relief, surrendered the town to the authority of the King of France on condition that the men-at-arms who wished to depart might go safe in their persons and property, except those who might be found guilty of the death of Duke John of Burgundy, if any such there were, and the inhabitants of the town should be obliged to take oath to the King of France. But a great part of the menat-arms within [the town] surrendered to the King of England and assumed the red cross feignedly, for notwithstanding this they soon returned to the dauphin.

After this town had been taken and placed under the authority of the king, and supplied with good men-at-arms to keep it in his name, the besiegers

A.D. 1420. departed thence, and went to Monterau-fault-Yonne ; but before their departure Maitre Eustace de Lattre, Chancellor of France, who for a long time had been the principal counsellor of Duke John of Burgundy, died there; and in his place was appointed one named Maitre John le Clerc, president of parliament.

At the beginning of the ensuing month of June the King of England, the Duke of Burgundy, and their people laid siege quite round the town and castle of Monterau-fault-Yonne, where they remained a good while, battering and harassing it with the intention of beating it down and demolishing it. And there was within, as chief captain for the dauphin, the Lord of Guitry, accompanied by from four to five hundred good warriors, who bravely defended themselves against the assailants. So they killed and wounded some, among whom Sir Buthor, bastard of Croy, a very skilful knight in arms, was mortally wounded; but in the end their defence profited little, for on the next ensuing St. John Baptist's day some Englishmen and Burgundians without order or command from any prince bestirred themselves suddenly, and all together assailed the town in several places, and persevered till they entered within this town and routed the dauphinists, who fled and rushed impetuously into the castle, not without great loss, for they were so closely pursued, and so hurried, that many of them fell into the water, and were drowned; and there were taken sixteen or twenty, most of whom were gentlemen. Because of this capture, the besieged in the castle were in greater fear than before, for the King of England then made the greatest part of his troops lodge inside the town and before the bridge of the said castle.

Then the followers of Duke Philip of Burgundy by the help of some of the women of the town, proceeded to the spot where Duke John, his father, had been interred, and they quickly placed over his tomb one

of the richest curtains in the church, and lighted a A.D. 1420. wax taper at each end. And the next day Duke Philip, son of the said deceased John, sent several distinguished knights and esquires of his household to disinter him, and remove him from the ground. These, when they came to the place, exhumed him as they had been ordered; but truly it was a great pity to see him thus, as they had put him there in his doublet, his hose, and his cap; so that there was not one in the company so hard hearted that he could refrain from weeping. Nevertheless in this condition he was placed in a leaden coffin, filled with salt and spices, then was carried into Burgundy to a church of the Carthusian monks outside the town of Dijon, which had been formerly built and endowed by Duke Philip his father; and there he was very respectfully placed near him by order of Duke Philip, his son. And in that grave from which Duke John was removed Sir. Buthor of Croy was placed, who had been killed at the assault of the town, as has been said.

During the siege of Monterau Charles, King of France, and his counsellors sent the above written. treaty of peace to Paris, and throughout the districts of baillies, seneschals, provosts, and other places in his kingdom that acknowledged his authority, to be announced and published wherever it was usual to make proclamation in such cases.

After this capture of the town of Monterau the King of England, the Duke of Burgundy, and their followers turned out from the place where they had stayed, and by a bridge which had been newly made over the river Seine went to lodge between the two rivers Seine and Yonne. Then on all sides of the fortress they caused to be brought near and erected engines to undermine and overthrow it. Besides the King of England sent, under good security, the prisoners

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A.D. 1420. who had been taken at the capture of the town, to parley on the moats with those in the fortress', in order that they might be willing to surrender to the king. These having come there, knelt humbly before their said captain, meekly praying him to make surrender of the place to the King of England, saying that by this means he would save their lives, seeing that he knew well enough he could not long hold out against the great force which he saw before him. To which it was answered that they would do the best they could, and that they would not surrender the place. Then the prisoners, very disconsolate, not having any hope of their lives, called upon the others to speak to their wives and near relatives inside; these were brought to speak to them, and then with much weeping and sadness they took leave of each other, then they were led back to the camp, where King Henry ordered a gibbet to be erected, on which the said prisoners were hanged in sight of the people in the castle. And with them the King hanged his groom, who had always been near his bridle when he rode, and whom he loved much; but the reason for putting him to death was because the said groom in a sudden ebullition of anger had killed an English knight; so he was thus punished for. it.

After these things those in the said castle held out about eight days, at the end of which they made terms with the King of England to surrender the place to him on condition that they should go away safe in their persons and goods, except those, if there were any such, that should be found guilty of the death of Duke John, and who were to be yielded to the will of the King of England; thus they departed under safe conduct.

The Lord of Guitry, their captain, was greatly blamed. about this surrender; because when he was not going to hold out much longer he allowed his people to die

ignominiously; besides it was imputed to him that he A.D. 1420. was guilty of the death of Duke John of Burgundy, and to maintain this there offered to fight with him a young gentleman of the household of Duke Philip, his son, named Sir William de Bievres; but, finally, the said Guitry so exculpated himself that there was no further proceeding, and he and his people went to the dauphin. The King of England immediately furnished the town and castle of Monterau with provisions and appurtenances of war, leaving there a large garrison of pure English; there he got all necessaries prepared for going to besiege Melun. While these things were taking place the King of France, the queen his wife, and the Queen of England their daughter, remained at Braysur-Seine, with their whole court.

In those days Villeneuve-le-roy, situated on the river Yonne, was taken by assault by some of the Duke of Burgundy's people, at which capture many dauphinists who were there were slain. At the same time the Duke of Bedford came to join the King of England with eight hundred men-at-arms and two thousand archers. He was gladly welcomed by the king, the Duke of Burgundy, and all the lords; and the army of the King of England was greatly reinforced by his coming.

At this time Charles de Valois, Duke of Touraine, dauphin of Viennois, passed with great difficulty through parts of Languedoc, and went to besiege the town of Pont Saint Esprit, on the Rhone, within which were the people of the Prince of Orange, holding with the Burgundy party; which town was given up to him with several other fortresses in the country of Languedoc, which had long kept on the side of Burgundy by means of the Prince of Orange. Within the places thus conquered, the dauphin placed plenty of men-atarms to keep them; and this done, he returned to

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