Part 37 (1/2)
”Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what to write to you of the English, for thus far they have done nothing but dance at St.
Omer and we are not sure whether the King of England has landed.
If he has, it must be with so small a force that it makes no noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville know anything, nor do they believe that there will be any English here in XL days. Tell the news to Monsg. de Comminge, and recommend my interests to him as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de Thierry and Mons. the vice-admiral.”[1]
Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later and he has heard of the truce. He seizes the occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne his real opinion of the emperor: ”So Frederic has deserted us all!”[2]
Well, it was not the first time! Thirty years previous, when Louis was dauphin, the emperor had tried to turn the Swiss against him. Had not G.o.d, knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave mountaineers, Louis would have been a victim of execrable treachery. The outcome had been wonderful, for an eternal friends.h.i.+p had sprung up between him and the Swiss which must be preserved.
Meantime, Charles has made his own definite plan of the campaign which was to introduce Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The following letter from him to Edward IV. bears no date, but it was evidently written at about the time of the truce[3]:
”Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself to you. I have listened carefully to your declaration through the p.r.o.notary, and understand that you do not wish to land without my advice, for which I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors think you had better land in Guienne, others in Normandy, others again at Calais. If you choose Guienne you will be far from my a.s.sistance but my brother of Brittany could help you. Still it would be a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your people nor I for mine. Nor could the two forces make juncture without attack, and my brother of Brittany would be very far from both. To my mind, your best landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will soon gain possession of cities and places, and you will be at the right hand of my brother of Brittany and of me. Tell me how many s.h.i.+ps you want and where you wish me to send them and I will do it.”
On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival of the English, Louis hastened to Normandy to inspect the situation for himself. There he learned that his own naval forces stationed in the Channel to ward off the invaders had landed on the very day before his arrival, abandoning the task.
”When I heard that we took no action, I decided that my best plan would be to turn my people loose in Picardy and let them lay waste the country whence they [the English] expected to get their supplies.”[4]
At the same time, the rumour that was permitted to be current in France was, that Charles of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at Neuss, and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend from him.
He, meanwhile, was continuing his own preparations by strenuous endeavours to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies. After the signing of the convention with the emperor, the duke proceeded to Bruges to meet the Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand for subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish funds, on the plea that his expansion policy was ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving him in the lurch and thus causing his failure at Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor soldiers had they sent him as loyal subjects should.
[Ill.u.s.tration: KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK. POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I.]
”For whom does your prince labour? Is it for himself or for you, for your defence? You slumber, he watches. You nestle in warmth, he is cold. You are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the wind and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease.... Henceforth you shall be nothing more than subjects under a sovereign. I am and I will be master, bearding those who oppose me.”[5]
Then turning to the prelates he continued: ”Do you obey diligently and without poor excuses or your temporal goods shall be confiscated.”
To the n.o.bles: ”Obey or you shall lose your heads and your fiefs.”
Finally, he addressed the deputies of the third estate in a tone full of bitterness: ”And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not obey my orders literally as my chancellor will explain them to you, you shall forfeit privileges, property, and life.”
All the fervency of this adjuration failed to convince the deputies of their duty, as conceived by the orator. They declared that they had levied troops and would levy more, for defence, but that the four members of Flanders were agreed that they would contribute nothing to offensive measures. Charles must accept their decision as his sainted father had done. The details of all the aid they had given him, 2500 men for Neuss and many other contributions, were recapitulated.
Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding phrases of their answer were as follows:
”As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen days every man capable of bearing arms report at Ath, these were orders impossible of execution, and unprofitable for you yourself. Your subjects are merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which your n.o.ble ancestors have for four hundred years maintained the land, commerce, most redoubtable seigneur, is irreconcilable with war.”
This answer gave the true key to the situation. The Estates of Flanders were determined to be bled no further for schemes in which they did not sympathise. When this memorial was presented to Charles he broke out into fresh invective about the base ingrat.i.tude of the Flemish: ”Take back your paper,” were his last words. ”Make your own answer. _Talk_ as you wish, but _do_ your duty.” This was on July 12th. Charles had no further time to waste in argument. He was still convinced that the burghers would, in the end, yield to his demands.
With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and reached Calais on July 14th, where he had been preceded by the d.u.c.h.ess, eager to greet her brother, who had actually landed on July 4th, with the best equipped army--about twenty-four thousand men--that had ever left the sh.o.r.es of England, and the latest inventions in besieging engines.
The expedition proved a wretched failure--a miserable disappointment to the English at home, who had been lavish in their contributions.
Charles seems to have been put out by the place of landing. His own plan is clear from the letter quoted. He wished the two armies of Edward and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory as they marched toward each other. The one thing that he objected to was a consolidation of the two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or an unwelcome situation to account was one of the duke's most deeply ingrained characteristics. He showed no inventiveness or resourcefulness. He held his own army at a distance from the English, much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to march unaided over regions rendered inhospitable by Louis's stern orders, and outside of cities ready to hold him at bay. ”If you do not put yourself in a state of security, it will be necessary to destroy the city, to our regret,” was the king's message to Rheims, and the most skilful of French engineers was fully prepared to make good the words.
Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped on the field of Agincourt, where perhaps he dreamed of his ancestor's success, but no fresh blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He did not proceed to Paris, there was no coronation at Rheims, no comfortable reception within any gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis himself of giving the English a foothold, though he advised Edward to accept an invitation from St. Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however, proved another disappointment. Just as Edward was ready to enter, the gates opened to let out a troop which effectually repulsed the advancing foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his mind.
”It is a miserable existence this of ours when we take toil and trouble enough to shorten our life, writing and saying things exactly opposite to our thoughts,” writes the keenest observer of this elaborate network of pompous falsehoods[6] wherein every action was entangled. Louis XI trusted no one but himself, while he played with the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His fear of the invaders was soon allayed. ”These English are of different metal from those whom you used to know. They keep close, they attempt nothing,”
he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.
It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was not a foe to be feared.