Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

FLEET ON THE FLEMISH COAST.

81

means of defence, being not unwilling that his enemies should take vengeance for him upon his disobedient subjects. * The English had no troops on board, and contented themselves with as much mischief as the sailors could commit, without exposing themselves by venturing inland, or endangering the ships. The Hollanders' fleet was at this time wind-bound in Sluys: their admiral, Jan van Horne, repaired to Furnes and Nieuport, to take measures for the defence of the coast; but the people, upon a false suspicion of collusion with the English, attacked and murdered him and a faithful servant, who defended him to the last. In Walcheren, the inhabitants found that they had done wisely in

having refused to commit any act of hostility against England: they were now treated as friends in return, and carried on a profitable trade in provisions with the fleet. Once while the fleet was wind-bound at Cadsant, the men landed in the western part of that district called Het Vrye, or the Free Land of Bruges, and destroyed several villages there, when the men of the eastern part, with some troops from the ships at Sluys, to the amount of 4000 in all, gathered together and marched against them. Cut off as the invaders were from all succour, the Flemings might have overpowered them, if they had not posted themselves strongly in the polder of Breskens, and there presented so brave a front, that the Vryelanders, when they approached near enough to see what reception would be given them, forsook their standards, threw down their arms, and fairly, or rather foully, took to flight.t

Having landed near Hulst, with the hope of plundering that then rich place, the English were compelled to reimbark by the inhabitants and the people of the Pays de Waes, Axel, and Honteness, whom they had called to their support. The expedition, however, effected its object: it alarmed the coast, while duke Humphrey ravaged the interior; and having done this, it returned to England, leaving the duke of Burgundy * Sueyro, 285. + Idem, 289.

sufficiently employed with his turbulent subjects.When the men of Ghent came back, after their disgraceful retreat from Calais, they demanded of the magistrates a new suit for every one, according to custom: the magistrates had spirit enough to refuse this insolent demand, and to tell them, in reply, that by their conduct in deserting their prince they had much better entitled themselves to a halter. The bitter reproof was borne with some sense of shame, perhaps, withheld the troops from resenting what they were conscious of having deserved. Yet when the duke soon afterwards came to Ghent, hoping that by his presence he might engage that city to support him against Bruges, which was then in open rebellion, the people brought out their banners into the great market-place, in menacing array, and called upon him, as soon as he entered, to explain to them the causes of the retreat from Calais, and demanded wherefore that town had not been besieged by sea, in conformity to the plan which had been agreed on ? The duke felt how necessary it was to conciliate them, lest they should unite with the insurgents, who were using every means to strengthen themselves by such a confederacy. He stated to them, therefore, what the circumstances were which had rendered it impossible for the admiral to arrive earlier with the fleet, or to continue off the port after his arrival: indeed, he said, every seaman knew that to besiege Calais on the sea side was impossible, by reason of the danger of being driven on shore; moreover, the Hollanders had not assisted him with shipping, according to their promise. Their next question was, wherefore the English fleet had not been burnt, seeing that men and vessels had been collected at Sluys for that express service? The reply to this was, that they had been wind-bound in the harbour during the whole fifteen days that the enemy was on that coast. The men of Ghent were somewhat conciliated by the temper in which he listened to them, and the satisfactory replies which were given to some of their demands; but, in order to make them satisficd

SIEGE OF CROTOY.

66

83

both with him and with themselves, he found it necessary publicly to declare that he laid no blame to them for the breaking up of the siege, and that this had been done by his permission and with his orders. They were most desirous," says Monstrelet, "to have their disgrace wiped away, because they knew full well that all cried shame on them." Yet a little while afterwards they murdered Gilbert Pactetent, the head dean of the trades, upon an absurd imputation of having prevented the storming of Calais, and of having acted treasonably in making so little use of their guns and other engines during the siege * !

A. D.

The duke at this time, because of his breach with .England, was fain not only to flatter the men of Ghent, but to make such terms with those of Bruges, as, by allowing impunity for recent outrages of the most audacious kind, ensured a repetition of them upon the first discontent that might arise. After a second insurrection, in which the townsmen attacked him in the 1437. streets of Bruges, killed above an hundred of his men, beheaded more than thirty whom they took prisoners, and hung and quartered an honest blacksmith, for lending his hammer to break open the gate, that the duke might make his escape; the people were made sensible of their fault by the miseries of anarchy which they had brought upon themselves; and now, instead of urging the Ghent men to join with them in rebellion, they entreated them to mediate in their behalf. This left the duke at leisure for another attempt against the English, the disgrace of his former expedition stinging him to new efforts. During his siege of Calais the seneschal of Ponthieu, Florimont de Brimen, had entrapped the garrison of Crotoy into an ambuscade, taken the town by storm, and unsuccessfully besieged the castle. Crotoy stands about a league from the mouth of the Somme, on the opposite side to St. Valery; and after the siege was raised the English carried on an aquatic warfare from

* Monstrelet, 388-392. Sueyro, 286-7. Monstrelet, viii. 9.

thence against the people of Abbeville, harassing them, and more especially the poor fishermen, with two flatbottomed boats, called gabarres; and thus they commanded or infested the river, till, the Abbeville men stealing down the stream by night, some expert swimmers fastened grappling irons to the unguarded gabarres, and they were towed away, "to the vexation of the English."* The seneschal, and the sieur d'Auxy, who was commander on that frontier, were erroneously informed that the garrison would not be able to hold out more than a month for want of provisions; and upon this report they assembled a force, and fixed their quarters in front of the castle, within the old enclosure of the town, the fortifications of which they had demolished before they withdrew from it in the preceding year. Abbeville readily supplied stores and money, being very desirous to be relieved from so ill a neighbour; but the castle, as they had before experienced, was "wondrous strong;" and therefore, when they apprised the duke of their undertaking, they required his support. Some of his household, whom he sent to enquire into the probabilities of success, reported that the castle could not possibly be reduced by famine, unless the mouth of the river was blockaded. Upon this he ordered the governors of St. Valery, Dieppe, and the adjoining sea-ports to engage as many vessels as they could for the purpose, and appointed Jean de Croy to command the siege; an undertaking for which he was peculiarly qualified, because he had once been governor of Crotoy. The duke did wisely in not assuming the command, and exposing himself to the disgrace of a second failure. Perhaps he did not deem the enterprise of sufficient importance to be carried on in his own person, for he seems to have taken no other lesson from experience. He went to inspect the siege, and, as at Calais, gave orders for erecting a large bastille, or blockhouse, that the besiegers might be secure in their quarters. It was constructed under the direction of sir Baudo de

* Monstrelet, vii. 384.

JOHN OF LUXEMBURG.

85

Noyelle, a knight of the Golden Fleece, and was very strongly built, and surrounded with ditches: other works also were erected, and the whole well stored with ammunition and provisions. Having given this order, the duke departed; and his hopes were heightened by the result of a skirmish, in which the lieutenant-governor was taken prisoner by the sieur d'Auxy.*

When the king of England and his council were informed of these preparations, "they were not well pleased thereat,” knowing how important the possession of Crotoy was to them, for facilitating the landing of a force in Picardy. It was not, however, necessary to fit out an armament for its relief: instructions were sent to Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, who was then regent of France, and he despatched some 5000 men, horse and foot, from Normandy, under lord Talbot, lord Falconbridge, and sir Thomas Kiriel. Their intended movement was no sooner made known to the duke than he summoned from Picardy and his other dominions the greater part of his nobles and men-atarms. Monstrelet estimates them at 800 or 1000 † : it is not likely that he could draw any force from Flanders at that time, and the Flemings were not the only vassals who failed him. He went in person with the count d'Estampes, his nephew of Clèves, and the count de St. Pol. At Hêdin sir John of Luxemburg joined him, as he had been summoned; but he came honourably and manfully to declare that he could not bear arms against the English, because he had not formally renounced his oath of alliance with them. It was in vain that the duke endeavoured to shake his resolution; representing that, as his vassal, he was bound to him also by an oath; that he wore his order, and had always been of his party, and could not honourably refuse to serve him, especially as it was to repulse enemies who had invaded his dominions. Luxemburg

* Monstrelet, viii. 49-51.'

+ Hall says 10,000 men and more, with great plenty of guns and goodly ordinance.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »