difficulties by imitating Edward III. He thought that if a war was begun with the French the nobles would follow him instead of rebelling against him. He therefore put forward a claim to the crown of France. As he was not the eldest descendant of Edward III., he had no claim which any law-court in the world would have allowed; but it happened that the king of France, Charles VI., was out of his mind, and that his nobles were quarrelling with one another. He was therefore able to set out with more chance of success than Edward III. had had. He was himself a good and upright man in other matters, and a brave and able general. His army was a strong one, and Englishmen, who cared little whether the excuse for the war was good or not, were burning to revenge themselves upon the French for having driven them out of the land in the former war. 6. Siege of Harfleur and Battle of Agincourt. In 1415 Henry landed, and took Harfleur, after a terrible siege. Sickness broke out in his army and swept away thousands who did not fear the face of an enemy. In spite of this he determined to march from Harfleur to Calais with the few men who remained to him. At Agincourt his way was barred by at least fifty or sixty thousand French men. Henry had at the highest reckoning but nine thousand men with him, but he had no fear. The battle was fought on October 25, the feast of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispian. The night before, the vigil of the feast, he overheard some one in his camp wishing that a few thousands of the stout men who were idle in England had been with them. 'No,' said the king, 'I would not have one These words of his have been put into man more.' poetry by Shakspere: No, my fair cousin : If we are marked to die, we are enough To do our country loss; and if to live, ARCHERS, FIFTEENTH CENTURY. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive, No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. As one man more, methinks, would share from me This day is call'd the feast of Crispian : He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars. But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here; The battle of the next day was Crecy over again. The French horsemen, splendid in their bright armour and their gorgeous array, charged down upon the little English host. The ground was wet with rain, and the horses laboured heavily in the deep mud till they could move forward no longer. All the while 1 The quotation had better be omitted if the class is not suffi ciently advanced to understand it. the English bowmen poured their arrows, their cloth-yard shafts, amongst them, and the English horsemen broke in amongst them to finish their defeat. The ground was strewed with eleven thousand slain Frenchmen, amongst whom were the noblest of the great men of France. 7. The Siege of Rouen.-For the moment there was little to be done. The English army had been large enough to win a victory, but it was not large enough to conquer France. Henry returned to England. Two years later he came back to France. He took town after town. There was a long siege of Rouen. The townsmen were short of food, and in order that they might have all the food that was left for themselves they thrust out of their gates twelve thousand men, women, and children, who had come in for shelter from the country round. Henry cruelly refused to let them pass. Day by day starvation carried off its wretched victims. the town the misery was almost as great. At last the townspeople were driven by mere famine to surrender, and Henry had gained possession of a town the inhabitants of which hated him and his English. Inside 8. The last Years of Henry V.-Henry cared not whether he was hated or not. The strong, brave, cruel man went on his victorious course, little thinking that his evil deeds were preparing evil, if not for himself, for his children after him. Conquest was easy enough. The mad French king could neither command an army nor rule a state. The French nobles were quarrelling with one another as bitterly as ever. Some years before the most power ful of them, the French king's cousin, the Duke of Burgundy, had murdered the king's brother, the Duke of Orleans. Now the friends of the Duke of Orleans murdered the Duke of Burgundy, and the young prince, the eldest son of the king, looked on with approval whilst the deed was being done. The new Duke of Burgundy joined Henry, in order that he might take revenge for his father's murder. This gave Henry great advantage, and before long a treaty was signed by which Henry and his successors were to be kings of France as soon as King Charles died. It was also agreed that Henry should marry the French king's daughter Catharine. Not long afterwards Henry died, and Charles soon followed him to the grave. 9. The English Rule in France. The heir to all this bloodshed and glory was an infant, Henry VI. of England. The baby was crowned King of France in Paris, and a great part of France submitted because it could not help it. His uncle, the Duke of Bedford, a brave and able man, the brother of the late king, ruled the north of France in the name of his infant nephew. To the south of the Loire king Charles's son, known as Charles VII., was obeyed. The English however were winning town after town. At last they besieged Orleans. If that were taken Charles would hardly be able to resist much longer. The English believed that they would soon have everything their own way. Happily violence cannot last for ever. Armies might march backwards and forwards amidst blood and corpses for a time, as if to spread death and ruin amongst those whose only wish |