On the same day, the captain of Robert de Flocques, bailiff of Evreux, was sent with a certain number of men at arms to summon the garrison and inhabitants of Vernon to submit themselves to the king of France, by sending to him the keys of the town. The governor, John Ormond, an esquire, son to the earl of Ormond in Ireland, replied, that he would willingly do so,—and, by way of derision and mockery, sent for all the old keys he could from the locksmiths in the town, and presented them to the pursuivant who had brought the summons; but he made answer, that they were too old to be of use to such a place, and departed, to make his report of what had passed to the count de Dunois, who was not far off with the main army.

On the morrow morning, the 28th, came the lieutenant-general, attended by the counts de St Pol and d'Eu, the lord seneschal of Poitou, and several other captains, with a large body of franc archers, (an institution lately established in France) attacked, and instantly gained possession of a small island, on which they raised a battery of cannon, although they did not fire them, but some sharp skirmishings took place between the archers,—and the English lost the bridge, when their governor was pierced through both his cheeks with an arrow, to their great dismay. Seeing, therefore, the great force that was brought against them, and that numbers of towns and castles had of late surrendered, they, in conjunction with the inhabitants, demanded from the count de Dunois passports for four or six persons to hold a parley respecting the summons that had been sent them.

This was agreed to; and the following persons were selected by the governor and inhabitants to wait on the count de Dunois, namely, John Abaron[12], an Englishman, captain of the troops in the town, master Guillaume d'Aguenet, a most determined partisan of the English, Regnault de Bordeaux and others,—and d'Aguenet was appointed spokesman. Having made the usual salutations to the lieutenant-general, he thus addressed him,—'My lord, you have summoned us to surrender the town of Vernon to the king your lord: tell us on what grounds you have made this demand.' The count de Dunois, with coolness and dignity becoming the representative of a king, answered most eloquently, (for he was one of the most eloquent men in all France) that the said town of Vernon, and its dependances, belonged to the king his lord by rightful inheritance; that it had been taken from him more by violence than otherwise, with great part of his kingdom, during the life of the late king his father; and he then recited, in a style that would have done credit to a doctor, a history of the war between the kings of France and England, and the innumerable evils that had resulted from it: that the king of France, moved by his great charity, had consented to certain truces, in the hope that, during their continuance, means might be found to establish a permanent peace,—but that the English had, through their disorderly love of conquest, in the interval, gained by force the town of Fougeres from the duke of Brittany, a relative and subject of the king, and especially named in the said truces. He then related all the conferences that had taken place on the occasion, and their result, which have been already mentioned.

'The king, therefore, having maturely considered this conduct with his council, captains and allies, and witnessing the infidelity of the English, has raised a sufficient army to regain all that legally belongs to him, and has appointed me his lieutenant-general to carry his intentions into execution: I therefore have summoned, and do now summon, you to restore this town to its rightful lord, to avoid the perils you will run into from your rebellion and disobedience, and that you may not attribute the evils that will ensue from your refusal to your lawful lord and mine, whose benign grace is willing to receive you again as his subjects.'

At the close of this speech, the English and the other deputies withdrew to consult how they should act. In the discussion, great disputes arose; for the French, considering king Charles as their lawful king, and feeling that what the lieutenant had said was founded in reason, wanted to surrender, but the English would not. After much altercation, the townsmen declared that they would surrender, whether the English would or no, if a fair treaty were offered for the tower, in which the English should be included if they were agreeable to it.

The English, perceiving they could not resist the will of the inhabitants, so plainly discovered, demanded letters, under the town-seal, declaratory that the surrender was agreed to without their consent, which were given them.

The deputies returned to the count de Dunois, who concluded a treaty, with the assent of the lords in his company, by which the town and castle of Vernon were surrendered,—in which were twelve score English, under the command of the son of the earl of Ormond. They marched away in safety with their baggage,—and the inhabitants remained peaceably in the town, without losing an article of their effects.

The king afterwards gave this town and castle to the count de Dunois, for the great services he had rendered him, and in the expectation that he would do more in conquering Normandy, or wherever else he might be employed.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] Loigny,—a village in Beauce.