Europe in the Middle Ages

by Ierne L. Plunket

The King himself in his moments of sanity inclined to the side of Charles of Orleans and the Armagnacs; and it happened that just at the time when Henry V of England landed in Normandy and laid siege to Harfleur the Armagnacs controlled Paris. It was their faction therefore that raised an army and sent it northwards to oppose the invaders, while John of Burgundy stood aloof, for besides being unwilling to help the Armagnacs he was reluctant to embroil himself in a war with England, on whose wool trade the commercial fortunes of his Flemish towns depended.

At Agincourt Henry V, who had taken Harfleur and was marching towards Calais, came upon his foes drawn up across the road that he must follow in such vastly superior numbers that they seemed overwhelming. The battle that followed, however, showed that the French had learned no military lesson from previous disasters. The heavily-armed, undisciplined noble on horseback was still their main hope, and on this dark October day he floundered helplessly in the mud, unable to charge, scarcely able to extricate himself, an easy victim for his enemy’s shafts. The slaughter was tremendous; for Henry, receiving a false report that a new French army was appearing on the horizon, commanded his prisoners to be killed, and numbers had perished before the mistake was discovered and the order could be reversed.

When the news of the defeat and massacre at Agincourt reached Paris, that had always hated the Armagnacs, the indignant populace broke into rebellion, crying, ‘Burgundy and Peace!’ but the movement was suppressed, and it was not till 1418 that John ‘the Fearless’ succeeded in entering the capital. By this time Henry V, who had returned to England after his victory, was once more back in France conquering Normandy; and French indignation was roused to white heat when it was known that Rouen, the old capital of the Duchy, had been forced to surrender to his victorious arms.

Even the Duke of Burgundy, who still disliked war with England, felt that he must take some steps to prevent further encroachments; and, after negotiations with the enemy had failed owing to their arrogant demands, he suggested an agreement with the Armagnacs, in order that France, if she must fight, should at least present a united front to her foes.

Here was the moment for France’s regeneration; for the head of the Armagnac faction at this date was the Dauphin Charles, son of Charles ‘the Mad’, and in response to his rival’s olive branch he consented to meet him on the bridge of Montereau in order that the old rift might be cemented. In token of submission and goodwill John of Burgundy knelt to kiss the Prince’s hand; but, as he did so, an Armagnac still burning with party hate sprang forward and plunged his dagger into his side. A shout of horror and rage arose from the Burgundians, and as they carried away the body of John ‘the Fearless’ they swore that this murder had been arranged from the beginning and that they would never pay allegiance again to the false Dauphin.

The Treaty of Troyes

In the Treaty of Troyes that was forthwith negotiated with the English they ratified this vow, for Henry V of England received the hand of the mad king’s daughter Catherine in marriage and was recognized as his heir to the throne of France.

Two years later died both Henry V and Charles VI, leaving France divided into two camps, one lying mainly in the north and east, that acknowledged as ruler the infant Henry VI, son of Henry V and Catherine; the other in the south and south-west, that obeyed the Valois Charles VII.

The Treaty of Troyes marks the high-water mark of English power in France during the second period of the Hundred Years’ War; for, though the banners that Henry V had carried so triumphantly at Agincourt were pushed steadily southward into Armagnac territory after this date, yet the influence of the invaders was already on the wane. The agreement that gave France to a foreigner and a national enemy had been made only with a section of the French nation; and some of those who in the heat of their anger against the Armagnacs had consented to its terms were soon secretly ashamed of their strange allegiance.

When Charles the Dauphin became Charles VII he ceased to appear merely the leader of a party discredited by its murder of the Duke of Burgundy. He became a national figure; and though his enemies might call him in derision ‘King of Bourges’ because he dared not come to Paris but ruled only from a town in central France, yet he remained in spite of all their ridicule a king and a Frenchman. Had he been less timid and selfish, more ready to run risks and exert himself rather than to idle away his time with unworthy favourites, there is no doubt that he could have hastened the English collapse. Instead he allowed those who fostered his indolence and hatred of public affairs in order to increase their own power to hinder a reconciliation with the Burgundians that might have been the salvation of France.