Harfleur.

5. In 1439 the earl of Richmond, constable of France, Siege of recovered the city of Meaux in defiance of the lord Talbot, who endeavoured to raise the siege. But this loss was compensated the next year by the capture of Harfleur, which, with the greater portion of Caux, had been wrested from Henry in 1432. The earl of Somerset, with Talbot and many other distinguished officers, lay before it during several months; and so secure did they consider themselves, that the countess with several ladies consented to spend the summer in the midst of the camp. The count d'Eu, by order of Charles, attempted to relieve the place. The besiegers were attacked at the same time in four different points by sea and land but every effort to break through their intrenchments proved ineffectual: the assailants were repulsed with considerable loss; and the garrison surrendered. '

Pontoise.

1441.

6. The complaints of the Parisians stimulated Charles Loss of to undertake the siege of Pontoise. He invested it with twelve thousand men, threw up bastiles, and fortified them with batteries. Talbot on two occasions succeeded

in throwing supplies and reinforcements into the place. the enormous price of three shillings and four-pence the bushel : and the people supported life by making bread of pease, beans, and vetches, though in London the merchants by the importation of rye from the Baltic contributed to lessen the scarcity. In France we are told by an eye witness, that the advance in the price of provisions was tenfold : and that the number of those who expired of want and disease among the lower classes, was immense. This calamitous visitation lasted two years. See Wyrcest. 459. Monstrel. ii. 151. 155. Fab. 435. On account of the danger of infection, an act was passed that no person, when he did homage, should, as usual, kiss the king, but the homage should be deemed good in law with the omission of that ceremony. Rot. Parl. v. 31.

May.

The duke of York, who had been appointed the king's lieutenant a second time, arrived with eight thousand men, and offered battle to Charles. But the French monarch still respected the valour of his opponents: he declined fighting without a manifest advantage; and contented himself with observing the fords over the Oise. In the night Talbot made a false attack on the bridge of Beaumont, while lower down the river four men silently crossed to the opposite side in a boat of leather, and drew after them several others. A bridge of ropes was now thrown across: and before any discovery was made, six hundred men had strongly intrenched themselves on the left bank. A fruitless attempt was made to dislodge them: the French army dispersed, and the duke reinforced the garrison. He returned to Normandy, leaving two thousand of the enemy in one of the bastiles, which was too strongly fortified to be attacked with impunity; and the ridicule of the Parisians compelled Charles to resume the siege. At length the French got possession of the church of Notre Dame which overSept. 16. looked the walls; and three days afterwards a bloody Sept. 19. but successful assault restored this important place to the dominion of the French monarch.'

Negocia tions.

7. In the two next years Charles reduced several fortresses in Guienne, while the English spread themselves over Picardy, Maine, and Anjou. The pope repeatedly exhorted the rival powers to lay aside their arms; and Isabella dutchess of Burgundy, had offered herself as a mediatrix equally attached to each party; to France by her marriage with duke Philip, to England by her descent from John of Ghent, by her mother the queen of Portugal. At first every attempt to negociate with Monstrel. ii. 187-191.

France served only to create additional irritation from the irreconcilable demands of the two courts': but the

The instructions delivered to the English negociators on one of these occasions, are still extant; and present a most curious specimen of diplomatic finesse. They were ordered, 1°. To demand from Charles a formal recognition of Henry's title to the throne of France: and to enforce this demand, not by any inquiry into the king's right, (that had been placed beyond the reach of doubt by the decision of his royal father and Edward III.) but by insisting on the pacification of Troyes, and the judgment of God, manifested by the victories which he had given to small bodies of Englishmen over the immense hosts of their enemies. But 2°. If the demand were refused, they were to make an offer to Charles of a principality beyond the Loire to the annual income of twenty millions of crowns. 3o. These, however, were but preliminary flourishes, proposals made that they might be rejected. The lord cardinal of Winchester was now to appear on the scene, not as a negociator, (he was not even named in the commission) but as a prince of the church, brought to the place of conference by his zeal to stanch the effusion of human blood. In a set speech he was to exhort both parties to terminate a quarrel, which had now lasted hundred years, and which had sacrificed the lives of more men than were at that time alive in the two kingdoms. He was to paint in lively colours the evils of war, both as to the temporal calamities which it inflicts, and the spiritual loss of souls, sent before the tribunal of God, in the midst of their sins: he was to observe that the question could be decided only by one of these two ways, the destruction of the English or French people, which was impracticable, or by an equitable adjustment of claims, which if it were to be adopted, could not he adopted too soon. 4°. The English ministers were to be marvellously affected by this speech: and in consequence of it to relax in their pretensions, and to offer to Charles the whole of France beyond the Loire, with the exception of Guienne. Nay, rather than incur the guilt of contributing to the evils so feelingly deplored by the cardinal, they were to suffer themselves to be satisfied with the faithful accomplishment of the great peace of Bretigny. But the French envoys were not to be blinded by so flimsy an artifice. They insisted that Henry should cede all his conquests besides Normandy, and hold that dutchy, with Guienne, of the crown of France. The

quarrel with Burgundy, as it involved no great national interest, was more easily appeased. It had arisen from resentment for the apostacy of the duke: but England, in her endeavour to punish him, had, by the interruption of the trade with Flanders, inflicted a severe injury on herself. In 1443 Isabella (with her husband Henry seems to have refused to treat ) concluded a Apr. 24. suspension of hostilities with the duke of York 2 In the next year her efforts to extend that benefit to all the belligerents were seconded by the more powerful influence of the duke of Orleans, who had been made prisoner at the battle of Azincourt, and after a captivity of twenty-four years had been permitted to revisit his country. Before his departure he paid down forty thousand nobles, gave security for the payment of eighty thousand more in the course of six months, and bound himself to return at the expiration of the year, unless he should prevail on Charles to consent to a final peace : and Henry on his part engaged to repay him the money on the signature of the treaty, or, in failure of that, on his return to captivity 3. He was released about the Nov. 13. end of the year 1440: and instead of effecting the

purpose of his mission, found himself excluded from the court by the intrigues of the royal favourites. Henry was compelled to enlarge the time fixed for his return: and he at length gained that influence in the council which was due to his rank and abilities. Charles now listened to his suggestions in favour of peace. The duke

proposal was received as an insult, and the negociation broken off. Rym. x. 724.

I

Many conferences were held with her, none with him, as appears from the instruments in Rymer, x. 713. 730. 761. 767. 802, etc.

Rym. xi. 24.3 Rym. x. 820-829.

:

himself and the earl of Suffolk were the principal negociators and though, they could not induce their respective courts to agree to any general basis of pacification, concluded an armistice for two years, during An armiswhich it was hoped that some way might be discovered of adjusting the opposite claims, and reconciling the interest, of the contending sovereigns. '

tice.

1444.

May 28.

tions with

1424. Mar. 28.

Hitherto the attention of the reader has been occu- Transacpied by the conduct of the war in France: this tempo- Scotland. rary suspension of hostilities will afford him leisure to revert to the domestic occurrences of the last twenty years, and the miscellaneous incidents, which diver sify the history of that period. I. Before James of Scotland was restored to his throne, a truce of seven years had been concluded between the two kingdoms. By the king it was carefully observed; not that he retained any warm attachment for the place of his captivity, but that he wished for peace in order to curb the factious spirit of his nobles, and to encourage habits of industry and subordination among his people. Hence his connection with England did not prevent him from receiving the ambassadors of Charles. He renewed the ancient league between the two crowns, and agreed to give the princess of Scotland in marriage to the dauphin as soon as the parties should have attained the age of puberty. His poverty did not enable him to offer with his daughter a portion becoming her rank: but he assented to what was still more acceptable, an aid of six thousand Scottish troops, whenever a fleet for their conveyance should arrive from France 3. To secure his friendship, Charles made him a grant of the county of

' Rym. xi. 59-67. 2 Ibid. x. 329-332.

3 Du Tillet, 138. Ford. xvi. 11.

1428. July 17.

Nov.