A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 52

Late after vespers, the king of France had not more about him than sixty men, every one included. Sir John of Hainault, who was of the number, had once remounted the king; for the latter's horse had been killed under him by an arrow. He said to the king, "Sir, retreat while you have an opportunity, and do not expose yourself so needlessly. If you have lost this battle, another time you will be the conqueror." After he had said this, he took the bridle of the king's horse and led him off by force; for he had before entreated him to retire.

The king rode on until he came to the castle of La Broyes, where he found the gates shut, for it was very dark. The king ordered the governor of it to be summoned. He came upon the battlements and asked who it was that called at such an hour. The king answered, "Open, open, governor; it is the fortune of France." The governor, hearing the king's voice, immediately descended, opened the gate, and let down the bridge. The king and his company entered the castle; but he had with him only five barons--Sir John of Hainault, the lord Charles of Montmorency, the lord of Beaujeu, the lord of Aubigny, and the lord of Montfort. The king would not bury himself in such a place as that, but, having taken some refreshments, set out again with his attendants about midnight, and rode on, under the direction of guides who were well acquainted with the country, until, about daybreak, he came to Amiens, where he halted.

[Sidenote: The English after the battle]

This Sat.u.r.day the English never quitted their ranks in pursuit of any one, but remained on the field, guarding their position and defending themselves against all who attacked them. The battle was ended at the hour of vespers. When, on this Sat.u.r.day night, the English heard no more hooting or shouting, nor any more crying out to particular lords, or their banners, they looked upon the field as their own and their enemies as beaten.

They made great fires and lighted torches because of the darkness of the night. King Edward then came down from his post, who all that day had not put on his helmet, and, with his whole battalion, advanced to the Prince of Wales, whom he embraced in his arms and kissed, and said, "Sweet son, G.o.d give you good preference. You are my son, for most loyally have you acquitted yourself this day. You are worthy to be a sovereign." The prince bowed down very low and humbled himself, giving all honor to the king his father.

The English, during the night, made frequent thanksgivings to the Lord for the happy outcome of the day, and without rioting; for the king had forbidden all riot or noise.

77. The Sack of Limoges (1370)

As a single ill.u.s.tration of the devastation wrought by the Hundred Years' War, and of the barbarity of the commanders and troops engaged in it, Froissart's well-known description of the sack of Limoges in 1370 by the army of the Black Prince is of no small interest. In some respects, of course, circ.u.mstances in connection with this episode were exceptional, and we are not to imagine that such heartless and indiscriminate ma.s.sacres were common. Yet the evidence which has survived all goes to show that the long course of the war was filled with cruelty and destruction in a measure almost inconceivable among civilized peoples in more modern times.

Source--_Chroniques de Jean Froissart_ (Societe de l'Histoire de France edition), Chap. XCVII. Translated in Thomas Johnes, _Froissart's Chronicles_, Vol. II., pp. 61-68 _pa.s.sim_.

[Sidenote: The Black Prince resolves to retake Limoges]

When word was brought to the prince that the city of Limoges[590]

had become French, that the bishop, who had been his companion and one in whom he had formerly placed great confidence, was a party to all the treaties and had greatly aided and a.s.sisted in the surrender, he was in a violent pa.s.sion and held the bishop and all other churchmen in very low estimation, in whom formerly he had put great trust. He swore by the soul of his father, which he had never perjured, that he would have it back again, that he would not attend to anything before he had done this, and that he would make the inhabitants pay dearly for their treachery....[591]

All these men-at-arms were drawn out in battle-array and took the field, when the whole country began to tremble for the consequences. At that time the Prince of Wales was not able to mount his horse, but was, for his greater ease, carried in a litter. They followed the road to the Limousin,[592] in order to get to Limoges, where in due time they arrived and encamped all around it. The prince swore he would never leave the place until he had regained it.

[Sidenote: The town to be undermined]

The bishop of the place and the inhabitants found that they had acted wickedly and had greatly incensed the prince, for which they were very repentant, but that was now of no avail, as they were not the masters of the town.[593] When the prince and his marshals had well considered the strength and force of Limoges, and knew the number of people that were in it, they agreed that they could never take it by a.s.sault, but said they would attempt it by another manner. The prince was always accustomed to carry with him on his expeditions a large body of miners. These were immediately set to work and made great progress. The knights who were in the town soon perceived that they were undermining them, and on that account began to countermine to prevent the effect....

The Prince of Wales remained about a month, and not more, before the city of Limoges. He would not allow any a.s.saults or skirmis.h.i.+ng, but kept his miners steadily at work. The knights in the town perceived what they were about and made countermines to destroy them, but they failed in their attempt. When the miners of the prince (who, as they found themselves countermined, kept changing the line of direction of their own mine) had finished their business, they came to the prince and said, "My lord, we are ready, and will throw down, whenever it pleases you, a very large part of the wall into the ditch, through the breach of which you may enter the town at your ease and without danger."

[Sidenote: The English a.s.sault]

This news was very agreeable to the prince, who replied: "I desire, then, that you prove your words to-morrow morning at six o'clock."

The miners set fire to the combustibles in the mine, and on the morrow morning, as they had foretold the prince, they flung down a great piece of wall which filled the ditches. The English saw this with pleasure, for they were armed and prepared to enter the town.

Those on foot did so and ran to the gate, which they destroyed, as well as the barriers, for there were no other defenses; and all this was done so suddenly that the inhabitants had not time to prevent it.

[Sidenote: Barbarity of the sack]

The prince, the duke of Lancaster, the earls of Cambridge and of Pembroke, sir Guiscard d'Angle and the others, with their men, rushed into the town. You would then have seen pillagers, active to do mischief, running through the town, slaying men, women, and children, according to their orders. It was a most melancholy business; for all ranks, ages, and s.e.xes cast themselves on their knees before the prince, begging for mercy; but he was so inflamed with pa.s.sion and revenge that he listened to none. But all were put to the sword, wherever they could be found, even those who were not guilty. For I know not why the poor were not spared, who could not have had any part in the treason; but they suffered for it, and indeed more than those who had been the leaders of the treachery.

There was not that day in the city of Limoges any heart so hardened, or that had any sense of religion, that did not deeply bewail the unfortunate events pa.s.sing before men's eyes; for upwards of three thousand men, women, and children were put to death that day. G.o.d have mercy on their souls, for they were truly martyrs.... The entire town was pillaged, burned, and totally destroyed. The English then departed, carrying with them their booty and prisoners.

78. The Treaties of Bretigny (1360) and Troyes (1420)

The most important doc.u.ments in the diplomatic history of the Hundred Years' War are the texts of the treaty of London (1359), the treaty of Bretigny (1360), the truce of Paris (1396), the treaty of Troyes (1420), the treaty of Arras (1435), and the truce of Tours (1444).

Brief extracts from two of these are given below. The treaty of Bretigny was negotiated soon after the refusal of the French to ratify the treaty of London. In November, 1359, King Edward III., with his son, Edward, the Black Prince, and the duke of Lancaster, crossed the Channel, marched on Rheims, and threatened Paris. Negotiations for a new peace were actively opened in April, 1360, after the English had established themselves at Montlheri, south from Paris. The French king, John II., who had been taken prisoner at Poitiers (1356), gave full powers of negotiation to his son Charles, duke of Normandy and regent of the kingdom. For some time no definite conclusions were reached, owing chiefly to Edward's unwillingness to renounce his claim to the French throne. Late in April the negotiations were transferred to Chartres, subsequently to Bretigny. Finally, on the eighth of May, representatives of the two parties signed the so-called treaty of Bretigny. Although the instrument was promptly ratified by the French regent and by the Black Prince (and, if we may believe Froissart, by the two kings themselves), it was afterwards revised and accepted in a somewhat different form by the monarchs and their following a.s.sembled at Calais (October 24, 1360). The most important respect in which the second doc.u.ment differed from the first was the omission of Article 12 of the first treaty, in which Edward renounced his claim to the throne of France and the sovereignty of Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Brittany, and Flanders; nevertheless Edward, at Calais, made this renunciation in a separate convention, which for all practical purposes was regarded as a part of the treaty. The pa.s.sages printed below are taken from the Calais text. Most of the thirty-nine articles composing the doc.u.ment are devoted to mere details. The war was renewed after a few years, and within two decades the English had lost all the territory guaranteed to them in 1360, except a few coast towns.

The treaty of Troyes (1420) belongs to one of the most stormy periods in all French history. The first two decades of the fifteenth century were marked by a cessation of the war with England (until its renewal in 1415), but also unfortunately by the outbreak of a desperate civil struggle between two great factions of the French people, the Burgundians and the Armagnacs. The Burgundians, led by Philip the Bold and John the Fearless (successive dukes of Burgundy), stood for a policy of friends.h.i.+p with England, while the Armagnacs, comprising the adherents of Charles, duke of Orleans, whose wife was a daughter of the count of Armagnac, advocated the continuation of the war with the English; though, in reality, the forces which kept the two factions apart were jealousy and ambition rather than any mere question of foreign relations. The way was prepared for a temporary Burgundian triumph by the notable victory of the English at Agincourt in 1415 and by the a.s.sa.s.sination of John the Fearless at Paris in 1419, which made peace impossible and drove the Burgundians openly into the arms of the English. Philip the Good, the new duke of Burgundy, became the avowed ally of the English king Henry V., who since 1417 had been slowly but surely conquering Normandy and now had the larger portion of it in his possession. Philip recognized Henry as the true heir to the French throne and in 1419 concluded with him two distinct treaties on that basis. Charles VI., the reigning king of France, was mentally unbalanced and the queen, who bitterly hated the Armagnacs (with whom her son, the Dauphin Charles, was actively identified), was easily persuaded by Duke Philip to acquiesce in a treaty by which the succession should be vested in the English king upon the death of Charles VI. The result was the treaty of Troyes, signed May 21, 1420.

According to agreements already entered into by Philip and Henry, the latter was to marry Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. (the marriage was not mentioned in the treaty of Troyes, but it was clearly a.s.sumed), and he was to act as regent of France until Charles VI.'s death and then become king in his own name. Most of the thirty-one articles of the treaty were taken up with a definition of Henry's position and obligations as regent and prospective sovereign of France.

In due time the marriage of Henry and Catherine took place and Henry a.s.sumed the regency, though the Armagnacs, led by the Dauphin, refused absolutely to accept the settlement. War broke out, in the course of which (in 1422) Henry V. died and was succeeded by his infant son, Henry VI. In the same year Charles VI. also died, which meant that the young Henry would become king of France. With such a prospect the future of the country looked dark. Nevertheless, the death of Charles VI. and of Henry V. came in reality as a double blessing. Henry V.

might long have kept the French in subjection and his position as Charles VI.'s son-in-law gave him some real claim to rule in France.

But with the field cleared, as it was in 1422, opportunity was given for the Dauphin Charles (Charles VII.) to retrieve the fallen fortunes of his country--a task which, with more or less energy and skill, he managed in the long run to accomplish.

Sources--(a) Text in Eugene Cosneau, _Les Grands Traites de la Guerre de Cent Ans_ ["The Great Treaties of the Hundred Years'

War"], Paris, 1889, pp. 39-68 _pa.s.sim_.

(b) Text in Cosneau, _ibid._ pp. 102-115 _pa.s.sim_.

[Sidenote: Territories conceded to the English by the treaty of Bretigny]

(a)

=1.= The king of England shall hold for himself and his heirs, for all time to come, in addition to that which he holds in Guienne and Gascony, all the possessions which are enumerated below, to be held in the same manner that the king of France and his sons, or any of their ancestors, have held them....[594]

=7.= And likewise the said king and his eldest son[595] shall give order, by their letters patent to all archbishops and other prelates of the holy Church, and also to counts, viscounts, barons, n.o.bles, citizens, and others of the cities, lands, countries, islands, and places before mentioned, that they shall be obedient to the king of England and to his heirs and at their ready command, in the same manner in which they have been obedient to the kings and to the crown of France. And by the same letters they shall liberate and absolve them from all homage, pledges, oaths, obligations, subjections, and promises made by any of them to the kings and to the crown of France in any manner.

=13.= It is agreed that the king of France shall pay to the king of England three million gold crowns, of which two are worth an obol of English money.[596]

[Sidenote: Provision regarding alliances]

=30.= It is agreed that honest alliances, friends.h.i.+ps, and confederations shall be formed by the two kings of France and England and their kingdoms, not repugnant to the honor or the conscience of one king or the other. No alliances which they have, on this side or that, with any person of Scotland or Flanders, or any other country, shall be allowed to stand in the way.[597]

[Sidenote: The Treaty of Troyes fixes the succession upon Henry V]

(b)

=6.= After our death,[598] and from that time forward, the crown and kingdom of France, with all their rights and appurtenances, shall be vested permanently in our son [son-in-law], King Henry, and his heirs.

=7.= ... The power and authority to govern and to control the public affairs of the said kingdom shall, during our life-time, be vested in our son, King Henry, with the advice of the n.o.bles and the wise men who are obedient to us, and who have consideration for the advancement and honor of the said kingdom....

[Sidenote: Henry's t.i.tle]

=22.= It is agreed that during our life-time we shall designate our son, King Henry, in the French language in this fas.h.i.+on, _Notre tres cher fils Henri, roi d'Angleterre, heritier de France_; and in the Latin language in this manner, _Noster praecarissimus filius Henricus, rex Angliae, heres Franciae_.

[Sidenote: Union of France and England to be through the crown only]

=24.= ... [It is agreed] that the two kingdoms shall be governed from the time that our said son, or any of his heirs, shall a.s.sume the crown, not divided between different kings at the same time, but under one person, who shall be king and sovereign lord of both kingdoms, observing all pledges and all other things, to each kingdom its rights, liberties or customs, usages and laws, not submitting in any manner one kingdom to the other.[599]

=29.= In consideration of the frightful and astounding crimes and misdeeds committed against the kingdom of France by Charles, the said Dauphin, it is agreed that we, our son Henry, and also our very dear son Philip, duke of Burgundy, will never treat for peace or amity with the said Charles.[600]

FOOTNOTES:

[565] This is the t.i.tle employed by Thomas Johnes in his translation of the work a hundred years ago. Froissart himself called his book, in the French of his day, _Chroniques de France, d'Engleterre, d'Escoce, de Bretaigne, d'Espaigne, d'Italie, de Flandres et d'Alemaigne_.

[566] Philip IV., king of France, 1285-1314.