I. CHAP. of Armagnac, a nobleman of distinguished talents, and approved intrepidity. Anxious to signalize his entry into office with the recovery of Harfleur, he obstinately rejected every proposal for a truce, drew lines round the town, and with a fleet of French ships, and Genoese carracks, blockaded the harbour. The earl of Dorset, who commanded in Harfleur, earnestly solicited a supply of troops and provisions: and Henry himself would have sailed to the relief of his first conquest, had he not been restrained by the remonstrances of Sigismund, who deemed it an enterprise of less consequence than to require the presence of the sovereign. The Duke of Bedford accepted the command: and after a rough and dilatory passage reached the mouth of the Seine. At sunset the captains of the fleet were summoned on board the Admiral's vessel the lights, which he displayed during the night, kept the ships together and in the morning they bore down on the enemy. It was found that the loftiest of the English vessels did not reach to the upper decks of the Genoese by more than a spear's length: but the deficiency was supplied by the native courage of the combatants, who climbed up the sides, boarded the enemy, and made themselves masters of the carracks. Most of the French ships had previously struck a few escaped up the river; and Harfleur was relieved.53 Aug. 14, Aug. 15. 53 Liv. 24-26. Elm. 77-83, Otterb. 278. Monstrel, i, 239. 1. ence at France still continued to present the same CHAP. lamentable scene of confusion. The two parties ardently sought the extinction of each other: Conferand as long as the Armagnacs maintained their Calais. ascendency in the councils of Charles, the duke of Burgundy was urged by the motive of selfpreservation to seek a counterpoise in the friendship of Henry. During the last campaign he had forbidden his vassals to serve in the French army according to the summons from their sovereign and had allowed his county of Flanders to be declared neutral, for the advantage of the commercial intercourse between the natives and England: but he had cautiously abstained from entering into engagements with Henry, or lending assistance to the invading army. In the present year a continual correspondence was maintained between the two courts. The ostensible object was the regulation of trade: the real cause, the desire of each prince to derive advantage from the personal quarrel of the other. In the beginning of September the king Sept. 4. of England, the emperor, who had concluded an alliance with his host, and had been enrolled a knight of the garter, and the count of Hainault, repaired to Calais: where they were met according to appointment by the Burgundian. This congress surprised and alarmed the French ministers: nor could their envoys, who attended 54 Rym. ix, 377–382. ct 3. I. CHAP. under pretence of soliciting a truce, discover the secret designs of the four powers. Men would not believe that they had assembled, as it was given out, for the sole purpose of deliberating on the state of the church, and the means of extinguishing the schism: and it was whispered that the duke, through enmity to the Armagnacs, had claimed the protection of Henry; had formally acknowledged his claim to the French crown; and had done homage to him for Burgundy and Alost. The French cabinet gave full credit to the report; and to mark their abhorrence of his conduct, ordered the Burgundian prelates and envoys at Constance to be excluded from the meetings of the French nation but there is reason to think, that the duke was calumniated; and that, if such proposals were made to him at Calais, he rejected them as incompatible with his interests, or his honour.5 Parties in 55 From the congress Henry returned to England to obtain supplies from his parliament, and 55 Rym. ix. 397. 401. 436. Monst. i. 240. That such propoşals were made, appears from the protocol of a treaty preserved by Rymer, in which the duke was made to say, that though he formerly doubted, he was now convinced of Henry's right to the French crown; to promise that he would do him homage, as soon as he should have conquered a notable portion of France; and to engage to make war on A. B. C. if they should oppose the king's pretensions. This, though no more than a draught of a treaty without date or signature, shews what was demanded from him. See Rym. ix. 395, 396. I. to make preparation for a second expedition. CHAP. Sigismund proceeded through Dordrecht to Constance, to support by his presence the prelates, who sought by the deposition of the contending pontiffs, to restore the peace of the church. The duke of Burgundy retired to put in execution the plans which he had formed for his own aggrandizement, but which he had carefully concealed from Henry. At Valenciennes he met the second son of the king of France, who, on the death of his elder brother, had assumed the title of Dauphin. The two princes instantly swore eternal friendship to each other: the dauphin engaged to unite with the duke in removing the Armagnacs from the administration; the duke to assist the dauphin in his opposition to the claim of the king of England. But this union was speedily dissolved by the unexpected death of the young prince : and the moment that event was known, his unprincipled mother, Isabel of Bavaria, was arrested by order of her husband, stripped of her treasures, and sent a captive to the city of Tours. The duke seized the opportunity to send a circular letter to all the towns and cities in France. He charged his opponents with having administered poison to the dauphin; attributed to their rapacity and ambition all the evils which afflicted the kingdom; and claimed the aid of every good Frenchman to reform the government, and punish the traitors. At the head I. CHAP. of sixty thousand cavalry he marched towards Paris. Many cities and towns opened their gates through fear of his resentment: by others he was welcomed as a saviour of his country: but the Armagnacs defied his power from the walls of the capital, and quelled the efforts of his partisans within the city. Isabel had been hitherto his bitterest enemy: her captivity taught her to solicit his assistance, and to offer her co-operation against the men who were equally enemies of them both. Early one morning, under pretence of devotion, she prevailed on her keepers to accompany her to a church in the suburbs of Tours: in a few minutes she was in the hands of her deliverer, the duke himself, who during the night had arrived with eight hundred men at arms in a neighbouring forest. She immediately assumed the title of regent during the malady of the king, and by proclamation appointed the duke of Burgundy her lieutenant.5 56 The king lands in Normandy. Aug. 1. This rapid view of the state of parties in France was necessary to explain the conduct, and subsequent success of the king of England. When the Burgundian commenced his march towards Paris, Henry landed without opposition on the coast of Normandy. But the failure of his former attempt had taught him to pursue a different policy. He no longer sought to irritate |