CHAP. XXIII.
THE AUTHOR PARTICULARISES THE VALOUR OF SEVERAL OF THE NOBLES IN THE CONQUEST OF NORMANDY.—THE KING OF FRANCE SENDS THE COUNT DE PENTHIEVRE, AS HIS LIEUTENANT, INTO GUIENNE.
Were I to attempt particularising every valiant man, and his gallant deeds, on the reconquering of the duchy of Normandy, it would tire my reader's patience; but still I must mention some of the most renowned, for the benefit of those who, in future times, may peruse this account of the reduction of that duchy.
In the first place, the king of France had placed his army on a most excellent establishment,—and, as it was a novelty, it is worth describing. He had supplied all the men at arms and archers with good and secure habiliments,—namely, the men at arms with cuirasses, greaves, salades[106], and swords mounted with silver, as well as the lances which their pages bore; each man at arms had three horses, for himself, his page, and his varlet,—which last was armed with a light helmet, a brigandine[107], jacket or haubergeon[108], battle-axe or guisarme. Every man at arms had attached to him two archers on horseback, dressed in brigandines, greaves and salades; the greater part of which were ornamented with silver; or wanting these, they had strong leathern jackets and haubergeons. The soldiers, when on service, were always paid monthly, and under such strict discipline that none dared to seize any thing unpaid for,—nor to make prisoners, or ransom man or beast unless they belonged to the English or to their friends. It was lawful to make plunder of whatever was their property, but not otherwise.
The chief captains on this expedition were the count de Dunois, lieutenant-general for the king, the counts de Nevers, de Castres, d'Eu, de St Pol, the lord de Culant, grand master of the household, the lords d'Orval, de Touteville, de Blainville, de Beauveau, de Bueil, de Beaunoir, de Moy in the Beauvoisis, the marshal de Jalognes, the seneschal de Poitou, John of Lorraine, Poton de Saintrailles, the bailiff of Evreux, Robert Conigan[109], and very many other great lords, knights and esquires, who most valiantly conducted themselves, regardless of all the pains and discomforts they were bodily put to on several occasions.
In like manner, the king had made ample provision of all sorts of artillery for his defence, and for the attack of towns and castles. He had the greatest number and variety of battering cannon and bombards, veuglaires, serpentines, crapaudines, culverines and ribaudequins[110], that had ever been collected in the memory of man; and never king had such a train so well supplied with ammunition and every implement for battering towns, nor so numerous a body of men and horses to draw them. These received their pay daily, and were under the command of master John Bureau, treasurer of France, and of his brother Jasper Bureau,—both of whom suffered many difficulties during the sieges of the different towns and castles, for they were very active and attentive to their duty. It was wonderful to see their diligence in planning and forming the trenches and mines that were opened at almost every siege during this expedition; for, to say the truth, there was scarcely any place that surrendered on capitulation but what might have been won by storm, had not the king, out of his benign nature, insisted on the contrary, to prevent the effusion of blood and the total ruin of such places and their inhabitants.
The late duke of Brittany was the leader of the conquest of lower Normandy, having with him his uncle the count de Richemont, constable of France, the late Pregent de Coictivy, lord of Retz and admiral of France, who laboured hard at the business, the count de Laval, the lord de Lohéac, marshal of France, his brother de Montauban, marshal of Brittany, Geoffry de Couvran, James de Tilly, bailiff of the Vermandois. Tuddual le Bourgeois was of this party during his life.
To find supplies for the support of the king's armies, and for the better government of this duchy of Normandy, the lord de Trainel, chancellor of France, the lord de Gaucourt, sir Thibaut de Vaulpergue, bailiff of Lyon, sir James Cœur, counsellor, and master of the king's wardrobe, exerted themselves greatly: the last, in particular, employed every means in his power to prevent the soldiers, who were daily increasing, from being disappointed of their regular monthly payment. Sir John du Bar, lord of Baugey, and sir John Harduyn, treasurer of France, gained great credit,—and all others who laboured at this time in the service of the king.
When king Charles of France, the seventh of the name, had thus, by the Divine grace, and his puissant chivalry, made the conquest of the duchy of Normandy, which had been occupied about thirty years by his ancient enemies the English, and had replaced all the strong castles and principal towns with sufficient garrisons, and regulated the government of each,—confiding always in the grace and mercy of the King of kings, who wills that every one should have his own, as is declared in that chapter of St Matthew's gospel, where our Lord says to the pharisee, 'Render unto Cæsar the things that be Cæsar's and unto God the things that be God's;' he consequently resolved to march an army into Guienne against Bordeaux, which had been occupied by the English time immemorial, contrary to all reason and justice, and in direct contradiction to the said gospel. The nobles and people of this country have ever been rebellious against the french kings, at least for two hundred years, which is a long lapse of time, although it forms part of the realm of France.
The king, desirous to act with prudence and circumspection, summoned a council of his principal barons and knights on the 5th day of September, in the year 1450, in the city of Tours, where the matter was fully discussed in their presence, and also in the presence of the princes of his blood and the chief prelates of the realm. It was then determined to send a force into Guienne, after proper provision had been made for the defence of Normandy, which was intrusted to the constable, having under him some norman knights and esquires, together with six hundred spears and a body of archers, paid monthly,—and a great number of franc archers were likewise ordered thither by the king. The government of the city of Rouen and the country of Caux was given to sir Pierre de Brézé, grand seneschal of Normandy.
The king then arranged the army that was to invade Guienne and besiege Bergerac[111], situated in the county of Perigord, on the river Dordogne. He appointed the count de Penthievre and de Perigord, viscount de Limoges, his lieutenant-general in those parts, who accepted the command of this siege, and departed thither, accompanied by sir Charles de Culant lord de Jalognes, marshal of France, Poton de Saintrailles, bailiff of Berry and master of the horse to the king, with many other knights, esquires, and others, to the amount of five hundred lances, and archers in proportion.
They commenced the siege with great vigour, insomuch that, on the arrival of master John Bureau with his train of artillery, the garrison, alarmed at their numbers and activity, surrendered Bergerac to the king of France. The English marched away with their horses, arms and baggage,—and the inhabitants that chose to remain were, on taking the oaths of allegiance, to remain unmolested in their different occupations as before.
The count de Penthievre then marched his army into the winter quarters that had been allotted him,—and sir Philip de Culant remained governor of Bergerac, with a garrison of one hundred lances and a body of archers. On their march, they came before a castle called Jansac[112], situated on the Dordogne, with the intent of besieging it; but they won it by storm, with the loss of seven or eight of their men killed and wounded: about thirty-five of the English were slain, and the rest made prisoners: the castle remained under the obedience of the king of France. The army advanced thence without delay to the town of St Foy, on the same river, which surrendered without hesitation. Pursuing their good fortune, they came before the town of Chalais[113], and besieged it for some time; but the english garrison, amounting to fifty lances, alarmed at seeing so large an army before it, delivered up the place, on condition that they should march away in safety, with arms and baggage. On their departure, Pierre de Louvain was made governor of it.
On the 26th day of October, in this year, master John de Xancoins, receiver-general of the royal finances, was arrested, and confined prisoner in the castle of Tours, for having, as it was currently reported, wickedly employed for his own use the king's finances; so that his majesty was greatly distressed to pay the troops in Guienne,—and had he not found extraordinary means of raising money for this purpose, his plans against that country would have failed. During his imprisonment, he was examined by some of the great council and others skilled in matters of finance, and convicted, on his own confession, of high treason. He owned having taken very large sums of money from the king's treasury, and that he had made many erasures in his accounts which convicted him guilty of forgery,—a capital offence! and he would have suffered the penalty, had not the king's mercy converted the matter into a civil suit,—following in this the example of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who declared, that 'he wished not for the death of a sinner, but would rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.' The capital part of the offence being thus done away, he was sentenced, by the mouth of the chancellor, to be imprisoned for a certain time, and his property confiscated to the king; from which, the king gave to the count de Dunois a handsome house that he had built at Tours.
Xancoins was also condemned to pay to the king the sum of sixty thousand gold crowns, which seemed but a trifling fine for the immense sums he owned to have pillaged from the treasury for his own pleasures.
James Carrier, his clerk, was confined at the same time with him, but in a separate prison, for having been an accomplice in the crimes of his master,—and for having erased numerous articles in the account of receipts, through the instigation of the enemy of mankind, and converted many sums from the king's profit to his own; for all of which, he would have suffered the sentence due to such capital crimes, had not the king's mercy been extended also to him.