୮

any truce. But the greatest part of the burden of the war lay upon the English, who were powerful and rich, and governed at that time by that wise, graceful, and valiant prince, King Henry V., who had many wise and brave men under him, and very great commanders, such as the Earl of Salisbury*, Talbott, and others whom I pass by, as being before my time, though I have seen some few of them who survived; for when God was, as it were, weary of doing them good, that wise king died at the Bois de Vincennes, and his son, a weak prince, was crowned King of France and England at Paris: after which factions began to stir, and civil wars arose in England, which have almost lasted till this present time, by reason of the usurpation of the crown by the house of York. § But whether their title was good or not, I cannot determine, for the disposal of those things is from heaven.

But to return to my subject. The dismounting and mounting again of the Burgundians took up a great deal of time, and occasioned the loss of abundance of men; and by this means, that valiant gentleman, Philip de Lalain, was slain, being but slightly armed. The king's troops defiled through the forest of Torfou, and were not, at their first appearance, above four hundred men-at-arms; so that, if they had been charged at once, in all probability there had been but little or no resistance; because, as I have said, they were

* Thomas Montague, Earl of Salisbury, was the son of John Montague, and Maude, the daughter of Sir Adam Francis. He married Eleanor, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Kent; and was killed at the siege of Orleans, on the 3rd of November, 1428. In his will he assumes the titles of Earl of Salisbury and Perch, and Lord Monthermer.

† John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury and Weysford, was the son of Richard Talbot, and Ankaret, daughter of John Strange, of Blackmere. He married, 1. Maude, daughter of Sir Thomas Neville, knight; and 2. Margaret, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. He was killed at the siege of Châtillon, on the 20th of July, 1453.

Henry VI., son of Henry V. and Catherine of France, was born on the 6th of December, 1421; crowned at London on the 6th of November, 1429; and consecrated King of France, at Paris, on the 17th of December, 1431. He married Margaret of Anjou in November, 1444; and died on the 23rd of May, 1471.

§ Edward IV, Earl of March, was the son of Richard, Duke of York; he dispossessed Henry VI. of the throne, on the ground of being de scended from an elder son of Edward III.

forced to march one abreast; but their numbers still in creasing, the Lord of Contay, who was an experienced officer, rode up to the Count of Charolois, and told him, that if he had a mind to win the battle, it was high time to charge the enemy; giving his reasons for it, and telling him, that if he had attacked them sooner, he would have routed them already, for then they were but few, but now they increased visibly; and indeed, this was true. Upon which the whole order and disposition of the battle was altered, every man throwing in his advice; whilst, in the meantime, a great and smart skirmish was begun at the end of the village of Montlhery, between the archers on both sides.

The king's troops, consisting of all the archers of his guard glittering in their liveries, and very well disciplined, were commanded by Poncet de Riviere*; those of the count's party, being volunteers, were in no regular order, and under no command. However, in this manner they began the engagement, in which the Lord Philip de Lalain, and James du Mas † (an excellent officer, afterwards master of the horse to Charles, Duke of Burgundy), fought on foot among the archers. The Burgundians, who were superior in numbers, possessed themselves of a house, and unhinging two or three of the doors, made use of them, instead of shields; after which they advanced into the street, and set fire to one of the houses. The wind did them service, driving the fire upon the king's forces, who began to give ground, retire to their horses, and fly. Upon which the noise and shouting was so great, that the Count of Charolois marched forward, and abandoned the whole order which he had first adopted.

By the count's first orders, his troops were to halt twice by the way, because of the great distance between the vanguard and the main battle. The king's forces were drawn up towards the castle of Montllery, with a large hedge and ditch in their front; and besides, the fields that lay behind

He was then the captain of a hundred lances, of which office he was deprived by the king soon after, and in exchange for which he received the title of Bailiff of Montferrant. He subsequently left the service of Louis XI., and entered that of the Duke of Bretagne, who appointed him one of his councillors and chamberlains.

He was killed in the battle of Morat, on the 22nd of June, 1476.

them were full of corn and beans, and such kind of grain, the soil being very rich and good. All the count's archers marched on foot before him in very ill order; though I am of opinion, that the chiefest strength of an army in the day of battle consists in the archers; but they must be strong and very numerous, for few are of no avail. I would have them also but indifferently mounted, that they may not be afraid of losing their horses, or rather that they had none at all; and for one day it is better to have raw soldiers that have never been in any action, than those that have been trained up in the wars; and in this I am of the same opinion with the English, who, without dispute, are the best archers in the world. It was said, that orders had been given that the army should halt twice by the way, to give the infantry time to breathe, because it was a great distance which they had to march, and the stiffness and stubbornness of the corn hindered their progress extremely. However, all things were done as perfectly contrary, as if they designed to lose the battle on purpose; whereby God did plainly manifest to all the world, that all battles are in his hands, and that he disposes of victory as he pleases. And indeed I cannot be persuaded, that the abilities of any one man are sufficient to manage and command so great a number, nor that things can be executed in the field in the same manner as they have been concerted in the council; and I am of opinion, that any man possessed of natural reason, who is so arrogant as to think himself able to effect this, assumes much of the honour that is due only to God. For though every man is obliged to perform his duty, and to endeavour to do what lies in his power, yet at the same time he ought to acknowledge, that war is one of God's means of accomplishing his will which he often begins upon small and trivial occasions, and gives the victory sometimes to one and sometimes to another; and this is a mystery so great, that from it all the kingdoms and governments of the world do take their rise and increase as well as their end and dissolution.

But to return from this digression; the Count of Charolois advanced, without giving any breath either to his archers or foot soldiers. The king's troops (being all men-at-arms) marched out at both ends of the hedge, and when they came near enough to make use of their lances, the Burgundian

men-at-arms broke through the ranks of their own archers (who were the flower and hope of their army), without giving them leisure to discharge one arrow. The whole number of our horse was, I believe, not above 1200, and of them scarce fifty understood how to lay a lance in rest; there were not 400 of them armed with cuirasses, and very few of their servants had any arms at all; and the reason of it was, because of the long peace, and because, for the ease of their subjects, the house of Burgundy had not been used to keep any standing forces in pay: but since that time that country has not enjoyed any repose, but is rather grown worse than better at this very day. However, though the strength and flower of their army was thus broken and thrown into disorder by themselves, God (who disposes of these mysteries as he pleases) ordered things so, that on the right wing towards the castle, where the Count of Charolois commanded, victory declared on his side without any considerable opposition. It was my fortune to be with him all that day, during the whole action, in less fear than in any engagement I have ever been in since, which I impute to my youth, as not having a just sense and apprehension of the danger, but I rather wondered at the presumption of any man that durst venture to oppose the prince I served, whom I believed to be, without comparison, the greatest monarch in the world. Such vain notions inexperienced people frame to themselves; whence it arises that they often maintain strange and irrational arguments, without any ground or foundation at all; for which reason it is good to make use of the advice of him who says, that "A man never repents of speaking little, but often of speaking too much."

The left wing was commanded by the Lord Ravestain, the Lord Jacques de St. Paul*, and several other men of quality, who plainly perceived that their body of men-atarms was too weak to encounter the enemy; but they were too near to alter the order of battle. To be short, this wing was entirely broken, and driven, some of them to their waggons; but the greatest part of them made towards a forest, which was nearly half a league from the field of

James of Luxembourg, Lord of Richebourg, councillor and chamberlain of the King of France, and Knight of the Golden Fleece. He was brother of the Constable of St. Paul. He died on the 20th of Aug., 1487.

battle. At their waggons some of the Burgundian infantry rallied and stood to their arms. The chief of those who pursued us, were the nobles of Dauphiny and Savoy, with a great party of men-at-arms, who verily believed they had won the victory; and not without reason, for the Burgun dians on that wing, among whom were several persons of note and distinction*, fled in great numbers; and most of them fled upon the spur towards Pont St. Maxence, which they supposed still held out for the Count of Charolois. However, a good number still maintained their ground in the forest, amongst whom was the Count of St. Paul, who had retreated thither with a good body of forces; for he was pretty near to the forest, and he plainly showed afterwards that he did not think the battle utterly lost.

CHAP. IV.

Of the imminent Danger to which the Count of Charolois was exposed, and the manner of his being rescued. — 1465.

THE Count of Charolois pursued the enemy on the side where he commanded, about half a league beyond Montllery, and with a very small body of forces; for though the enemy were numerous, yet they made no resistance, and therefore he concluded the victory was his own; but it was not long before one Monsieur Anthony le Breton, an ancient gentleman of Luxembourg, came up to him and told him the French had rallied their forces on the field of battle, and if he followed the pursuit any further he would certainly be lost; yet, though he repeated his opinion over and over, the count would not stop for him; but presently the Lord of Contay (whom I have mentioned before) came in also, brought him the same intelligence as the old gentleman had done, and delivered it with such eagerness, that he began to hearken to his counsel, and quickly faced about; and it was well he did; for had he advanced but two bow-shots further, in my judgment he had been taken prisoner, as

* Among them were the Lords of Happlaincourt, Ameries, Inchy, and Robodenghes; the last of whom returned on learning that Charles had gained the victory.