the next night at Montreuil, the next at Boulogne, and then at Calais, where a fleet was in readiness to convey them to Dover. From Dover they travelled by the usual road to London, where | they arrived on Martiumas Day. As the melancholy procession approached London, fifteen bishops in their pontifical attire, many mitred abbots and churchmen, with a vast multitude of persons of all conditions, went out to meet it. The churchmen chanted the service for the dead as it passed over London bridge and through the street of the Lombards to St. Paul's. After the obsequies had been performed at St. Paul's in presence of the whole parliament, the body was We take this strong popular feeling as one proof that Henry had many fine qualities besides those of a mere warrior and conqueror.2 CHAPTER III.-CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.-A.D. 1422-1431. HENRY VI., SURNAMED OF WINDSOR.—ACCESSION, A.D. 1422-DEPOSITION, A.D. 1461. Henry VI., infant son of Henry V., proclaimed king-The Duke of Gloucester appointed Protector of England, and the Duke of Bedford Regent of France-Henry VI. proclaimed King of France-Charles the dauphin also proclaimed King of France-Victory of the English over the French and Scots at Crevant-They are again victorious at Verneuil-The successes of the Duke of Bedford impaired by the folly of the Duke of Gloucester-Marriage of Gloucester to Jacqueline of Hainault-Umbrage of the Duke of Burgundy at the marriage-Dissensions in the court of Charles, the French king-Orleans besieged by the English-Victory of the English over the French and Scots at Rouvrai-Orleans reduced to the last extremity-Joan of Arc appears-Her early history-Her application to Charles-The examination held upon her claim to a Divine commission-She marches to the relief of Orleans-Dismay of the English at her coming-They are defeated, and compelled to raise the siege-Successes of Joan of Arc-Victory of the French over the English at Patay -Triumphant march of Charles to Rheims-His coronation-Appeal of Joan to the Duke of BurgundyPerplexities of the Duke of Bedford-He is reinforced by Cardinal Beaufort-Indecisive operations in the field-Declining influence of Joan of Arc-Bedford resigns the regency of France to the Duke of BurgundyJoan of Arc taken prisoner-She is tried as a sorceress-Her unjust and oppressive treatment-She is condemned and executed. HE son of Henry and Catherine was not quite nine months old. As soon as his father's death was known in England, some of the bishops and lay lords issued commissions, in the name of Henry VI., to the judges, sheriffs, and other officers, autho 1 Monstrelet: Walsing. "Power deemed to be ill gotten is naturally precarious; and the instance of Henry IV. has been well quoted to prove that public liberty flourishes with a bad title in the sovereign. None of our kings seems to have been less beloved, and indeed he had little claim to affection. But what men denied to the reigning king, they poured in full measure upon the heir of his throne. The virtues of the Prince of Wales [Henry V.] are almost invidiously eulogized by those parliaments who treat harshly his father; and these records afford a strong presumption that some early petulance or riot has been much exaggerated by the vulgar minds of our chroniclers. One can scarcely understand, at least, that a prince who was three years engaged in quelling the dangerous insurrection of Glendower, and who, in the latter time of his father's reign, presided at the council, was so lost in a cloud of low debauchery as common fame represents. Loved he certainly was throughout his life, as so intrepid, affable, and generous a temper well deserved; and this sentiment was heightened to admiration by successes still more rapid and dazzling than those of rizing them to continue their respective duties, and summoned a parliament to meet in November. As soon as parliament was assembled, it laid claim to the right of regulating the regency. The Duke of Gloucester claimed the post of regent, because, in the absence of his elder brother, the Duke of Bedford, he was nearest in blood, Edward III. During his reign there scarcely appears any vestige of dissatisfaction in parliament-a circumstance very honourable, whether we ascribe it to the justice of his administration or to the affection of his people. Perhaps two exceptions, though they are rather one in spirit, might be made :-The first, a petition to the Duke of Gloucester, then holding parliament as Guardian of England, that he would move the king and queen to return as speedily as might please them, in relief and comfort of the commons; the second, a petition that their petitions might not be sent to the king beyond sea, but altogether determined within the kingdom of England during this parliament,' and that this ordinance might be of force in all future parliaments to be held in England. This prayer, to which the guardian declined to accede, evidently sprang from the apprehensions excited in their minds by the treaty of Troyes, that England might become a province of the French crown, which led them to obtain a renewal of the statute of Edward III., declaring the independence of this kingdom."-Hallam, State of Europe during the Middle Ages, vol. iii. pp. 143, 144. and because the late king had named him regent a banner with the arms of France upon it, and on his death-bed. The lords, after searching the saluted him with cries of "Long live the king!" rolls and consulting with the judges, told the Such was the inauguration of Charles VII, who duke that this demand was contrary to the con- at the time was not master of a fourth part of stitution, and that the late king had no power the kingdom. The death of his father, however, whatever to appoint a regent without the consent gave him an immediate increase of moral strength, of parliament. They offered to appoint him and he soon proceeded to the city of Poitiers, president of the council in the absence of the where he was crowned and anointed with some Duke of Bedford, and to give him, not the title of solemnity. regent, lieutenant, or tutor, but that of Protector of the realm and church of England-which title, they said, would serve to remind him of his duty. A few days after they proceeded to name a chancellor, a treasurer, a keeper of the privy seal, and a permanent council, which consisted of sixteen members, with the Duke of Bedford for president, the Duke of Gloucester to act for him, and to receive the salary of £5333 during his brother's absence from England. All these regulations and nominations received the assent of the commons, and the Duke of Gloucester was obliged to be satisfied with them. The care of the person and education of the young prince was afterwards intrusted to the Earl of Warwick and to Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, a halfbrother of King Henry IV., who had also a high seat in the council.' After voting the continuance of the duty on wool, and tonnage and poundage for two years, the parliament was dissolved. With the exception of some movements on the Welsh borders, the accession of the infant king was perfectly peaceful. The Duke of Bedford, with the consent of the parliament of Paris, had proclaimed the infant Henry King of France; and while Charles was being crowned at Poictiers he held a great assembly in the capital, where the parliament, the university, the archbishop, the metropolitan clergy, the magistrates, and principal burghers. swore fealty to Henry. The same ceremony was performed in all the other great towns of France in subjection to the English, or to their ally the Duke of Burgundy. To secure the friendship of this prince, whose power nearly equalled that of the King of France, even when France was undivided, Bedford strictly adhered to the instruc tions of his dying brother, consulting the Duke of Burgundy upon all important affairs, and paying a politic deference to his judgment and better acquaintance with the feelings and habits of the French. He married the Duke's sister, Anne of Burgundy; and, by negotiating a marriage be tween another sister of the duke's, the widow of the deceased dauphin, and Arthur, Count of Richemont, brother of the Duke of Brittany, he hoped to secure the support and co-operation of the Bretons, who, in the time of Henry V., had been only neutral. A sort of congress was held by these great personages at Amiens, in the month of April, 1423, and there Bedford received the most gratifying assurances of continued sup port from his two allies. But, at the same time, and without the knowledge of the Duke of Bedford, the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany made a separate treaty with one another; and some embarrassing discussions arose concerning the flight into England of Jacqueline, Countess of Hainault, whose marriage with the Duke of In France, where there were no constitutional delicacies to be managed, the Duke of Bedford, who was deservedly popular with the army, was at once recognized as regent, and succeeded to the power, and nearly to all the consideration of his deceased brother. He remained at Paris, or in the neighbourhood, surrounded by the Earls of Somerset, Warwick, Salisbury, Suffolk, and Arundel, Sir John Talbot, Sir John Fastolfe, and the other distinguished captains who had carried the military fame of England to so high a pitch in the preceding reign. In the month of October, Charles VI. expired at Paris. The dauphin, who was now in his twenty-first year, was in Auverg-Gloucester struck the first great blow at the ne, and in a very poor and reduced condition. As soon as the knights of his party received the news, they conducted him to a little chapel, raised 1 Beaufort was the second of the sons of John of Gaunt, by his third wife Catherine Ruet, Roet, or Rowet, widow of Sir Otes Swynford, generally supposed to have been the sister of Philippa Rowet, who is said to have been the wife of the poet Chaucer. There are considerable doubts, however, both as to the reality of this connection, and even as to the fact of Chaucer having been married at all. Catherine Rowet, who was the daughter of Sir Paine Rowet, a knight of Hainault, had long been the duke's mistress, having been originally brought over to wait upon his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster. The children of John of Gaunt and Catherine Rowet-three sons and a daughter-were all born before their marriage, wh ch took place in 1397, but were legiti power of the English in France. But, for the Kot. Parl.; Rymer: Walsingham. tories, which were compared to the glorious af- | tage for this roi-fainéant; they had gradually fairs of Crecy, Poictiers, and Azincourt. Charles thrown off the yoke in several parts of the north VII. gave himself up to indolence and selfish indulgence, loitering away his time, not with his beautiful wife, Mary of Anjou, but with his mistresses. He had, however, about him many men of great energy: they roused him from his inglorious ease and forced him into the field. Crossing the Loire once more, Charles now fixed his head-quarters at Gien, a small town close on the right bank of that river, and there he remained while the mass of his forces, under James Stuart, Lord Darnley, and the Marshal of Severac, struck off to the east, fell upon Burgundy, and laid siege to Crevant, a very important place. The Duke of Burgundy had some forces on foot in that direction, but they were very inconsiderable, and he again eagerly pressed the English to save his fertile province. The Duke of Bedford instantly despatched the Earls of Salisbury and Suffolk to the relief of Crevant, and as the French, relying on their great superiority of numbers and the determined valour of their Scottish allies, stood their ground outside the town, a general battle was resolved upon. At Auxerre the English were joined by the Burgundians; but their force was still very inferior, and they had to pass the river Youne in face of the enemy. Having forced the passage, they found the main body drawn up in good position on the right bank. While the English attacked in front, the Burgundians attacked in flank, and then made a movement to the rear. By this disposition the English were opposed to the Scots; the Burgundians to the French, their own countrymen. The French soon gave way, and then fled in a disgraceful manner, leaving their Scottish allies to shift for themselves. Though thus abandoned by all save a few honourable knights, the Scots gallantly defended themselves for a long time, and the victory was not decided till more than 3000 of them were killed or taken prisoners.' and the north-west; they had got possession of several towns in Normandy; and thus the English, instead of crossing the Loire, were obliged to fight in the country between that river and the Seine. Their alliance with the Duke of Brittany rested on hollow foundations from the first, and a quarrel with his brother, the Count of Richemont, was followed by bad effects. The count, who was refused the separate command of an army, for which Bedford judged him unfit, would not be soothed by the offer of a liberal pension— lands and honours he had received already-and, stealing away secretly, he withdrew to Brittany, hoping to induce his brother to declare against the English. Bedford laboured the more earnestly to gratify the Duke of Burgundy; but he did not yet know the secret treaty existing between that prince and the Duke of Brittany. In the course of 1423, the auxiliary force of Scotland had been greatly increased by fresh arrivals; and Archibald, Earl of Douglas, lately the adherent of Henry V., went and joined Charles, who made him a French duke, by the title of the Duke of Touraine. Here, again, the regent Bedford acted with all possible good policy; he negotiated with King James of Scotland, and released him from his imprisonment in England in the spring of 1424, by which further reinforcements from Scotland to France were prevented. Charles VII. received about this time a body of auxiliaries from the Duke of Milan, and gave encouragement to an insurrection in Maine and Anjou, and in other places north of the Loire. We must pass over a number of petty combats and sieges. In the affair of La Gravelle, John de la Pole, brother to the Duke of Suffolk, was surprised by a great force under Harcourt, Count of Aumale, and was obliged to retreat with considerable loss. In another direction a detachment of the Duke of Burgundy was defeated by the Italian and Scottish auxiliaries of King Charles. The spirit of the French people had gained one great advan 1 Monstrelet. In the summer of 1424 the Duke of Bedford laid siege to the strong town of Ivry. Charles resolved to relieve the place, and to that end sent his whole army into Normandy. This army consisted of about 7000 Scots and 7000 Italians and French. The command was nominally given to the Earls of Douglas and Buchan; but the Counts of Alençon, Aumale, and Narbonne, and the other French nobles who marched with then, would take no orders from Scottish adventurers -for such they termed the bravest and noblest of their allies. This ill-assorted army marched within sight of Ivry, but they halted in dismay on seeing the excellent position of the English, and presently retreated without drawing a sword. Upon this failure Ivry surrendered. Either by an ingenious stratagem of their own, or by a rising in their favour of the inhabitants, Charles' army got possession of the important town of Verneuil, situated about thirty miles to the southwest of Ivry; but they were scarcely there when the Duke of Bedford presented himself before the walls. A tumultuary council was held, and as they could not possibly remain where they were on account of a scarcity, it was resolved to go out and fight the English in an open field. They had every advantage of position: the town covered one of their flanks, they had also learned The cause of Charles now seemed hopeless; his army was destroyed, he had no money or credit, and many of his friends began to complain of his want of activity and valour, for he still kept away from the scene of danger. But circumstances operated wonderfully in his favour, and made him King of all France in spite of his follies. Dissension had broken out in the English council, where the Duke of Gloucester could never agree with his uncle Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester; and the English people had grown weary of this long war, which had once been ex disposed to believe on most occasions afterwards Beaufort advocated measures of prudence and cautious policy, which were defeated by the impetuous will of Gloucester. something from experience, and, leaving their ford; it was fought on the 17th of August, baggage and their horses within the walls, they | 1424. formed on foot, leaving only about 2000 men-atarms, part of whom were Italians, to fight on horseback. The Duke of Bedford, whose army was inferior in numbers, followed the old tactics of Crecy and Azincourt: he made all his cavalry dismount; he placed his horses and his baggage in the rear, under a guard of archers; and he stationed the rest of the bowmen on his flanks and in his van, where they stuck their sharp stakes into the ground. There was a brief pause. The Earl of Douglas wished to wait for the attack of the English, but the French nobles would not listen to his prudence, and the Count of Nar-ceedingly popular. At this moment (and we are bonne rushed forward, shouting "Mountjoye St. Denis!" The whole line followed him in hurry and confusion; and by the time they got up to the English stakes, they were both out of breath and out of order. Their number, however, was imposing, for van, rear, and reserve, came up altogether. The English stood firm, shouting "St. George for Bedford!" But some of the archers were borne down and driven towards the baggage-a fortunate circumstance, for they seem to have arrived just in time to support their comrades there, who were charged in the rear by the 2000 horse, led on by La Hire and Saintraille. This cavalry was repeatedly repulsed, and at last completely driven from the field. Then the English archers in the rear (above 2000 men) advanced to the main body and decided the victory, which had been fiercely and at times very equally disputed for upwards of three hours. The loss of the allies was tremendous. The Earl of Douglas and his son, Lord James Douglas, the Earl of Buchan, Sir Alexander Meldrum, with many Scottish knights, were slain. The French lost the Counts Narbonne, Tonnère, and Vantadour, the Sires of Roche-baron and Gamaches, with many other great lords, and nearly 300 knights. The Duke of Alençon, the Marshal de la Fayette, the Sires de Maucourt, and Charles de Longueval, with many other lords, were taken prisoners. The Duke of Bedford cut off the heads of Maucourt and Longueval, because they had formerly taken the oath of fealty to his nephew; and he did the same to several knights of Normandy, because they had deserted from his standard on the eve of the battle.' The great loss he had himself sustained probably had something to do with these executions. Sixteen hundred Englishmen lay dead on that bloody field, mixed with 3000 or 4000 Scots, French, and Italians. The town of Verneuil immediately surrendered to the conqueror. Such was the battle of Verneuil, the last great victory obtained by the Duke of Bed 1 Monstrelet. Jacqueline of Hainault, only daughter of the Count of Hainault, brother-in-law of Jean Sanspeur, inherited at a very early age the states of Hainault, Holland, and Zealand. Her succession was disputed by her uncle, John the Merciless. Bishop of Liége, who invaded Holland. After a long war, the Duke of Burgundy, Jean Sanspeur, interfered, and concluded a treaty, by which the Bishop of Liége was to enjoy the revenues of Holland and Zealand. John the Merciless had previously shed a great deal of Christian blood in order to remain Bishop of Lióge. But soon after this arrangement he got himself secularized by the pope, and throwing away crozier and stole. married Elizabeth of Luxemburg, the widow of the Duke of Brabant, who had perished at Azincourt. This Elizabeth had a son, now Duke of Brabant, and the ex-bishop proposed that he should be married to his niece Jacqueline. This union, as tending to unite the different branches of the house of Burgundy, was strongly recommended by Jean Sans-peur and other members of the family; but the young lady had a great aversion to the match. John of Brabant was younger than she: they were cousins-german; and she, besides, had been the boy's god-mother. The pope, however, gave his dispensation, and Jacqueline was tormented into a compliance with the family scheme. But her antipathies were never overcome: she was of a womanly age, beautiful, bold, and not deficient in wit and understanding; her husband was a puny boy of fifteen, weak in mind as in body, fond of the society of low favourites, and entirely led by then. Shortly after their marriage they quarrelled violently; and Madame Jacqueline, who had a sunmary way of proceeding, sent her half-brother, called the Bastard of Hainault, to punish her husband's chief favourite, William le Begue, who had insulted her. The Bastard killed the favou he had taken he became perfectly furious, and sent orders to all his vassals to assist his beloved nephew the Duke of Brabant, and oppose the duchess and her new husband to the utmost. Gloucester, upon this, wrote to Duke Philip, telling him that if the Duke of Brabant was his cousin, his companion and wife Jacqueline was twice his cousin-that he (Gloucester) had not broken the peace or the treaties existing between him and his very dear cousin of Burgundy-that he was only taking possession of what lawfully belonged to him by his marriage-and he hinted, truly or falsely, that the Duke of Burgundy had formerly encouraged his projects. The duke re him to single combat. Gloucester readily accepted the challenge, and named St. George's Day for the duel, which Philip had no intention to fight. He sent a great part of the forces which he had engaged to keep on foot for the service of the Regent Bedford, into the Low Countries, against his brother, and at the same time the Duke of Gloucester obtained the English reinforcements intended for Bedford. Philip did not cool on reflection. He even employed troops and many knights that had been in the service of his great enemy Charles VII., the murderer of his father; and among these warriors was the celebrated Saintraille. The Burgundians thus began to listen to their old foes, and to join them in attributing (incorrectly) the origin of all the evils France was suffering to the English. Proposals were suggested for an accommodation with King Charles by the pope, the Duke of Savoy, and others; and though the Duke of Burgundy did not think, as yet, he had taken sufficient vengeance for his father's death, and though he did not openly abandon his brother-in-law the Duke of Bedford till eight years later, he was from this moment a lukewarm and suspected ally. For about a year and a half Gloucester defied all the power of Burgundy, and maintained himself in Hainault; but then want of money, and a jealousy of his uncle Beaufort, induced him to return to England. His departure was fatal to the interests of his wife: Valenciennes, Condé, and Bouchain opened their gates to Duke Philip; and Jacqueline was besieged in Mons, the citizens of which soon delivered her up to the duke, who committed her to a close imprisonment in his palace at Ghent.' rite in his bed. But the young duke chose a new confident, and continued to be ruled by a set of vulgar servants; and the court was continually disgraced by domestic broils. On an unlucky day the young duke, by the advice of his favourite, drove away all the ladies that waited upon his wife, and exiled them to Holland. On this insult, Jacqueline withdrew to Valenciennes, and thence to Calais, where the English received her with great honour. From Calais she passed over to England, and sought an asylum and the protection of the court. This was in 1421, while Henry V. was still living; and at the end of that year she was residing in great friendship with Henry's wife Catherine at Windsor Castle. Jac-plied by giving Gloucester the lie, and defying queline had not been long in England when she became enamoured of the king's brother, the Duke of Gloucester; and the duke, rather out of ambition than affection, proposed himself as her husband. Here another dispensation was necessary. On applying to Pope Martin V. it was found that he had been applied to by the powerful princes of the house of Burgundy, and was not disposed to annul the marriage with the Duke of Brabant, although Jacqueline alleged that she had been driven into that union by deceit and force. But it happened that there was another pope living; for Benedict XIII. would not submit to the decision of the council of Constance, and he readily enough granted a dispensation to the duchess. Jacqueline then married the Duke of Gloucester; on which the duke claimed as his own Hainault, Holland, and Zealand-all the states, castles, and towns which his wife inherited from her father. For some time no open measures were adopted for the recovery of Jacqueline's patrimony; and the Duke of Bedford, who had married the Duke of Burgundy's sister, contrived to keep that prince in apparent good humour, though in reality Philip had many misgivings, and intrigued under-hand long before venturing upon any overt act. A few weeks after the great battle of Verneuil, Gloucester and Jacqueline, with an English army of 5000 or 6000 men, landed at Calais; and, contrary to the advice of Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, and in spite of the earnest representations of the Regent Bedford, these two ardent spirits led their forces through the territories of the Duke of Burgundy, and fell upon his cousin, the Duke of Brabant, in Hainault. At this time Jacqueline's uncle, John, ex-Bishop of Liége, died, Gloucester's return to England was attended and she was accused of having induced some of by other disastrous circumstances. His quarrel her partizans to poison him. Gloucester and his with Beaufort rose to such a height that a civil daring wife soon got possession of Mons, the capi-war seemed imminent; and the Duke of Bedford tal of Hainault, where a strong party declared for was obliged to leave France at a very critical her. At first the Duke of Burgundy thought moment, and come over to London at the end of that Gloucester was coming to reinforce his brother in France; but when he knew the direction 1 Monstrelet; P. Henin; Barante. |