1415: Henry V's Year of Glory

by Mortimer, Ian

  *

  At Dover, the boats carrying the last archers and men-at-arms who had fought at Agincourt finally came into port. The horses were craned off the boats in the cold, and the men set foot again on English soil. Their pay had stopped a week ago, so now they needed to get back to their homes as quickly as they could. For many of the archers, perhaps the majority, travelling back to Cheshire, Lancashire and the other northern counties, much of their pay would be spent just getting home. They would have to ask for accommodation and food at monasteries. Hopefully the kingdom’s exultation at the news of the victory meant they were welcome, and could buy a bowl of pottage and some bread in return for their stories of the campaign.37

  *

  At Bordeaux, the seneschal and Jurade finally heard about the victory, four weeks after it took place.38 They probably had mixed feelings. The people were ordered to make processions to celebrate the great victory of their king; but the mayor and jurats cannot have been neglectful of the fact that they had failed to send the king the siege engines and support he had requested. The outcome of the king’s campaign was also bound to cause problems for those lords whose lands bordered on French dominions. The easiest way for the French to seek revenge for the injury to their pride was to set about attacking English possessions in France; and since Calais and Harfleur were well defended, the obvious easy targets were going to be in Gascony.

  *

  At Troyes, in Champagne, John the Fearless was giving an audience to the ambassadors of the French king and dauphin: the bishop of St-Brieuc, Reynaud d’Angennes, Jean de Vailly and Jean de Roucy. What was being discussed is unclear – but it is likely that John was proposing to take charge of the government again, now that the duke of Orléans had so disgraced the kingdom of France. Armagnacs had led France into its current mess and fought the battle in which both his brothers had been killed. They had let their armies rampage across France, and had taxed the people to the point of despair. It was time to let him take charge. But whatever John actually said, his entreaties failed. The French king’s ambassadors left quickly, offering him nothing.

  John stayed the next three days at Troyes assembling his men-at-arms. He would march towards Paris at the end of the month.39

  *

  In Paris, the gates were blocked up, as a precaution against the approach of the Burgundians. Troyes was ninety miles from Paris – but that was just one week’s march. The Armagnac captains of the city were preparing defences in the streets. All the alleys around the defensible places were taken over, and the inhabitants evicted. Everyone was uneasy; terror prevented people from even talking about the situation. A rumour began to go around among the Burgundian citizens that the Armagnac captains were going to murder them in the night.40

  It was not just the Parisians who were scared. The French royal family were already on the move back to Paris, worried that they might lose control of the capital again. The king would arrive tomorrow. The queen, who was lying dangerously ill at Melun, was warned by the Parisians that she risked falling into the hands of the duke of Burgundy. She had herself carried in a litter back to the capital, where she took refuge in the hôtel d’Orléans, along with her daughter-in-law, the dauphin’s wife, John the Fearless’s daughter.41

  It was eight years to the day since John the Fearless had slaughtered the duke of Orléans in the rue Vieille du Temple. The repercussions of that night were still being felt in the streets of Paris – as well as across the rest of France.

  Sunday 24th

  According to Adam Usk, a funeral Mass was held at St Paul’s Cathedral for the dead of both sides, at Henry’s command.42

  Henry’s high-ranking prisoners were not going to be kept in dungeons but treated well, according to their status. For this reason they sought and were granted permission to bring a number of their servants over from France. Henry allowed several men to come to the duke of Bourbon. One of them was a valet, Alardin de la Noir, whose safe conduct enabled him to bring two or three coursers and a sumpter horse, as well as the duke’s robes and other clothes. Three falconers were licensed to bring the duke’s goshawks and hunting dogs. Henry had no reservations about the duke enjoying himself hunting while his ransom was settled. As for the ransom itself, this was to be negotiated by a knight, Gilbert, seigneur de la Fairte, and a clerk, Pierre de Toulon, who were also permitted to come to England.43 The count of Vendôme, whose keeping had been granted to Sir John Cornwaille, received similar letters of protection for some of his servants coming to England, including men bringing a horse, robes and other things to ease the count’s captivity.44

  Henry was informed that his late father’s confessor, the Dominican friar John Tille, who was due forty marks a year for life, had not been paid for the last year. So he issued a new order to the receivers of the cloth subsidy for the city of Winchester to pay the money due.45 He also sent letters to Norwich confirming the election of John Wakeryng, keeper of the privy seal, as the next bishop of Norwich, in place of the late Richard Courtenay. No doubt Henry was grateful for their election of a man whom he had probably nominated himself. Letters were also despatched to the prelates at the council of Constance confirming the election. As these letters would take several weeks to arrive, a copy was sent addressed to ‘the pope’, on the basis that by the time the letters arrived, a new pope might have been chosen.46

  Monday 25th: the Feast of St Katherine

  A council meeting took place in the king’s absence. Present were Chancellor Beaufort, the bishop of Durham, ‘the treasurer’ (presumably the acting treasurer, Sir John Rothenhale), John Wakeryng (keeper of the privy seal) and Roger Leche (treasurer of the royal household).

  Their business struck quite the opposite of the celebratory tone of the Londoners, just two days earlier. It was decided to send a thousand quarters of oats to Harfleur for the sustenance of the horses there, to be deducted from the £3,640 earmarked for the garrison’s wages. As the king’s treasury was empty, this sum had to be drawn against the subsidy due on the next St Lucy’s day (13 December). At the same time they decided that an influential and discreet person should be sent to Harfleur to examine the state of the town and to make sure that there was sufficient artillery to defend it against a French attack. The same person was to pay the captain and garrison and to report back to the king. A further enigmatic clause states that they should enquire more closely of the king what his plans were for the captain of the town, Thomas Beaufort. Nothing was written in the minutes about this, but one suspects that Henry Beaufort knew that his brother wanted to be relieved of his post. It was suggested that the man sent to Harfleur to examine the place should be able to govern it if the earl of Dorset were to leave. Names to be put to the king as possible candidates for this role included William Loveney and Gere Flour – men of much lower rank than the earl of Dorset.47

  The men of Harfleur were suffering. Henry had made provision for the manpower to rebuild and defend the town, but his arrangements for feeding them had been less than satisfactory. Occasional orders not to export grain to anywhere but Calais and Harfleur, such as that of 6 November, were not enough to guarantee an adequate supply of food. The captains of the town were regularly having to lead expeditions out to forage from the neighbouring area. One such expedition in the last week of November, led by Sir John Fastolf, ended up within six miles of Rouen. Fastolf captured five hundred Frenchmen in the process but had to let them go, for he suffered a reprise attack on his return journey.48 The outlook was bleak; the defence of Harfleur over the next twelve months was to become ‘an epic of endurance’.49 Henry Beaufort’s subtle attempt to replace his brother with an administrator – if we are right in reading this council minute as such – was thwarted; Thomas Beaufort was only temporarily able to return to England. And rightly so: none of the four men at this council meeting had been on the expedition or knew what conditions were like in Harfleur.

  Tuesday 26th

  As Henry’s solemnity during the procession on the 23rd indicates, his
personal reaction to the successful campaign was not one of euphoria. Nor did it result in a wave of thankful rewards. But gradually Henry did make grants to his knights in return for their service. One to Sir Edward Courtenay has already been mentioned. Yesterday Henry granted Sir Walter Beauchamp the manor of Somerford Keynes. Today he confirmed the keeping of a Northamptonshire manor, Whyscheton, on Sir William Bourchier.50

  The people of Newcastle had failed to make the case for their town to be exempted from the taxes granted in the last parliament, but they managed to appeal to the king. Henry today granted them their freedom from liability, ‘because they are much impoverished by the capture of their ships and merchandise by the king’s enemies of Scotland and others, the walling and fortification of the town, many watches kept there, and great mortality’.51

  Wednesday 27th

  The position of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, left vacant by the death of the earl of Arundel, was awarded by Henry to his brother Humphrey. In view of the important responsibility of ordering the ports to supply a large number of ships for the king’s use, this was not a position that could be left unfilled for long. The king also personally authorised safe conducts for servants of the duke of Orléans, namely Master Robert Tuilliers, a member of the duke’s council; Master Hugh Perriez, the duke’s secretary; and two other servants, coming to their lord in England with goods, riding equipment and horses.52

  Thursday 28th

  Henry had decided that the expenses of members of the royal household were to be met by the income from estates in the king’s hands due to the heirs being under age, and the sale of the marriages of heirs and heiresses. He proclaimed that those who had accounts and needed satisfaction should apply to the chancellor or John Rothenhale for repayment from the exchequer.53 He also fulfilled his promise to William Hargrove, made in France on 16 October, to make him Black Rod.54

  Henry issued a proclamation to the sheriffs of London and the mayors of Great Yarmouth, Lynn, Kingston upon Hull, Newcastle upon Tyne and the bailiffs of eleven other ports that for the next twelve months they were not to carry on any more fishing in the waters of Denmark and Norway, nor in the seas around Iceland.55 The reason for this is to be discovered in a petition against the proclamation delivered at the parliament in 1416: the usual areas where fishermen had found cod suitable for salting had been over-fished, and now were barren. So English fishermen had sailed to the coast of Iceland, where they had found cod in abundance. Unfortunately King Eric of Denmark, Sweden and Norway had been petitioned by his subjects there to prevent this; being Henry’s brother-in-law, he had sent to him asking him to prohibit the English fleets fishing in Icelandic waters.56 Hence Henry’s proclamation today – and hence the discontent of the English fishermen in the following parliament.

  Incidentally, had these English fishermen sailed even further than Iceland, and started fishing off the shores of Greenland, they would have found a community there struggling but surviving in the extreme Arctic conditions. And its bishop was an Englishman, Robert Hingman.57

  *

  At Marigny-le-Châtel, John the Fearless arrived and feasted, ‘accompanied by many knights and esquires in arms’. This was still eighty miles from Paris but some of his men had marched on ahead and were now approaching the capital. Nor was he stopping at Marigny; the following day he was planning to press on to Nogent-sur-Seine.58

  By now, both factions within Paris were living in fear. It was said that the provost of the merchants had prepared four thousand black padded jackets and four thousand axes with blackened blades – so they would not be seen in the darkness – to kill all the Burgundians in the city, if John the Fearless should try to enter. Troops were billeted about the city for this purpose, and the blackened jackets and arms had been secreted at various locations.59

  Friday 29th

  Henry seems to have practically hidden himself in the Palace of Westminster after his triumphal procession through London. Few acts are recorded, and he seems to have done little bureaucratic work. Today he confirmed a charter that had been granted to the town of Berwick on Tweed by Edward III. Towns regularly sought confirmation of their charters by successive monarchs, in case the new king failed to observe the freedoms and privileges granted by his predecessors.60

  It is difficult to imagine what life was like for all those thrown together within the palace. For Henry’s companions there was the satisfaction of victory and confidence in their king. For Henry himself, things seem to have taken a darker turn. Having proved himself in the eyes of God on the field of battle, he now had set himself a high standard of kingship, which he would have to live up to. At any time God’s favour might be withdrawn, and he might suffer a mishap, a defeat, or an illness. He had lost friends and companions, and would probably lose more in the future. The demonstration of God’s favour had asked the unexpected question of Henry: what next? Victory resolved the question of whether he should claim to be king of England and France, but it also meant that he had to continue God’s work. What might be the extent of that work? Would he have to go on fighting and praying for ever?

  For the prisoners this situation must have been very confusing. Although the most important lords were allowed their creature comforts, their hawks, hounds and servants, they had never before been prepared for this change in their fortunes. Nothing in their education had prepared them for being so powerless and so shamed. Moreover the extent of their shame would continue to be discussed for years, as their ransoms were negotiated and paid. Charles, duke of Orléans, was not ransomed – by Henry V’s express order. As the obvious leader of the Armagnac claim to the throne, and as the leader of the opposition to Henry’s ally, John the Fearless, Henry ordered him never to be released. After Henry’s death, his successors continued to maintain this policy of perpetual imprisonment. When he was allowed to return to France in 1440, after twenty-five years of captivity, his wife was dead and people said he spoke better English than French.

  One of the saddest stories arising from the imprisonment of noblemen after Agincourt is that of Arthur, count of Richemont, the twenty-two-year-old younger brother of John, duke of Brittany. Arthur had been pulled out from under the piles of dead and dying, soaked in blood. He was taken to London and followed Henry through the streets on the 23rd – a prisoner in the triumphal procession. A few days later, his mother – who was Queen Joan, the dowager queen of England – asked Henry for official permission to see her son. Henry granted this, and so Arthur was told he might visit his mother in the Queen’s Palace within the Palace of Westminster. Joan had not seen him since he was ten, when she had first come to England. She was apprehensive. Before her son arrived, she ordered one of her most well-educated court ladies to take her place and greet the young man as if she were the queen. Joan herself hid behind two of her ladies-in-waiting. When Arthur entered, he greeted the pretend queen, and paid his respects to her. To everyone’s shock, he clearly believed that she really was his mother. At that moment Joan saw just what she had lost when she had left France. Her son did not know his own mother.

  An awkward moment ensued, but the pretend queen gently suggested to Arthur that he should go among the ladies-in-waiting and greet them all. He did so. When he came to his mother she looked at him with tears in her eyes. ‘My poor son, you do not recognise me,’ she said. It was the young count’s turn to be shocked. He embraced his mother, and both of them wept openly. Joan then gave him a large sum of money and provided him with clean shirts and clothes. But he was so ashamed by not recognising her that, even though he remained a prisoner in England for the next five years, he could not bring himself to visit her again.61

  December

  Sunday 1st: Advent Sunday

  THE PERIOD OF fasting and prayer in anticipation of Christmas had come. From now until Christmas the diet would be entirely meatless – consisting of fish, spices, vegetables, bread and fruit – until the great feast on Christmas Day. Henry usually heard a Mass every day but, in this particularly holy period of
the religious calendar, and in the solemn context of being the recipient of a religious victory, he would probably have attended more religious services. The afternoons grew dark early; the candles were carried in procession around the chapel royal, accompanied by the singing of the chaplains.

  At St Paul’s today, in line with Henry’s orders, a funeral Mass was sung in memory of the duke of York, the earl of Suffolk, and all those who had died at Agincourt – Frenchmen as well as English. Henry and his brothers attended the vigil in the cathedral the previous night along with other members of the royal family. According to Thomas Walsingham, Thomas Beaufort returned from Harfleur at this time and was present at this service. The bones of the two magnates were then taken off for burial at their desired resting places – the duke of York at Fotheringay, in Northamptonshire, and the earl of Suffolk at Wingfield, in Suffolk.1

  In contrast to the dearth of bureaucratic activity since Henry’s return, the early days of December saw him undertake a number of items of business. He personally pardoned Sir John Arundel for failing to deliver £60 to the exchequer, on account of the great losses and expenses he had sustained in serving as the sheriff of Devon. He granted his brother, John, duke of Bedford, that he would never again have to pay any fines or fees to the crown for the rest of his life. He gave to his esquire Lewis Robesart custody of the lands, rents and services owing to the under-age brother and heir of the late Richard Tyndale – a means of rewarding him for his loyal service. He granted a renewal of their charter to the Dominican friars of Hereford, without charge, stating that it was ‘for God, because they are poor’; and he officially handed over to Robert Clitherowe and David Cawardyn, yeomen of the king’s chamber, a number of furred robes and coats, used linen sheets and linen napery in return for going from Southampton to London in August, when he had ordered them to seize the goods of Lord Scrope.2