For answer there came the frivolous character Stung by the insult, of Edward III.1 to the French crown. a load of tennis-balls-a reference to which Henry had acquired in his youth. the English King prepared for battle. The Duke of Bedford was appointed Regent; the royal jewels were pawned; loans were exacted; and the Barons, much to their delight, were called to arms. 2. A fleet bore Henry with 30,000 soldiers from Southampton to the mouth of the Seine. He took Harfleur, a strong fortress on the right bank of the river, in five weeks; and then, with an army reduced to one-half its former number by wounds and sickness, he formed the daring resolve of reaching Calais by the same route as that by which the troops of Edward III. had marched to victory. He found the bridges of the Somme broken down, and the fords defended by lines of sharp stakes; but, after a delay of some days, an unguarded point was discovered high up the stream, near St. Quentin. Crossing rapidly, he moved straight upon Calais, while the Constable of France awaited his approach before the village of Agincourt. It was a dark and rainy night, when the weary English saw before them the red light of the French watch-fires. Oct. 25, 1415 A.D. 3. One hundred thousand French lay there. The odds were seven to one. But Crecy was not far distant, and the memory of former glory stirred every English heart. The invincible archers led the way in the early morning. With a cheer they rushed on, bearing in addition to their usual weapons long sharp stakes. These they fixed obliquely before them, so that a wall of wooden pikes met the French charge; and, thus protected against the French cavalry, they poured in their deadly arrows. Then slinging their bows behind them and drawing their swords, they burst 1 The claim of Edward III.-That | tree on page 159 will show that the claim was that Edward's mother was daughter of Philip IV.; but it was futile, because a descendant of Philip's eldest son was still alive. Besides, the French law excluded females from the succession. But even if Edward's claim had been good, Henry V. had no right to it. A reference to the genealogical (528) House of Mortimer, descended from Lionel, Edward the Third's second son, had a prior claim. The House of Lan, caster got the English crown by a revolution, not by inheritance. A revolution in England could not change the line of succession to the crown of France. 11 with the men-at-arms upon the breaking ranks; and the first, the second, and the third divisions gave way in succession. 4. Henry fought in the thickest of the battle; and, though mace and sabre were levelled at him oftener than once, he escaped unhurt. The confusion caused by the tactics of the English King, who had secretly sent a body of archers to lie in ambush on the French flank, and another detachment to set the barns of a neighbouring village on fire, completed the rout. The Constable of France and eleven thousand knights fell on that fatal day: the victors lost only sixteen hundred men. 5. Without following up this terrible blow, Henry crossed to Dover. No welcome seemed too warm for him. The people rushed into the sea to meet his ship; his journey to London was through shouting crowds and beneath waving banners. The Parliament, unasked, voted him large sums, and granted to him for life a tax on wool and leather. The King had so dazzled his people by the lustre of his victories, that they could not deny his requests. At no time were supplies of money1 more freely voted than in this reign. But in return for their liberality the Commons gained the important constitutional point, that no law should have force unless it had received their assent. 6. The war was renewed in 1417. Slowly but surely the King of England extended his conquests, until the fall of Rouen, after a siege of six months, laid Normandy 1419 at his feet. His path to the French throne was opened A.D. by an unforeseen occurrence. The Duke of Burgundy was foully murdered; and his faction, thirsting for revenge, threw their whole weight on Henry's side. He was thus enabled to dictate terms of peace to the French monarch, and the Treaty of Troyes2 was framed. Its leading 1420 conditions were:-1. That Henry should receive in marriage the French princess Catherine; 2. That he should be Regent during the life of the imbecile Charles; 3. That he should succeed to the French throne on the death of that prince. A.D. 7. A short visit to England with his bride was suddenly clouded by sad news, which recalled him to France. The Dauphin, reinforced by a large body of Scots, under the Earl of Buchan, had routed the English troops at Beaujé, and had slain the Duke of Clarence, Henry's brother. In hope that the Scots would not fight against their own King, the English Sovereign led into battle the captive James. The hope was vain; but, ever invincible, Henry drove his foe into Bourges,3 and paralyzed all hostile efforts by the capture of Meaux, a stronghold near Paris. 8. Henry was now within sight of the goal of his ambition. He was master of Northern France to the banks of the Loire; a son had been lately born to inherit his honours and his name; the splendour of his court at the Louvre far outshone the petty pomp of the real King. But in the very noon 1422 of his glory he died at Paris. In gorgeous state his re- A.D. mains were borne to England, and were laid in the vault of Westminster.1 9. HENRY VI.2-The successor to the throne was an infant nine months old. A council of twenty, presided over by Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, a son of John of Gaunt, managed the government. The Duke of Bedford was made 1422 Regent; and, during his absence in France, his brother Humphrey of Gloucester bore the title, "Protector of the Realm of England." One of the earliest events of the reign was the release of King James of Scotland after a captivity of eighteen years. He took with him an English wife, Jane Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset (1424). A.D. 10. After the death of the French King, which followed close on that of Henry V., the Dauphin assumed the title, Charles VII. The Loire now separated the English provinces from the French. Bedford nobly maintained the honour of England in the Battle of Crevant3 (1423), while Salisbury won laurels at Verneuil (1424). But Gloucester, having married Jacqueline of Hainault, claimed a large part of the Netherlands as her inheritance. The Duke of Brabant, also claiming to be the husband of this princess, opposed the demand of Gloucester, and was supported by the great Duke of Burgundy, who thus became estranged from the English alliance. At home, too, Gloucester quarrelled with Beaufort, and so Bedford's hands grew weak. 11. In 1428 it was resolved in council, contrary, we are told, to the will of the Regent, that the English army should cross the Loire, and ravage the provinces which owned the sway of Charles. As a preparatory step, Orleans was besieged. While the English troops lay before the walls, a skirmish took place 1 Henry's widow, Catherine, married Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman. Their eldest son, created Earl of Richmond, was the father of Henry VII., the first Sovereign of the Tudor line. In Henry's reign the famous Richard Whittington, a merchant of London, was for the third time Lord Mayor of London. He made a great fortune by the voyages of a ship called the Cat--a name which has given rise to the wellknown nursery tale, "Whittington and his Cat." The foundation of the British Navy may be ascribed to this reign; for Henry caused a ship of considerable size to be built for him at Bayonne. The fleets already spoken of were either merchant vessels or ships hired from foreign states. 2 Henry VI.-Son of Henry V. and Catherine of France. Married Margaret of Anjou. Reigned 39 years. 3 Crevant.-100 miles east of Orleans. Orleans. At Rouverai1 au English knight beat back a body of French cavalry, which attacked him as he was escorting a train of provision-cars to the camp of the besiegers. Salted 1429 herrings formed a large part of the stores, and hence A.D. arose the name. This success, and the energy with which the English carried on the siege, dispirited the French, who now looked upon Orleans as lost. 12. Suddenly there came a change. Joan of Arc, servant in a village inn of Lorraine, sought the presence of the French King at Chinon,2 and there proclaimed that she had a mission from Heaven to drive the English from 1 Rouverai. Twenty miles northwest of Orleans. 2 Chinon. One hundred and ten miles south-west of Orleans. |