A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

The treaty was scarcely finished when Bedford had to move southward to relieve Crévant on the Yonne, closely besieged by the Scotch and French. The expedition was very successful. A simultaneous attack from the city and the relieving army destroyed the besiegers; 1200 knights, chiefly Scotch, were said to have been left on the field. But fresh recruits were continually coming to the French, some from Italy, some from Scotland; notably 5,000 men under Archibald Douglas, who was raised to the Duchy of Touraine; while Stewart of Darnley, their former leader, received the lordships of Aubigné and of Dreux. Bedford attempted to cut off this source of help by arranging for the release of the Scottish King, who had now been twenty-four years a captive in England. In September 1423, his freedom was arranged, on the payment of £40,000 for his past expenses, and upon a promise on his part that he would keep peace with England, and marry an English lady. He was told to choose his own wife, as English ladies were not in the habit of proposing for husbands, and married Joan Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset, granddaughter of John of Gaunt. He did his best, though not always successfully, to keep his promise of peace. But this step on the part of Bedford did not stop the Scotch in France. They pushed on even to the borders of Normandy, and captured Ivry. Bedford addressed himself to the recovery of that fortress. 18,000 troops, Scotch, French, and Italians, led by the Duke of Alençon and Earl of Buchan, now Constable of France, marched to relieve it. This they were unable to do, but revenged themselves by the capture of the neighbouring town of Verneuil. Thither the Regent pursued them, and there he brought them to action. It was the old story over again. The French had not yet learnt wisdom by experience; and again the mass of heavy-armed foot, with cavalry on the flanks, was shattered by the English archers from behind their impenetrable wall of pointed stakes. The Scotch auxiliaries were nearly destroyed; and among the 5000 dead were the Earls of Douglas, Buchan and Aumale. The victory was likened in Parliament to the Battle of Agincourt. Its effects were almost as complete. For the time the French had to withdraw completely behind the Loire.

It is disturbed by Gloucester’s marriage.

First blow to Burgundian alliance. 1424.

It was the unbridled folly of Gloucester which disturbed the favourable position which Bedford had secured. The Countess Jacqueline of Hainault and Holland had married John of Brabant, and had fled from her husband. She had taken refuge in England, and just before the death of Henry V., Gloucester, during the life of her former husband, had taken her for his wife. The Duke of Burgundy was the cousin and close ally of John of Brabant, and had hoped to bring all the Netherlands under his power by his kinsman’s marriage with Jacqueline. Gloucester would hear of no compromise, but, in 1424, appeared with 5000 English troops in Calais, and took possession of Hainault. Philip of Burgundy at once wavered in his friendship for England, drew closer his connection with Brabant, and even procured a truce with the Dauphin. Preparations for a duel, to which he had challenged Burgundy, called Gloucester home. The immediate effect of his departure was the occupation of Hainault by John of Brabant. Jacqueline herself was taken prisoner, but managing to escape in man’s clothes, she reached her other dominions in Holland, and thence proceeded to begin a war with Burgundy. Her English lover could send her but little help, and at last, after her husband’s death in 1428, she surrendered to Philip, and declared him her heir. Gloucester’s infidelity broke off relations between them, and eventually, in 1436, the whole of the Netherlands came into the power of Burgundy. It has been said that, without the friendship of Burgundy, the English resources were insufficient to retain France. This was the first shock that friendship received.

Rivalry of Beaufort and Gloucester.

Gloucester’s marriage with Eleanor Cobham.

This outbreak of Gloucester’s was but one instance of his intemperate and ambitious character. At home, he had already involved the government in difficulties, by his constant rivalry with Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, second son of John of Gaunt by Catherine Swinford. This Prince had already been engaged in all the prominent affairs of the last reign. But though a man of vast wealth and large ambition, his aspirations in England were rather for his family than for himself; and in the financial difficulties which began to beset England his money was freely advanced without interest to Government. In 1424, he had been made Chancellor, for the express purpose of counterbalancing the power of his nephew Gloucester, and in pursuance of this object, he had, during Gloucester’s absence in Hainault, garrisoned the Tower, from which Gloucester on his return found himself excluded. This produced an open quarrel and an appeal to arms, only repressed by the intervention of the Prince of Portugal, at that time in England. There was one man only who could decide this quarrel, and that was the Duke of Bedford, who on coming to England would at once become the constitutional Regent. He found it therefore necessary to leave France, where he was much wanted, and to return to England. He contrived to bring about a reconciliation, at a Parliament held at Leicester. The Bishop of Winchester, from patriotic motives, resigned his chancellorship, and got leave to absent himself from England to go on a pilgrimage. At the same time, the Parliament defined as before the power of Gloucester, establishing the practical supremacy of the Council. This definition Bedford accepted. Eventually, though much against his will, Gloucester was induced to do so also; but his real view was expressed in the words attributed to him, “Lat my brother governe as hym lust, whiles he is in this lande, for after his going overe to Fraunce, I wol governe as me semethe goode.” It was plain that the views of Bedford and Gloucester as to the government of England were very different. Nor had Bedford long left England to return to France when his brother gave rise to a fresh scandal. He had already forgotten Jacqueline, and even while getting supplies from the Commons, with whom he was very popular, for the purpose of upholding her cause, had married his former mistress Eleanor Cobham.

Bedford again secures Burgundy,

and attacks Orleans.

Battle of the Herrings.