KATHERINE OF VALOIS,

SURNAMED THE FAIR,

CONSORT OF HENRY V.

KATHERINE OF VALOIS was a babe in the cradle when Henry V., as prince of Wales, became an unsuccessful suitor for the hand of her eldest sister Isabella, the young widow of Richard II.

Katherine was the youngest child of Charles VI., king of France, and his queen, Isabeau of Bavaria; she was born at a period when her father's health and her mother's reputation were both in evil plight. She first saw the light, Oct. 27, 1401, at the Hôtel de St. Paul, in Paris, a palace which was used during the reign of Charles VI. as a residence of retirement for the royal family, when health required them to lead a life of more domestic privacy than was possible at the king's royal court of the Louvre. The young princess was reared at the Hôtel de St. Paul, and there did her unfortunate sire, Charles VI., spend the long agonizing intervals of his aberrations from reason, during which the infancy of his little daughter was exposed to hardships such as seldom fall to the lot of the poorest cottager.

Queen Isabeau joined with the king's brother, the duke of Orleans, in pilfering the revenues of the royal household, and to such a degree did this wicked woman carry her rapacity, as to leave her little children without the means of supporting life. These royal infants were shut up in the Hôtel de St. Paul, wholly neglected by their vile mother; the

princess Michelle being then only five years old, and the princess Katherine little more than three. The poor children, says their contemporary chroniclers, were in a piteous state, nearly starved and loathsome with dirt, having no change of clothes, or even of linen. The whole sustenance they had was from the inferior attendants who had not deserted the place, all the servants of the royal family being left by the profli gate and reckless Isabeau without food or wages.

The state of Katherine's hapless father, who occupied a part of the palace of St. Paul, was still more deplorable; but he was unconscious of his misery, till one day he suddenly regained his senses, and observed the disarray and neglect around him. The instant Charles VI. recovered from his attack of delirium, he appears to have resumed his royal functions, without any intermediate time of convalescence. The consequence was, that directly the news was brought to the queen that her husband spoke and looked composedly, a sense of her guilt caused her to decamp with Louis of Orleans to Milan.

After the duke of Burgundy had caused the assassination of Orleans in the streets of Paris, the conduct of queen Isabeau became so infamous that she was imprisoned at Tours; and her daughter Katherine (the only one of the princesses who was not betrothed or consecrated) was taken from her. There is reason to believe that Katherine was brought up in the convent of Poissy, where her sister Marie took the veil.

From time to time Henry IV. made attempts to obtain a wife for his heir. At last, both the prince and his father seemed to have determined on obtaining the hand of the fair Katherine, the youngest of the princesses of France, and a private mission was confided to Edward, duke of York, to demand her in marriage for the prince of Wales. York was absent, on this errand, at the time of the death of Henry IV.

After the death of his royal sire, Henry V. did not establish himself in the sovereignty without a short but fierce civil war, which partly assumed a religious character, and partly was founded on the report that king Richard II. was alive, and ready to claim his own.

When these agitations had subsided, Henry V. renewed his application for the hand of the princess Katherine. At the same time he demanded with her an enormous dowry.

Charles VI. would have given Katherine to Henry with a dowry of

450,000 crowns.

This the English hero refused with disdain. Henry desired no better than a feasible excuse to invade France; he therefore resolved to win Katherine the Fair at the point of the sword, together with all the gold and provinces he demanded with her hand.

Henry's first care was to sell or pawn all the valuables he possessed, in order to raise funds for the French expedition, on which he had set his ambitious mind. Extended empire, rich plunder, and the hand of the beautiful young Katherine of Valois, were the attainments on which all the energies of his ardent character were centred.

From Southampton, Henry V. sent Antelope, his poursuivant-ofarms, with a letter to Katherine's father, dated from that port, to show the reality of his intentions of invasion. He demanded the English provinces and the hand of Katherine, otherwise he would take them by force. The king of France replied, "If that was his mind, he would do his best to receive him; but as to the marriage, he thought it would be a strange way of wooing Katherine, covered with the blood of her countrymen."

Henry landed at the mouth of the Seine, three miles from Harfleur, and, after tremendous slaughter on both sides, took that strong fort of the Seine by storm, in the beginning of October. Notwithstanding this success, disease and early winter brought Henry into a dangerous predicament, till the English Lion turned at bay at Agincourt, and finished the brief and late campaign with one of those victories which shed an everlasting glory on the annals of England

"So glared he when, at Agincourt, in wrath he turned at bay,

And crushed and torn beneath his paws the princely hunters lay."

MACAULAY.

The dreadful panic into which this victory threw France, and the numbers of her nobles and princes slain and taken prisoners, were the chief advantages Henry gained by it.

Meantime Katherine and her family were thrown into the utmost consternation by the victories of this lion-like wooer. Queen Isabeau, taking advantage of all this confusion, escaped from her palace-restraint at Tours; and, joining with the duke of Burgundy, not only gained

great power, as regent for her distracted consort, but obtained the control of her beautiful daughter.

However the queen might have neglected Katherine when an infant, she was no sooner restored to her as a lovely young woman than she obtained prodigious influence over her. The maternal feelings of Isabeau seemed centred on Katherine alone, to the unjust exclusion of her other children. Katherine had very early set her mind on being queen of England, and it will soon be shown how completely Isabeau entered into all her daughter's wishes.

In order to fulfil this object, when it was found that Rouen could no longer sustain its long dolorous siege, Isabeau sent ambassadors with Katherine's picture, to ask Henry "whether so beautiful a princess required such a great dowry as he demanded with her?" The ambassadors declared they found Henry at Rouen, "proud as a lion;" that he gazed long and earnestly on the portrait of Katherine, acknowledged that it was surpassingly fair, but refused to abate a particle of his exorbitant demands.

The close of the year 1418 saw the fall of the wretched city of Rouen, and increased the despair of Katherine's country and family. Queen Isabeau resolved that, as the picture of the princess had not succeeded in mollifying the proud heart of the conqueror, she would try what the personal charms of her Katherine could effect. A truce was obtained with Henry V., who had now pushed his conquests as far as Melun. The poor distracted king of France, with the queen Isabeau and her beautiful daughter Katherine, in a richly ornamented barge, came to Pontoise, in hopes of effecting an amicable arrangement with the conqueror. At Pontoise a large inclosure was made with planks, within which the conferences were to be carried on; it was also surrounded by a deep ditch, having on one side the bank of the Seine. There were several entrances well secured by three barriers, and tents and pavilions, made of blue and green velvet, worked with gold, were pitched for repose and refreshment.

Notwithstanding the king of France was very much indisposed, he and queen Isabeau, the princess, the duke of Burgundy, and his council, escorted by a thousand combatants, went to the place of conference near Melun, and entered the tents without the inclosure.

Then the king of England arrived, attended by his brothers, the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, and a thousand men-at-arms. He entered the tent pitched for him, and when they were about to commence the conference, the queen on the right hand, followed by the lady Katherine, entered the inclosure. At the same time the king of England, with his brothers and council, arrived on this neutral ground by another barrier, and with a most respectful obeisance met and saluted queen Isa· beau; and then king Henry not only kissed her, but the lady Katherine.

They entered the tent pitched for the conference, king Henry leading queen Isabeau. Henry seated himself opposite to Katherine, and gazed at her most intently, while the earl of Warwick was making a long harangue in French, which he spoke very well. After they had remained some long time in conference, they separated, taking the most respectful leave of each other.

This barrier scene is evidently meant to be depicted by the celebrated ancient painting once in the possession of Horace Walpole. Henry VII. had this picture painted for his chapel at Shene, and, as the well-known likeness of Henry V. is striking, there is reason to believe the same care was taken in portraying the features of Katherine of Valois. The oval shape of her face, her clear ivory complexion, and large dark eyes, coincide with the descriptions of the old French chroniclers. Katherine's chin is too short, or the face would be perfect; the expression is inane and passionless. She wears an arched crown, and a species of veil, trimmed at each side with ermine, and reaching to the shoulders. Her mantle, of the regal form, is worn over a close gown, tight to the throat; a strap of ermine passes down the front, and is studded with jewels.

Three weeks afterwards, all the royal personages, with the exception of the lady Katherine, met for another conference, at the barrier-ground of Pontoise. As the view of Katherine's beauty had not induced Henry to lower his demands, queen Isabeau resolved that the English conqueror should see her no more. Henry was exceedingly discontented at this arrangement. "For," says Monstrelet, "the princess was very handsome, and had most engaging manners, and it was plainly to be seen that king Henry was desperately in love with her." Yet the second conference ended, without the least abatement in his exorbitant requisitions.