Shakespeare's Kings (59 page)

He
was
fully
aware,
however,
that
this
was
only
the
beginning;
for
by now
he
had
decided
on
a
new
expedition
into
France,
compared
with which
that
of
1415
would
seem
little
more
than
an
exploratory
raid. His
objective
would
be
Paris,
his
prize
the
French
throne.
Once more
the
crown
jewels
were
put
in
pawn;
once
more
carpenters
and shipwrights
—
some
of
them
as
far
away
as
Barcelona
and
Bayonne
— were
put
to
work.
Those
soldiers
who
had
fought
at
Agincourt
were summoned
back
to
the
colours;
thousands
more,
rallied
by
promises
of even
greater
glory
and
still
more
copious
plunder,
hastened
to
join them.
To
provide
sufficient
arrows
for
the
longbowmen,
six
wing-feathers
were
demanded
from
every
goose
in
England.
The
French
and Genoese
were
still
making
trouble
in
the
Channel;
but
a
special
squadron of
eleven
warships
was
prepared
to
deal
with
them
and
on
29
June
1417 John
Holland,
the
young
Earl
of
Huntingdon,
defeated
a
combined fleet
off
La
Hogue.
A
month
later
on
1
August,
some
1,500
ships
landed an
army
of
perhaps
10,000
fighting
men
-
with
about
three
times
that number
of
non-combatants
and
20,000
horses
-
at
Touques,
on
the
left bank
of
the
Seine
a
few
miles
beyond
Honfleur.

This
second
expedition,
though
it
led
to
no
great
military
victory,
was indeed
to
be
of
infinitely
greater
significance
than
the
first.
Caen
—
far smaller
than
Rouen,
but
larger
than
any
English
city
except
London
-
fell in
a
fortnight,
thanks
largely
to
the
English
artillery.
The
guns
themselves, mounted
high
on
the
two
great
abbeys
just
outside
the
city
walls,
¹
were

relatively
small
and
primitive,
but
had
considerable
psychological
effect on
a
population
who
had
never
seen
-
or,
more
importa
ntly
,
heard
-such
things
before.
Henry
as
usual
showed
no
mercy
after
the
surrender, ordering
the
massacre
of
the
entire
secular
male
population.
The
lesson was
not
lost
on
the
neighbouring
towns,
and
it
was
no
surprise
when, shortly
afterwards,
Argentan
and
Alencon
gave
in
without
a
struggle. Falaise,
however,
proved
a
harder
nut
to
crack.
The
town
held
out
for a
month,
the
castle
-
virtually
impregnable
on
its
towering
cliff
-
for
a further
six
weeks
before
its
garrison
was
forced
to
submit.
This
time
at least
there
was
no
massacre.
By
the
spring
of
1418
Henry
was
in
effective possession
of
all
Lower
Normandy.

Meanwhile
in
France
as
a
whole
the
situation
was
growing
daily more
chaotic.
The
Dauphin
John
had
died
in
April
1417,
little
more than
a
year
after
his
brother,
and
had
been
succeeded
by
the
third brother,
Charles;
but
whereas
John's
wife
was
Burgundian
and
he himself
had
been
a
virtual
hostage
of
Burgundy,
Charles
had
been married
in
childhood
to
the
daughter
of
the
Duke
of
Anjou
and
belonged firmly
to
the
Armagnac
faction.
In
May
the
Armagnacs
had
consequently felt
strong
enough
to
take
action
against
Charles
VI's
Queen
Isabella
¹
-
who
had
consistently
intrigued
against
them
-
and
banished
her to
Tours;
but
Isabella
immediately
appealed
to
John
the
Fearless
of Burgundy,
who
had
her
rescued
and
brought
to
join
him
at
Chartres. There
she
proclaimed
herself
Regent,
shortly
afterwards
appointing Duke
John
'Governor'
of
France;
and
the
two
of
them
settled
down together
to
plan
the
capture
of
Paris.
On
12
June
1418,
as
a
result
of their
machinations,
the
Duke
of
Armagnac
was
murdered
by
the
Paris mob;
and
on
14
July
Isabella
and
John
together
entered
the
capital, where
they
received
a
warm
welcome
from
the
hopelessly
demented King
-
though
not
from
the
Dauphin,
who
had
fled
the
city
to
join the
Armagnacs
at
Melun.
The
political
pendulum
had
swung
once more,
so
that
when
Henry
crossed
the
Seine
at
Pont
de
l'Arche
and marched
on
Rouen,
it
was
to
discover
that
the
city's
defenders
were no
longer
the
Armagnacs
that
he
had
expected:
they
were
now
Burgund
ians
to
a
man.

1
. The German form of her name is retained here, not only because she was the daughter of Duke Stephen of Bavaria but also to avoid confusion with her daughter Isabelle, the second wife of Richard II who was now married to Charles, Duke of Orleans.

But
they
did
not
defend
the
greatest
city
in
Normandy
any
the
less stoutly
for
that.
The
huge
castle
-
built
in
the
twelfth
century
by
King Philip
Augustus
-
had
been
strengthened
and
painstakingly
provisioned, while
the
fields
for
miles
around
had
been
deliberately
devastated
to the
point
where
every
scrap
of
food
for
the
besieging
army
had
to
be brought
from
England;
so
confident
were
the
defenders
of
their
success that
they
had
even
welcomed
into
the
city
thousands
of
refugees
from Lower
Normandy.
Henry,
however,
was
not
discouraged.
Surrounding the
city
with
no
less
than
five
different
camps,
he
closed
the
Seine
with chain
booms
and
ships
roped
together
across
the
river.
Then
-
making no
attempt
to
take
Rouen
by
storm
—
he
settled
down
to
wait.
The siege
began
on
31
July
1418
and
lasted
nearly
six
months,
the
weather growing
steadily
colder
until
English
and
French
alike
found
themselves in
the
grip
of
one
of
the
most
savage
winters
that
any
of
them
could remember.
As
food
began
to
run
short,
the
defenders
attempted
the occasional
sortie;
but
they
were
always
beaten
back,
the
King
playing his
full
part
—
as
he
always
did
—
in
the
hand-to-hand
fighting.
For
the rest
of
the
time,
we
are
told,
he
was
constantly
on
the
move
between the
camps,
inspecting
the
armaments
and
weaponry,
talking
to
his
men, and
'passing
menie
a
long
wynter
night
without
sleepe
or
repose'.