II. i425. March 3. March 16. sent forces to the aid of his cousin: insulting CHAP. messages passed between him and Glocester: a challenge was given and accepted:" and the two combatants agreed to decide their quarrel on the feast of St. George in presence of the duke of Bedford, the regent. In the interval the Burgundian recalled his forces: and Glocester prepared to return to England. Notwithstanding the objections of Jacqueline, it was resolved, at the request of the inhabitants, that she should remain at Mons. She parted from the duke with tears, predicting the evils which would result from their separation. The Brabanters renewed the war; the towns of Hainault returned to the obedience of the duke; and Jacqueline was delivered to the Burgundians to be detained a captive, till the see of Rome should pronounce on the validity of her marriage. The intended duel between the two princes was never fought. In a letter to the duke of Glocester, the pontiff declared him excommunicated, if he persisted in putting his design in execution; and by a circular brief directed to all the christian princes in Europe, exhorted them not to permit the combat within their 17 On this occasion the duke of Burgundy paid a high compliment to the duke of Bedford. Si mieux vous plait, he says to his antagonist, je suis content, que nous prenons a juge mon tres cher et aimé cousin, et aussi votre beau frere le Regent duc de Bethfort-car il est tel prince que je scay, qu'a vous et a moy, et a tous autres il voudroit estre droiturier juge. Monst. ii. 20. II. July. CHAP. respective dominions. The English parliament, seconding his views, recommended that the dowager queens of France and England, with the regent, should take the quarrel into their hands; and in a council held at Paris, it was decided that the challenge had been given without sufficient cause.18 In the mean time Jacqueline was conducted by the prince of Orange to Ghent, where she bore her confinement with impatience, and exerted all her ingenuity to contrive her Sept. 1. escape. At length she dressed herself and her female attendant in male attire, mounted a horse, rode unobserved in the dusk of the evening out of one of the gates, and continued her flight till she reached in safety the borders of Holland, where she was joyfully received by her subjects. The Burgundians pursued her thither: and Holland became for two years the theatre of war. The duke of Glocester sent her five hundred men at arms, and was severely reprehended by the council: he renewed the attempt; but was prevented by his brother the regent.19 In 1426 the pope is said to have pronounced in favour of the first marriage:20 but the duke of Brabant 18 Ep. Mart. V. apud Raynald. vi. 75. Rot. Parl. iv. 277. 20 This is said by different writers. If it were true, I know not how the English government could, consistently with the agreement at Paris, continue to acknowledge her for dutchess of Glocester. Yet she is so called in two different instruments in Rymer, dated in 1427 and 1428. Rym. x. 375, 398, and in the address of the commons of 1427. Rot. Parl. iv. 318. II. died soon afterwards, and Jacqueline assumed CHAP. the title of dutchess of Glocester. The slender aid which she received from England served to defer her submission till 1428, when she was compelled to appoint the duke of Burgundy her heir, to allow him to garrison her fortresses, and to give her word that she would never marry without his consent." In the terms of this treaty she virtually acknowledged that she was not the wife of the duke of Glocester: and yet, only a few weeks before it was concluded, her interests had been espoused in England by a party of females against the neglect of her supposed husband. A lady of the name of Stokes, attended by the wives of the principal citizens of London, went to the house of Lords, and presented a petition against the duke, accusing him of having neglected his lawful wife, the dutchess Jacqueline, and of living in open adultery with Eleanor Cobham, daughter of Reginald lord Cobham of Sterborough. The beauty of Eleanor was as distinguished as her morals were dissolute. After contributing to the pleasures of different noblemen, she became acquainted with the duke, whose attachment to her was so great, that, even after his union with Jacqueline, he kept her always near his person, and took her with him in his expedition to Hainault. What answer was 22 23 21 Monstrel. ii. 37. Meyer, lib. xv. p. 310. 23 22 Stow, 369. Laquelle le dit duc par avant avoit tenue en sa compagnie certain temps, comme sa dame par amours: et avec ce avoit este dif II. CHAP. returned to the petition of these female champions in the cause of conjugal fidelity, is not known: but the duke soon afterwards, to the surprise of Europe, publicly acknowledged Cobham for his wife; and Jacqueline, in breach of her promise to her adversary, married a gentleman called Frank of Bursellen. He was immediately seized by the Burgundians, and his wife, to purchase his liberty, ceded the greater part of her dominions, retaining only an annual rent Oct. 8. for her own support. She died without issue in 1436.24 Had it not been for this unfortunate attempt of Glocester to obtain the inheritance of Jacqueline, it was pretended that the party of Charles might have been effectually crushed after the battle of Verneuil. But to defend the duke of Brabant, the duke of Burgundy withdrew his forces from the scene of action, and employed them in Hainault and Holland: and the duke of Bedford, reduced to depend on his own resources, became unable to improve the advantages which he had gained. For three years the war in France was suffered to languish: and the operations on both sides were confined to skirmishes and sieges, unimportant in their consequences to the two parties, but most disastrous to the unfortunate inhabitants. If the regent was inactive through weakness, Charles was equally so famee de aucuns autres hommes que de icelui duc. Monstrel. ii. II. Opposi tion in the council. through poverty: and if the court of the latter be- CHAP. came a scene of intrigue, dissension, and bloodshed, the council of the king of England was not less divided by the jealousy of its members, their quarrels, and their opposite interests.25 Among these the minister who bore the chief sway, both from his situation and relationship to the king, was the duke of Glocester: but he was often, and sometimes successfully, opposed in his politics by Henry Beaufort, the great bishop of Winchester. That prelate was second son to John of Ghent by Catherine Swynford, and was consequently uncle to the regent and his brother, and great uncle to the king. From the bishopric of Lincoln he had been translated to the more valuable see of Winchester; had thrice borne the high office of chancellor; had assisted at the council of Constance; and had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His frugality multiplied his riches: but they were rendered subservient to the interests of his country; and his loans to the late monarch amounted to twenty-eight, to the present king to more than eleven, thousand pounds. 25 The pontiff, as if he had foreseen the evils which followed, had on the succession of the young Henry written to the council, recommending to them above all things to live in harmony with each other, as the best means of preserving the dominions of their infant sovereign. Ad regnum hoc in rerum statu salubriter dirigendum nulla res est tantum necessaria, quantum est vestra concordia, qui reipublicæ præsidetis: vobis enim habentibus unam mentem, una voluntate regentibus, nulla accidere calamitas potest. Apud Raynald, vi. 51. 20 Rot. Parl. iv. 111. 132. 275. 277. |