against the castle; and they were served so well, that by the evening a large breach had been made. That same evening, M. d'Andelot was sent to fortify himself along the quay, by a deep trench, which, after draining the town ditch into the port, would serve as a covered way. And, to secure footing for his people after the ditch should have been drained (on the width and depth of which the garrison placed great reliance), he had brought thither by sea a great quantity of hurdles, well pitched, that, if need were, they might lie long in the water without rotting. Senarpont had devised these, as also a sort of pavaise (postes they were called), composed of hurdles, and made musket-proof*, light enough for the soldier to carry and fix before him into the ground. When the breach appeared practicable, about eight in the evening, at ebb tide, the sieur de Grandmont was sent out with some 300 harquebusiers to reconnoitre the preparations for defence, and dislodge those who might present themselves; at the same time, mareschal Strozzi, with a like number, and one or two hundred pioneers, was ordered to effect a lodgement at the other end of the port, and entrench themselves there, so as to ensure the command of the whole harbour; but this party was compelled to retreat. Meantime, the state of the breach having been ascertained, Guise, with his brothers d'Aumale and d'Elbœuf, advanced to the assault, and met the retreating party. Grandmont and Strozzi were ordered to commence the attack. Guise, who had forded the water when it was mid-deep, took his station at the foot of the breach; and the onslaught was made at a point where there had been no prepar By being faced with a thick wadding of paper, according to the account which Rabutin gives, and which Thuanus has followed. "L'on avoit fait amener," he says, "grand nombre de pierriz et pailliz de bois très sec, pour estre plus forts et legers, de la haulteur d'un homme, et de l'espesseur de demy pied couverts au dehors de trois ou quatre doigts du papier colle l'un sur l'autre, chose que l'harquebusade ne peut faulser aisément; lesquels avoient par le bas un appuy au bout duquel estoit une pointe de fer longue d'environ un pied et demy bien asserée, pour le planter, afin qu'il entrast plus facilement en terre quelque dure qu'elle fust. Et derriere iceux pailliz (que l'on a appellée postes) les harquebusiers pouvoient tirer plus assuré. ment par une petite lumière qui estoit au milieu.”— Coll du Mém. xxxix. 154. SURRENDER OF CALAIS. 257 ation for a personal defence; for the castle being considered by the rulers of the town to be of no such force as might resist the battery of the cannon (by reason it was old and without any ramparts), it was devised to make a train with certain barrels of powder, and, when the French should enter, as it was known that there they would, blow up the keep. In an evil hour had the lord deputy, trusting to this device, withdrawn all his people from the castle. The French came with their clothes" wringing wet,” moistened the ill-laid· train, saw the failure of the attempt to kindle it, and entered the castle without any resistance. Guise left his brothers to command them there, and exhorted them to keep their ground; while he, before the tide came in too fast, recrossed to the army, that he might succour them as soon as it was break of day. They, however, who had won the castle so easily, thought to have entered the town from it, and completed their victory; but the marshal, sir Anthony Agar, with a body of brave men, encountered and repelled them, and endeavoured to retake the castle; persevering, till Agar, with his son and heir, and some fourscore followers, had fallen in the gallant but unsuccessful attempt. * No farther hope was entertained of recovering the castle, or holding out in the town, till succour, of which no sign was seen and no tidings had been received, might arrive from England. The lord deputy offered to capitulate, and was fain to submit to whatever terms the conqueror might impose: they were, that he, and fifty other persons to be named by the duke, should remain prisoners, and be put to their ransom; and the garrison and the inhabitants have their lives saved, and depart whither they would. As soon as the enemy entered, men, women, and children were commanded to leave the houses which were now no longer theirs, and assemble in the churches of Our Lady and of St. Nicholas, the lord deputy's house, and the belfry, and there remain till order could be taken for sending * Rabutin, xxxix. 149-160. Thuanus, 555. Holinshed, 90-92. them away. There they remained four-and-twenty hours, without food or drink. Proclamation was then made, commanding every one who had either jewels, plate, or money about them to the value of a single groat, to lay it upon the high altars of these two churches, on pain of death if they attempted to conceal any thing. "A great and sorrowful offertory" was made in obedience to this stern command; " and while they were at this offering within the churches," the French rifled their houses. But Guise is not to be reproached for this. It was in requital for the saccage of St. Quentin; and the sins of their countrymen were visited upon the miserable inhabitants of Calais.* Thus conducting his enterprise with marvellous speed and no less policy, the duc de Guise in less than eight days, and in the depth of winter, took that town which had cost Edward III., in the height of his power and of his renown, an obstinate siege of more than eleven months. The whole number of men, women, and children who were counted as they went out at the gate, amounted to 4200, of whom only 500 were soldiers; to so disproportionate a force had the keeping of this im'portant place been intrusted. The English government, which had despised its timely information of the danger, made all possible exertion, when it was all-too-late. Troops were collected at Dover, and there and in the country round they remained (either for that their whole number was not assembled, or because there were not ships enough ready to pass them over, though the wind and weather would have served well,) till the town was taken; but such terrible tempests then arose, and continued the space of four or five days together, that the like had not been seen before in remembrance of man: wherefore some said that the same was done by necromancy, and that the devil was raised up and become French (" the truth whereof," says Grafton, "is known to God"); but very true it is that no ship could brook the seas by reason of those extreme storms and * Holinshed, 92. tempests. And such of the queen's ships as did adventure the passage were so shaken and torn with violence of weather, that they were forced to return *with great danger, and with the loss of all their tackle and furniture.† Thus by negligence of the council at home, conspiracy of traitors elsewhere, force and false practice of enemies, holpen by the rage of most terrible tempests of contrary wind and weather, this famous fort of Calais was brought again to the hands and possession of the French.' The English chroniclers are not justified in imputing this loss to any treason, nor to any false practice of the enemy. It was attacked more bravely than it was defended, and taken in fair, open, honourable war. But the English government was inexcusable for weakening the garrison, neglecting the warning which it had received, and refusing the proffered aid of the Spaniards. Guise took counsel now whether he should attack Gravelines or Guisnes, and it was rightly determined that the latter, as being the strongest, was of the more importance. This other consideration must also have weighed with him, that it was of far greater consequence to complete the conquest of the English pale, than to capture a Flemish town. That pale would not have been lost if Calais had been as well defended as Guisnes, which it might have been had it been as well manned. The lord Grey of Wilton commanded there: knowing that it was no time now to distrust the aid of Spain, he obtained from Philip's army some Spanish and Burgundian soldiers, from 300 to 500 of whom made their way to him, notwithstanding the vigilance of the enemy. The town was large in compass, without walls * Rabutin makes no mention of the storm. "Furent armez force navires," he says (p. 163.), "et remplis de soldats et toutes munitions pour y envoyer secours. Mais quand ils approcherent et qu'ils recogneurent les enseignes et croix blanches plantées et venteler desjà sur la tour de Risban, et les murailles de la ville, sans approcher d'avantage, s'en retournerent, pour reporter advertissement de ceste mauvaise adventure en leur pays.' In this, as in the other parts of his relation, he is followed by Thuanus ; but our own chroniclers are to be believed when they say, that "if this tem pestuous weather had not chanced, it was thought that the army should have passed to have given some succour to Guisnes, and to have attempted the recovery of Calais." † Grafton, ii. 559. Holinshed, 93. or bulwarks, closed only with a trench. This he abandoned as being incapable of defence: such of the inhabitants as were capable of bearing arms he took into the castle; the rest went to seek their fortune whither they would. The castle was a place well fortified, "with strong and massy bulwarks of brick, having also a high and mighty tower, of great force and strength, called the keep." But cannon were now brought against fortifications which were constructed when far less formidable engines of demolition were in use. The French took possession of the deserted town, quartered themselves there, and were some sleeping as if in a place of security, others revelling over the spoils which they had found, when a chosen band sallied by a postern, slew many of them, drove the rest out, and set fire to the houses. The town was thus destroyed. But this, though it manifested the determination of the captain, and the courage of the garrison, had no effect in impeding the siege, disproportional as the number of the besieged was to the force brought against them, and with no expectation nor even hope of relief. The duke began his trenches, and continued without intermission, "albeit the shot of the great artillery from the castle was terrible, and gave him great impeachment:" he himself, to animate his men, worked at the batteries, and assisted to draw the cannon. In less than three days he had brought five-and-thirty battering pieces, "hard to the brim of the castle ditch, to batter it on all sides, as well forth-right as across." But his principal battery was planted against the Mary bulwark, which was the strongest of the works, knowing that if this was taken, there could be little more resistAt daybreak on the fourth day of the siege two batteries opened upon this bulwark, one with thirteen guns the other with nine; and were plied so well, that by noon they had dismounted the counter battery, and "clean cut away the hoop of brick off the whole forefront, whereof the filling being but of late digged earth" crumbled away. Perceiving this, the enemy, early in ance. |