years, 1 Rouen. 1446. Jan. equal to ten years' value of the lands which they had lost. At the same time a protestation was made, that Henry did not resign his right to the sovereignty of the province, but only its actual possession, on condition that the revenue might be enjoyed by René and Charles of Anjou, the father and uncle of his queen. Maine was soon filled with French troops, and the The loss of duke of Somerset, alarmed at their approach, represented by his envoys to the king in parliament, that almost every fortress under his command had been suffered to fall into ruins: that the three estates of Normandy had, under the plea of poverty, refused any aid; and that, unless speedy and plentiful assistance were furnished from England, the province would in all probability be lost 2. Charles, however, did not allow his adversaries time to furnish such assistance. It chanced that the soldiers, who had withdrawn from the ceded territory, finding themselves without quarters and without subsistence, surprised and pillaged Fougeres, a town in Bretagne. Somerset, aware of the consequences, hastened to disavow the act; and Charles, with equal promptitude, demanded instant and satisfactory reparation. As, however, such reparation would have deprived him of a decent pretext for war before the end of the armistice, he was careful to estimate the damages at one million six hundred thousand crowns, a sum which he knew could not be raised, While the English envoys were offering excuses and May 16. remonstrances, Pont de l'Arche, a fortress within twelve miles of Rouen, was surprised by a small band of ad D July 29. venturers shortly afterwards Verneuil was gained in the same manner; and the French officers eagerly displayell their loyalty by the most hazardous, and often successful, entreprises. Soon the main army arrived, under the celebrated count de Dunois, commonly called the bastard of Orleans; and within two months one half of Normandy was in his possession. The duke of Somerset, surrounded with disaffection and treason, unable to face the enemy in the field, and forbidden to hope for assistance from England, was compelled to shut himself up in the capital, and to behold from the walls of the castle the fall of the fortresses around him. Encouraged by his correspondents within the city, Dunois approached with his army: at the end of three Oct. 16. days he decamped : was recalled by his friends; and had the satisfaction to see the walls scaled by his men between two towers, which had been intrusted to the care of the citizens. Rouen would that day have been taken, had not Talbot hastened with his banner to the spot, hurled the enemy into the ditch, and put the guards to the sword. But a garrison of twelve hundred men could not protect an extensive and populous city against a powerful army without, and a still more dangerous enemy within. The duke with a guard of sixty men was surrounded in the street by more than eight hundred armed citizens; who extorted his assent to their proposal of treating with Charles. It was agreed between the archbishop and the king, that Rouen should open its gates, that the English should retire with all their effects, and that such as should prefer it might remain unmolested. The duke, however, refused these terms; and was besieged by the citizens and the French troops in the citadel. After two fruitless attempts Oct. 18. to obtain the conditions which had been rejected, he consented to pay fifty-six thousand francs; to surrender Nov. 4. most of the fortresses in the district of Caux for his ransom and that of his companions; and to deliver Talbot and several other knights as hostages for the faithful performance of his engagements.' mandy. 1450. At length, the English ministry made a feeble attempt Of all Norto succour the duke, who had fixed his head quarters at Caen and Sir Thomas Kyriel, having landed with three thousand men, and drawn about an equal number from the neighbouring garrisons, marched forward to join that commander. But near Fourmigny he was intercepted by the earl of Clermont; and after a contest April 18. of three hours his men were alarmed by the arrival of a new army under the constable of France. Some saved themselves by flight: the rest, after a bloody resistance, were either slain or made prisoners. As this was the first victory which, for many years, had been gained over the English in the open field, the account was industriously circulated throughout France, and was every where received with the loudest acclamations of joy. Avranches, Bayeux, Valogne, immediately opened their gates: the duke was besieged in Caen : the town', after several breaches had been made, surrendered; and a capitulation was concluded for the citadel, unless it were relieved within a certain period. Cherburgh alone remained to the English: it was taken after a short siege and within the space of a year and Aug. 12. six days, Normandy, with its seven bishopricks, and one hundred fortresses, was entirely recovered by the French monarch. 2 : 'Monstrel. iii. 10-21. Hall, 163, 164. Will. Wyrcest. 465. 2 Monstrel. iii. 21–32. Hall, 165, 166. Will. Wyrcest. 469. June 5. * July 1. Charles, however, was not satisfied with the conquest of Normandy: the moment Cherburgh surrendered, his army began its march towards Guienne. The inhabitants were by principle attached to the descendant of their ancient dukes: but the absence of suc cour, and the pressure of immediate danger, induced the most opulent to submit, as the only means of preserving their honours and property. Not a man was sent from England for the protection of the dutchy: not a battle was fought to expel the invaders : not a governor defended his charge against the enemy. Uniformly each fortress, as soon as a respectable force made its appearance, was surrendered. Before Christmas all the territory on the banks of the Dordogne had fallen into the possession of Charles: by the following August the French banner waved in triumph, from the mouth of the Garonne to the very borders of Spain. When nothing but Calais remained to England, Charles offered to treat of peace. The proposal was rejected with an idle threat, that Henry would never sheath his sword, till he should have reconquered all that had been lost. The public mind had been sufficiently exasperated by the cession of Maine and Anjou : but when that cession was followed by the invasion of Normandy; when each messenger brought fresh accounts of the rapid progress of the enemy; every tongue was employed in bewailing the fallen glory of England, and every place resounded with cries of vengeance on the head of the minister. He was described as the queen's minion, who, to please a foreign mistress, did not hesitate to betray his sovereign, and to sacrifice the inheritance of the Monstrel. iii. 32-38. Hall, 161, 162. I po crown. To him were attributed the release of the duke of Orleans, the death of the duke of Glocester, the verty of the treasury, and all the calamities that had befallen the English arms on the continent. In this state of public opinion a parliament was called to provide for the defence of Normandy: but it had hardly Nov. 6. assembled when the news of the loss of Rouen arrived to inflame the discontents of the people, and to multiply the embarrassments of the government. Six weeks were spent in violent but useless altercation and nothing more was concluded before the holidays than to send sir Thomas Kyriel with a small force to the aid of the duke of Somerset. But during the recess two events occurred which foreboded the ruin of Suffolk. One evening William Tailbois was discovered lurking Dec. 24. with several armed men near the door of the council chamber. It was in vain that the favourite took him under his protection. He was committed to the Tower at the requisition of the lord Cromwell, the most active among the enemies of the minister; was tried on a charge of plotting the death of that nobleman, and condemned to pay him damages to the amount of three thousand pounds '. Soon afterwards the bishop of Chichester, keeper of the privy seal, proceeded to Portsmouth to pay the soldiers and sailors engaged for the expedition: but it was no sooner known that he was the man, who had delivered Maine to the French king, than the populace rose, and the prelate lost his life in the tumult 2. Whether it was that he sought to divert their indignation from himself, or that the story was invented by the opponents of Suffolk, he is said to Charges have declared before his death, that the favourite was 2 Will. Wyrcest. 466, 467. Will. Wyrcest. 467. 1450. Jau. 9. against Suffolk. |