At Agincourt

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"The king was pleased to see the force of what I urged. As far as I had
inclinations in the case, they were towards the cause, not of Burgundy
himself, whose murder of Orleans was alike treacherous and indefensible,
but of his cause, seeing that Flanders is wholly under his authority, and
that in Artois he is well-nigh paramount at present. On the other hand,
Amiens and Ponthieu, which lie but a short distance to the south of me,
are strongly Orleanist, and I have therefore every motive for standing
aloof. So far the fortune of war has been so changeable that one cannot
say that the chances incline towards one faction more than the other. Even
the Church has failed to bring about the end of the troubles. The
Orleanists have been formally placed under interdicts, and cursed by book,
bell, and candle. The king's commands have been laid upon all to put aside
their quarrels, but both the ban of the Church and the king's commands
have been ineffectual. I am as anxious as ever to abstain from taking any
part in the trouble, the more so as the alliance between our king and
Burgundy has cooled somewhat. But I have received such urgent prayers from
my vassals at Villeroy to come among them, since they are now being
plundered by both parties, that I feel it is time for me to take up my
abode there. When the king stayed at Winchester, a month since, I laid the
matter before him. He was pleased to say that what I had urged a year ago
had turned out to be as I foretold, and that he would give me leave to go
over and establish myself at Villeroy, and to hold myself aloof from both
parties until the matter should further ripen. What will come of it I
cannot say. The English king seemed to me to be ailing, and I fear that it
may not be long before young Henry comes to the throne. He is a wild young
prince, but has already shown himself in the Northern war to be full of
spirit and courage, and methinks that when he comes to the throne he will
not long observe the peaceful policy of his father, but that we shall see
the royal standard once again spread to the winds of France."

"But, Sir Eustace," Guy said, when he had concluded, "how do these matters
affect you? I thought that by the treaty the west part of Artois was
English."

"Ay, lad, it was so settled; but at that time the strength of France had
been broken at Poitiers, and the Black Prince and his army were so feared
that his terms were willingly accepted in order to secure peace. Much has
happened since then: war has been constantly going on, sometimes hotly,
sometimes sluggishly; France has had her own troubles, and as the English
kings have been more pacific, and England has become weary of bearing the
heavy expenses of the war, the treaty has become a dead letter. Gascony,
in which province Armagnac is the greatest lord, is altogether lost to
England, as is the greater part of Guienne. A great proportion of the
people there were always bitterly opposed to the change, and, as you know,
even in the time of the Black Prince himself there were great rebellions
and troubles; since then town after town and castle after castle has
declared for France, and no real efforts have ever been made by the
English to win them back again. I, who in England am an English baron,
and--so long as things go on as at present--a French noble while in
France, am in a perilous position between my two Suzerains. Were an
English army to land, I should join them, for I still hold myself to be a
vassal of the king of England, as we have been for three generations. As
to the French disputes, I fear that sooner or later I shall have to
declare in favour of one party or the other, for it will be difficult to
stand altogether aloof from these conflicts, because all men, at least all
men of condition, are well-nigh forced to take one side or the other. The
plea that I am a baron of England will be of no avail, for both sides
would turn against me and be glad of an excuse for pillaging and
confiscating my estate. At present, then, I must regard myself solely as a
French noble, for Villeroy has passed into the hands of France, just as
for a while it passed into the hands of England, and if this war goes on
we shall have to take a side."

"And to which side do your thoughts incline, Sir Eustace, if I may ask
you?"

"I love not either side, Guy, and would fain, if it could be so, that my
sword should remain in its sheath. I fear that I shall have to go with
Burgundy, for he is all-powerful in Artois; but had I been altogether free
to choose, I should have sided with Orleans. In the first place, it is
certain that the last duke was foully murdered by Burgundy, who thereby
laid the foundation for the present troubles. There were jealousies
before, as there have always been between the great nobles, but that act
forced almost all to take sides. The Dukes of Berri and Brittany, who had
been of the party of the late Duke of Burgundy, were driven by this foul
act of his son to range themselves with Orleans. Armagnac is very powerful
in the south, Berri's dukedom is in the north, that of Orleans to the
north-east. Burgundy's strength lies in his own dukedom,--which has ever
been all but independent of France,--in Flanders, in Artois, and in Paris;
thus, generally, it is the north and east of France against the south and
west. This is broadly the case, but in a civil war provinces and
countships, neighbours, ay, and families, become split up into factions,
as interest, or family ties, or the desire to increase an estate by
annexing another next to it, may influence the minds of men.

"So long as it is but a war between the great dukes and princes of France
we smaller men may hope to hold aloof, but, as it goes on, and evil deeds
are done on both sides, men's passions become heated, the spirit spreads
until every man's hand is against his neighbour, and he who joins not
against one or the other finds both ready to oppress and rob him. I should
not have cared to bring out an English following with me had we been
forced to march any distance through France; but as Villeroy is but a few
miles from the frontier, and of that distance well-nigh half is through my
own estates, we can reach the castle almost unnoticed. Once there, the
fact that I have strengthened my garrison will keep me from attack, for
either party would be chary in attacking one who can defend himself
stoutly. I was minded to leave your lady and the two younger children in
England, but in truth she begged so hard to accompany me that I could not
say her nay."

The Castle of Villeroy was somewhat larger than the one in which Guy had
been born and brought up. The plan, however, was very similar: there was
the central keep, but, whereas at home this was the dwelling-house of the
family, it was here used as a storehouse, and the apartments of the count
and countess were in the range of buildings that formed an inner court
round the keep. In point of luxury the French were in advance of the
English, and they had already begun to combine comfort with strength in
their buildings. The apartments struck Guy as being wonderfully spacious
in comparison to those with which he was accustomed. On the ground floor
of one side of the square was the banqueting-hall. Its walls were
decorated with arms and armour, the joists that supported the floor above
were carved, the windows large and spacious, for, looking as they did into
the inner court, there was no occasion for their being mere loopholes.
Above the banqueting-hall was a room where Lady Margaret sat with her
maids engaged in working at tapestry; here the priest gave such slight
instruction as was then considered necessary to Agnes and Charles; Henry
had already passed out of his hands.

Next to this room was the knight's sleeping apartment, or closet as it was
then called, a room which would now be considered of ridiculously
straitened dimensions; and close to it were the still smaller closets of
the children. Beyond were a series of guest-chambers. Another side of the
court-yard contained the apartments of the castellan, Jean Bouvard, a
sturdy soldier of long experience, and those of the other officers of the
household; the other two sides were occupied by the chapel, the kitchens,
and the offices of the servants and retainers. All these rooms were
loopholed on the side looking into the outer court. This was considerably
wider and more extensive than the one surrounding the keep. Here were the
stables, storehouses for grain and forage, and a building, just erected,
for the lodging of the English garrison. All these buildings stood against
the outer wall, so that they would afford no shelter to an enemy who had
obtained possession of the first defences and was making an attack against
the second line. The outer wall was twelve feet in thickness, and thirty
feet above the court; outside the height was considerably greater, as
there was a moat faced with stone fifteen feet deep entirely surrounding
it, and containing seven or eight feet of water.

Walls ran half across the outer court, and, from the end of these, light
wooden bridges formed a communication with the wall of the inner court, so
that in the event of the outer wall being stormed or the gates being
carried by assault, the defenders could retire to the inner defences. The
ends of these bridges rested upon irons projecting from the wall, and so
arranged that they could be instantly withdrawn when the last of the
defenders had crossed over, when the bridges would at once fall into the
court-yard below. The inner wall was twelve feet higher than the outer
one, and, like it, was provided with a crenellated battlement four feet
high; there were projecting turrets at each corner, and one in the middle
of each side.

The keep rose twenty feet higher than the wall of the inner court. The
lower portions of the cross walls of the outer court were carried on as
far as the inner wall, thereby dividing the space into four; strong gates
gave communication from one to the other. Into these could be driven the
cattle of the tenantry, and one of them contained a number of huts in
which the tenants themselves would be lodged. The court-yard facing the
entrance was the largest of the areas into which the space between the
outer and inner walls was divided, extending the whole width between the
outer walls. Here the military exercises were carried on. Along the wall,
at each side of the gate, were a range of stables for the use of the
horses of guests, with rooms over them for the use of their retainers.
There was a strong exterior work defending the approach to the drawbridge
on the other side of the moat, and in all respects the castle was well
appointed, and to Guy it seemed almost impossible that it could be carried
by assault, however numerous the foe.

CHAPTER II

TROUBLES IN FRANCE

As soon as it was heard that the lord and lady had returned, the vassals
of Villeroy came in to pay their respects, and presents of fowls, game,
and provisions of all kinds poured in. The table in the banqueting-hall
was bountifully spread, casks of wine broached, and all who came received
entertainment. As French was still spoken a good deal at the English court
and among the nobles and barons, and was considered part of the necessary
education of all persons of gentle blood, Guy, who had always used it in
his conversation with his father, had no difficulty in performing his duty
of seeing that the wants of all who came were well attended to. In a few
days guests of higher degree came in, the knights and barons of that part
of the province; a few of these expressed surprise at the height of the
sturdy men-at-arms and archers loitering about the court-yard. Sir Eustace
always answered any remarks made on the subject by saying, "Yes, Dame
Margaret and I thought that instead of keeping all our retainers doing
nothing in our castle in England, where there is at present no use
whatever for their services, we might as well bring a couple of score of
them over here. I have no wish to take part in any of the troubles that
seem likely to disturb France, but there is never any saying what may
happen, and at any rate it costs no more to feed these men here than in
England."

The English archers and men-at-arms were well satisfied with their
quarters and food, and were soon on good terms with their French
associates. The garrison, before their arrival, had consisted of fifty
men-at-arms, and although these had no means of communicating verbally
with the new arrivals, they were not long in striking up such acquaintance
as could be gained by friendly gestures and the clinking of wine-cups.
Their quarters were beside those of the English, and the whole of the men-
at-arms daily performed their exercises in the court-yard together, under
the command of the castellan, while the archers marched out across the
drawbridge and practised shooting at some butts pitched there. To the
French men-at-arms their performances appeared astounding. The French had
never taken to archery, but the cross-bow was in use among them, and half
of the French men-at-arms had been trained in the use of this weapon,
which was considered more valuable in the case of sieges than of warfare
in the field. While they were able to send their bolts as far as the
bowmen could shoot their arrows, there was no comparison whatever in point
of accuracy, and the archers could discharge a score of arrows while the
cross-bowmen were winding up their weapons.

"_Pardieu_, master page," Jean Bouvard said one day as he stood with
Guy watching the shooting of the archers, "I no longer wonder at the way
in which you English defeated us at Cressy and Poitiers. I have heard from
my father, who fought at Poitiers, how terrible was the rain of arrows
that was poured upon our knights when they charged up the hill against the
English, but I had never thought that men could shoot with such skill and
strength. It was but yesterday that I set my men-at-arms to try and bend
one of these English bows, and not one of them could draw an arrow
anywhere near the head with all their efforts; while these men seem to do
so with the greatest ease, and the speed with which they can shoot off
arrow after arrow well-nigh passes belief. That tall fellow, who is their
chief, but now sent twenty arrows into a space no greater than a hand's-
breadth, at a hundred and twenty yards, and that so quickly that he scarce
seemed to take time to aim at all, and the others are well-nigh as
skilful. Yesterday I put up a breastplate such as is worn by our men-at-
arms and asked them to shoot at it at eighty yards. They fired a volley
together at it. It was riddled like a colander; not one of the five-and-
twenty arrows had failed to pierce it."

"Ay, at that distance, Captain, an English archer of fair skill could not
miss it, and it needs Milan armour, and that of the best, to keep out
their arrows."

"By our Lady," the captain remarked, "I should be sorry to attack a castle
defended by them, and our lord has done well indeed to bring them over
with him. Your men-at-arms are stalwart fellows. My own men feel well-nigh
abashed when they see how these men take up a stone that they themselves
can with difficulty lift from the ground, and hurl it twenty yards away;
and they whirl their heavy axes round their heads as if they were reeds."

"They are all picked men," Guy said with a laugh. "You must not take it
that all Englishmen are of equal strength, though no doubt Sir Eustace
could have gathered five hundred as strong had he wished it."

"If that be so," the captain said, "I can well believe that if France and
England meet again on a field of battle France shall be beaten as she was
before. However, there is one comfort, we shall not be among the defeated;
for our lord, and his father and his grandfather before, him, have ever
been with England, and Sir Eustace, having an English wife and mother, and
being a vassal of the English crown for his estates in England, will
assuredly take their part in case of a quarrel. Of course, at present we
hold ourselves to be neutrals, and though our lord's leanings towards
England give some umbrage to his neighbours, their enmity finds no
expression, since for years now there has been no righting to speak of
between the two nations. How it will be if Orleans and Burgundy come to
blows I know not; but if they do so, methinks our lord will have to
declare for one or the other, or he may have both upon him. A man with
broad estates, on which many cast covetous eyes, can scarce stand
altogether aloof. However, if Villeroy is attacked, methinks that with the
following Sir Eustace has brought with him across the sea even Burgundy
himself will find that it would cost him so dearly to capture the castle
that it were best left alone."

"How about the vassals?"

"They will fight for their lord," Jean Bouvard answered confidently. "You
see their fathers and grandfathers fought under the Black Prince, and it
is natural that their leanings should be on that side. Then they know that
there is no better lord in all Artois than Sir Eustace, and his dame has
made herself much beloved among them all. There is no fear that they will
disobey our lord's orders whatever they be, and will fight as he bids
them, for Orleans or Burgundy, England or France. He has never exercised
to the full his rights of seigneur; he has never called upon them for
their full quota of work; no man has even been hung on his estate for two
generations save for crime committed; no vassal's daughter has ever been
carried into the castle. I tell you there is not a man for over fifty
miles round who does not envy the vassals of Villeroy, and this would be a
happy land indeed were all lords like ours. Were we to hoist the flag on
the keep and fire a gun, every man on the estate would muster here before
sunset, and would march against the King of France himself did Sir Eustace
order them to do so."

"In that case what force could we put on the walls, Captain?"

"Two hundred men besides the garrison, and we have provisions stored away
in the keep sufficient for them and their women and children for a three
months' siege. Sir Eustace gave me orders yesterday to procure wood of the
kind used for arrows, and to lay in a great store of it; also to set the
smiths to work to make arrow-heads. I asked him how many, and he said,
'Let them go on at it until further orders. I should like a store
sufficient at least for a hundred rounds for each of these English
archers, and if we had double that it would be all the better. They can
make their own arrows if they have suitable wood.' It seemed to me that
two hundred rounds was beyond all necessity, but now when I see that these
men can shoot nigh twenty rounds a minute, I can well understand that a
great supply for them is needful."

The time passed very pleasantly at Villeroy. Sometimes Guy rode with his
lord and lady when they went out hawking or paid visits to neighbouring
castles. Regularly every day they practised for two hours in arms, and
although well instructed before, Guy gained much additional skill from the
teaching of Jean Bouvard, who was a famous swordsman. The latter was
surprised at finding that the page was able to draw the English bows as
well as the archers, and that, although inferior to Long Tom and three or
four of the best shots, he was quite as good a marksman as the majority.
Moreover, though of gentle blood he would join with the men in their bouts
of quarter-staff, and took no more heed of a broken head than they did.

[Illustration: GUY HAS HIS HEAD BOUND UP AFTER A BOUT AT QUARTER-STAFF.]

"_Pardieu_, master page," he said one day when Guy came in from the
court-yard to have his head, which was streaming with blood, bound up,
"our French pages would marvel indeed if they saw you. They all practise
in arms as you do, save with the shooting; but they would consider it
would demean them sorely to join in such rough sports with their
inferiors, or to run the risk of getting their beauty spoiled by a rough
blow. No wonder your knights strike so mightily in battle when they are
accustomed to strike so heavily in sport. I saw one of your men-at-arms
yesterday bury his axe to the very head in a block of oak; he wagered a
stoup of wine that no two of my men-at-arms would get the axe out, and he
won fairly, for indeed it took four of the knaves at the handle to tug it
out, and then indeed it needed all their strength. No armour ever forged
could have withstood such a blow; it-would have cracked both the casque
and the skull inside like egg-shells. It seemed to me that a thousand such
men, with as many archers, could march through France from end to end, if
they kept well together, and were well supplied with meat and drink by the
way--they would need that, for they are as good trenchermen as they are
fighters, and indeed each man amongst them eats as much as three of my
fellows."

"Yes, they want to be well fed," Guy laughed, "and they are rarely pleased
with the provision that you make for them; surely not one of them ever fed
so well before."

"Food does not cost much," the captain said; "we have herds of our own
which run half wild on the low ground near the river, which our lords
always keep in hand for their own uses, and they multiply so fast that
they are all the better for thinning; we sell a few occasionally, but they
are so wild that it scarce pays the trouble of driving them to the nearest
market, and we are always ready to grant permission to any of the vassals,
whose cattle have not done as well as usual, to go out and kill one or two
for meat."

"I hear from the Governor of Calais," Sir Eustace said, when he returned
from a visit to that town, "that a truce has been agreed upon between
England and France for a year; it is France who asked for it, I suppose.
Both parties here wanted to be able to fight it out without interference.
Here, in Artois, where the Burgundians are most numerous, they will
profit, as they will have no fear of England trying to regain some of her
lost territory, while in the south it will leave Armagnac and his friends
equally free from English incursions from Guienne."

"And how will it affect us, Eustace?" his wife asked.

"That I have not been able fully to determine. At any rate they will have
no excuse for attacking us upon the ground that we are partly English, and
wholly so in feeling; but upon the other hand, if we are attacked either
by Burgundians or Orleanists, we cannot hope, as we should have done
before, for aid from Calais, lying as we do some fifteen miles beyond the
frontier. Amiens has already declared for Burgundy, in spite of the fact
that a royal proclamation has been issued, and sent to every town and
bailiwick through France, strictly commanding all persons whatsoever not
to interfere, or in any manner to assist the Dukes of Orleans or Burgundy
in their quarrels with each other. I hear that the Duke of Burgundy has
seized Roye, Nesle, and Ham, and a number of other places, and that both
parties are fortifying all their towns. They say, too, that there is news
that the king has again been seized with one of his fits of madness.
However, that matters little. He has of late been a tool in the hands of
Burgundy, and the royal signature has no weight one way or the other.
However, now that hostilities have begun, we must lose no time, for at any
moment one party or the other may make a sudden attack upon us. Burgundy
and Orleans may quarrel, but it is not for love of one or the other that
most of the nobles will join in the fray, but merely because it offers
them an opportunity for pillaging and plundering, and for paying off old
scores against neighbours. Guy, bid John Harpen come hither."

When the esquire entered, Sir Eustace went on:

"Take two men-at-arms, John, and ride round to all the tenants. Warn them
that there are plundering bands about, and that either the Burgundians or
the Orleanists may swoop down upon us any day. Tell them that they had
better send in here all their valuables, and at any rate the best of their
cattle and horses, and to have everything prepared for bringing in their
wives and families and the rest of their herds at a moment's notice. You
can say that if they like they can at once send their wives and families
in, with such store of grain and forage as they can transport; the more
the better. If the plunderers come, so much the more is saved from
destruction; if we are besieged, so much the more food have we here. Those
who do not send in their families would do well to keep a cart with two
strong horses ready day and night, so that no time would be lost when they
get the signal. We shall fire a gun, hoist the flag, and light a bonfire
on the keep, so that they may see the smoke by day or the fire by night.
Tell Jean Bouvard to come to me."

"There is trouble afoot, Jean, and at any moment we may be attacked. Place
two men-at-arms on each of the roads to St. Omer, St. Pol, and Bethune.
Post them yourself at the highest points you can find near our boundary.
By each have a pile of faggots, well smeared with pitch, and have another
pile ready on the keep, and a watch always stationed there. He is to light
it at once when he sees smoke or fire from either of the three points. Let
the men at the outposts be relieved every four hours. They must, of
course, be mounted. Let one of the two remain by the faggots, and let the
other ride three or four miles in advance, and so post himself as to see a
long distance down the road.

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