they had come to the throne on any theory of lineal succession. But a war with France would, if successful, be popular; and Henry had no hesitation in running the risk.

Departure of He left England on his errand of conquest late in Henry for France. 1415. the summer of 1415. Five weeks were spent in reducing Harfleur, at the mouth of the Seine; and then, seeing that he could do little before the winter set in, he resolved to make his way by land to Calais. He had started with 30,000 men; his force was reduced, some have said, to not much more than 6000. Encountering many dangers and difficulties, the English succeeded in crossing the Somme, about fifty miles beyond Amiens, and found the French army at the distance of forty-five miles from Calais, near the village of Agincourt. Everything seemed to portend an overwhelming success for the latter. Their numbers were five or six times greater than those of the enemy, who were also sick and hungry, while they themselves lacked for nothing. Full of confidence, they spent the eve of battle in dining and merrymaking, while the English, we are told, passed it in prayer, a story which recalls the tale of Norman devotion and English feasting before the fight of Senlac (page 150). Here, as at Creci, the issue of the day was determined by the archers, whose arrows rendered the horses of the cavalry unmanageable, and thus threw the whole French army into confusion.

Battle of Agin. court. 1415.

The terrible slaughter was increased by an order which Henry issued for the killing of all the prisoners, when he heard that some of the enemy, having got to his rear, were attacking the baggage. Ten thousand of the French, it is said, fell, the English loss being given by some as only 100, while even their enemies described it as not more than 1600 at the most.

A

victory so decisive could not fail to kindle the enthusiasm of the English people. All grievances were forgotten. Rushing into the sea, the men of Dover carried the king in their arms from the ship to the shore, from which his march to London was one long triumphal procession.

1419.

Henry's success brought him powerful friends. Fall of Rouen. Sigismund, the emperor elect of the Romans, visited him in England, entered into a league with him against France, and accompanied him to Calais, where they were joined by John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. The condition of France, from feud, faction, and civil war, was as miserable as an invader could well desire. The English were soon masters of the most of Normandy; but although Rouen held out with an obstinacy which reduced the inhabitants to the direst straits, it was compelled to capitulate early in 1419; and Henry turned his sword to other conquests.

French King. 1420.

Efforts to bring about a peace were made, and failed. Treaty with the France was fatally hampered by its intestine divisions; and at length all the demands made by the English king were accepted. He was to marry the princess Catherine, and to succeed her father on his death; and all who held offices under the French crown were to swear allegiance to him as their future sovereign.

of France. 1421.

Such were the provisions of the treaty of Troyes, Third Invasion May 21, 1420. His marriage took place a few days. later, and then Henry betook himself at once to the completion of his work of conquest. His career was one of unbroken success, and he returned to England the idol of his people. The defeat of his brother the Duke of Clarence by a French army recalled him to a third invasion of France, 1421, in which he achieved

T

Death of Henry

1422.

results not less splendid than those of his earlier campaigns. While he besieged Meaux on the Marne, the tidings were brought to him that the queen had borne him a son, the child who, yet in his infancy, was to succeed him as Henry VI.

The reduction of Meaux was his last exploit. He V. Aug. 13, had sent forward his army under his brother the Duke of Bedford, intending soon to join it himself. An attack of dysentery prevented him from doing so, and when he reached Vincennes, near Paris, he was manifestly dying. He had just time before he died to name the Duke of Bedford to the regency of France, and his other brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, to that of England; to appoint his two uncles, Henry and Thomas Beaufort (the former bishop of Winchester, the latter Duke of Exeter), guardians of his infant child; and to order that the Duke of Orleans and the other prisoners taken at Agincourt should on no account be set free until his son should be of age. (Aug. 13, 1422.)

Henry V. as a
Conqueror and

as a man.

The impression left on his subjects by his short States career was naturally deep and vivid. He was only

thirty-five years old, and he had conquered and was holding a vast kingdom in his grasp. But few paused to consider whether, had he lived, he would have continued to hold it during a long life, or whether he would have overcome and conquered it at all, if France had not been so wretchedly divided against itself. His magnificent achievements served to turn the attention of his people from troublesome considerations relating to his title to the crown; and he probably regarded this as a sufficient justification for the rash and perilous march which had preceded the battle of Agincourt, and for all the other countless risks which must be involved in so mighty an enter

prise as that to which he had committed the English nation.

CHAPTER LXIII.

THE REIGN OF HENRY VI.

IN the general excitement of popular feeling the infant Henry VI. seemed to carry with him an indisputable title to the English crown. The people took pride in the thought that their sovereign was heir to the French crown also; and when, not three months later, the French king died, and Henry became, by the treaty of Troyes, actually king of France as well as England, their exultation threatened to burst all bounds.

Henry VI., King of England and of France. 1422.

English
France.

in

For some time the prospect seemed in a high Prospects of the degree encouraging. To win a powerful friend, the Duke of Bedford married the sister of the Duke of Burgundy; and, to detach Scotland from the French alliance, the captive king James I. (p. 285) was set free, after an imprisonment of eighteen years, on condition that he should give no aid to any enemies of the king of England (1424). But the work of conquest was not done. Charles VII. still asserted his rights to the throne of France, and it became necessary to wrest from him the whole country to the north of the Loire.

leans. 1428

For this purpose the city of Orleans was closely in- Siege of Orvested, and its reduction seemed certain. Through the bravery and skill of Sir John Fastolf, who had won fame at Agincourt, and was now governor of Normandy, the besiegers received a convoy of provisions, which, consisting chiefly of salted fish, gave to the

Rebellion of
Owen Glen-

by Hotspur.

for a moment linked with the fortunes of the distant empire which, two years later, all but fell under the sword of Bajazet the Thunderbolt, when the latter was taken prisoner on the field of Angora by a conqueror or marauder still more terrible, Timour, or Tamerlane. Timour had at least arrested the progress of the Turk, and this was held to be so great a service to Christendom, that Henry IV. wrote himself to wish him joy on his victory.

Richard was dead; but Henry found that his own dower, aided path was none the smoother for the riddance. Rumours were spread that Richard was alive in Scotland. The Welsh rose in rebellion under Owen Glendower, a descendant of Llewellyn (p. 224). Glendower was joined in his revolt by Henry Percy, commonly known as Hotspur, who, with his father, the Earl of Northumberland, had just defeated the Scottish army in the battle of Homildon Hill (Sept. 14, 1402). Hotspur's enterprise came to an end on the field of Shrewsbury (July 21, 1403), where he himself was slain. Glendower sometimes lost, sometimes gained ground, but he maintained his independence throughout his life.

Capture and Imprisonment of

of Scotland.

1405.

With tumults on all sides, Henry had to encounter Prince James the discontent which is sure to follow heavy taxation. But the English were always ready to help their kings, if their kings were only fortunate; and a great piece of good fortune fell to Henry's lot, when Prince James of Scotland was brought a prisoner into his presence. Horrified at the dreadful death which had befallen his eldest son, the Duke of Rothesay, the Scottish king, Robert III., determined to send his second son to be brought up in the French court. He was sending him away, though he knew it not, to years of captivity in England. The tidings of the capture