had been frequent indications of discontent on the part of the Burgundian chiefs, who felt deeply what sacrifices had been made to the personal feelings of the Duke; and, among others of his vassals, the Prince of Orange had peremptorily refused to swear allegiance after the treaty of Troyes. Philip, he said, not Henry, was his liege lord, and with England he had no concern. Refusing to assist at the proceedings at Paris, he had even withdrawn his troops before the surrender of Melun, and had returned to his own principality on the Rhone. The Normans, both ecclesiastics, and barons, were many of them averse to the whole arrangements of Troyes; and of the former a great number absented themselves from their benefices in order to escape taking the new oaths. It became manifest, then, that the defeat at Beaugé happened at a time when it was likely to produce the most disastrous consequences; and it required all Henry's firmness of purpose, and his known promptitude both in taking and in executing his resolutions, to ward off the dangers with which he was menaced.

He made every exertion at home to levy new troops, indeed to form a new army; and in this attempt the late success both of his arms and his policy in France was of great service. He borrowed a considerable sum from his uncle, the Bishop of Winton, who had before lent him 160,000l.; of this above a third remained; and he now obtained a further loan of above 10,000l., making in all above 170,000l., for

which that wealthy prelate was his creditor. He then called the Parliament together,' and made his Chancellor, the Bishop of Dur

May 2,

1421.

A

ham, address them upon the state of his affairs. A great disaster was confessed by the tone of the speech, as well as by the topics selected; for the King's fortitude was compared to that of Job, who, when pressed with affliction, had said, "God's will be done." But it was not deemed prudent to ask for any supplies, although they were more wanted than ever. The only assistance which he obtained was a power bestowed upon the Council to give all who lent or might lend the King any money, security upon the duties already granted, and to continue the acts granting them until the next Parliament. special act was also passed confirming the security given by Henry to the Bishop over the Customs of Southampton, and, if these should fail, over those of London and other ports, for the sums which he had advanced, with the further provision that if these should not be repaid within twelve months after the King's decease, the Bishop might retain as his absolute property the Crown which he held in pledge. Whether or not any other persons lent their money we have no information: the clergy, however, granted a tenth. We are left very much in the dark regarding the means which he had of providing for so large an expedition as he is known to have fitted out: 28,000 men were raised, and it is said had eight months'

Rot. Par., iv. 129 and 132. Note L.

wages in advance,' 4000 being cavalry and the rest archers. Henry at the same time ordered considerable levies of men to be made in Normandy, and he had the address to conclude a treaty with the King of Scots, engaging to liberate him three months after his return, on condition that he married Clarence's daughter, the King's niece, and consented to take a partial release of his ransom as her portion. But the main object of this arrangement was to obtain James's more active assistance in the approaching campaign. He had during the last only been present, and his presence had failed to make the Dauphin's Scotch auxiliaries leave him. He was now to command a division, and was to be accompanied by Douglas with June 10, 200 men, an assistance, however, for which that mean and mercenary chief stipulated

1421.

the receiving of a pension.

The formidable army which Henry thus collected gave confidence upon its arrival in France to his commanders and troops as well as to his adherents at Paris, where great alarm had been occasioned by the Dauphin's advancing and sitting down before Chartres. Henry soon obliged him to raise the siege and retire towards the Loire. Supported by considerable successes which Philip gained at the same time, and leaving the King of Scots to attack Dreux, which surrendered after a short siege, he marched into the Orleans country, and took Beaugency and several places of less importance. Monstrelet, ch. ccxliii.

.Aug. 20, 1421.

He then followed the Dauphin into the Berri ; but finding that he could not bring him to a general action against his superior force, and having suffered severely for want of provisions, as well as from sickness, which destroyed some thousands of his army, he returned from Bourges towards the capital. On this march, seeing that he was observed by a party of the Dauphin's troops, he pursued them. They took refuge in the castle of Rougemont, which he attacked and easily captured; but for some reason, contemporary writers say because one Englishman had been killed in the assault, he caused the Armagnacs to be drowned in the neighbouring river.

May 10,

1422.

About the end of autumn he formed the siege of Meaux, the last operation of any moment in which he was engaged. The strength of the place, situated on the Maine, its castle built on the rock, the tried valour of the Bastard of Xaurus, its governor, and the numbers of the garrison, amounting to 1000, protracted the siege during seven months, in the course of which an attack on the citadel was made and defeated with considerable loss. At the surrender, the whole effects of whatever kind were given up to the besiegers, and Henry ordered the governor to be beheaded and hanged upon the same tree on which he had executed many of the Burgundian party. It is not so easy to perceive why

The Dauphin's remaining so long at Bourges in Berri got him the name of Roi de Bourges et de Berri.

he also put to death the trumpeter who had sounded the defiance from the walls.1

During this siege two incidents occurred, of which one was memorable enough in its consequences, though the other only attracts notice by its singularity. Henry received the tidings, to him most exhilarat

Dec. 6, ing, that the Queen had been delivered 1421. at Windsor of a son, the unfortunate heir to his kingdom, and destined to lose both his hereditary and his conquered crown. He is said to have mingled his rejoicing over this event with a mournful foreboding "Henry of Monmouth will reign but a little space and gain much; Henry of Windsor will reign long and lose all." But a harder fate befel his kinsman the Earl of Cornwall, whose son, a gallant youth, was struck dead by a bullet while standing at his father's side. The wretched man fell into a passion of grief, as might naturally be expected; but the resolution which it suddenly inspired was not so easily to be comprehended. He who had without compunction seen and helped to cause so many deaths in the wars, and who well knew from the first the gross injustice of the invasion, having his eyes as it were opened by his own misfortune to the nature of his past and present pursuits, now beat his breast as, in an agony of remorse, he exclaimed that Normandy had been the object of the expedition, but that to strip

Monstrelet, ch. cclxi. T. Wals., 456. T. Elm., 328. P. Daniel, vi. 560.