| Copyright | ||
|
Home The Hundred Years' War with France The Second Period of Decline; Part 1 |
The Second Period of Decline; Part 1No doubt Henry V's vigour and military skill were hard to replace. Yet it was not his death that proved fatal to the English cause. Henry's brother, the Duke of Bedford, took up the post of Regent of France, and for six years, from 1422 to 1428, the English kept their ascendancy in the field, and made some progress in driving the Armagnacs southward. The only check between Agincourt and the relief of Orleans by Joan of Arc occurred at Beauge, where the Duke of Clarence, attempting a surprise with a body of cavalry, was himself killed and his force routed. The chief share of the victory was won by the Scottish troops,who, keeping up the traditional policy of an alliance with France, had taken the field with the French. The Pope on hearing the news exultantly remarked, "Truly the Scots are a cure for the English". Beauge, although a startling success for French arms, since it was so long since they had met with any, was after all a small affair, and quite isolated. After it English victories began again. At Crevant in 1423 and Verneuil in 1424 the French and Scots were utterly defeated. Scotland abandoned the war. She had not proved as permanent a cure as the Pope had imagined. And finally one cannot take the one disaster of Beauge as typical of the weaker rule of Henry VI, for the excellent reason that the battle was in Henry V's reign.When Henry V lay dying he showed clearly enough in his last words what was the prop of the English power in France, and the means by which it might be shaken. "I beg you all," said he, "to see that you have no quarrel with my fair brother of Burgundy, and above all to prevent from this my fair brother, Humphrey; for if that arrive, God help us." The friendship of Burgundy was, indeed, the key of the situation. We must see on what this friendship was based, and how it was finally broken. One thing has been seen already; the spirit of revenge for the murder of Duke John. But note also that constant coupling of foreign policy with marriage policy. Just as Henry V had secured the help of the court party by his marriage with Katherine, so Bedford bound the young Duke of Burgundy to him by marrying his sister, Anne of Burgundy. The Burgundian alliance rested more on a family bond between the chiefs than on affection between the subjects. Yet a doubter would scarcely take the side of the Armagnacs, for they had, so far. displayed no mark of political capacity. They had failed in everything they attempted. Even the fervent patriot is apt to grow chill when he is always the loser. But were circumstances to change: were parties to stand out in their true light: were the prosperous traitors of Burgundians to lose their prosperity, and the unsuccessful patriots of Orleanists to happen on success: then, as if by magic, all would be changed. Each party would be revealed in its naked truth - Orleanist as patriot, Burgundian as traitor, and Englishman as a national enemy. |
Chronology |
| copyright by uus-ununseptium.info |