A squadron of cavalry was ordered to charge; they were the flower of the French troops. They came on impetuously at a gallop, but the ground was soft with deep mud, the horses slipped, floundered, and became unmanageable, a flight of arrows falling amongst them added to their confusion, they turned and fled. Then the English throwing down bows and pikes, seized their swords and axes and rushed into the thick of the fight. They broke through the first division, but when they came to the second and third there were no leaders, as they had all gone to the front ranks. The subalterns could not lead the soldiers, who hesitated, wavered, and at last gave way, and the battle became a rout. The English were too few in number to pursue as they dared not separate, and Henry seeing a troop coming up, and thinking the enemy were being reinforced, gave the order to put the prisoners to death, which command began to be carried out, but presently, seeing that the troop was also retreating, the King ordered the massacre to be stopped, which was at once done, but not before many lives had been sacrificed, and a deep stain inflicted upon his name.
The English lost sixteen hundred men, including the Duke of York and Earl of Oxford, but the losses of the French are said to have been ten thousand men and fifteen hundred prisoners. Among the dead were the Duc de Brabant and Comte de Nevers, brothers of the Duke of Burgundy, the Duc de Bar and his two brothers, the Constable d’Albret and the Duc d’Alençon, all nearly related to the King, and numbers of other nobles and gentlemen. Among the prisoners were the Ducs d’Orléans and Bourbon, the Comtes de Richemont and Eu, Marshal Boucicault, and many others of high degree.
But the army of King Henry was too small and too exhausted to push its victory any further; in fact, its safety appeared to him so doubtful that he ordered all the plunder taken to be burnt, and taking their prisoners with them the English troops turned their steps towards Calais and embarked for Dover a week after the victory.[259] The Queen was at Melun when the news of the disaster arrived. She was ill at the time, and had also become so stout that she had been obliged to give up riding, therefore in haste and consternation she had herself carried in a litter to Paris, taking with her the Duchesse d’Aquitaine, for fear of falling into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, who directly he heard of the result of the battle and the losses of the Armagnacs, started for the capital at the head of ten thousand cavalry. The Queen and Duchesse d’Aquitaine were at the hôtel d’Orléans,[260] and the Duc d’Aquitaine, who now returned in haste to Paris, went to the hôtel de Bourbon; the King, the Duc de Berry, and Comte d’Armagnac also hurried back; the King of Sicily took refuge at Angers, to get out of the way of Jean Sans-peur, who was his bitter enemy, because he had first betrothed his son to the daughter of the latter, a little child, and then changed his mind and sent her back to her father.
{1416}
The Duc d’Aquitaine sent to forbid Burgundy to advance, and not liking to set his son-in-law at defiance he arrested his march, but in the midst of all the anxiety and commotion that was going on, Louis Duc d’Aquitaine died after a few days’ illness, having, as had always been foretold, utterly destroyed his constitution by the excesses of his life. Before his death he expressed his remorse at his conduct to his wife.[261] Of course there were some who declared that he had been poisoned, and that Jean Sans-peur had done it, but as his death prevented the Duke of Burgundy’s daughter from being Queen of France this is not at all likely, however angry he might have been at Aquitaine’s treatment of her and disregard of his own counsels.
The next Dauphin, Jean Duc de Touraine, lived with his wife and her family in Hainault, where the Queen and Council (the King being ill) sent, to desire him to come at once to Paris. But Jean, brought up by the near relations and firm allies of Burgundy, was far more Burgundian than his elder brother, the son-in-law of Jean Sans-peur. He refused to receive the deputation except in the presence of the Burgundian ambassadors, and he would not go to Paris unless his uncle of Burgundy might go too. Louis d’Aquitaine had died at the beginning of 1416, and it was not until early in 1417 that, after much discussion and exchange of letters and messengers he set off with his father-in-law for Compiègne, as the Queen absolutely refused to come to St. Quentin as they wished.[262]
{1417}
They established themselves in the royal palace of Compiègne, where they were joined by the Dauphine and Comtesse de Hainault, and where they lived in state and splendour as Jean always had done, for the Hainaults were very rich. Jacqueline was their only child, and they were exceedingly proud of the alliance with the son of the King, especially now he had become Dauphin. He was now eighteen, and seems to have had more constancy of purpose than his brother, but to have been entirely under the influence of the Comte de Hainault and Duke of Burgundy. What he was really like is impossible to say. De Mézeray calls him “un jeune homme capriceux, acriastre, déplaisant en mœurs et façons.” Juvenal des Ursins and Paradin observe that it was a pity he did not live to be King, as he had been well brought up and taught by the Comte de Hainault who was a wise prince. The monk of St. Denis declares that he was a noble character, but he generally appears to have had that opinion of the fleurs-de-lis. It was very likely that he was better than his eldest brother, as he easily might have been. He was extravagant and magnificent like all his family, and those who surrounded him and had charge of his education were always praising his lavish generosity and inciting him to hold a more brilliant court than his parents the King and Queen.[263]
That the Dauphin and Dauphine lived in great splendour at Compiègne is proved by many of the bills and accounts still existing, the costly stuffs of their dresses, the magnificent plate and jewels, and the presents they made to each other and to the members of their households. Messengers went perpetually between Compiègne, Senlis, Paris, and other places to fetch things and to carry letters. There is a record of a sum paid to the Provost of Senlis for having escorted “pour la doubte et péril des chemins,” a sum of money from Senlis to Compiègne. Sums of money are also given to the King’s minstrels, to the choristers of the Dauphin’s chapel, and to Hennequin who takes care of his pet dogs; also for tapestry hangings for his room, nine pieces, with a stag hunt and boat hunt on green worked with silk, gold, and silver.[264]
Isabeau must have been estranged from the son who had been so separated from her; for we find that when she came to Senlis with her youngest son Charles, who had been made Duc de Touraine, Governor of Paris, and Duc de Berry (the old Duke having just died), although the Dauphine was taken there to pay her homage, and spent some hours with her “en grande léeses,” Isabeau returned to Paris with the Comte de Hainault without seeing the Dauphin. Possibly she may have been irritated against him, for he still refused to come to Paris, now in the hands of the Armagnacs, and demanded the regency during the King’s malady.