The transport of the army to Calais occupied the greater part of the month of June. The king, having left London on the 4th of that month,[[35]] proceeded towards the coast through the county of Kent. On the 6th and 10th he was at Canterbury, and on the 20th at Sandwich, where on that day he made his will,[[36]] and executed the instruments by which he constituted his son Edward prince of Wales to be Custos and Lieutenant of the kingdom during his absence.[[37]] There was still some further delay, and the king appears not to have crossed the channel until the 4th of July,[[38]] just one month after his quitting London.
The king was accompanied in this expedition by his two brothers, the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, by the dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk, the marquess of
Dorset, the earls of Northumberland, Rivers, and Pembroke, the earl of Ormond, the earl of Douglas, and lord Boyd, the barons Grey of Ruthyn, Scrope, Grey of Codnor, Stanley, Hastings, Ferrers, Howard, Lisle, and probably others[[39]]; together with a long train of knights, among whom were sir Thomas Mountgomery and sir Ralph Hastings bannerets and knights for the king's body, sir John Astley a banneret, sir John Parre a knight for the body, sir William Parre, and sir Richard Tunstall.
When the king had landed at Calais his sister the duchess of Burgundy came thither to welcome him, on the 6th of July. She was followed by the duke her husband on the 14th; at which time the duchess was at St. Omer's with her brothers the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. On the 18th the sovereigns of England and Burgundy went together to the castle of Guisnes, where the duke was entertained at king Edward's expense, as he had been at Calais.[[40]]
Meanwhile, (relates Molinet,) "the army spread itself through the neighbouring countries, numbering about twenty-two thousand men in the king's pay, of which the archers were badly mounted, and little used to go on horseback. The English were then inflated with high expectations, and thought that France might well tremble before them. They brought a new engine of artillery in the form of a carriage, which required, to put it in action, more than fifty horses, and it was calculated to make at every stroke breaches both deep and wide. Many of the English, who were natives of the duchies of Guienne and Normandy, brought with them the deeds of purchase, and registrations duly sealed, of the inheritances and rents that they used to possess in those duchies before their expulsion, looking forward to recover their title and enjoyment thereof.
"The king (continues the same chronicler) drew his army towards Fauquenbergh, where he raised the richest tent ever seen; then he moved on Rousseauville, and stayed for two nights in the place where king Henry, the father of his predecessor, had obtained a glorious victory over the French, in the year 1415—i.e. at Agincourt; from thence he marched to Blangy, and from Blangy towards Peronne. Supplies came to his army from the countries and lordships of the duke of Burgundy. The English repeatedly passed and repassed the river Somme; and the duke of Burgundy, in person departing from Valenciennes, (where he had been honourably received, and where many pageants had been exhibited and performed before him in compliment to the king of England and himself,) came to view the army of the English, whom he caused to march and countermarch at his orders, to show his desire to lead them. The duke and king Edward, who then kept the field, held a conference for the space of three hours. A dove was observed to remain on the king's tent for a whole day and a half[[41]]: and after its departure there
followed a terrible thunder-storm, which did great damage to the army, by the hail stones which fell, as large as walnuts. From that day forward the English were in trouble enough, and began to murmur, saying that the king had kept badly the promises that had been made to them. The time passed away without anything being accomplished. The duke of Burgundy parted from them, and went to Lorraine, where he had left part of his forces, to conquer the duchy and county of Vaudemont."
Our own historians have not discoursed at any length of the campaign made in France on this occasion. It has not offered to them the attractions of a Creci, a Poictiers, or an Agincourt; nor even presented any minor achievement that might have inspired their eloquence or stimulated their researches. Its laurels in fact withered under the wily diplomacy of Louis the Eleventh; and, besides the chapter of Molinet from which the preceding passages have been taken, it is in the pages of that monarch's vivid biographer, Philippe de Commines, that we are most fully informed of its transactions. Its results were entirely in correspondence with the personal characteristics of the three sovereigns concerned. The obstinate self-will of Charles the Rash, the luxurious indolence of king Edward, and the timid but crafty time-serving of Louis the Eleventh, all contributed to work out their natural effects.
When the English began to land in France, the duke of Burgundy, already engaged in warfare with the German princes, was besieging the town of Neuss, upon the Rhine; and, until he could effect his object there, he would not be persuaded to leave the spot, although other projects of far greater political importance were now at stake. Commines states that "the lord Scales (meaning Anthony then earl Rivers, the king's brother-in-law,) was sent twice, with several other ambassadors, to the duke[[42]]; but the duke was perverse, as if God Almighty had infatuated his senses and understanding; for all his life long he had been labouring to get the English over to invade France, and now, when they were ready, and all things prepared to receive them both in Bretagne and elsewhere, he obstinately persisted in an enterprise in which it was impossible for him to succeed."