In regard to the capitulation, several conferences were held between the English and French. On the part of the king, the count de Dunois, the seneschal of Poitou, the lord John Bureau, treasurer of France, acted as commissioners;—for the English, sir Richard Herisson, bailiff of Caen, Robert Parges, and some others;—for the inhabitants, Eustace Gaingnet, lieutenant to the said bailiff, and the abbot of St Stephen's,—each alleging various articles, and supporting them by their arguments. After much discussion, a treaty was concluded on the morrow of the feast of St John Baptist, when the English promised to deliver up to the king of France the said town, castle and keep, on the first day of July next ensuing, unless they should combat and conquer the said king on or before that day,—and on condition that the duke of Somerset, his lady and children, and the other English who should wish to depart with them, should be allowed so to do, and to carry away with them all their effects and furniture without molestation or hinderance. They were also to take with them their horses and armour; and for the transport of these articles, they were to be provided with vessels to convey them to England, and to no other part, on their paying the expences: provided, however, that the English gave up all their prisoners, and acquitted themselves of debt to the inhabitants of Caen, churchmen and others, without carrying away any thing belonging to them. They were also to leave behind their large and small artillery, with the exception of bows, cross-bows, and hand culverines.
For the due observance of this treaty, the English delivered twelve of their countrymen, two knights of Normandy and four of the principal inhabitants, as hostages.
As no succours arrived on the first day of July, the town, castle, and keep were surrendered. The aforesaid bailiff carried the keys of the keep to the french camp, and delivered them into the hands of the constable, in the presence of the count de Dunois, lieutenant-general, who immediately gave them to the count, as governor of the town and castle for the king of France. The new governor remained in the field, to see that the English took the strait road to Estreham[98]; but soon after their departure, accompanied by the marshal de Jalognes, preceded by two hundred archers on foot, the king's trumpets and heralds, and having in his rear three equerries of the stables, bearing the royal banners, and the whole closed by one hundred men at arms on foot, he entered the town by the keep of the castle, and had the banners displayed from the keep and gates.
FOOTNOTES:
[93] Guisarmes,—a kind of (offensive) long-handled and long-headed weapon; or, (as the Spanish visarma) a staff that had within it two long pikes, which, with a shoot or thrust forward, come forth.——Cotgrave.
[94] Argentan. I should suppose it must be Alençon.
[95] St Pierre sur Dive,—a market-town near Trouard in Normandy.
[96] Vaucelles,—a village in Normandy near Bayeux.
[97] The Dive separates the bishopricks of Lisieux and Bayeux, and loses itself in the Channel.
[98] Estreham,—at the mouth of the Orne, four leagues from Caen.