From the Froissart MS. in the British Museum.
Reproduced by André & Sleigh, Ltd., Bushey, Herts.
THE GRAND ASSAULT UPON THE TOWN OF AFRICA BY THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH.
THE TOWN OF AFRICA, SOME SEVENTY MILES FROM TUNIS, WAS THE OBJECTIVE OF THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GENOA IN 1390 TO CHASTISE THE BARBARY CORSAIRS, AS DEPICTED IN ANOTHER OF THE FROISSART ILLUMINATIONS. THE VIEW OF THE TOWN IS CLEARLY IMAGINARY, THE ARTIST BEING PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH NONE BUT FLEMISH OR FRENCH ARCHITECTURE.
Gilding was in great request, not only for ornamenting churches and their monuments, but for domestic use, the precious metals being very scarce, and therefore copper and brass articles were commonly silvered or gilt. But it was in the illumination of manuscripts that the artistic genius of the time was, more than almost in any other department, displayed. The colours used are deemed inferior in splendour to those of the fourteenth century, but the illuminations are superior in drawing and power of expression. The terror depicted in the faces of the Earl of Warwick's sailors in expectation of shipwreck, and the grief in those who witnessed his death, are evidences of the hand of a master. Many of the portraits of the leading characters of the age are to be found in these illuminations; and they afford us the most lively views of the persons and dresses of our ancestors of that day—their arms, ships, houses, furniture, manners, and employments. But the art of printing was already in existence, and before it the beautiful art of illumination fell and died out.
STREET IN LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
The deadly arts of destruction were more practised during this century than all others. First the English turned their arms against the French, and then against each other, and though many of their armies were hastily raised, and therefore ill-disciplined, they not only showed their accustomed bravery, but many advances were made in the manner of raising, forming, paying, and disciplining troops, as well as in the modes of attacking fortifications and towns. Henry V. was a consummate master in this, his favourite art, and was, perhaps, the first of our kings who introduced a scheme of superior discipline, teaching his troops to march in straight lines at proper distances, with a steady, measured pace; to advance, attack, halt, or fall back without breaking, or getting into confusion. This, combined with his mode of employing his archers, which we have described in the account of his battles, gave him an invincible superiority over his enemies.
As the feudal system decayed, the kings of England no longer depended on their barons appearing in the field with their vassals, but they bargained with different leaders to furnish men at stated prices, which, as we have shown, were high. It was only in cases of rebellion and intestine struggle that they summoned all their military tenants to raise the people in mass, and the same summonses were issued to the archbishops, bishops, and all the principal clergy, to arm all their followers, lay and clerical, and march to the royal standard.