Читать книгу Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester: A Biography - Kenneth Hotham Vickers - Страница 11

1418] SIEGE OF ROUEN

The siege of Rouen was more than three months old when Gloucester arrived in November, fresh from the capture of Cherbourg.[284] The abbey and fortress of St. Katharine just outside the town, which had been a great source of inconvenience to the besiegers, keeping open, as it did, communication between the town and the outside world, had capitulated on August 22, and on September 7 Caudebec, which guarded the river approach, surrendered to Warwick,[285] so that now Rouen was shut in on every side. The blockade was strictly kept. Gloucester found the King safely housed in the Carthusian Monastery of Notre-Dame-de-la-Rose, on the east side of the town, about a mile distant from the Porte St. Hilaire, the custody of which was committed to Sir William Porter. Further south, at the Porte Martinville, lay Warwick, with his troops reaching down to the Seine, and behind him the newly acquired fort of St. Katharine. Across the Seine, on the south, Salisbury and Huntingdon guarded ‘La Barbacane.’ On the west, Clarence lay at the ruined abbey of St. Gervais, guarding the Porte Cauchoise and the walls as far as the river. The Earl Marshal lay opposite the castle on the north-west, with Talbot and Sir John Cornwall joining up his men and those of Clarence. Exeter lay at the Porte Beauvassine on the north, while the Lords Willoughby, Ross, and Fitz Hugh completed the circle of the besiegers to the Porte St. Hilaire.[286] Gloucester himself, on his arrival, was given command of the forces which lay at the Porte St. Hilaire,[287] and he justified his selection for a post of danger and importance by that reckless bravery for which he was already well known. He lay nearer to the enemy than any of the besiegers by ’40 rode and more in spas,’ and supervised his men with great ability, exposing himself to the fire from the town, and repelling the frequent sorties made on his side.[288] Indeed the fighting seems to have been heaviest at the Porte St. Hilaire, for Gloucester casualties were more numerous than in any other part of the army.[289]

Henry’s arrangements for the safety of his army could not have been more carefully or more wisely made. His men were securely entrenched against the daily attacks of the town, whilst he himself, caring neither for fog nor wintry weather, frequently visited the outposts at night. With great care a bridge had been built across the river, thus affording easy and safe communication with Salisbury and Huntingdon. The capture of Caudebec had opened the river, and provisions came pouring in from London;[290] also some of the ships were dragged overland for three miles so as to get above the town bridge, which blocked the way. By this means the French boats were driven to take refuge within the port of Rouen, and while the town lost all hope of a replenished supply of provisions, the English had food in abundance, communication being kept up with England by a fleet lent by Henry’s kinsman, King John of Portugal.[291] No assault was made on the town. Henry was far too wise to attempt to take so strong a fortress by any means but starvation, for Rouen had splendid walls, numerous towers, and plenty of guns, with a garrison, so say the French chroniclers, of four thousand soldiers and sixteen thousand armed citizens, and the most courageous and enterprising leader the English had yet met in the person of Guy le Bouteiller.[292]

The English therefore confined themselves to resisting the almost hourly sorties of the besieged, and to harassing the country with the light troops which had been brought from Ireland.[293] As November passed into December the besieged began to feel a shortage of provisions, and they turned out the non-combatants from the city. It could hardly be expected that Henry would let these pass, and they were driven back to the walls, though the English soldiers gave them food to save them from utter starvation.[294] At the same time, however, the garrison was cheered by the news that an old priest had managed to pass the English lines, and to return with a promise of help from Burgundy. This news also reached Henry, who fortified his camp behind as well as before, in case he had to meet a relieving force;[295] yet this was but a measure of precaution, for he well knew that Burgundy was not strong enough to leave Paris open to the Armagnacs whilst he campaigned in Normandy.

Towards Christmas the garrison were in sore straits;

‘They etete doggys, they ete cattys,

They ete mysse, horse and rattys,’

we are told by our rhyming Chronicler,[296] and they could not bury their dead, so fast did men die. Another appeal to Burgundy resulted in a promise of relief immediately after Christmas,[297] and on Christmas Day Henry called a truce, and provided food for French as well as English.[298] But the long-promised relief never came, and at length on New Year’s Eve the town asked for a parley. This was granted, but even in their distress, with their wretched countrymen lying dead and dying in the ditch hard by, the defenders would not accept Henry’s terms. For three days they discussed the matter in tents set up in Gloucester’s trenches and guarded by his men,[299] and when they returned to the city despair seized the townsmen. Some tell us that in heroic desperation they determined to throw down the walls, burn the city, and fight their way out,[300] others say that a meeting of the citizens compelled the leaders to reopen negotiations.[301] At any rate, they went to the Porte St. Hilaire and asked to speak with Gloucester, but failing to make him hear, and meeting with the same fate on the side where Clarence lay, they at last succeeded in drawing the attention of the Earl of Warwick, who undertook to communicate their wish to reopen negotiations to the King.[302] This ended in terms of surrender being signed on January 13.[303] If not relieved, Rouen was to surrender in six days, pay an indemnity of 345,000 crowns of gold, and yield up three men who were named. The garrison was allowed to march out unarmed and on foot.[304] On the 19th of January Henry entered Rouen with great pomp, and the Duchy of Normandy was finally won by the capitulation of its capital.[305]

1419] MARRIAGE NEGOTIATIONS

After the conquest of Rouen the English captains were sent with small detachments to clear the country. Salisbury to the north secured Montivilliers, Honfleur, Fécamp, Dieppe, and Eu; Clarence went up the Seine valley taking Vernon and Nantes, and many other smaller towns in the immediate neighbourhood submitted.[306] Gloucester stayed with his royal brother at Rouen, as he had been made captain of the city,[307] and there steps were taken to further organise the administration of Normandy, and to relieve distress in the town itself. At the same time negotiations were being carried on with both French factions. Throughout the recent siege ambassadors had been passing between the various parties, and at one time the Dauphin offered terms,[308] at another the French King, under the influence of Burgundy, sent a portrait of his daughter Catherine, whose name had appeared in most of the negotiations.[309] Conferences at Alençon with Armagnac, or at Pont de l’Arche with Burgundian emissaries, were alike fruitless. Still Henry persevered. Arrangements were made at Rouen for a personal meeting with the Dauphin at Evreux on March 8,[310] but when Henry reached the trysting-place he found that the Dauphin had not kept his word.[311] Nothing daunted, he despatched Warwick on March 28 to arrange an interview with the Burgundian faction for May 15, and Clarence, with Gloucester, took an oath to observe any conditions that might be arranged.[312] But Henry’s diplomacy stretched farther than this. Bedford was given permission to seek a wife among the daughters of Frederick of Nuremberg, or among the daughters of the Duke of Lorraine, or indeed among any of the kindred of the Emperor Sigismund.[313] Gloucester, on the other hand, had a more restricted field for marriage negotiations opened for him. He was given permission on April 1 to treat for the hand of Blanche of Sicily, daughter and heiress of Charles III. of Navarre. Acting on this commission, Gloucester appointed his chamberlains, William Beauchamp and John Stokes ‘Dr. of Laws,’ to care for his interests in that quarter, but his hopes of a wife at that time were to be short-lived.[314] On April 20 Charles de Beaumont, who represented Henry at the court of Navarre, and had recently served under Gloucester in the Côtentin, informed him that negotiations were pending for the marriage of Blanche to Don John of Arragon, asserting that Henry’s delays in stating definitely what lands in Guienne he would give Gloucester on his wedding had so annoyed Charles, that it was unlikely that the English marriage would ever come off.[315] In these suspicions Beaumont was fully justified. We hear no more of Gloucester as a prospective suitor for the hand of Blanche, and soon after she was married to his rival, Don John, who ultimately became John II. of Arragon.

1419] CAPTURE OF IVRY

Gloucester had more active work on hand than this somewhat nebulous marriage scheme. He left Evreux early in April, accompanied by the Earl Marshal, John de Mowbray, having been commissioned to take Ivry, which he invested in the customary manner.[316] The town held out with more determination than had been expected, and to save Gloucester’s troops from starvation the King had to despatch orders to the bailiff of Evreux to send all sellers of provisions in his bailiwick to Ivry, to hold a market there twice a week so long as Gloucester remained before the town.[317] The town was not of great strength, and was taken by assault in a few days, but the castle was not only well fortified, but situated so as to be hard to attack. With the usual English tactics Gloucester sat down before the impregnable, knowing that famine would do better work than his guns. Once more it was proved that it was not the cowardice of the French garrisons, but the lethargy and rivalries of the French Princes which gave Normandy to the English King. The first panic after Henry’s landing at Touques once over, the French had held their position stubbornly, but the English were unhampered in their preparations for sieges and unharassed in the country while they attacked the towns. Thus fortresses which might have replenished their provisions had the attention of the besiegers been divided, were compelled by lack of food and other stores to surrender. Harfleur had proved it, Rouen had proved it, and now in due course the castle of Ivry was compelled to come to terms on May 10, and three days later Gloucester entered the fortress and received the oath of fealty from all in the town.[318]

Having settled matters at Ivry, Gloucester marched towards Mantes, where he joined his brother, probably late in May.[319] Henry was preparing, with growing confidence in an amicable adjustment of his claims, to meet Charles VI. and Burgundy at a conference, wherein the French had consented to take the Treaty of Bretigny as a basis of their discussion.[320] The conference was to be held in a meadow near Meulan, where a little stream, called the Viviers, emptied itself into the Seine. Thus guarded on two sides, the rest was surrounded by a bank and a ditch, and had a pavilion in the centre for the shelter of the two parties. Thither on May 30 came Burgundy with Queen Isabel and her daughter Catherine.[321] Charles VI. was too unwell to be present. From Mantes came Henry, accompanied by his two brothers Clarence and Gloucester, Archbishop Chichele, the two Beauforts, Henry Beaufort of Winchester and the Duke of Exeter, and two thousand five hundred well-appointed soldiers. Nothing beyond ceremonial greetings took place on the first day of the conference, which seem to have been chiefly meant for the introduction of Henry to Catherine, for at later meetings the much-treated-of Princess did not appear.[322] At the next meeting on June 1 Clarence, Gloucester, Chichele, Beaufort, and Exeter were officially appointed to treat for peace with France, and for the King’s marriage.[323] Negotiations dragged on, Henry demanding the cession of full sovereignty of the English possessions in France which were assured by the Treaty of Bretigny, the French demanding a renunciation by the English King of his title to the French throne. At the end of a month they were no nearer a settlement than at the beginning, and distrust of each other was becoming evident. Eventually high words passed between Henry and Burgundy, and negotiations were broken off.[324] Even then, Henry does not seem to have lost all hope of an arrangement of these difficulties, for on July 5 we find Chichele and Warwick commissioned to undertake an embassy to the Burgundian party.[325]

1419] MINOR MILITARY OPERATIONS

Nevertheless, Henry knew that his best argument was force, and as soon as the truce expired on July 31, he sent forward a detachment from Mantes, which surprised and took Pontoise.[326] Henry, with Gloucester and the main body of the army, stayed some little time longer at Mantes,[327] and then followed to Pontoise, where Clarence rejoined him, after having reconnoitred right up to the gates of Paris.[328] Hence the whole army moved on August 18, and taking Vancouvilliers on the way, sat down before Gisors on the 31st, which, after a short but sharp siege, surrendered—the town on September 17, the castle six days later.[329] From Gisors Henry went to Mantes, whence he supervised the siege of Meulan, in which Gloucester took part. This town was so situated that the Seine guarded it on one side, and marshes on the other. However, by the use of rafts and floating castles, the English managed to clear the river of the stakes which the French had planted in its bed, and so to press the town, that it surrendered on October 31.[330] Henry had kept up daily communication with the besiegers, and now he came to Meulan, and on November 6 despatched Gloucester to secure the Seine valley further up towards Paris. Poissy was captured on the 13th, and three days later St. Germain succumbed after no serious resistance. On the same day the neighbouring castle of Montjoye voluntarily submitted.[331]

By the middle of the month Gloucester was back with the King at Mantes, and accompanied him to Rouen, for it had been decided to send him home to replace his brother Bedford as Regent of England.[332] It seems impossible to discover any real reason for this exchange of posts between Bedford and Gloucester, unless the King wanted the help of the brother who had had experience in statecraft in the organisation of his newly acquired Duchy, and thought that Gloucester could be more easily spared than Clarence to go to England. At any rate, on November 21, orders were issued at Rouen for the impressment of forty sailors to convey Gloucester to England, and it is probable that he crossed the Channel within a few days of this provision.[333]