immediately set about preparations for a second expedition. In the campaign of Agincourt, luck had undoubtedly played a very large part, and nothing shows more clearly the real greatness of Henry than Preparations the care he was at to eliminate chance in his second cam- for a second Campaign. paign. No subject was too trivial for his attention. Like Richard I., he took special pains with the fleet; and with his six great ships, eight barges, and ten ballingers, may be said to have created the nucleus of the royal navy. Surgeons were appointed both for the army and for the navy. A code of regulations for soldiers and sailors was drawn up. Piracy was forbidden; duelling discouraged; and every detail of victualling was carried on under Henry's personal supervision. Abroad, Henry had been working without intermission to secure the assistance of allies, negotiating, besides his league with Sigismund, an understanding with the Hanse towns, and with Cologne, Holland, Bavaria. At home he carried further the work of conciliation; drew closer his friendship with the earl of March and with Henry Hotspur's son; restored the earldom of Huntingdon to young John Holland; and rewarded Thomas Beaufort for his services at Harfleur by the title of duke of Exeter. Henry's At length in 1417 he again crossed to Harfleur, which had been bravely defended by Beaufort, and a naval attack had in 1416 been defeated by the duke of Bedford. The second campaign, though it contained no such striking incident as the battle of Agincourt, second Campaign. reflected perhaps even higher credit upon him as a cautious, painstaking, and determined commander. Eschewing all fighting in the open field, the French endeavoured to gain time by obstinately defending the Norman fortresses, and the seasons of 1417, 1418, and 1419 were consumed in sieges. Early in 1419, however, Henry brought to a successful conclusion the great siege of Rouen, where, exasperated by a joke of the garrison, who placed a braying ass on the walls by way of a bad pun on his name (L'âne rit: Henri), he sullied his fame by cruelly allowing the women and children of Rouen to perish between his trenches and the walls. In July Pontoise fell, and the road to Paris lay open. Danger now made the French factions unite. Hitherto, the queen, with her daughter Katharine, had been on the side of the Burgundians, and Charles the Dauphin on that of the Orleanists; but hopes were now entertained that a reconciliation might be effected. Accordingly, in August a meeting was arranged between the duke of Burgundy and the Dauphin at the bridge of Montereau-fautYonne. A strong barrier separated the two sides; but the duke of Burgundy unsuspectingly crossed it, and the followers of the Dauphin, headed by Tanneguy du Chastel, put the duke to death. This horrid Murder of the Duke of Burgundy. Troyes. crime destroyed all hopes of resisting Henry; for the duke's son, Philip, and the French queen opened negotiations with the English. The prospect opened by this caused Henry to raise his demands, which would probably have at first been satisfied by the cession of Normandy; and, eventually, it was agreed that Henry should marry Katharine, become king of France on Charles' death, and should act, meanwhile, as Regent of France. This arrangement was completed at Troyes on Treaty of May 24, 1420. On June 3, Henry and Katharine were married. Soon afterwards he entered Paris in triumph, and after spending Christmas in royal state, returned with his bride to England in February 1421, leaving Clarence to act as his representative in France. Meanwhile, the Dauphin had gathered to his standard the forces of the south of France, where the Armagnacs had most adherents; and called to his aid the Scots, who, as was usual during a war with France, had invaded the north of England. Their raid, long remembered as 'the burnt Candlemas,' did no great harm; but the arrival of a body of Scots in France, under the command of the earl of Buchan, was a more serious matter. In March, Clarence marched against the allies, and, forgetful of the old adage, ‘England were but a fling, but for the crooked stick and the grey goose wing,' foolishly attempted to surprise them by a forced march of his cavalry. The result was disastrous. At the battle of Beaugé the English were completely routed, and Clarence paid with his death the penalty of his temerity. Battle of Henry's To repair the disaster, Henry returned to France in June 1421, and his arrival restored victory to his countrymen. The Dauphin was driven south of the Loire, and the strong fortress of Meaux was third Cam- besieged. During the winter a son, afterwards Henry vI., paign. was born at Windsor, and in May Katharine rejoined her husband. The same month Meaux fell. Though unbroken success had hitherto followed Henry's standards, and he had fought no battle he had not won, and besieged no town that he had not taken, there was Henry's one chance that he could not eliminate. Dysentery, then the scourge of camps, attacked him; and he died at Vincennes on the 31st of August 1422, and in the 34th year of his age. Henry's character has been much and deservedly praised. There is no doubt that he was an able warrior and a great administrator, and also that, according to the ideas of the time, he was a really religious man. His persecution of the Lollards has been condemned by the judgment of subsequent times, but it is hard to blame a man because he was not in advance of his age, and his cruelty at the siege of Rouen is a more suitable subject for detestation. Death. Henry's place in History. In his dealings with parliament, he was as true to constitutional principles as his father, though much less under the influence of compulsion; and while aiding the clergy against the Lollards, he was by no means blind to the necessity of reform, which he showed by ordering a reduction of the clerical fees, and by ordering bishops to enforce the residence of the parochial clergy. He also stood well with learned men, and the impression he created among his contemporaries was certainly most favourable. Even a French chronicler, Juvenal des Ursins, admits that he had been of high and great courage, valiant in arms, prudent, sage, great in justice, who, without respect of persons, did right for small and great. He was feared and revered of his relations, subjects, and neighbours.' CHAPTER III HENRY VL: 1422-(DETHRONED) 1461-(DIED) 1471 French Wars-Siege of Orleans-Loss of France-Growth of Hostile Parties headed respectively by the Beauforts and the Duke of York-Outbreak of Civil War-Dethronement of Henry VI. The THE heir of Henry v. was his son, a child of nine months old, and during his minority the government was carried on by a protector and a council. Some difficulty was experienced in defining the exact powers Minority. of each; but eventually, by the sanction of parliament, it was arranged that the duke of Bedford should be protector and defender of the realm and of the church of England, and principal counsellor to the king whenever Bedford was present in England; and in his absence the same duties were assigned to the duke of Gloucester. The council consisted of Gloucester, as chairman, and of five prelates, one duke, five earls, and five barons, and was fully representative of the great baronial families. All patronage was reserved in its hands, and all business was carried on with its cognisance and advice. In practice, however, Bedford was almost invariably in France, so that Gloucester acted as protector; and after him the most prominent place was held by Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, the uncle and friend of Henry v. The characters of these men, who may almost be called a triumvirate, were very different. Bedford was now thirty-three years of age, and had had plenty of experience both of government and war. He had been thoroughly trusted by his brother, and well deserved it, for he was really a noble character, distinguished by serious Bedford. ness, honesty, and complete disinterestedness; and, though he was not so brilliant as his elder brother, he combined Henry's thoroughness and soundness with some of the nobility of character which distinguished the Black Prince. Gloucester, on the other hand, may be com- Gloucester. pared with his great uncle, Thomas, the popular rival of Richard II. His good qualities were all of the showy order. Brave, adventurous, amiable and cultivated, he gained popularity while his brother earned respect; and his self-seeking ambition and complete thoughtlessness hurried him into actions most injurious to the fortunes both of his country and of his house. Fortunately, the evil genius of Gloucester was, to a great degree, balanced by the sterling qualities of the great bishop of Winchester. With abilities, both for peace and war, as great as those of any of his family, Henry Beaufort was, Henry by his profession, debarred from exhibiting the latter on English fields, but the former he placed fully at the disposal of his nephews; and for nearly forty years he was the guiding spirit in English domestic politics, always ready to sacrifice both time and money for the interests of his countrymen. Beaufort. French The late king had wished that the regency of France should be undertaken by Philip, duke of Burgundy; but as that prince declined it, the duty fell to the lot of Bedford. His first care was to secure the territories occupied by the English from French Affairs. attacks. Roughly speaking, the English district took the form of a wedge, whose base was the sea-coast from Calais to the borders of Brittany, and whose apex was at Paris. The security of this obviously depended on the maintenance of friendly relations with Burgundy and Brittany; and to gain their goodwill Bedford negotiated a double marriage, by which he himself married Anne, sister of the duke of Burgundy, and Arthur of Richemont, brother of the duke of Brittany, married her sister. His next step was to drive the French from those lands which divided the English territories from those of their allies. Two campaigns effected this. In 1423 the Crevant. victory of Crevant, won by Thomas Montague, earl of Salisbury, cleared the district between Paris and Burgundy; and in 1424, Bedford's great victory of Verneuil did the same for the lands north of the Battle of Loire, between Paris and Brittany. By a politic act of Verneuil, generosity the council also detached Scotland from the French alliance by releasing king James, and in 1424, after a captivity of nineteen years, he returned home taking with him an English wife, Jane Beaufort, cousin of the English king. Battle of Unfortunately, the folly of the duke of Gloucester went a long way to |