A.D. 1421. the handsome Duke of Clarence, for he was greatly liked among them for his great prudence and valour, and even by his enemies the French; for the kindness and humbleness that were in him constrained those who had heard it spoken of or had seen him to love him, and therefore throughout England and France he was greatly pitied and regretted. King Henry himself, to whom he was brother, was very sorrowful about the misfortune that had befallen him; and not without cause, for it was he in whom he had the greatest hope for the success of his undertaking. The English, who, as you have heard above, came earnestly striving to assist the said Duke of Clarence, and of whom the chief was the Earl of Salisbury, drove at the first rush into the dauphinists with such vigour, that they made them fall back, and presently, seeing the force of the said Earl of Salisbury, they departed from the place, and the said English effected so much by force of arms, that whether the dauphinists would or no they took and carried off the corpse of the Duke of Clarence from the place, with many tears and regrets. And he was carried with great solemnity to Rouen, and thence to England, where the king his brother had him honourably buried. And it is, as it were, incredible the grief of King Henry for him, with the princes of his blood and kingdom, and so with the common people of the whole country, especially those of London. After the obsequies were performed the king held a general council, at which it was determined that with the largest army he could collect he should cross the sea, and proceed with the business of his enterprise. How the Dauphinists laid siege to Alençon, and about the Earl of Salisbury, who thought to raise it. CHAPTER XI. AT the beginning of that year, which is reckoned 1421 A.D. 1421. after the death of the Duke of Clarence, the dauphinists, who, as I have said in the preceding chapter, had gained a victory over him, collected in great numbers and went to besiege Alençon. At a distance they placed their artillery in fine order, and began to make the'r approaches; but the English, who were bearing in great sadness the injuries they had newly received, assembled again under the command of the Earl of Salisbury all their garrisons which they had in the country of Normandy, and took the field with the intention of raising the said siege and fighting the besiegers. Then the dauphinists, prepared and warned as before of the approach of their enemies, placed themselves in order outside their camp, displaying an appearance of great boldness; and the English, perceiving them to be much more numerous than themselves, and apprehending the perils and misfortunes that might befal, one of which they had so lately experienced, withdrew to the Abbey of Becq. But before they could arrive there they lost from two to three hundred of their people, some taken prisoners and some killed by the said dauphinists, who pursued them to the gate; but seeing they could not get at them there without great loss they left them, and moreover departed from the said siege of Alençon and returned towards Dreux in Anjou. For in those days the marriage of the Duke of Alençon and the only daughter of Charles of Orleans, then a prisoner in England, was negotiated and completed; the nuptials were very grand and solemn in the town of Blois; of which marriage the principal nego A.D. 1421. tiators were Charles, Duke of Touraine, Dauphin of Viennois, to whom she was niece, and the Duke of Brittany, uncle of the said Alençon. In those days also, King Henry, who was in England, where he had already, as has been said, heard tidings of the death of the Duke of Clarence his brother, and of the great loss which he had sustained by the slaughter of the other princes and great lords, about which he was greatly troubled, made preparations marvellously great, according to the appointment of his council; and for the said reason he hastened still more to get ready with his army to proceed to France in order to take vengeance on the dauphinists for the grief which they had sent to his heart. How the King of England crossed the sea with a great force of men-at-arms and archers; and how the Dauphin besieged the town of Chartres. CHAPTER XII. AFTER the King of England had settled the affairs of his kingdom and his army was all ready round Canterbury, and the men-at-arms had received their pay for eight months, he came in person to Dover, attended by part of his said army, and the rest he directed to the neighbouring ports, where all took to sea on the eve of St. Barnabas in the morning, on which same day they arrived all together in the harbour of Calais.' So the king went to lodge in his castle of the said Calais; and all the men-at-arms as they gradually left the vessels quartered themselves in the town or its neighbourhood in the places appointed for them by the king and the harbingers of the host, Soon after the said vessels were unloaded King Henry sent them back to England, and 1 About two o'clock in the afternoon. H. as it was hoped by distinguished people, there had A.D. 1421. disembarked at this time from three to four thousand inen-at-arms, and twenty-four thousand archers. On the morrow. of St. Barnabas, King Henry furnished the Earl of Dorset and Lord Clifford with 1,200 warriors, and sent them to Paris to strengthen and help the Duke of Exeter and the Parisians, who were then kept very short of food through the dauphinist garrisons which where around them. These noblemen, wisely avoiding the ambuscades of the Dauphin, rode rapidly to the said place of Paris, where they were very joyfully received, both for their own arrival and the news they brought of the landing of King Henry with such a fine company. The Parisians had several times begged him to hasten, for they had great confidence in him; and he came just in time, as the Dauphin had collected from various parts a great force of men-at-arms, whom he led to the town of Chartres to besiege it. And on his way thither the towns of Bonneval and Gaillard with some other fortresses surrendered to him, and he garrisoned them with his men; then he went to lodge near the town of Chartres, which he besieged on all sides very powerfully; but it was well defended. by the Bastard of Thyan and other captains who had been sent in haste to assist the said city, and word was sent to the King of England by those who had seen the force of the Dauphin, that he might have about from six to seven thousand men-at-arms, with four thousand cross-bowmen and six thousand hand-bowmen. When the dauphinists arrived before Chartres they erected several engines against the gates and walls of the town, by which it was somewhat troubled; but for as much as those within were assured of having speedy help by the King of England, they were in little anxiety about the speeches A.D. 1421..or menaces of the besiegers, and kept close to the work. How the King of England left Calais to go and raise the siege before the city of Chartres. CHAPTER XIII. i AFTER Some days had passed, and the King of England had settled his affairs in the town of Calais, he left it in haste, because again the Parisians and his uncle Exeter had pressed him to succour the said town of Chartres. So he took his way to Monterau, where he lodged in the Hotel of the Crown, and most of his men bivouacked on the flat country round about. On the previous day, Philip Duke of Burgundy had come to this town to meet King Henry; and for as much as he was suffering from fever, he did not mount his horse to go to meet the said king, but sent Sir John of Luxemburg to make his humble apology for not having gone. After this arrival of the king they sojourned in the said town three days to talk together, then on leaving they passed on to a town called Montigny, where the king ordered the tower, house, and mill of Sir Jacques de Harcourt to be burned. And because King Henry wished to cross the water of the Somme through Abbeville the Duke of Burgundy went before to settle with the people of the town, and he so managed that the passage was granted him, though with grudging enough; but the duke promised that all expenses should be fully paid. Meanwhile the king in the forest of Cressy Along the sea-coast. H. employed himself in hunting then on the following day And hold council on their affairs, and leaving there, they, the duke and the king, went to lodge at Dombart in Ponthieu, and in passing before |
