Part 25 (1/2)

The King's council was making every effort to succour Orleans. The King summoned the n.o.bles of Auvergne. They had been true to the Lilies ever since the day when the Dauphin, Canon of Notre-Dame-d'Ancis, and barely more than a child, had travelled over wild peaks to subdue two or three rebellious barons.[547] At the royal call the n.o.bles of Auvergne came forth from their mountains. Beneath the standard of the Count of Clermont, in the early days of February, they reached Blois, where they joined the Scottish force of John Stuart of Darnley, the Constable of Scotland, and a company from Bourbonnais, under the command of the barons La Tour-d'Auvergne and De Thouars.[548]

[Footnote 547: _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ii, p. 732. Vallet de Viriville, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, p. 213; vol. ii, p. 6, note 2. S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. ccxcv.]

[Footnote 548: _Journal du siege_, pp. 21, 36-38. The accounts of Hemon Raguier, Bibl. Nat. Fr. 7858, fol. 41. Loiseleur, _Comptes des depenses de Charles VII pour secourir Orleans_, _loc. cit._]

Just at this time tidings were received of a convoy of victuals and ammunition which Sir John Fastolf was bringing from Paris to the English at Orleans. With two hundred men-at-arms the b.a.s.t.a.r.d started from Orleans to concert measures with the Count of Clermont. It was decided to attack the convoy. Commanded by the Count of Clermont and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d the whole army from Blois marched towards etampes with the object of encountering Sir John Fastolf.[549]

[Footnote 549: _Journal du siege_, p. 37.]

On the 11th of February there sallied forth from Orleans fifteen hundred fighting men commanded by Messire Guillaume d'Albret, Sir William Stuart, brother of the Constable of Scotland, the Marshal de Boussac, the Lord of Gravelle, the two Captains Saintrailles, Captain La Hire, the Lord of Verduzan, and sundry other knights and squires.

They were summoned by the b.a.s.t.a.r.d and ordered to join the Count of Clermont's army on the road to etampes, at the village of Rouvray-Saint-Denis, near Angerville.[550]

[Footnote 550: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 231. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 266, 267. _Journal du siege_, pp. 37, 38.]

The next day, Sat.u.r.day, the eve of the first Sunday in Lent, when the Count of Clermont's army was still some distance away, they reached Rouvray. There, early in the morning, the Gascons of Poton and La Hire perceived the head of the convoy advancing into the plain, along the etampes road.

There they were, a line of three hundred carts and wagons full of arms and victuals conducted by English soldiers and merchants and peasants from Normandy, Picardy, and Paris, fifteen hundred men at the most, all tranquil and unsuspecting. There naturally occurred to the Gascons the idea of falling upon these people and making short work with them at the moment when they least expected it.[551] In great haste they sent to the Count of Clermont for permission to attack. As handsome as Absalom and Paris of Troy, full of words and eaten up of vanity, the Count of Clermont, who was but a lad and none of the wisest, had that very day received his spurs and was at his first engagement.[552] He foolishly sent word to the Gascons not to attack before his arrival.

The Gascons obeyed greatly disappointed; they saw what was being lost by waiting. And at length, perceiving that they have walked into the lion's mouth, the English leaders, Sir John Fastolf, Sir Richard Gethyn, Bailie of evreux, Sir Simon Morhier, Provost of Paris, place themselves in good battle array. With their wagons they make a long narrow enclosure in the plain. There they entrench their hors.e.m.e.n, posting the archers in front, behind stakes planted in the ground with their points inclined towards the enemy.[553] Seeing these preparations, the Constable of Scotland loses patience and leads his four hundred hors.e.m.e.n in a rush upon the stakes, where the horses'

legs are broken.[554] The English, discovering that it is only a small company they have to deal with, bring out their cavalry and charge with such force that they overthrow the French and slay three hundred.

Meanwhile the men of Auvergne had reached Rouvray and were scouring the village, draining the cellars. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d left them and came to the help of the Scots with four hundred fighting men. But he was wounded in the foot, and in great danger of being taken.[555]

[Footnote 551: _Journal du siege_, pp. 38, 39. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 267, 268. _Mistere du siege_, line 8867. Dom Plancher, _Histoire de Bourgogne_, vol. iv, p. 127.]

[Footnote 552: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 312. _Journal du siege_, p. 43.

Chastellain, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. ii, p. 164.]

[Footnote 553: Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 311. _Journal du siege_, p. 39.

_Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 232. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 267, 268. Perceval de Cagny, pp. 137, 139.]

[Footnote 554: _Journal du siege_, pp. 40, 41.]

[Footnote 555: _Ibid._, p. 43. _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p.

232.]

There fell in this combat Lord William Stuart and his brother, the Lords of Verduzan, of Chateaubrun, of Rochechouart, Jean Chabot with many others of high n.o.bility and great valour.[556] The English, not yet satiated with slaughter, scattered in pursuit of the fugitives. La Hire and Poton, beholding the enemy's standards dispersed over the plain, gathered together as many men as they could, between sixty and eighty, and threw themselves on a small part of the English force, which they overcame. If at this juncture the rest of the French had rallied they might have saved the honour and advantage of the day.[557] But the Count of Clermont, who had not attempted to come to the aid of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d and the Constable of Scotland, displayed his unfailing cowardice to the end. Having seen them all slain, he returned with his army to Orleans, where he arrived well on into the night of the 12th of February.[558] There followed him with their troops in disorder, the Baron La Tour-d'Auvergne, the Viscount of Thouars, the Marshal de Boussac, the Lord of Gravelle and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, who with the greatest difficulty kept in the saddle. Jamet du Tillay, La Hire, and Poton came last, watching to see that the English did not complete their discomfiture by falling upon them from the forts.[559]

[Footnote 556: _Journal du siege_, p. 43. _Chronique de la Pucelle_, p. 269. Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 313.]

[Footnote 557: _Journal du siege_, p. 42. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. i, p. 63.]

[Footnote 558: _Journal du siege_, p. 44.]

[Footnote 559: _Ibid._, pp. 43, 44.]

Because the Lenten fast was beginning, the victuals which Sir John Fastolf was bringing from Paris to the English round Orleans, consisted largely of red herrings, which had suffered during the battle from the casks containing them having been broken in. To honour the French for having discomfited so many natives of Dieppe the delighted English merrily named the combat the Battle of the Herrings.[560]

[Footnote 560: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, pp. 230-233.

Monstrelet, vol. iv, p. 313. Jean Chartier, _Chronique_, vol. ii, p.