At Agincourt

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In fact, preparations were being already made for it. A French embassy of
nobles and knights, with three hundred and fifty horsemen, had come over,
and, after passing through London, had gone to Winchester, and there met
the king and his great lords. The Archbishop of Bourges, who was their
spokesman, at once set forth that the king could not hand over so large a
portion of his kingdom, but that he would give with his daughter large
estates in France, together with a great sum in ready money. This offer
was refused, and preparations for war went on in both countries. France
was, indeed, but in poor condition to defend itself, for the Duke of
Aquitaine had seriously angered both parties. He had made a pretext to get
the great lords to ride out from Paris, he being with them; but he had
secretly returned, and had ordered the gates to be closed, had called the
citizens to arms, and had resumed the supreme authority of the realm.

Having done this, he sent his wife, Burgundy's daughter, to a castle at a
distance, and surrounding himself with young nobles as reckless and
dissipated as himself, led a life of disorder, squandering money on his
pleasures, and heavily taxing the city for his wants. The Duke of
Burgundy, indignant at the treatment of his daughter, sent an ambassador
to demand that she should be taken back, and that all the persons, five
hundred in number, who had been exempted from the terms of the treaty,
should be allowed to return to Paris. Both requests were refused, and the
consequence was that the Duke of Burgundy, with his partisans, returned to
his own country in deep anger; he would take no part in the war against
the English, although he permitted his vassals to do so.

In July the English levies gathered at Southampton. The king was to have
embarked immediately, and a great fleet had been collected for the
purpose; but, as he was on the point of sailing, Henry obtained news of a
plot against his life on the part of Sir Thomas Grey, Lord Scroop, and
Richard, Earl of Cambridge, the king's cousin. As Scroop was in constant
attendance upon the king and slept in his room, the conspirators had
little doubt that their purpose could be carried out, their intention
being to proclaim the Earl of March king, and to summon assistance from
Scotland. The three conspirators were tried by a jury and were all found
guilty. Grey was beheaded, but his companions claimed to be tried again by
their peers. No time was lost in carrying out the trial; all the lords
assembled at Southampton were called together, and, after hearing the
evidence, at once found the two nobles guilty, and they were immediately
beheaded.

Orders were then given for the embarkation. Sir Eustace had brought with
him thirty archers and as many men-at-arms, and, as they were waiting on
the strand for the boats that were to take them out to the ships to which
they had been appointed, the king, who was personally superintending the
operations, rode past. Sir Eustace saluted him.

"Is this your following, Sir Eustace?" the king asked.

"It is, my lord king, and would that it were larger. Had we landed at
Calais I should have been joined by another fifty stout Englishmen from
Villeroy, and should we in our marches pass near it I will draw them to
me. Your majesty asked me to present to you my esquire, Guy Aylmer, who,
as I had the honour of telling you, showed himself a brave and trusty
gentleman, when, during the troubles, he was in Paris with my wife. Step
forward, Guy!"

The latter did so, saluted the king, and stood erect in military attitude.

"You have begun well," the king said graciously; "and I hereby request
your lord that in the day of battle he will permit you to fight near me,
and if you bear yourself as well when righting for your king as you did
when looking after your lady mistress, you shall have your share of
honours as well as of blows."

The king then rode on, and Sir Eustace and Guy took their places in a boat
where the men had already embarked.

"This is something like, Master Guy," said Long Tom, who was in command of
the archers. "It was well indeed that I asked to come home to England when
I did, else had I been now mewed up at Villeroy while my lord was righting
the French in the open field. Crecy was the last time an English king
commanded an army in battle against France; think you that we shall do as
well this time?"

"I trust so, Tom; methinks we ought assuredly not to do worse. It is true
that the French have been having more fighting of late than we have, but
the nobles are less united now than they were then, and are likely to be
just as headstrong and incautious as they were at Crecy. I doubt not that
we shall be greatly outnumbered, but numbers go for little unless they are
well handled. The Constable d'Albrett is a good soldier, but the nobles,
who are his equals in rank, will heed his orders but little when their
blood is up and they see us facing them. We may be sure, at any rate, that
we shall be well led, for the king has had much experience against the
Scotch and Welsh, and has shown himself a good leader as well as a brave
fighter. I hope, Tom, that you have by this time come to be well
accustomed to your new bow."

"That have I. I have shot fourscore arrows a day with it from the time I
reached home, not even omitting my wedding day, and I think that now I
make as good shooting with it as I did with my old one. 'Tis a pity we are
not going to Calais; if we had been joined by thirty archers there we
should have made a brave show, and more than that, they would have done
good service, for they are picked men. A few here may be as good, but not
many. You see when we last sailed with our lord the times were peaceful,
and we were able to gather the best shots for fifty miles round, but now
that the king and so many of the nobles are all calling for archers we
could not be so particular, and have had to take what we could get; still,
I would enlist none who were not fair marksmen."

This conversation took place as they were dropping down Southampton
waters. Their destination was known to be Harfleur, which, as it was
strongly fortified and garrisoned, was like to offer a sturdy resistance.
The fleet was a great one, consisting of from twelve to fourteen hundred
sail, which the king had collected from all the ports of England and
Ireland, or hired from Holland and Friesland. The army consisted of six
thousand five hundred horsemen and twenty-four thousand footmen of all
kinds. On the 13th of August the fleet anchored in the mouth of the Seine,
three miles from Harfleur. The operation of landing the great army and
their horses occupied three days, the French, to the surprise of all,
permitting the operation to be carried on without let or hindrance,
although the ground was favourable for their attacks, As soon as the
landing was effected the army took up its position so as to prevent any
supplies from entering the town. They had with them an abundance of
machines for battering the walls, and these were speedily planted, and
they began their work.

The garrison had been reinforced by four hundred knights and picked men-
at-arms, and fought with great determination and valour, making several
sorties from the two gates of the town. There were, however, strong bodies
of troops always stationed near to guard the engines from such attacks,
and the French sorties were not only repulsed, but their knights had much
difficulty in winning their way back to the town. The enemy were unable to
use their cannon to much effect, for a large supply of gunpowder sent by
the French king was, on the day after the English landed, captured on its
way into the town. The besiegers lost, however, a good many men from the
crossbowmen who manned the walls, although the English archers endeavoured
to keep down their shooting by a storm of arrows. The most formidable
enemy, however, that the English had to contend with was dysentery,
brought on by the damp and unhealthy nature of the ground upon which they
were encamped. No less than two thousand men died, and a vastly larger
number were so reduced by the malady that they were useless for fighting.
The siege, however, was carried on uninterruptedly. The miners who had
been brought over drove two galleries under the walls, and the gates were
so shattered by stones and cannon-balls that they scarce hung together.

The garrison surrendered after having by the permission of the English
king sent a messenger to the King of France, who was at Vernon, to say
that unless they were succoured within three days they must surrender, as
the town was already at the mercy of the English, and received for answer
that no army was as yet gathered that could relieve them.

In addition to the ravages of dysentery the English army had suffered much
from want of food. Large bodies of French troops were gathered at Rouen
and other places, and when knights and men-at-arms went out to forage,
they fell upon them and drove them back. Still a large amount of booty was
gathered, together with enough provisions to afford a bare subsistence to
the army. A considerable amount of booty was also obtained when Harfleur
fell. The greater portion of the inhabitants of the town were forced to
leave it, the breaches in the walls were repaired and new gates erected. A
portion of the treasure obtained was divided by the king among the troops.
The prisoners and the main portion of the booty--which, as Harfleur was
the chief port of Normandy, and indeed of all the western part of France,
was very great--he sent direct to England, together with the engines of
war. The sick and ailing were then embarked on ships, with a considerable
fighting force under the Earl of Warwick. They were ordered to touch at
Calais, where the fighting-men were to be landed and the sick carried
home, and Henry then prepared to march to Calais by land.

CHAPTER XIX

AGINCOURT

The English king waited some time for an answer to a challenge he had sent
to the Duke of Aquitaine to decide their quarrel by single combat; but
Aquitaine cared more for pleasure than for fighting, and sent no answer to
the cartel. It was open to Henry to have proceeded by sea to Calais, and
it was the advice of his counsellors that he should do so; but the king
declared that the French should never say that he was afraid to meet them,
and that as the country was his by right he would march wherever he
pleased across it; and so, after leaving a thousand archers and five
hundred men-at-arms under the command of the Duke of Exeter, he set out on
the 6th of October on his adventurous journey.

Accounts differ as to the number that started with him, some French
historians put it as high as 17,000, but it is certain that it could not
have exceeded nine thousand men, of whom two thousand were men-at-arms and
the rest archers. Now, while the siege of Harfleur had been going on, the
arrangements for the embarkation of the troops and stores carried out, and
the town put in a state of defence, troops had been marching from all
points of France at the command of the French king to join him at Rouen,
so that here and in Picardy two great armies were already assembled, the
latter under the command of the constable.

The English force marched by the sea-shore until it arrived at the river
Somme. No great resistance was encountered, but large bodies of the
enemy's horse hovered near and cut off all stragglers, and rendered it
difficult to obtain food, so that sickness again broke out among the
troops. On reaching the Somme Henry followed its left bank up, intending
to cross at the ford of La Blanche-Tache, across which Edward the Third
had carried his army before fighting at Crecy.

The French, as on the previous occasion, held the ford; but they this time
had erected defences on each of the banks, and had strong posts driven
into the bed of the river. Still ascending along the river bank the
English found every bridge broken and every ford fortified, while a great
body of troops marched parallel with them on the right bank of the river.
At Pont St. Remy, Ponteau de Mer, and several other points they tried in
vain to force a passage. Seven days were spent in these attempts; the
troops, suffering terrible hardships, were disheartened at their failure
to cross the river, and at finding themselves getting farther and farther
from the sea. On the morning of the 19th, however, a ford was discovered
which had not been staked. The English vanguard at once made a dash across
it, repulsed its defenders on the other bank, and the whole army with its
baggage, which was of scanty dimensions, swarmed across the river.

Sir Eustace, with his little force, now reduced to half its number, was,
as it happened, in front of the army when the ford was discovered, and,
followed by his two esquires and ten mounted men-at-arms, dashed into the
river, while the archers, slinging their bows behind them, drew their axes
and followed. For a short time there was a desperate conflict, but as
reinforcements hurried across, the fight became more even and the French
speedily gave way. When the king had crossed he thanked Sir Eustace for
his prompt action.

"Had you waited to send back for orders," he said, "the French would have
come up in such numbers that the ford would not have been won without
heavy loss, whereas by dashing across the moment it was discovered, you
took the defenders by surprise and enabled us to get over without the loss
of a single man."

The constable, disconcerted at finding that all his plans for keeping the
English on the left bank of the river were foiled, fell back to St. Pol in
Artois. Henry followed, but without haste. His small force was greatly
reduced by sickness, while by this time the whole of the royal army had
marched round and joined that of the constable. On the day after the
passage had been effected three heralds arrived in the English camp to
acquaint the king with the resolution of the constable and of the Dukes of
Orleans and Brabant to give his army battle before he reached Calais.
Henry replied that fear of them would not induce him to move out of his
way or to change the order of his march; he intended to go on straight by
the road to Calais, and if the French attempted to stop him it would be at
their peril; he accordingly continued to advance at the same rate as
before.

The constable fell back from St. Pol and took up his post between the
villages of Ruissanville and Agincourt, where, having received all the
reinforcements he expected, he determined to give battle. On the 24th the
English crossed the Ternois at Blangi, and soon afterwards came in sight
of the enemy's columns. These fell back as he advanced, and towards
evening he halted at the village of Maisoncelles, within half a mile of
the enemy's position. Fortunately provisions had been obtained during the
day's march; these were cooked and served out, and the English lay down to
sleep. The king sent for Sir Eustace.

"You know this ground well, I suppose, Sir Eustace," he said, "for your
Castle of Villeroy is not many miles distant?"

"'Tis but six miles away," the knight replied. "It is a good ground to
fight on, for facing it are fields, and on either flank of these are large
woods, so that there will be little space for the enemy to move."

"That is just what I would have," the king said. "Were they but half as
strong as they are I should feel less confident that we should defeat
them; their numbers will hinder them, and the deep wet ground will hamper
their movements. As for ourselves, I would not have a man more with me if
I could; the fewer we are the greater the glory if we conquer, while if we
are defeated the less the loss to England. Does your young esquire also
know the ground, Sir Eustace?"

"Yes, sire; he has, I know, often ridden here when hawking."

"Then let him go with four of my officers, who are about to reconnoitre
the ground and see where we had best fight."

Guy was accordingly called up and started with the officers. He first took
them up to the wood on the right of the French division, then they moved
across its front at a distance of fifty yards only from the French line.
The contrast between it and the English camp was great. In the latter all
was quiet. The men after a hearty meal had lain down to sleep, heeding
little the wet ground and falling rain, exhausted by their long marching,
and in good spirits,--desperate though the odds seemed against them,--that
they were next day to meet their foes. In the French camp all was noise
and confusion. Each body of troops had come on the ground under its own
commander, and shouts, orders, and inquiries sounded from all quarters.
Many of the Frenchmen never dismounted all the night, thinking it better
to remain on horseback than to lie down on wet ground. Great fires were
lighted and the soldiers gathered round these, warming themselves and
drinking, and calculating the ransoms to be gained by the capture of the
king and the great nobles of England. Knights and men-at-arms rode about
in search of their divisions, their horses slipping and floundering in the
deep clay.

Passing along the line of the French army Guy and the officers proceeded
to the wood on the left, and satisfied themselves that neither there nor
on the other flank had any large body of men been posted. They then
returned and made their report to the king. Guy wrapped himself in his
cloak and lay down and slept until the moon rose at three o'clock, when
the whole army awoke and prepared for the day's work. The English king
ordered the trumpeters and other musicians who had been brought with the
army to play merry tunes, and these during the three hours of darkness
cheered the spirits of the men and helped them to resist the depressing
influence of the cold night air following upon their sleep on the wet
ground. The French, on the other hand, had no manner of musical
instruments with their army, and all were fatigued and depressed by their
long vigil.

The horses had suffered as-much as the men from damp, sleeplessness, and
want of forage. There was, however, no want of confidence in the French
army--all regarded victory as absolutely certain. As the English had lost
by sickness since they left Harfleur fully a thousand men out of the
9,000, and as against these were arrayed at least a hundred thousand--some
French historians estimate them at 150,000--comprising most of the
chivalry of France, the latter might well regard victory as certain. There
were, however, some who were not so confident; among these was the old
Duke of Berri, who had fought at Poitiers sixty years before, and
remembered how confident the French were on that occasion, and how
disastrous was the defeat. His counsel that the English should be allowed
to march on unmolested to Calais, had been scouted by the French leaders,
but he had so far prevailed that the intention that Charles should place
himself at the head of the army was abandoned.

"It would be better," the duke had urged, "to lose the battle than to lose
the king and the battle together."

As soon as day broke the English were mustered and formed up, and three
masses were celebrated at different points in order that all might hear.
When this was done the force was formed up into three central divisions
and two wings, but the divisions were placed so close together that they
practically formed but one. The whole of the archers were placed in
advance of the men-at-arms. Every archer, in addition to his arms, carried
a long stake sharpened at both ends, that which was to project above the
ground being armed with a sharp tip of iron. When the archers had taken up
their positions these stakes were driven obliquely into the ground, each
being firmly thrust in with the strength of two or three men. As the
archers stood many lines deep, placed in open order and so that each could
shoot between the heads of the men in front of him, there were sufficient
stakes in front of the line to form a thick and almost impassable
_chevaux-de-frise_. The baggage and horses were sent to the rear, near the
village of Maisoncelles, under a guard of archers and men-at-arms. When
all the: arrangements were made, the king rode along the line from rank to
rank, saying a few words of encouragement to each group of men. He
recounted to them the victories that had been won against odds as great as
those they had to encounter, and told them that he had made up his own
mind to conquer or die, for that England should never have to pay ransom
for him.

The archers he fired especially by reminding them that when the Orleanists
had taken Soissons a few months before they had hung up like dogs three
hundred English archers belonging to the garrison. He told them that they
could expect no mercy, for that, as the French in other sieges had
committed horrible atrocities upon their own countrymen and countrywomen,
they would assuredly grant no mercy to the English; while the latter on
their march had burned no town nor village, and had injured neither man
nor woman, so that God would assuredly fight for them against their wicked
foes. The king's manner as much as his words aroused the enthusiasm of the
soldiers; his expression was calm, confident, and cheerful, he at least
evidently felt no doubt of the issue.

The Duke of Berri had most strongly urged on the council that the French
should not begin the attack. They had done so at Crecy and Poitiers with
disastrous effect, and he urged them to await the assault of the English.
The latter, however, had no intention of attacking, for Henry had
calculated upon the confusion that would surely arise when the immense
French army, crowded up between the two woods, endeavoured to advance. The
men were therefore ordered to sit down on the ground, and food and some
wine were served, out to them.

The constable was equally determined not to move; the French therefore
also sat down, and for some hours the two armies watched each other. The
constable had, however, some difficulty in maintaining his resolution. The
Duke of Orleans and numbers of the hot-headed young nobles clamoured to be
allowed to charge the English. He himself would gladly have waited until
joined by large reinforcements under the Duke of Brittany and the Marshal
de Loigny, who were both expected to arrive in the course of the day. As
an excuse for the delay, rather than from any wish that his overtures
should be accepted, he sent heralds to the English camp to offer Henry a
free passage if he would restore Harfleur, with all the prisoners that he
had made there and on his march, and resign his claims to the throne of
France. Henry replied that he maintained the conditions he had laid down
by his ambassadors, and that he would accept none others. He had, in fact,
no wish to negotiate, for he, too, knew that the French would very shortly
be largely reinforced, and that were he to delay his march, even for a day
or two, his army would be starved.

Perceiving at last that the constable was determined not to begin the
battle, he sent off two detachments from the rear of his army, so that
their movements should be concealed from the sight of the French. One of
these, composed of archers, was to take post in the wood on the left hand
of the French, the other was to move on through the wood, to come down in
their rear, and to set on fire some barns and houses there, and so create
a panic. He waited until noon, by which time he thought that both
detachments would have reached the posts assigned to them, and then gave
the orders for the advance. The archers were delighted when their
commander, Sir Thomas Erpingham, repeated the order. None of them had put
on his armour, and many had thrown off their jerkins so as to have a freer
use of their arms either for bow or axe. Each man plucked up his stake,
and the whole moved forward in orderly array until within bow-shot of the
enemy. Then the archers again stuck their stakes into the ground, and,
taking up their position as before, raised a mighty shout as they let fly
a volley of arrows into the enemy.

The shout was echoed from the wood on the French left, and the archers
there at once plied their bows, and from both flank and front showers of
arrows fell among the French. As originally formed up, the latter's van
should have been covered by archers and cross-bowmen, but, from the
anxiety of the knights and nobles to be first to attack, the footmen had
been pushed back to the rear, a position which they were doubtless not
sorry to occupy, remembering how at Crecy the cross--bowmen had been
trampled down and slain by the French knights, desirous of getting through
them to attack the English. Therefore, there stood none between the
archers and the French array of knights, and the latter suffered heavily
from the rain of arrows. Sir Clugnet de Brabant was the first to take the
offensive, and with twelve hundred men-at-arms charged down upon the
archers with loud shouts. The horses, however, were stiff and weary from
standing so long in order; the deep and slippery ground, and the weight of
their heavily-armed riders caused them to stagger and stumble, and the
storm of arrows that smote them as soon as they got into motion added to
the disorder.

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