Читать книгу Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester: A Biography - Kenneth Hotham Vickers - Страница 8

1415] BATTLE OF AGINCOURT

The day of Crispin and Crispinian broke bright and clear to find the English army already preparing for the battle, which was now inevitable, since the French lay across the road which led to Calais. About a mile divided the two armies, which were both on slightly elevated ground. Both sides were at a disadvantage from one point of view, for while the French were numerous and confined within a narrow strip of open ground between two stretches of woodland, the English were few and had a large front to cover; consequently the former were drawn up in three lines and huddled together, while the latter, stretched across in one thin line, brought their full force into action at the same time.[123] The French were disorganised, and their leaders quarrelled not only as to the advantage of offering battle, but also as to their respective positions in the fight.[124] Ultimately those in favour of action prevailed, and the Constable d’Albret took command of the first division of dismounted cross-bowmen and archers, these last, however, being put behind the first line and thus rendered useless. Next came the Dukes of Bar and Alençon leading the second division, and behind them again were the Counts of Marle, Dammartin, and Fauquenberg. Cavalry were posted on either flank.[125] The Duke of Burgundy was unrepresented in the army, as he had forbidden his vassals to serve under any one but himself, and we are told that his son Philip never ceased to bewail this enforced absence from the battle.[126]

On the English side the archers were drawn up in wedges pointing towards the enemy, with the men-at-arms in line between them. On the right was the van under the command of the Duke of York, Lord Camoys with the rearguard held the left, while the King commanded the centre, where, among others, Gloucester led a squadron of his own.[127] All the English, noble as well as humble, fought on foot, and though the chief men were fully armed as was the King, the archers were almost entirely without protective armour.[128] Beyond a few soldiers with the baggage, all Henry’s men were concentrated in the one fighting line,[129] for there is not sufficient evidence to prove the existence of the ambushed archers on the wings described by some writers.[130] The English advanced to within half a mile of the enemy, and there halted, while heralds were sent forward to offer terms of peace, but the refusal of Henry to renounce his claim to the French throne proved an insuperable obstacle to any pacification.[131] It was thus ten o’clock before the King gave the final order to attack, and with a shout the archers advanced again, this time to within bowshot, and opened fire. The French cavalry failed in their attempt to ride them down, thanks to the stakes planted between them and their opponents, and they fled back to spread confusion in the first line.[132] This division, splitting into three parts, advanced before d’Albret gave the word, but after a brief moment’s success, only to be shattered by the concentrated fire of the English archers. Seizing the advantage thus given him, Henry ordered his men to charge, and they, discarding the protection of their palisade, rushed out, the men-at-arms with their lances, the archers with axes and other promiscuous weapons. With the cry of ‘Saint George and merry England,’ they pierced the first line of the enemy, and engaged the second in hand-to-hand combat.[133] The French could not withstand this rush, and hampered by their close array, broke and fled.

In the forefront of this charge was Humphrey at the head of his men, exposing himself to every danger and fighting like a lion.[134]

‘The Duke of Glowcestre also that tyde,

Manfully with his mayne,

Wonder he wroght ther wondere wyde.’[135]

1415] VALOUR OF GLOUCESTER

But his courage, bordering on rashness,[136] took him too far in advance of his men, and when Alençon, having rallied some of the second division, together with those of the third division who had not fled without striking a blow, broke into the English ranks and caught him unawares, Gloucester fell severely wounded ‘in the hammes,’ and lay helpless on his back with his feet towards the enemy. His men would have left him for dead, had not the King rushed forward with reinforcements, and standing between his brother’s legs, kept the enemy at bay till the wounded duke had been removed to a place of safety.[137]

By the time that this was accomplished the day was won. The last effort of the French, which had almost proved fatal to Humphrey, had been checked, and Alençon himself lay dead upon the field. Beyond a scare caused by the belief that some of the flying enemy who sacked the English baggage in the rear were reinforcements sent from Paris—a mistake which caused the cold-blooded murder of many French prisoners of war—the day was thereafter devoid of incident.[138]

The English had fought valiantly, and though their King had set them a great example, it is Gloucester whom several chroniclers pick out for special praise. Henry’s chaplain, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of the campaign, thanks God fervently for his escape,[139] whilst others speak of his deeds of valour and Lydgate writes:

‘The Duke of Gloucestre that is so nay

That day full worthyly he wroughte,

On every syde he made good way,

The Frenshemen faste to grounde he brought,’[140]

and his somewhat fervid biographer of a later date quaintly assures us that though ‘he lost much blood and his spiritts spent with toils and labour, yett was not his manly courage at all abated, nor his strong stomach at all quelled.’[141] This was the only pitched battle in which Humphrey ever took part, and he acquitted himself valiantly therein. His impetuous temperament had come near to costing him his life, and it is well that we have this definite and indisputable evidence of his courage, for in one episode of his later life he came near to incurring the accusation of cowardice; indeed, were it not for this and other evidences of his personal valour in war, we should be entirely misled as to the true meaning of his failure when in command of his own army in his own quarrel.

The English losses were but few, though even hardened soldiers were appalled at the heaps of French dead lying on the field, including the Constable d’Albret, the Admiral Dampierre, and the Dukes of Alençon, Bar, and Brabant, the last being Burgundy’s brother who had only reached the battle when the day was lost.[142] On the English side the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk—son of the man who died before Harfleur—were the only notable victims.[143] Early next morning the army moved off, bearing Gloucester with them, and three days later the King entered Calais. On November 16 he sailed for England, but Gloucester was left behind to recover from his wound, so that he did not take part in Henry’s reception at Dover, or in his triumphal entry into London when the city turned out in force to welcome its conquering King.[144]