Читать книгу Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester: A Biography - Kenneth Hotham Vickers - Страница 9

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With the battle of Agincourt the days of Humphrey’s apprenticeship end, and we find him fairly embarked on his public career. That career assumes a threefold aspect, but at the same time there are certain definite threads of temperament and character which run through all the web of his life. We shall find him first busy in the French wars as the capable and trusted lieutenant of his royal brother; later for a brief space he will be found aping the ambitions of his grandfather, striving for recognition as prince of an European state; finally, the third and most lasting phase of his career will find him amidst the unlovely strife of party politics. Soldier, Pretender, Politician, in all these rôles Humphrey stands forth as a distinct personality. Not that he has the great gifts of concentration and consistency, not that he is one of those happy men who have a gospel to preach and know it; he was of all men lacking in determination, and if his policy does not waver, his carrying out thereof is fitful and uncertain. His interests were those of the moment, his policy was mapped out on no organised plan, but the same spirit inspires his every action. Ambition and instability were manifest throughout his life, and though he had always before him the same clear object—self-aggrandisement—there was no consistency in the methods he used to secure his end. Thus we shall find him at one moment a patriotic Englishman, at another nothing less than the subverter of the nation’s welfare, but before him there was always the same selfish object which was to destroy his power of usefulness, and make him a patriot only when his own interests and those of the nation were identical. In the first stage of his career this influence of his character is not so clearly apparent, but even here we can trace what eventually became so plain. Till the death of Henry v. he was dominated by the overpowering personality of his brother, and it was only when he strove to stand alone that the glaring weakness of his character became evident. It is then with care and diligence that we must examine Gloucester’s military career under the guidance of his brother, if we are to find the connecting-link between his earlier and later actions.

Humphrey’s wound was not so long in healing as might have been expected,[145] and he was soon back in England. Henceforward he was one of the King’s trusty warriors, and the war indeed was to monopolise most of his time for the next few years, though for the present there was a cessation. In the meantime he received the reward of his services. Part of the forfeited estates of the late Earl of Cambridge, executed at Southampton, the adjoining manors of Bristol and Barton, were given to him for himself and his heirs male, while he added the castle and lordship of Llanstephan to his already extensive possessions in South Wales.[146] Moreover, the death of the Earl of Arundel in October had rendered vacant the post of Constable of Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports, an office which the King conferred on his youngest brother within four days of his return to London.[147] Evidently the appointment had been made before the letters-patent were signed, since we find reference to Gloucester as Constable and Warden in a petition of the Parliament before Henry’s return.[148] Towards the end of the year Humphrey was created Lord of the Isle of Wight and of Carisbrooke,[149] and in January he became Warden and Chief-Justice in Eyre of the Royal Forests, Parks, and Warrens south of the Trent.[150] Henry was evidently well pleased with his brother’s conduct in the recent campaign, and had therefore increased his importance and placed him in a position of greater trust. The Isle of Wight and the Cinque Ports were an important charge, in view of the French war now in progress.

1416] THE EMPEROR SIGISMUND

A lull in the French war gave Gloucester a period of rest before continuing the martial career on which he had now entered. While Burgundy intrigued against Armagnac influence in France, the chief figure in the political horizon of the two warring nations was Sigismund of Luxemburg, King of the Romans and Emperor elect. Sigismund had become Margrave of Brandenburg at the death of his father, the Emperor Charles IV., and King of Hungary on the death of Lewis the Great by reason of his marriage with Mary, the daughter of that monarch. As his brother Wenzel’s weakness had induced the electors to choose another Emperor, Sigismund, who had been selected for this honour, though nominally only King of the Romans at this time, bore the burden of the imperial duties, and was generally recognised as Holy Roman Emperor. He had conceived a great and far-reaching policy, which included the unification of Christendom in one fraternal bond of love, and a crusade against the Turk, who was threatening the Eastern borders of Western Europe. To this end he had secured the deposition of Pope John XXIII. as a step towards removing the scandal of two claimants to papal honours, and he now had turned his attention to the reconciliation of France and England, as part of his larger policy of Christian unity. To this end he had left the Council of Constance to visit these two countries, and to try the effects of his personal mediation.[151] Graciously received at Paris, he had nevertheless soon found that the gospel of peace was there preached to deaf ears, and driven thence by the hostility of the mob which had risen against him, he set his face towards England, reaching Calais at the end of April, and Dover on the 30th of that month.[152]

As soon as the contemplated visit of the Emperor had become known in England, preparations had been made for his reception. Early in April Gloucester, as Warden of the Cinque Ports, had been commissioned to send ships to Calais to bring over the imperial visitor,[153] and careful arrangements were made for the journey between Dover and London, with a special prohibition against charging the visitors for anything they required,[154] a most welcome provision for the penurious Sigismund, who, far more than his contemporary Frederick of Austria, deserved the nickname ‘mit den leeren Taschen.’ Gloucester, accompanied by the Earl of Salisbury and Lords Harrington and Furnival—the latter more recognisable under his later title of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury—went down to meet Sigismund at Dover, where the castle was made ready for his reception.[155] This was the Duke’s first official visit to the Cinque Ports, and the occasion was celebrated by a solemn reception at the Shepway, and a present of £100 from the towns under his command.[156]

1416] SIGISMUND IN ENGLAND

On the arrival of the Emperor at Dover, so says a sixteenth-century chronicler, Humphrey was the chief actor in a picturesque ceremony. Riding into the water with drawn sword before Sigismund had disembarked, he demanded whether he came merely on a friendly visit, or in his imperial capacity to claim suzerainty over the country; and it was not till a denial of all imperial rights over King Henry had been given that the visitor was allowed to land.[157] Though no contemporary writer mentions this event, there is a strong presumption of truth in the story. There are traces of the legend earlier than Holinshed,[158] and it seems very likely that some precaution should be taken, in view of Sigismund’s well-known claims to the allegiance of all Europe. Only a short time before he had exasperated French national feeling by knighting a plaintiff before the Parlement de Paris to secure his right to plead, and it was universally suspected—with considerable justice too—that imperial aggrandisement, as much as his desire for peace, had prompted Sigismund’s European tour.[159] Finally, the fact that the Emperor spent a whole day on board his ship at Dover before disembarking helps to strengthen the probability that some kind of negotiation took place, and that Holinshed’s story is true, and based on some authority which we have now unfortunately lost.

The landing was accomplished on the evening of May 1, and next day Gloucester escorted his charge as far as Canterbury, where the Archbishop welcomed the visitor. The following day, being Sunday, was spent in the Cathedral city, and on Tuesday the cavalcade moved on, being met at Rochester by Bedford, and at Dartford by Clarence. The King himself, with an escort of 5000 gentlemen, and accompanied by the Mayor and Aldermen of London in ‘rede gownes,’ received Sigismund at Blackheath, and with great pomp and circumstance the four Lancastrian brothers brought their guest through the city to Westminster.[160]

Henry had adjourned Parliament till Sigismund’s arrival, hoping to have its help in the ratification of a peace with France, which the French Embassy that came over in the train of the Emperor seemed to promise.[161] It is probable, therefore, that Sigismund was present at the reopening of the session; but no business of importance was undertaken, and when Gloucester with other of the lords had given his guarantee for the repayment of a loan, the meeting was dissolved.[162] On Rogation Sunday, May 24, the feast of St. George, which had been postponed till the arrival of the Emperor, was celebrated, and Sigismund was admitted to the Order of the Garter, attending High Mass in St. George’s Chapel, and the subsequent banquet in honour of the occasion.[163] Gloucester was amongst those who received robes of the order on this occasion, and with him we find William, Count of Holland, the father of the lady he was afterwards to marry.[164] Count William had been summoned by the Emperor to assist in the peace negotiations by reason of his relations with the French court, the Dauphin being his son-in-law; but his stay in England was cut short by the refusal of Sigismund to grant the investiture of his inheritance to his only child, Jacqueline, a refusal which induced him to withdraw in a rage.[165]

1416] SIGISMUND RETURNS HOME

In spite of the splendour of the feastings at Windsor,[166] the object of the imperial visit was not forgotten, but though Henry was ready to come to terms, the Armagnac faction at Paris opposed all efforts towards peace. A French attack on Harfleur and the Isle of Wight[167] threw Sigismund into the arms of the English, and on August 15 a treaty of alliance between King and Emperor was signed at Canterbury.[168] Meantime Bedford had been despatched to relieve Harfleur, in which he was entirely successful,[169] and he returned on September 4 to find that Henry, accompanied by Gloucester, had crossed to Calais, whither Sigismund had preceded them, carrying with him the maledictions of the London citizens for his failure to procure peace,[170] but himself leaving behind him a nattering record of the pleasant time he had had in England.[171] His mission had failed in its object, but writers of both nations agree that the fault lay not with the English but with the French.[172]

The journey of Henry and Gloucester to Calais was taken with the definite object of cementing an alliance with John the Fearless of Burgundy, and of drawing the vassal duke nearer to his imperial overlord. Ostensibly the matter of chief importance was a meeting with the envoys from the King of France, but as might be expected from their recent behaviour, the French asked ridiculously high terms, and the only result of the conference was a truce between the two countries till February 2, 1417.[173]

1416] GLOUCESTER AND COUNT OF CHAROLAIS

The way was thus cleared for negotiations with Burgundy, but the duke showed himself very doubtful of the good faith of the English, and demanded elaborate safeguards for his person if he came to Calais. This difficulty was removed, and on October 1 a safe conduct was given him for himself and 800 men, only half of whom were to come further than the gates of the city; Gloucester was to meet him at Gravelines, and remain with the Count of Charolais as hostage for his safety till his return.[174] Accordingly on October 3 the French ambassadors were dismissed by Henry, for one of the most prominent of them, the Archbishop of Rheims, was very obnoxious to Burgundy, and Humphrey prepared a ‘reasonable escort’ of some 800 men, who were to accompany him to the Burgundian court. At two o’clock on the morning of October 5 trumpets sounded in the English quarters, and the little band made ready to accompany the duke to Gravelines, all unarmed. About four o’clock they left the city, and followed by a crowd anxious to witness the meeting of the two dukes, they reached the banks of the river Aa between six and seven, just as the tide was at its lowest. Lord Camoys and Sir Robert Waterton were then sent over to secure a signed and sealed security for the safety of the English prince, and when this had been given the Burgundian troops came out and faced the English across the river. The retainers of both parties passed over first, and then the principals, with a touch of that mediæval ceremonial which characterised the men of the new age, rode into the water from the opposite sides, and shaking hands in mid-stream, passed on, Burgundy to be met by the Earl of Warwick and escorted to Calais, Gloucester to be received with every courtesy by the Count of Charolais, Burgundy’s eldest son and heir, with whom he went to St. Omer.[175]

For nine days these two men, whom fate was to bring into bitter hostility before many years had passed, lived together, and when the conference at Calais came to an end, it was with warm thanks for courteous entertainment that Gloucester took his leave.[176] Nevertheless a jarring note had been struck during this visit, for we read that on one occasion, when the Count came to visit his guest, Gloucester treated him with scant courtesy, ignoring his presence save for a formal salutation, and continuing his conversation with his friends.[177] This event is recorded by a man who knew the history of the Burgundian States from internal observation, and who recorded facts with a justice unusual amongst many of his contemporaries, and we need not be slow to credit the story, when we remember Humphrey’s naturally imperious disposition. That he disliked his commission is at least probable in the light of his past opposition to a Burgundian alliance, and we may well find here the seeds of that strong personal hostility which embittered the later disagreements of the two dukes. To believe this account does not necessitate the discrediting of the story that Gloucester gave formal thanks couched in extravagant terms for his treatment at St. Omer, as this would be only part of the ritual of courtesy which still dominated the relations of the great men of the time. On October 13 Burgundy and Gloucester once more appeared at Gravelines, and having observed the same procedure as on the first occasion, they returned to their respective quarters.[178]

No definite alliance had been made between Henry and Burgundy, but the first step had been taken towards that policy, which in the hands of that young Count, whom Gloucester had now met for the first time, was to bring such loss and disaster to France. The Emperor’s visit to England had borne no useful fruit. While the complications of his policy and his perpetual penury prevented any advantage to England from the Treaty of Canterbury, at Constance his position was only still more complicated than before by the support of his new English friends, and the honour of being enrolled a member of the Order of the Garter could not hide the failure of his policy. To Gloucester fell the duty of escorting Sigismund on the first stage of his homeward journey, and for this purpose he was provided with four large English ships. The Emperor and his men, however, hugged the coast in small boats, and left Humphrey to ride the high seas and protect them from harm, as they feared an attack from the French in revenge for the Treaty of Canterbury. Gloucester accompanied Sigismund as far as Dordrecht, and there the two princes parted with mutual compliments, and presents from the slightly replenished imperial treasury.[179] They were never to meet again.

1416] GLOUCESTER AND SIGISMUND

Sigismund and Gloucester have much in common. Both loved pomp and display, and had equally enjoyed the high festival which had marked the reception of the Emperor in England; both scandalised a none too particular age by the laxness of their morals; both were possessed of that charm of personality which so often accompanies a lack of moral stamina; both basked in the smiles of the bourgeois class. In their future life, too, both were to find themselves opposed to a faction which prated of constitutionalism, and schemed but for its own aggrandisement. But deep down in the roots of their mental attitude we see a great dissimilarity. Sigismund lived in a world of ideas conceived in the spirit of mediævalism; he looked to the past to correct the future. On the other hand, Gloucester had drunk deep of the new ideas, which had begun to influence men’s minds; he had grasped that spirit of nationalism, which was to sweep away the traditional forces of mediævalism, and give birth to the nations of Europe; he had experience of a campaign, in which the tactics and the weapons of a new era had been used; he was beginning to perceive the true significance of the rising importance of the middle classes. With all his selfishness and with all his instability of character, he had got the right idea, and the failure of his life, and the impolicy of many of his actions, will be found due, not to any misconception of his age, not to any inability to follow the trend of human thought, but to grave defects of character. Like Sigismund, he had great abilities, but unlike Sigismund, he could not follow the course he had mapped out for himself. His policy has a consistency we might not expect to find, but he was not a man whose active life in any way represented his ideals.

On October 16 Henry returned to England. He realised that peace was not possible so long as he maintained the justice of his claims on France, and that for the end he had in view the war must be prosecuted with the utmost vigour. Peace was desirable, but the only means of procuring it was to continue the war with redoubled energy; and such was the burden of the Chancellor’s speech when Parliament opened on October 19.[180]

Seeing no means of evading the demand, Parliament resigned itself to granting two subsidies for the carrying on of the war; so that by the beginning of the new year preparations were in full swing. Privy seals were issued to the nobility and gentry in order to ascertain the probable numbers of those who were willing to take part in the campaign, and in February the necessary indentures were prepared.[181] Orders for the strengthening of the navy were also issued, and it was hoped that the expedition would sail by May 1.[182] Gloucester was busy probably with his own preparations. Doubtless he was anxious to guarantee himself against possible loss, for he, along with many others, had not obtained full payment for the last campaign. He had returned the jewels which had been pledged to him for his second quarter’s pay, but the officials of the Exchequer had refused to pay him for the forty-eight days of that period which he had spent in England after his return. They argued that this time was not spent in the service of the King, and ignored his plea that he had been ready to remain in France and had had to pay his men for the full period.[183] However, he prepared his retinue, which seems to have consisted of 90 lances and 266 archers under the command of Reginald Cobham and William Beauchamp,[184] and by July he had arrived with the other units of the army at Southampton, the earlier date in May having been found impracticable in view of all that had to be done. By July 23 the preparations were complete. Bedford was appointed Regent, the King went on board his ship at Southampton, and the sails embroidered with the arms of England and France were hoisted for the voyage.[185]

1417] RENEWAL OF THE FRENCH WAR

The dangers of the crossing had been removed by the utter defeat which the Earl of Huntingdon had inflicted on the Genoese fleet, completing the work of Bedford earlier in the year. So by August 1 Henry had landed at Touques in Normandy, accompanied by his two brothers, Clarence and Gloucester, seven Earls, and fourteen Barons.[186] The army at Henry’s disposal was probably the largest, certainly the best equipped, that any English king had ever mustered, and its numbers may be roughly estimated at some 10,000 men.[187] No resistance was offered to the disembarkation of the troops, for Henry had kept his own counsel as to his destination,[188] but there seems to be no doubt that a knowledge of his intended arrival would have brought no troops against him, for it is hard, says Basin, to describe the absolute terror which the very name of the English inspired.[189]

No time was lost after landing. Clarence was appointed Constable of the army,[190] and the castle of Touques, which lay on the estuary of the Seine exactly opposite Harfleur, was invested by Gloucester as ‘chieftaine of the King’s avant guard.’ A ‘marvueilously defensible’ fortress this, but reduced by Gloucester’s ‘gunns and other engines’ by August 9,[191] for the town was assaulted so continuously, that it was compelled to surrender to escape a worse fate. From this successful siege Gloucester went to join a council of war summoned by Henry, at which it was decided to begin the campaign with an attack on Caen.[192] So, after challenging the Dauphin to single combat, as he had done in his earlier campaign, and reissuing his ordinances for the good government of the army, Henry marched on that town.[193]

Winter weather was now approaching, and Henry looked to Caen, a residential town with large suburbs, to provide suitable quarters for the ensuing months. So leaving Honfleur behind him—too hard a nut to crack just then[194]—and accompanied by Humphrey, who probably still commanded the van, he took a devious route to his destination. He thereby avoided the passage of certain little rivers, which would have been troublesome for so large a force. Leaving Touques on August 13, the army marched by slow stages through Fontenes and Estouteville to Caen, which was reached on August 13.[195] On their arrival, Clarence, who had been sent on in advance, was found to be in possession, of the Abbey of St. Stephen, situated on a hill just outside the walls, well fortified, and commanding the southern defences of the town.[196] It was in order to secure this position, and to save the suburbs of the town from being burnt, that Clarence had followed a shorter route along the coast-line, for Henry wanted shelter for his men.

1417] THE SIEGE OF CAEN

Caen stands on the left bank of the river Orne, which washes its south-east wall, while a tributary, the Odon, flowing through the town, joins the main stream just outside.[197] The castle and the strongest sides of the defences were approached from the south, where the Abbey of St. Stephen, which Clarence had occupied before Henry’s arrival, commanded the town, if not the castle itself. This Abbey had been founded by William the Conqueror, who was buried there; and it was to a sister foundation of Queen Matilda’s, the Abbey of Holy Trinity, to the north-east of the town, that Clarence was sent when Henry superseded him at St. Stephen’s.[198] Between these two points, on the south-west, the Earl Marshal was given his post, and further north again were Lord Talbot and Sir Gilbert Umfraville; Lords Neville and Willoughby continued the ring of the besiegers up to the Abbey of the Holy Trinity. On the opposite side of the town to the south-east were the Earls of Huntingdon and Warwick and Sir John Grey, the father of Gloucester’s future son-in-law.[199] The Norman Chronicle tells us that Gloucester was stationed at Vaucelles.[200] He seems to have had no regular post in the blockading of the town, but to have been given the command of the siege-engines,[201] which Henry landed from the fleet that had coasted from Touques.

In the course of the siege Gloucester and his guns did royal work. They kept up an incessant fire, and although the French returned it with interest, the large guns ‘beat down both walls and towers, and slew much people in their houses and eke in the streets,’[202] but no firing on the churches of the town was allowed.[203] Besides the bombardment, numerous mines were driven under the town, but they were counter-mined by the defenders, and many a fierce fight was fought underground. In the direction of the siege Henry was most energetic, bestowing his chief interest on the side where Gloucester was engaged with the heavy cannon.[204] By September 3 the besiegers were ready for the grand assault, and Henry summoned the town to surrender, but met with a refusal. A council of war was called, and orders issued to each captain to keep his counsel, but to be ready for the assault on the morrow; the men were to be drawn up in three divisions, each to act in support of the others. Next day the assault was begun on all sides. Clarence, who was opposed by the weakest side of the defence, and had previously undermined the wall, fought his way into the town and across the bridge that spanned the Odon, and took those who were resisting the King’s attack in the rear. In spite of a false alarm that a relieving force was approaching, the English pressed their advantage home, and after a sharp fight the town was finally captured, though the castle held out for some days longer.[205]

The soldiery were given a free hand with the proviso that churches, women, and unarmed priests were to be respected. Thus in the hour of victory Henry did not forget that he claimed to be a king subduing rebellious subjects, and at the same time the willing agent of the anger of God.