66

shall endure, and if peace is made shall last as long A.D. 1402. as the said peace without any infringement. In testimony and confirmation whereof we have caused these present letters to be made and written and our pendent seal to be set thereto. Given at Paris "the 17th day of the month of June, the year of grace 1382,"1

เส

The second letter in reply which the Duke of Orleans wrote to Henry of England. CHAPTER VI.

to

HIGH and puissant prince, Henry King of England,
I, Louis, by the grace of God son and brother of the
King of France, Duke of Orleans, &c., write
you, send word, and have you to know that I
received as a good new year's gift on the first day of
January by Lancaster king at arms, your herald, the
letter which you wrote to me making answer to
another letter which I had written and sent to you
by Champagne king-at-arms and Orleans, my herald,
and I have well understood the contents of the same.
As to your not knowing or pretending not to know if
my said letter was addressed to yourself, your name
is there which you took at the font and by which
your father and mother called you during their lives.
If I do not write at full length the dignity which
you usurp, I do not approve nor do I wish thereby
to approve of the manner by which you have come
by it, but know in sooth that my said letter is addressed
to you. As to what you write to me that you marvel
at the request which I have made to you considering

1396 in printed text of Monstrelet. Henry was not banished until 1398 (see note, page 70), and

did not become Duke of Lancaster
till 1399.

A.D. 1402. the truce made by my most dread lord the King of France of the one part and the most high and puissant prince King Richard, my nephew and your liege lord, lately deceased (God knows through whom); and also as to what you say in your letter that there is some alliance between us two which you have sent to me,1 word for word, I repeat it the better to inform those who shall see it, showing you in regard to my purpose which I then had and shall have if it please God all my life, it had been kept well enough if there had not been default on your side, first, in having attacked and gone against your liege and sovereign lord King Richard (whom God pardon) as you have done, who was allied to my most dread lord my brother as well by marriage as by writings sealed with their seals on which we of their lineage on both sides swore as appears by the letters made at the time when they assembled before my lord and yours abovesaid, you being in his company, and many others of his lineage, now you may see and understand if by my said letter of which you have sent me the copy, those who formerly were allies of my said lord be not excepted, and you may also know whether it would be a very honourable thing for me to have alliance with you now, for at the time when I made the alliance above related I could never have thought that you would have done against your king what is evidently clear and what everybody knows that you have done. And as to what you say that no prince, lord, or knight ought to demand a feat of arms without renouncing the alliances before he undertakes such matters, I know not if you re-demanded from your lord King Richard the oath of fealty which you made to him before you proceeded against his person in the manner which you have done, and before the acquittance

which you make to me, according to what you answer A.D. 1402. me, of the promise which you made as appears by the letter thereupon made, which I cannot ignore, know that since I learnt of the deed which you did on the person of your sovereign liege I had no hope that you would keep any agreements either with me or with any one else, so you may think and know that I have no wish to have any alliance with you. As to the consideration which you have to the dignity that you hold I do not think that divine virtue has placed you there. God may well have hidden his meaning, as he has given to many princes to reign to bring them to confusion in the end, and I do not want having regard to my own honour to attend your person. As to what you write that for any indolence. that you may have shown your honour has always been sufficiently preserved, enough is known by all countries. As to the coming which you intend across here without sending me word when or where it will be, write and send me word and I assure you that you shall have news without having to wait for any thing of all my will to do and carry out by the aid of God, if I have health, what I have written by my other letter to you. As to what you write me that your progenitors have not been accustomed to be so challenged by inferior persons to themselves, there is no need that I should be my own herald about who my own have been, and are as it is known throughout all countries, and as for me I feel myself to be without reproach, God be thanked, and have always done what a loyal gentleman should do as well towards God as towards my lord and his kingdom; he who hath done otherwise and has all the world under his hand has nothing to value himself about. And as to what you write that all that a king or prince does he should do it in the name of God for the common profit of all christendom or of his country

A.D. 1402. or kingdom, and not for vain glory or for any tem-
poral covetousness, I reply that that is well said, but
if you had acted up to it in your country in times
past, many things done by you would not have been
undertaken in the region where
you dwell. And
touching my most dread lady and niece, my lady the
Queen of England, who by your harshness and cruelty
has come to this country bereft of her lord whom she
has lost, stripped of her dower which you keep back,
you have robbed her of her substance which she had
brought over with her, and which she had through
her husband, who is there who seeks honour who
would not put himself forward to serve her in her
quarrel and sustain her part? For all nobles ought
to protect the rights of wives, widows, and maidens of
so good a life as is my said lady and niece, and
because I belong so nearly to her as every one knows,
doing my duty towards God and herself as her
relative I answer you on the present point, where
you tell me that to avoid the spilling of human blood,
you coming across here and I being opposed to you,
you will answer me more willingly body to body
or in a greater number, as to which you write me
nothing at present, that by the aid of the Blessed
Trinity, of our Lady, and of Saint Michael, your
answer on these matters being known, be it body
against body or power against power, doing my duty
and guarding my honour, I will make you such
answer indeed as is fitting in such case, and I thank
you for those on my side that you have more com-
passion for their blood than you had for your liege
and sovereign lord. As to what you have written
that he who cannot discern in what estate he is
himself wishes to choose persons without reproach,
know full well that I know who I am and who are

1 The following passage down to "in such case

1

"" is very obscure.

you

those of my company, and send word to that
you
will find that we are all gentle and loyal men, and hold
ourselves to be such, and we well know how please God to
keep from doing otherwise than loyal noblemen and
gentlemen ought to do by speech, writing, or deed,
but you and yours do you look before you and write.
back to me your intention on all these matters which
I must desire to know shortly. And that you may
know that what I write and send word to you about
I will accomplish by God's help, I have caused the
seal of my arms to be affixed hereto, and I have
subscribed it with my own hand on the morrow of
our Lady, the 22nd' day of March in the year 1402.

A.D. 1402.

The second letter and last reply which King Henry made to the Duke of Orleans CHAPTER VII.

HENRY, by the grace of God King of France and England and Lord of Ireland. Louis of Valois, Duke "of Orleans, we write back to you, send word, and "let you know that we have seen a letter from you "the last day of April last past which you sent by Champagne king-at-arms and Orleans your herald, thinking to have given an answer to our letter received by you the 1st day of January last past by Lancaster king-at-arms, our herald, which letter of yours bears date the 22nd 2 day of March 1402, and we have well considered the contents and the same. "And albeit all things considered by the especial "estate in which God has placed us we ought not to answer to our honour to your request which you have made to us nor to the replications given,