The Book of Noblesse, which is now for the first time printed, was addressed to King Edward the Fourth for a political purpose, on a great and important occasion. He was in the midst of his second reign, living in high prosperity. He had subdued his domestic enemies. His Lancastrian rivals were no longer in existence, and the potent King-maker had fought his last field. Edward was the father of two sons; and had no immediate reason to dread either of his younger brothers, however unkind and treacherous we now know them to have been. He was the undisputed King of England, and, like his predecessors, the titular King of France. His brother-in-law the duke of Burgundy, who had befriended him in his exile in 1470, was continually urging, for his own ambitious views, that the English should renew their ancient enterprises in France; and Edward, notwithstanding his natural indolence, was at last prepared to carry his arms into that country. The project was popular with all those who were burning for military fame, indignant at the decay of the English name upon the continent, or desirous to improve their fortunes by the acquisitions of conquest. The Book of Noblesse was written to excite and inflame such sentiments and expectations.

Its unknown author was connected with those who had formerly profited by the occupation of the English provinces in France, and particularly with the celebrated sir John Fastolfe, knight of the Garter, whom the writer in several places mentions as "myne autor."

Sir John Fastolfe had survived the losses of his countrymen in France, and died at an advanced age in the year 1460. It seems not at all improbable that the substance of this book was written during his life-time, and that it was merely revised and augmented on the eve of Edward the Fourth's invasion of France. All the historical events which are mentioned in it date at least some five-and-twenty years before that expedition.

The author commences his composition by an acknowledgment, how necessary it is in the beginning of every good work, to implore the grace of God: and then introduces a definition of true nobility or Noblesse, in the words of "Kayus' son," as he designates the younger Pliny.

He next states that his work was suggested by the disgrace which the realm had sustained from the grievous loss of the kingdom of France, the duchies of Normandy, Gascony, and Guienne, and the counties of Maine and Ponthieu; which had been recovered by the French party, headed by Charles the Seventh, in the course of fifteen months, and chiefly during the year 1450. To inspire a just indignation of such a reverse, he recalls all the ancestral glories of the English nation, from their first original in the ancient blood of Troy, and through all the triumphs of the Saxons, Danes, Normans, and Angevyns. Of the Romans in England he says nothing, though in his subsequent pages he draws much from Roman history.

The next chapter sets forth how every man of worship in arms should resemble the lion in disposition, being eager, fierce, and courageous. In illustration of this it may be remarked, that Froissart, when describing the battle of Poictiers, says of the Black Prince, "The Prince of Wales, who was as courageous and cruel as a lion, took great pleasure this day in fighting and chasing his enemies." So our first Richard is still popularly known by his martial epithet of Coeur de Lyon: and that the lion was generally considered the fit emblem of knightly valour is testified by its general adoption on the heraldic shields of the highest ranks of feudal chivalry. The royal house of England displayed three lions, and the king of beasts was supposed to be peculiarly symbolic of their race—

In the following chapter the author proceeds to describe "how the French party began first to offend, and break the truce." This truce had been concluded at Tours on the 28th of May 1444. The French are stated to have transgressed it first by capturing certain English merchant-men on the sea; and next by taking as prisoners various persons who bore allegiance to the English king. Of such are enumerated sir Giles son of the duke of Bretagne^[1]; sir Simon Morhier, the provost of Paris, taken at Dieppe^[2]; one Mansel an esquire, taken on the road between Rouen and Dieppe, in January 1448-9^[3]; and the lord Fauconberg, taken at Pont de l'Arche on the 15th May 1449.^[4] The writer is careful to state that these acts of aggression on the part of the French, or some of them, were committed "before the taking of Fugiers," for it was by that action that the English party had really brought themselves into difficulty.^[5]

There is next discussed (p. 6) "a question of great charge and weight, whether it be lawful to make war upon Christian blood." This is determined upon the authority of a book entitled The Tree of Batailes, a work which had evidently already acquired considerable popularity whilst still circulated in manuscript only, and which so far retained its reputation when books began to be multiplied by the printing-press as to be reproduced on several occasions. Our author frequently recurs to it, but his references do not agree with the book as it now remains; and it is remarkable that he attributes it, not to HonorÉ Bonnet its real author,^[6] but to one dame Christine, whom he describes (see his note in p. 54) as an inmate of the house of religious ladies at Passy near Paris. It would seem, therefore, that he made use of a somewhat different book, though probably founded on the celebrated work of HonorÉ Bonnet.

The fact of wars sometimes originating from motives of mere rivalry or revenge prompts the writer or commentator (whose insertions I have distinguished as proceeding from a "second hand,") to introduce some remarks on the inveterate and mortal enmity that had prevailed between the houses of Burgundy and Orleans, which led to so many acts of cruelty and violence at the beginning of the fifteenth century.

King Edward is next reminded "how saint Louis exhorted and counselled his son to move no war against Christian people;" but, notwithstanding that blessed king's counsel,^[7] it is declared on the other hand that "it is notarily and openly known through all Christian realms that our adverse party hath moved and excited war and battles both by land and sea against this noble realm without any justice or title, and without ways of peace showed; and consequently it might be without note of tiranny for the king of England to defend (or drive away) those assailants upon his true title, and to put himself in devoir to conquer his rightful inheritance."

The writer then bursts forth into a passionate exhortation to the English nation, to remember their ancient prowess, the annals of which he proceeds to set forth in several subsequent chapters. He enumerates the examples of king Arthur, of Brennus, Edmond Ironside, William the Conqueror, Henry the First, his brother Robert elect king of Jerusalem, Fulke earl of Anjou, Richard Coeur de Lyon, Philip DieudonnÉ of France, Edward the First, and Richard earl of Cornwall and emperor of Almaine. He rehearses how Edward the Third had the victory at the battle of Scluse, gat Caen by assault, won the field at the great and dolorous battle of Cressy, captured David king of Scots and Charles duke of Bretany, and took Calais by siege; how Edward prince of Wales made John king of France prisoner at Poictiers; and how the battle of Nazar was fought in Spain.

In the following chapter it is related how king Henry the Fifth conquered Normandy; under which head a particular account is given of the defence of Harfleur against the power of France. Here it is that the name of sir John Fastolfe is first introduced as an authority, in respect to a circumstance of that siege, which is, that the watchmen availed themselves of the assistance of mastiffs—"and as for wache and ward yn the wynter nyghtys I herd the seyd ser Johan Fastolfe sey that every man kepyng the scout wache had a masty hound at a lyes (or leash), to barke and warne yff ony adverse partye were commyng to the dykes or to aproche the towne for to scale yt."

The chapter concludes with a mention of the battle of Agincourt and the marriage of king Henry to the French king's daughter.

The following chapters (pp. 17 et seq.) contain how in the time of John duke of Bedford, who was for thirteen years Regent of France, the victory of Cravant was obtained by his lieutenant the earl of Salisbury; how the duke in his own person won the battle of Verneuil in Perche; how that the greater part of the county of Mayne, and the city of Mauns, with many other castles, were brought into subjection; and how that Henry the Sixth, by the might of great lords, was crowned King in Paris; after which the writer bursts forth into another exhortation, or "courageous recomforting" of the "valiauntnes of Englishemen."

The author now flies off (p. 20) to more remote examples, to the noblesse of that vaillant knight Hector of Troy, to the deeds in arms of Agamemnon the puissaunt king of Greece, and to those of Ulysses and Hercules.

He recites, from the book of Vegetius on Military Tactics,^[8] how a conqueror should especially practise three things,—the first, a scientific prudence or caution: the second, exercitacion and usage in deeds of arms: and the third, a diligent regard to the welfare of his people.

He next argues how men of noblesse ought to leave sensualities and delights.

In the following chapters (p. 22 et seq.), he sets forth the King's title to the duchy of Normandy, to the inheritance of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, and to the duchies of Gascoigne and Guienne.

The "historier" proceedeth (p. 25) in his matter of exhortation, strengthening his arguments by the heterogeneous authority of master Alanus de Auriga, of "the clerke of eloquence Tullius," of Caton, the famous poet Ovid, and Walter Malexander. The work of the first of these authors, Alain Chartier, seems to have been at once the source from which many of our author's materials were derived, and also to have furnished the key-note upon which he endeavoured to pitch his appeals to the patriotism and prowess of his countrymen. Alain Chartier^[9] had been secretary to king Charles the Seventh, and wrote his Quadrilogue^[10] in the year 1422, in defence of the native party in France, and in opposition to the English usurpation. Our author imitates his rhapsodical eloquence, and borrows some of his verbal artillery and munitions of war, whilst he turns them against the party of their original deviser.

In the subsequent pages several anecdotes are derived from Alain Chartier^[11]; and further advice is drawn from the Arbre des Batailles (pp. 27, 30), and from the treatise of Vegetius (p. 29).

It is related (p. 33) how king John lost the duchy of Normandy for lack of finaunce to wage his soldiers; and next follows (p. 34) a long and important chapter recounting the various truces made between the kings of England and France, and showing how frequently they had been broken by the French party, to the decay of the English power, except when revived by the victories of Edward the Third and Henry the Fifth. This part of the discussion is concluded with a representation (p. 41) of the lamentable condition of the French subjects of the English crown, when put out of their lands and tenements. "Heh allas! (thei did crie,) and woo be the tyme (they saide) that ever we shulde put affiaunce and trust to the Frenshe partie or theire allies in any trewes-keping, considering so many-folde tymes we have ben deceived and myschevid thoroughe suche dissimuled trewes!"

Yet, notwithstanding all these discouragements, a confident trust is expressed that the inheritance of France will at length be brought to its true and right estate.

The writer then proposes (p. 41) a question to be resolved by divines, How be it that at some times God suffereth the party that hath a true title and right to be overcome, yet for all that a man should not be discouraged from pursuing his right. He mentions the last unfortunate overthrow sustained at Formigny^[12] in 1450, and the consequent loss of Guienne and Bordeaux.

After which follows (p. 43) "another exhortation of the historier," addressed to the "highe and myghtifulle prince, king of Englonde and of France, and alle y^e other noble princes and other puissaunt lordes and nobles of divers astates olde or yong."

A brief recommendation ensues of the deeds in arms of that mightiful prince of renommee Henry the Fifth and the three full mighty and noble princes his brethren; where, in the commendation of Humphrey duke of Gloucester, the second hand has inserted a note of his "bokys yovyng, as yt ys seyd to the value of M^l marks, of the vij sciences, of dyvinite, as of law spirituall and cyvyle, to the universite of Oxford."

Allusion is made (p. 46) to the order of the Garter, "founded (as yt ys seyd) in token of worship that he being in bataile, what fortune fille, shulde not voide the feeld, but abide the fortune that God lust sende;" of which fellowship sir John Chandos, seneschal of Poictou, had been a right noble exemplar. The historical reminiscences of the author then again lead him on to the disastrous period during which the continental possessions of England had been lost, "within the space of one year and fourteen (fifteen) weeks, that is to wete, from the xv. day of May in the year 1449 unto the xv. day of August in the year 1450, that every castle, fortress, and town defensable of the said duchies were delivered up by force or composition to the adverse party."

After a break (p. 50), in consequence of the loss of a leaf of the Manuscript, we find ourselves in the midst of a discussion of the merits of astrology. The author addresses himself to combat the prevalent confidence in prophecies and in the influence of the stars: "which judgments (he avers) be not necessarily true;" but merely contingent or likely, and, he adds, "as likely not to be as to be." For if, he puts the case, "a constellation or a prophecy signified that such a year or within such a time there should fall war, pestilence, or dearth of vitaile to a country or region, or privation of a country, it is said but dispositively, and not of necessity or certainty; for then it should follow that the prophecies, constellations, and influence of the stars were masters over God's power, and that would soune to a heresy, or else to a great error." After this pious determination upon a question that at that period presented great difficulties, the author adds, that he believed God to have bestowed that sovereignty upon man's soul, that, having a clean soul, he might even turn the judgment of constellations or prophecies to the contrary disposition: to which effect he quotes the bold assertion of the famous astrologian Ptolemy,

Quod homo sapiens dominatur astris.

With these sentiments, rising superior to the general prejudices of the age, our author proceeds confidently to censure the moral causes of the recent calamities, which in his judgment had ensued "for lak of prudence and politique governaunce in dew time provided," and from "havyng no consideracion to the comon wele, but rather to magnifie and enriche one silfe by singler covetise, using to take gret rewardis and suffering extorcions over the pore peple." On this subject he subsequently speaks still more plainly.

This leads him to reflect upon the fate of many realms and countries that had been ruined by sin and misgovernance: as the old Bretons were, when driven out of England by the Saxons into Cornwall and Wales. "And where (he exclaims^[13]) is Nynnyve, the gret cite of thre daies? and Babilon, the gret toure, inhabited now withe wilde bestis? the citeis of Troy and Thebes, ij. grete magnified citeis? also Athenes, that was the welle of connyng and of wisdom?" Carthage, "the victorioux cite of gret renomme," had been burnt to ashes by the Romans. Rome herself had for the greater part been overthrown; and Jerusalem had shared the like fate.

In the succeeding portions of his work the compiler takes much of his matter from Roman history: which he derives from the decades of Titus Livius, either directly, or through the medium of the "Tree of Batailes." Tullius and Cato are also repeatedly cited.

It is unnecessary to notice here all the historical anecdotes thus introduced, as they will at once be seen on turning over the pages; but attention should be directed to one of the most remarkable passages in the book, in which the writer quotes the sentiments of "myne autor," sir John Fastolfe:—

"I hafe herd myne autor Fastolfe sey, when he had yong knyghtys and nobles at his solasse (i.e. tuition), how that there be twey maner condicions of manly men, and one ys a manlye man called, another ys a hardye man; but he sayd the manlye man ys more to be comended, more then the hardy man; for the hardy man that sodenly, bethout discrecion of gode avysement, avauncyth hym yn the felde to be hadde couragiouse, and wyth grete aventur he scapyth, voidith the felde allone, but he levyth his felyshyp detrussed (or disordered). And the manly man, hys policie ys that (if) he avaunce hym and hys felyshyp at skirmish or sodeyn racountre, he wulle so discretely avaunce hym that he wulle entend [i.e. be sure] to hafe the over-hand of hys adversarye, and safe hymself and hys felyshyp."

It was thus that the experienced captain sir John Fastolfe distinguished between the rashly daring and those who bravely embarked on some feasible and well conceived exploit. It is evident that the term "hardy" was then sometimes understood in the sense we now call fool-hardy.^[14] The author himself uses the word "fool-hardiesse" in p. 63.

At p. 68 will be found another anecdote of sir John Fastolfe. It shows that the writer had access to those books of accompt which sir John had kept when a captain in France. "I fynde (he says) by his bookes of hys purveonds how yn every castell, forteresse, and cyte or towne, he wolde hafe grete providence of vitaille, of cornys, of larde, and beoffes, of stok physsh and saltfysh owt of England commyng by shyppes." It was because of his good management in this respect that the regent and lords of the council intrusted so many castles to his custody that he yearly had under his command three hundred spears (or mounted men-at-arms) with their attendants. Also in like manner he purveyed yearly for his soldiers a livery of red and white; and equipments sufficient for any naked man that was able to do the king and regent service. The good result of this provision was manifested on a memorable occasion, when the duke of Exeter was captain of the city of Paris, and Fastolfe captain of the bastille of St. Anthoine. It happened, in consequence of the arrest of the lord de Lisle Adam,^[15] a favourite with the commons of the city, that they suddenly took arms, and rebelled against the duke of Exeter, who found it necessary to repair to the bastille for his defence. At his coming the first question he asked of Fastolfe was how far he was furnished with corn, with wheat, beans, peasen, and aveyn for horse-meat, and with other vitail. Fastolfe replied, With sufficient for a half-year or more: which gave the prince great "comfort," or re-assurance. So he made ready his ordnance, and discharged the great guns amongst the rebels, with mighty shot of arrows: by which means, and because the French king and queen, who were in the city, also held against the rebels, the burgesses were in a short time constrained to submit to the mercy of the duke of Exeter.^[16]

At p. 69 occurs a curious chapter in the praise of agriculture, or "labourage of the londe" as it is there termed, illustrated by a description of the gardens and herbers of king Cyrus.

But the most important portion of the whole work, in an historical point of view, is the chapter commencing at p. 71, intended to inforce the wisdom and necessity of making just pay to soldiers, for eschewing of great inconveniences that may otherwise insue. It is here admitted that in this respect there had been more neglect in the English possessions in France than was elsewhere known^[17]: that in consequence the people had suffered great oppression from the soldiers taking their vitail without payment, and that such abuses had continued unchecked for ten or twelve years previously to the country being lost. Our author advises that the chieftains and captains should be duly paid their wages, either monthly, as had been usual during the time of the regent Bedford, or quarterly, and that without any reward of courtesy, bribe, defalcation, or abridgment, or any undue assignation; and that such payments be made content without delay, or long and great pursuit. It appears from the writer's statements, that the royal officers, deputies, and commissioners had not only been guilty of the practices thus denounced, but that those officers themselves had been needlessly numerous, living as they did upon bribery and extortion, and neglecting the exercise of arms necessary for the defence and protection of the territory. Oftentimes they had wasted of the subjects'^[18] livelode more than was necessary, and oftentimes had suffered them to be menaced and beaten, and mischieved their beasts with their weapons, so that they were nigh out of their wits for sorrow, and thus enforced "for duresse" to forsake the title and laws of their English sovereign. Moreover, they had been so often grievously surcharged with paying of tasques, tails (or tolls), subsidies, and impositions, besides their rents paid either to the crown or their landlords, and many of them dwelling upon the marches having also patised (or compounded?) to the adverse party in order to dwell in rest, that these innumerable charges and divers torments had effected their uttermost undoing. The author cannot quit these reflections without this passionate appeal to the Almighty: "Oh God! which art most mercifulle and highest juge, soverein and just, how maist thou long suffre this (misery) regnyng without the stroke of vengeaunce and ponisshement commyng upon the depryvyng or yelding up of that Dukedom?"

The next chapter (p. 74) appears to intimate that the writer personally sympathised in the degradation of the clergy. "Moreover, (he exclaims,) in way of gret pitee, and in the worship of God, suffre ye not the prelates of the Chirche of that lande, as archebisshoppis, bisshoppis, abbatis, priours, denes, archedenes, and their ministrours, to be oppressid, revaled, ne vileyned, as in your predecessour's daies they have been accepted in fulle litelle reverence or obedience;" having as he alleges been privily coerced to give to the rulers, governors, and masters of the marches and countries great fees, wages, and rewards, for permission to live at rest upon their livelodes. And oftentimes they were visited by strangers of great estate, both spiritual and temporal, and particularly by those intrusted with the administration of the laws, besides other needless people that wasted and surcharged them, an exaction beyond the intent of their foundation, which was merely to maintain their appointed numbers, praying for their founders, and to feed the poor and needy in case of necessity.

The following chapter (p. 76) is a remarkable one in respect to ancient chivalric usages. It sets forth "How lordis sonnes and noble men of birthe, for the defense of her londe, shulde exercise hem in armes lernyng." It is urged that "the sonnes of princes, of lordis, and for the most part of alle tho that ben comen and descendid of noble bloode, as of auncien knightis, esquiers, and other auncient gentille men, while they ben of grene age, (should be) drawen forthe, norisshed, and excercised in disciplines, doctrine, and usage of scole of armes, as using justis, to renne with speer, handle withe ax, sworde, dagger, and alle othir defensible wepyn, to wrestling, to skeping, leping, and rennyng, to make hem hardie, deliver, and wele brethed;" ... "and not to be unkonnyng, abashed, ne astonied for to take entrepresis, to answer or deliver a gentilman that desires in worship to doo armes in liestis, (either) to the utteraunce or to certein pointis, or in a quarelle rightful to fight," or in time of war to defend their sovereign and his realm. Such was the ancient custom of the kings both of France and of England: as especially of king Edward the Third, and of Henry duke of Lancaster. That chivalrous knight, who was accounted "a chief auctour and foundour in law of armes," had (as the writer was told by sir John Fastolfe) sent to him from princes and lords of strange regions, as out of Spain, Aragon, Portugal, Navarre, and France, their children, young knights, "to be doctrined, lerned, and brought up in his noble court, in scole of armes, and for to see noblesse, curtesie, and worship."

This useful custom had been maintained by other noble princes and lords of great birth; but now of late days, (continues our author,) the greater pity is! many that be descended of noble blood and born to arms, as the sons of knights and esquires and of other gentle blood, set themselves to "singuler practik" and to "straunge facultees," as to learn "the practique of law or custom of lands, or of civil matier," and so waste greatly their time in such needless business, as to undertake the holding of manorial courts, to keep and bear out a proud countenance at the holding of sessions and shire-motes,^[19] and "there to embrace^[20] and rule among youre pore and symple comyns of bestialle contenaunce that lust to lyve in rest." And it is added, that whoever could put himself forward as a ruler in such matters, was, "as the worlde goithe now," more esteemed among all estates than he who had expended thirty or forty years of his life in great jeopardies in the conquests and wars of his sovereign. The author pursues the argument at greater length, as the reader will find, and expresses his decided opinion that the high-born personages in question should rather learn to be good men of arms, chieftains, or captains in the field, than to be a captain or ruler at a sessions or shire-day; leaving such matters to the king's justices and officers,^[21] and that "suche singuler practik shulde not be accustumed and occupied undewly with suche men that be come of noble birthe,"—except (it is added on second thoughts) he be the younger brother, having not whereof to live honestly.

The following chapter (p. 78) discusses "How officers of the law shulde be chosen, welle disposid and temperate men, vertuous in condicion, and they to be protectid by lordis and noble men of birthe." There is nothing however in this chapter so remarkable as in that which has preceded.

The author next shows (p. 79) "How over gret cost and pomp in clothing shulde be eschewed;" in which respect he asserts that in France "alle costius arraiementis of clothing, garmentis, and bobauncees, and the usaige of pellure and furres they have expresselie put away:" whilst in England the like "costues arraymentis and disguising of clothing, of so many divers facion," had caused impoverishing of the land, and excited great pride, envy, and wrath amongst the people.

Whether this was truly a national grievance may be doubted. It is, however, more probable that the "pore comyns" of England had really suffered, as set forth in the succeeding chapter (p. 80), "gret hurt and inconvenientis because the creditours have not been duelie paid of here lonys and prestis made to high sovereins." This, it is stated, had been oftentimes the case in the reign of Henry the Sixth. They had advanced loans, "prests of vitails and other merchandise," of which the payment was so long delayed that great part of their property was previously expended, and they were sometimes fain to defalke and release part of their dues, in order to recover the rest. As an alternative for this inconvenience the writer recommends a course that would scarcely have proved more efficacious. "Let your riche tresours (he advises the king) be spradde and put abrode, both juellis (and) vesselle of golde and silver, among youre true subgettis, and inespecialle to the helpe and avauncement of youre conquest, and to the relief of your indigent and nedie peple, and inespecialle to tho that have lost theire londis, livelode, and goode in the werres, so that the saide tresoure may be put forthe, and late it be set in money to the remedie and socoure of this gret importunyte and necessite, and to the defens of youre roiaume from your adversaries."

In another chapter (p. 81), having recommended the king, "after the blessed counceile of Saint Louis," to cherish and favour the good cities and towns, the author pursues the former argument of raising supplies, urgently exhorting all classes to strain their utmost for that object. "Youre saide citesins and burgeis and good comyns if they be tendred shalbe of power and of good courage, and wille withe here bodies and goodes largelie depart to be yoven for to resist the adversaries." Those who had not able bodies nor usage in arms, were yet to come forth with a good courage, spiritual men as well as temporal, and, as true Englishmen should do, "every man put forthe of his goodes after that his power is."

With this strain the Epistle terminates, its last chapter (p. 83) being an illustration of the same argument from the Punica bella of Titus Livius, consisting of "A noble history of the largesse of Romaynys, how amplye they departed ther godes yn a tym of urgent necessite, to make an armee yn to the contree of Auffrique."

These final passages of the book, which so urgently recommend a voluntary contribution in aid of the intended war, were certainly written in the year 1475, with which date the whole composition concludes: for it is recorded by the historians of the day that it was on this occasion that king Edward the Fourth, after he had already raised all the supplies he could obtain by the ordinary methods of taxation, adopted the new device of a contribution nominally voluntary and its amount optional, and therefore termed a Benevolence,^[22] but which eventually, when repeated, was regarded with peculiar repugnance and discontent.

After this review of the contents of the Work, we will proceed to notice the circumstances of the occasion for which it was professedly composed.

The English invasion of France in the year 1475 originated in the events of 1470 and 1471. The temporary deposition of Edward the Fourth from his throne had been abetted by the aid which the King-making earl of Warwick derived from that forger of all mischief Louis the Eleventh of France. At that time Edward took refuge with his brother-in-law the duke of Burgundy, a man as ambitious of aggrandisement as king Louis, but whose disposition instigated him to pursue it by the more ordinary path of martial enterprise. His enmity to the king of France was bitter and inveterate; and it doubtless formed the topic of much of his discourse with the exiled English monarch. Edward, on his part, vowed an ample revenge when the forces of England should be again at his command: and the result was a mutual understanding between these princes to prosecute their common quarrel at the earliest opportunity.

Having this object in view, Edward summoned a parliament^[23] in the autumn of 1472, in order to obtain the requisite supplies; and on the last day of November an act was passed whereby the commons granted to the king a force of 13,000 archers (the like number which had been granted to his predecessor in the 31st year of his reign^[24]), assigning as their motives for so doing, that "for the wele and suerte of this your reame inward, and the defence of the same outeward, to assiste youre roiall astate, ye verraily entendyng, in youre princely and knightly corage, with all diligence to youre highnes possible, all your bodely ease leyde apart, to resiste the seid confedered malice of youre and oure seide ennemyes, in setting outeward a myghty armee, able by the helpe of God to resiste the seid ennemyes." The archers were to abide in the king's service by the space of a year, each receiving the pay of six pence a day; and the commons granted for their support a disme, or tenth part of the income from lands, tenements, and possessions of every temporal person, not being a lord of parliament: but, if the said army held not before the feast of Saint Michael in 1473, the grant was to be void, and the money repaid. ^[25]

The lords spiritual and temporal made a similar grant, on the consideration "that the kyng oure soverayn lord is disposed by the grace of God in his owne persone to passe forth of this his seid reame with an armee roiall, for the saufegarde of the same reame, and the subduyng of the auncien ennemyes of hym and of his seid reame."^[26] In the next session, on the 8th April 1473, the commons granted to the king a fifteenth and a tenth, because, among other causes, "that ye verraily entend, as we understond, to aredye youre self, by all measnes to you possible, in youre moost noble persone to goo, departe, and passe with an arme roiall to the parties outward, to subdue by the myght of God youre and oure auncien enemyes, to the weele of you and prosperite of this youre reame."^[27]

Notwithstanding these earnest intentions and costly preparations, the season of 1473 wore away without any embarkation for France; and, at the close of the session on the 1st of February 1473-4, the chancellor, by the king's command, informed the commons that the parliament was prorogued to the 9th of May following,^[28] "because in the matter of foreign war the king was not certainly informed of the disposition of his brother of Burgundy, and on that account he had lately sent his ambassadors to his said brother."

The treaty with Burgundy was concluded in July 1474. The principal documents^[29] respecting it bear date on the 25th of that month, on which day they were ratified both by king Edward and duke Charles. The former undertook to land in Normandy, or in other parts of France, with more than ten thousand men, before the 1st of July following (i.e. 1475); and the latter agreed to support the king's part in person and with his forces, in order to accomplish the recovery of the duchies of Normandy and Aquitaine, and the kingdom and crown of France, from Louis, then unjustly occupying them. The king engaged not to treat with Louis, without the consent of the duke of Burgundy; and the duke in like manner covenanted not to treat with him without the consent of king Edward. Henceforth Louis was to be deemed and proclaimed their common enemy.

By further articles, dated on the next following day, the contracting parties agreed that, when either of them waged war, they should have liberty to demand from the other aid to the amount of six thousand armed men; which were to be paid at the expense of the party requiring them, unless the war were in his own defence, in which case he was to pay only three fifths, and the other party two fifths of the soldiers' wages. By a further treaty, also dated on the 26th July 1474, king Edward ceded to the duke of Burgundy the duchy of Barr, the counties of Champagne, Nevers, Rethelle, Eu, and Guise, the barony of Douzi, the cities of Tournay and Lingon, with their dependencies, the castle and town of Picquigny, all the towns and lordships on either side the Somme before pledged to him, and further all the lands and lordships then possessed by Louis de Luxemburgh count of St. Paul: retaining no feudal sovereignty over the same, but conceding that the duke and his successors should in future be esteemed as the sovereign princes thereof. It was further agreed that Edward should be crowned and anointed king of France at Rheims, notwithstanding that the county of Champagne was ceded to the duke of Burgundy.

From this time the whole military population of England made constant and earnest preparation for hostilities. They were retained by indenture to serve the king for a whole year in his duchy of Normandy and realm of France, each receiving the wages assigned to their respective ranks. These were,—to a Duke xiij s. iiij d. by the day, to an Earl vj s. viij d., to a Baron or Banneret iiij s., to a Knight ij s., to a Man at Arms xij d. by the day and vj d. more as of reward, and to an Archer vj d. by the day.^[30]

In December proclamations were made throughout England for all bowyers and fletchers to pursue their labours with the utmost haste and diligence, the latter to make only "shefe arrowes;" and purveyors were sent into several circuits to superintend the delivery of their supplies.^[31] Other commissions were issued for impressing into the king's service carpenters, wheelers, cartwrights, masons, smiths, plumbers, and other artificers; and also for taking all ships of the burden of sixteen tons and upwards, for the transport of the army.^[32]

For all these expenses the large sums already voted by the lords and commons in parliament, together with those granted by the clergy in their convocation, were not sufficient. It was then that recourse was had to the collections called Benevolences, to which allusion has been already made, from their being so strongly advocated by the author of The Boke of Noblesse. The process by which they were first brought into operation is thus described by Fabyan the London chronicler:

"He sent for the mayer of London and his brethren the aldermen, and them severally examined and exorted to ayde and assyst hym towarde the sayd great journaye; of whiche the maier (Robert Drope, draper,) for his parte granted xxxli. and the aldermen some xx marke, and the leest xli. And that done he sent for all the thryfty commoners within the sayd cytie, and theym exortyd in lyke maner, whiche for the more partye granted to hym the wages of halfe a man for a yere, the whiche amounted to iiijli. xjs. iijd. And after that he rode about the more part of the lande, and used the people in suche fayre maner, that he reysed therby notable summes of money, the whiche way of the levyinge of this money was after named a Benevolence."

"But here (adds the chronicler Hall on this subject) I wil not let passe a prety conceyt that happened in this gathering, in the which you shall not onely note the humilitie of a kyng, but more the fantasie of a woman. Kyng Edward had called before hym a wydow, muche aboundynge in substance, and no lesse grown in yeres, of whome he merely demaunded what she gladly woulde geve him towarde his greate charges. By my treuth, (quod she,) for thy lovely countenance thou shalt have even xxl. The kyng, lokyng scarce for the halfe of that summe, thanked her, and lovingly kyst her. Whether the flavor of his brethe did so comfort her stommacke, or she estemed the kysse of a kynge so precious a juell, she swore incontinently that he should have xxl. more, which she with the same will payed that she offered it.

"The kynge, willing to shew that this benefite was to hym much acceptable, and not worthy to be put in oblivion, called this graunt of money a Benevolence, notwithstanding that many with grudge and malevolence gave great summes toward that new-founde Benevolence. But the using of such gentill fashions toward them, wyth frendly prayer of their assistance in his necessitie, so tempted theim, that they could not otherwise do, but frankely and frely yelde and geve hym a reasonable reward."

In the spring of 1475 the season for the campaign had at length arrived; and on the 1st of May proclamation was made that all "the lordes and capitaignes" who were retained for the army should muster at Portsdown in the county of Southampton on the 26th of the same month.^[33] John lord Dynham, by letters patent dated the 15th of April, was appointed to conduct the army across the sea.^[34]

The transport of the army to Calais occupied the greater part of the month of June. The king, having left London on the 4th of that month,^[35] proceeded towards the coast through the county of Kent. On the 6th and 10th he was at Canterbury, and on the 20th at Sandwich, where on that day he made his will,^[36] and executed the instruments by which he constituted his son Edward prince of Wales to be Custos and Lieutenant of the kingdom during his absence.^[37] There was still some further delay, and the king appears not to have crossed the channel until the 4th of July,^[38] just one month after his quitting London.

The king was accompanied in this expedition by his two brothers, the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, by the dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk, the marquess of Dorset, the earls of Northumberland, Rivers, and Pembroke, the earl of Ormond, the earl of Douglas, and lord Boyd, the barons Grey of Ruthyn, Scrope, Grey of Codnor, Stanley, Hastings, Ferrers, Howard, Lisle, and probably others^[39]; together with a long train of knights, among whom were sir Thomas Mountgomery and sir Ralph Hastings bannerets and knights for the king's body, sir John Astley a banneret, sir John Parre a knight for the body, sir William Parre, and sir Richard Tunstall.

When the king had landed at Calais his sister the duchess of Burgundy came thither to welcome him, on the 6th of July. She was followed by the duke her husband on the 14th; at which time the duchess was at St. Omer's with her brothers the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. On the 18th the sovereigns of England and Burgundy went together to the castle of Guisnes, where the duke was entertained at king Edward's expense, as he had been at Calais.^[40]

Meanwhile, (relates Molinet,) "the army spread itself through the neighbouring countries, numbering about twenty-two thousand men in the king's pay, of which the archers were badly mounted, and little used to go on horseback. The English were then inflated with high expectations, and thought that France might well tremble before them. They brought a new engine of artillery in the form of a carriage, which required, to put it in action, more than fifty horses, and it was calculated to make at every stroke breaches both deep and wide. Many of the English, who were natives of the duchies of Guienne and Normandy, brought with them the deeds of purchase, and registrations duly sealed, of the inheritances and rents that they used to possess in those duchies before their expulsion, looking forward to recover their title and enjoyment thereof.

"The king (continues the same chronicler) drew his army towards Fauquenbergh, where he raised the richest tent ever seen; then he moved on Rousseauville, and stayed for two nights in the place where king Henry, the father of his predecessor, had obtained a glorious victory over the French, in the year 1415—i.e. at Agincourt; from thence he marched to Blangy, and from Blangy towards Peronne. Supplies came to his army from the countries and lordships of the duke of Burgundy. The English repeatedly passed and repassed the river Somme; and the duke of Burgundy, in person departing from Valenciennes, (where he had been honourably received, and where many pageants had been exhibited and performed before him in compliment to the king of England and himself,) came to view the army of the English, whom he caused to march and countermarch at his orders, to show his desire to lead them. The duke and king Edward, who then kept the field, held a conference for the space of three hours. A dove was observed to remain on the king's tent for a whole day and a half^[41]: and after its departure there followed a terrible thunder-storm, which did great damage to the army, by the hail stones which fell, as large as walnuts. From that day forward the English were in trouble enough, and began to murmur, saying that the king had kept badly the promises that had been made to them. The time passed away without anything being accomplished. The duke of Burgundy parted from them, and went to Lorraine, where he had left part of his forces, to conquer the duchy and county of Vaudemont."

Our own historians have not discoursed at any length of the campaign made in France on this occasion. It has not offered to them the attractions of a Creci, a Poictiers, or an Agincourt; nor even presented any minor achievement that might have inspired their eloquence or stimulated their researches. Its laurels in fact withered under the wily diplomacy of Louis the Eleventh; and, besides the chapter of Molinet from which the preceding passages have been taken, it is in the pages of that monarch's vivid biographer, Philippe de Commines, that we are most fully informed of its transactions. Its results were entirely in correspondence with the personal characteristics of the three sovereigns concerned. The obstinate self-will of Charles the Rash, the luxurious indolence of king Edward, and the timid but crafty time-serving of Louis the Eleventh, all contributed to work out their natural effects.

When the English began to land in France, the duke of Burgundy, already engaged in warfare with the German princes, was besieging the town of Neuss, upon the Rhine; and, until he could effect his object there, he would not be persuaded to leave the spot, although other projects of far greater political importance were now at stake. Commines states that "the lord Scales (meaning Anthony then earl Rivers, the king's brother-in-law,) was sent twice, with several other ambassadors, to the duke^[42]; but the duke was perverse, as if God Almighty had infatuated his senses and understanding; for all his life long he had been labouring to get the English over to invade France, and now, when they were ready, and all things prepared to receive them both in Bretagne and elsewhere, he obstinately persisted in an enterprise in which it was impossible for him to succeed."

There was an apostolic legate at that time with the emperor, and the king of Denmark was quartered in the same neighbourhood, and they both endeavoured to negociate a peace, by which means the duke of Burgundy might, if he would, have had honourable terms, and thus have been free to join the king of England, but he would not accept their overtures. To the English he excused himself as plausibly as he could, telling them that his honour was engaged, and it would be a lessening to his reputation to raise the siege of Neuss, with other like excuses. "The Englishmen (adds the historian) were not the same who had flourished in his father's days, and had conducted themselves with so much valour and skill in the old wars with France; but these were all raw soldiers, utterly unacquainted with French affairs; so that the duke acted very unwisely, if he had any design to make a future use of them, for in that case he ought to have led them on, as it were step by step, at least during the first campaign."

The earliest bad consequence that resulted to the duke of Burgundy from his lingering at the seige of Neuss, was the loss of the three towns of Montdidier, Roye, and Corbie, which were taken by the king of France, shortly after the termination of his truce with Burgundy, which expired on the 1st of May 1475. Still the duke would not quit the siege of Neuss before the 13th of June.

In the meanwhile, king Edward landed at Calais. His army is described by Commines as "the most numerous, the best mounted, and the best equipped, that ever any king of England had invaded France withal. He was attended by all the lords of England, with few exceptions. He had 1500 men of arms, richly accoutred after the French fashion, well mounted, and most of them barded,^[43] and every one of them had several persons on horseback in his retinue. The archers were 15,000, all on horseback; besides a great number of footmen, and others to pitch the tents and pavilions, take care of the artillery, and inclose the camp; and there was not one varlet in the whole army. There was besides a body of 3000 men who were to be landed in Bretagne."

After these particulars, Commines repeats his censures of the duke of Burgundy's infatuated conduct, in throwing away that advantage of English aid, which he had been labouring all his life to procure. He ought (it is remarked) to have known that it was necessary for him to have made at least one campaign with the English, in order to have instructed them in the method of the French wars; for, though no nation is more raw or undisciplined than the English on their first coming over, yet a little time makes them excellent soldiers, equally brave and skilful. But the duke's conduct was just the reverse; and, among other disadvantages which ensued, the season was almost lost, and his own army so worn out and diminished, that he was ashamed they should be seen, for he had lost before Neuss 4000 of his soldiers, the very flower of his army.

The English were, however, assisted in the transport of their horses by the duke of Burgundy providing them five hundred flat-bottomed vessels of Holland and Zeeland; yet, notwithstanding that large number, and all the vessels king Edward could procure from his own ports, the passage of his forces occupied more than three weeks: "from whence one may observe (remarks Commines) with what amazing difficulty the kings of England transport their armies into France; and, if the king of France had understood maritime affairs as well as he did those of the land, king Edward would never have crossed over, at least that year; but king Louis had no skill in naval matters, and those to whom he committed his authority knew less of them than himself; yet one of our men-of-war, belonging to Eu, took two or three of their transports.

"Before the king of England embarked from Dover, he sent one of his heralds, named Garter, who was a native of Normandy,^[44] to the king of France, with a letter of defiance, written in such an elegant style, and in such polite language, that I can scarcely believe any Englishman indited it. The contents were, that our king should surrender France to the king of England, as his right and inheritance, to the end that he might restore the church, the nobility, and the people to their ancient liberty, and relieve them from the great oppression and burthens they groaned under; and, if king Louis refused, it was declared that all the ensuing miseries and calamities would lie at his door, according to the forms usual upon such occasions.

"The king of France read the letter to himself, and then, withdrawing into another room, commanded the herald to be called in; to whom he said,—I am very sensible that your master has not made this invasion of his own seeking, but at the importunity of the duke of Burgundy and the commons of England. He then remarked that the season was visibly far spent, and that the duke of Burgundy had returned from Neuss in so weak and miserable a condition, that he would not be in a capacity to assist the invaders; that, as to the constable,^[45] he was satisfied he held intelligence with the king of England, who had married his niece,^[46] but there was no confidence to be reposed in him, for he would deceive king Edward, as he had often deceived himself; and, after enumerating the favours which he had conferred upon him, Louis added, 'His plan is to live in eternal dissimulation, to traffic with everybody, and to make his advantage of all.' Besides these, the king used several other arguments to induce the herald to persuade his master to an accommodation with him, giving him 300 crowns with his own hand, and promising him 1000 more upon the conclusion of the peace; and afterwards, in public, his majesty ordered him to be rewarded with a fine piece of crimson velvet, thirty ells in length.

"The herald replied, that, according to his capacity, he would contribute all that lay in his power towards a peace, and he believed his master would be glad to entertain the proposal; but nothing could be done until he was landed in France, and then, if king Louis pleased, he might send a herald to desire a passport for his ambassadors, if he had a mind to send any to king Edward; but withal Garter desired the king to address letters to the lords Howard or Stanley,^[47] and also to himself, that he might introduce the French herald.

"There was a host of people attending outside during the king's private discourse with the herald, all of them impatient to hear what the king would say, and to see how his majesty looked when he came forth. When he had done, (continues Commines,) he called me, and charged me to entertain the herald till he ordered him an escort, that I might keep him from talking privately with anybody; he commanded me likewise to give him a piece of crimson velvet of thirty ells, which I did. After which the king addressed himself to the rest of the company, giving them an account of the letters of defiance; and, having called seven or eight of them apart, he ordered the letters to be read aloud, showing himself very cheerful and valiant, without the least sign of fear in the world; for indeed he was much revived by what he had learned from the herald."

When the duke of Burgundy first came to wait on the king of England at Calais, he was attended only by a small retinue,^[48] having dismissed his army into the countries of Barrois and Lorraine to plunder and refresh themselves (the duke of Lorraine having declared himself his enemy). The English had expected him to have joined them at their landing with at least 2500 men at arms, well provided, and a considerable body of horse and foot; and that he should have opened the campaign in France three months before their descent, when they might have found king Louis already harassed with the war and in great distress.

King Edward (by the stages already described from Molinet,) marched to Peronne, a town belonging to the duke of Burgundy. The English, however, except in small companies, were not received within its gates, but they formed their encampment in the adjacent fields.^[49] At this place a messenger arrived from the constable of France, bringing letters both for the duke and the king.^[50] To the former he made strong professions of friendship and service, declaring that he would assist him and his allies, and particularly the king of England, against all persons and princes whatever. In his letter to king Edward he referred his good-meaning to the duke of Burgundy's testimony. The duke communicated also to the king the contents of his own letter from the constable, somewhat exaggerating them, and assuring Edward that the constable would receive him into the town of St. Quentin, and all the other towns under his control; and king Edward really believed it, because he had married the constable's niece, and he thought him so terribly afraid of the king of France, that he would not venture to break his promise to the duke and himself. Nor was the duke of Burgundy less credulous than king Edward. But neither the perplexities of the constable, nor his dread of the king of France, had as yet carried him so far; his design was only to wheedle and amuse them (according to his custom), and suggest to them such plausible reasons as might prevail with them not to force him to declare himself openly.

"The king of England and his nobility (remarks Commines,) were not so well skilled in artifice and subtlety as the lords of France, but went more bluntly and ingenuously about their business; so that they were not so sharp at discovering the intrigues and deceptions common on this side of the water. The English that have never travelled are naturally headstrong, as the people generally are in all cold countries."

Commines next relates how the English, when they attempted to occupy the town of St. Quentin, were driven off with the loss of some killed and others taken prisoners; and how on the following morning the duke of Burgundy took his leave of king Edward, in order to return to his forces in Barrois, pretending he would do great feats for the English; but the English, being naturally of a jealous temper, novices on this side of the water, and astonished at this kind of proceeding, began to entertain an ill opinion of their ally, and were not satisfied he had any army at all; besides, the duke of Burgundy could not reconcile them to the constable's manner of receiving them, though he endeavoured to persuade them all was well, and that what was done would turn to their advantage; but all the duke of Burgundy's arguments did not pacify them, and, being disheartened at the approach of winter, they seemed by their expressions to be more inclinable to peace than war.

Meanwhile, king Louis was thinking upon the suggestions which had been made to him by Garter king of arms; and a message he received from the lords Howard and Stanley by a dismissed prisoner determined him to put them in action. With the assistance of Commines, he tutored a clever servant to act as a herald, equipping him for the occasion in a coat of arms formed from the banner of a trumpeter,—for king Louis was not so stately nor so vain as to maintain a herald in his train as other princes did.

The man was sent off to the English camp, where, on his arrival, he was immediately conducted to the tent of king Edward. Being asked his business, he said he was come with a message from the king of France to the king of England, and had orders to address himself to the lords Howard and Stanley. He was taken into a tent to dinner, and very gently entertained. When king Edward had dined, he sent for the herald, who then said that his errand was to acquaint his majesty that the king of France had long desired to be at amity with him, that both their kingdoms might be at ease, and enjoy the blessings of peace; that, since his accession to the crown of France, he had never made war or attempted anything against king Edward or his kingdom; and, as for having formerly entertained the earl of Warwick, he had done that more from opposition to the duke of Burgundy than from any quarrel with the king of England. He next proceeded to represent that the duke of Burgundy had invited king Edward over, only in order to make his own terms the better with France; and, if others had joined with him, it was to secure themselves against their former offences, or to advance their private objects; which when they had once compassed, they would not regard the interests of the king of England, provided they had attained their own ends. He represented likewise the lateness of the season, that winter was approaching, that his master was sensible of the great charges king Edward had been at, and that he knew that in England there were many, both of the nobility and merchants, who were desirous of a war on this side of the water; yet, if the king should be inclined to a treaty, his master would not refuse to come to such terms as should be agreeable both to himself and to his subjects; and if the king of England had a mind to be more particularly informed of these matters, on his giving a passport for 100 horse, his master would send ambassadors to him with full instructions: or, if king Edward should prefer to depute certain commissioners, king Louis would gladly consent to that arrangement, and send them a passport to hold a conference in some village between the two armies.

The king of England and part of his nobility were extremely pleased with these proposals; a passport was given to the herald according to his request, and, having been rewarded with four nobles in money, he was attended by a herald from the king of England to obtain the king of France's passport in the same form as the other; which being given, the next morning the commissioners met in a village near Amiens. On the part of the king of France, there were the Bastard of Bourbon admiral of France, the lord of St. Pierre, and the bishop of Evreux. On the king of England's side, there were the lord Howard, doctor Morton then master of the rolls and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, William Dudley dean of the king's chapel, and Thomas Selynger.^[51] Many overtures passed between these negociators. The English at first demanded, according to their custom, the crown of France; and then gradually fell to Normandy and Guienne. The French commissioners replied as became them; so that the demands were well urged on the one side, and well refused on the other: yet, from the very first day of the treaty there was great prospect of an accommodation, for both parties seemed very inclinable to hearken to reasonable proposals.

King Louis was exceedingly pleased when matters had taken this favourable turn, and he employed all his arts to bring the negociation to a peaceful termination. He sent every hour to entertain and wheedle the treacherous constable, and prevent him from doing any harm. He resolved to raise without delay the money required to buy off the invaders,^[52] declaring that he would do any thing in the world to get the king of England out of France, except putting any towns into his possession, for, rather than do that, which had been suggested by the constable, he would hazard all.

The conclusion of the terms of the treaty was made on the 13th of August, king Edward being then "in his felde beside a village called Seyntre,^[53] within Vermondose, a litell from Peronne," attended by his brothers the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the bishop of Lincoln his chancellor, the marquess of Dorset, the earls of Northumberland, Riviers, and Pembroke, the lords Grey de Ruthyn, Scrope, Grey of Codnor, Stanley, Hastings, Ferrers, Howard, the earl Douglas, lord Lisle, the master of the Rolls, the dean of the king's chapel, the deans of Wells and Westminster, sir Thomas Mountgomery, sir Thomas Borough, sir William Parre, sir Richard Tunstall, Thomas Selynger, and John Elkyngton treasurer of the king's wars; most of whom signed the public declaration^[54] of the king's determination, which is stated to have been founded on these three considerations,—"the povertie of his armyes, the nygh approachyng of wynter, and small assistance of his allies."

It was at the same time agreed, that the two kings should have an interview, and swear mutually to the performance of certain articles; after which the king of England should return to his own country, upon the receipt of 72,000 crowns (as stated by Commines, but the amount finally settled was 75,000), leaving the lord Howard and sir John Cheyne as hostages until his arrival in England. In addition, pensions amounting to 16,000 crowns were promised to the privy councillors of the king of England, viz. to the lord Hastings^[55] 2000 crowns a-year, to the chancellor (Rotherham) 2000, and the remainder to the lord Howard, the master of the horse (Cheyne), Thomas St. Leger, sir Thomas Mountgomery, and several others, besides a great deal of ready money and plate^[56] that was distributed among the rest of the king of England's retinue.

Louis contrived to carry his corruption through every grade of his adversaries. He purchased from one of the English secretaries for sixty silver marks two letters which had been addressed by the seigneur d'UrfÉ, who was then in the duke of Bretagne's service, (and afterwards master of the horse of France,) one directed to the king of England, and the other to the lord Hastings, lord chamberlain of England. They were shown to Commines, who noticed in them this, among other expressions, That the duke of Bretagne would do more by his intelligence in a month, than the king of England and the duke of Burgundy both, with all the force they could make.

The duke of Burgundy, who was then at Luxembourg, having intimation of these negociations, came in great haste to the king of England, attended only with sixteen horse.^[57] King Edward was much surprised at his unexpected arrival, and inquired what it was that had brought him, for he saw by his countenance that he was angry. The duke told him that he came to talk with him. The king of England asked whether it should be in public or private? Then the duke demanded whether he had made a peace? The king replied, that he had made a truce for nine years, in which the duke of Bretagne and himself were comprehended,^[58] and his desire was that they should accept of that comprehension. The duke fell into a violent passion, and in English, a language that he spoke very well, began to recount the glorious achievements of Edward's predecessors on the throne of England, who had formerly invaded France, and how they had spared no pains, nor refused any danger, that might render them famous, and gain them immortal honour and renown abroad. Then he inveighed against the truce, and told the king he had not invited the English over into France out of any necessity he had of their assistance, but only to put them in a way of recovering their own right and inheritance; and, to convince them he could subsist without their alliance, he was resolved not to make use of the truce until the king had been three months in England. Having unburthened himself in this manner, the duke took his leave, and returned to Luxembourg. The king of England and his council were extremely irritated by his language, but others who were adverse to the peace highly extolled it.

But, however dissatisfied the duke was with the truce, the constable of France had cause to be still more so: for, having deceived all parties, he could expect nothing but inevitable ruin. He made one more attempt to ingratiate himself with king Edward, by offering him the towns of Eu and St. Valery for winter quarters, and a loan of 50,000 crowns; but king Louis immediately received intimation of this, and at once ordered the two towns to be burned. King Edward returned to the constable this answer, "That the truce was already concluded, and could not be altered; but, had the constable performed his former promise (as to the town of St. Quentin), the truce would never have been made." This answer stung the constable to the very soul, and made him desperate on all sides.

In order to bring the treaty to a conclusion, king Edward advanced within half a league of Amiens; and the king of France, being upon one of the gates of the city, (where he had arrived on the 22d of August,) viewed from a distance the English army marching up. "Speaking impartially, (continues Commines,) the troops seemed but raw and unused to action in the field; for they were in very ill order, and observed no manner of discipline. Our king sent the king of England 300 cartloads^[59] of the best wines in France as a present, and I think the carts made as great a show as the whole English army. Upon the strength of the truce, numbers of the English came into the town, where they behaved themselves very imprudently, and without the least regard to their prince's honour; for they entered the streets all armed, and in great companies, so that if the king of France could have dispensed with his oath, never was there so favourable an opportunity of cutting off a considerable number of them; but his majesty's design was only to entertain them nobly, and to settle a firm and lasting peace, that might endure during his reign. The king had ordered two long tables to be placed on either side the street, at the entrance of the town gate, which were covered with a variety of good dishes of all sorts of viands most likely to relish their wine, of which there was great plenty, and of the richest that France could produce, with a troop of servants to wait on them; but not a drop of water was drank. At each of the tables the king had placed five or six boon companions, persons of rank and condition, to entertain those who had a mind to take a hearty glass, amongst whom were the lord of Craon, the lord of Briquebec, the lord of Bressure, the lord of Villiers, and several others. As the English came up to the gate, they saw what was prepared, and there were persons appointed on purpose to take their horses by the bridles and lead them to the tables, where every man was treated handsomely, as he came in his turn, to their very great satisfaction. When they had once entered the town, wherever they went, or whatever they called for, nothing was to be paid; there were nine or ten taverns liberally furnished with all that they wanted, the French king bearing all the costs of that entertainment, which lasted three or four days."

On Childermas day (the 28th of August^[60]) the license of the English visitors had grown to such a height, that it was. estimated that there were at least 9000 of them in the town. The councillors of Louis were alarmed, and although on that day the superstitious monarch never spoke upon business, nor allowed any one else to address him thereon, but took it as an ill omen, Commines was induced to disturb his devotions, in order to inform him of the state of affairs. The king commanded him immediately to get on horseback, and endeavour to speak with some of the English captains of note, to persuade them to order their troops to retire, and if he met any of the French captains to send them to him, for he would be at the gate as soon as Commines. Commines met three or four English commanders of his acquaintance, and spoke to them according to the king's directions; but for one man that they directed to leave the town, there were twenty that came in. In company with the lord of GiÉ (afterwards marÉchal of France) Commines went into a tavern, where, though it was not yet one o'clock, there had already been a hundred and eleven reckonings that morning. The house was filled with company; some were singing, others were asleep, and all were drunk; upon observing which circumstance, Commines concluded there was no danger, and sent to inform the king of it; who came immediately to the gate, well attended, having commanded 200 or 300 men at arms to be harnessed privately in their captains' houses, some of whom he posted at the gate by which the English entered. The king then ordered his dinner to be brought to the porter's lodgings at the gate, where he dined, and did several English captains the honour of admitting them to dinner with him. The king of England had been informed of this disorder, and was much ashamed of it, and sent to the king of France to desire him to admit no more of his soldiers into the town. The king of France sent him word back he would not do that, but if the king of England pleased to send a party of his own guards thither, the gate should be delivered up to their charge, and they then might let in or shut out whomever they pleased, which was done accordingly.

In order to bring the whole affair to a conclusion, consultation was now taken for the place that might be most convenient for the proposed interview between the two kings, and commissioners were appointed to survey it,—the lord du Bouchage and Commines on the French part, and the lord Howard, Thomas St. Leger, and a herald on the English. Upon taking view of the river, they agreed upon Picquigny, where the Somme is neither wide nor fordable. On the one side, by which king Louis would approach, was a fine open country; and on the other side it was the same, only when king Edward came to the river, he was obliged to traverse a causeway about two bow-shots in length, with marshes on both sides, "which might (remarks Commines) have produced very dangerous consequences to the English, if our intentions had not been honourable. And certainly, as I have said before, the English do not manage their treaties and capitulations with so much cunning and policy as the French do, let people say what they will, but proceed more openly, and with greater straightforwardness; yet a man must be careful, and take heed not to affront them, for it is dangerous meddling with them."

When the place of meeting was settled, the next business was to build a bridge, which was done by French carpenters. The bridge was large and strong, and in the midst was contrived a massive wooden lattice, such as lions' cages were made with, every aperture between the bars being no wider than to admit a man's arm; at the top were merely boards to keep off the rain, and the area was large enough to contain ten or twelve men on a side, the bars running full out to either side of the bridge, to hinder any person from passing either to the one side or the other. For passage across the river there was provided only one small boat, rowed by two men.

The incident in French history which suggested these extraordinary precautions had occurred fifty-six years before; when, at a similar meeting upon a bridge at Montereau fault Yonne, John duke of Burgundy and his attendants were treacherously slaughtered in the presence of Charles the Seventh (then Dauphin), in revenge for the murder of Louis duke of Orleans. In the barricade of that fatal bridge there was a wicket, which the duke himself incautiously opened; a circumstance which the timid Louis well remembered, and he now repeated the story to Commines, and expressly commanded that there should be no such doorway.

When the bridge at Picquigny was ready, the interview between the two kings took place on the 29th of August 1475. The description which Commines gives of it is highly graphic and interesting: "The king of France came first, attended by about 800 men of arms. On the king of England's side, his whole army was drawn up in battle array; and, though we could not ascertain their total force, yet we saw such a vast number both of horse and foot, that the body of troops which was with us seemed very inconsiderable in comparison with them; but indeed the fourth part of our army was not there. It was arranged that twelve men of a side were to attend each of the kings at the interview, and they were already chosen from among their greatest and most trusty courtiers. We had with us four of the king of England's retinue to view what was done among us, and they had as many of ours, on their side, to have an eye over their actions. As I said before, our king came first to the barriers, attended by twelve persons, among whom were John duke of Bourbon and the cardinal his brother.^[61] It was the king's pleasure (according to his old and frequent custom) that I should be dressed like him that day.^[62]"

"The king of England advanced along the causeway very nobly attended, with the air and presence of a king." Commines recognised in his train his brother the duke of Clarence, the earl of Northumberland, his chamberlain the lord Hastings, his chancellor, and other peers of the realm; "among whom there were not above three or four dressed in cloth of gold like himself. The king wore a black velvet cap upon his head, and on it a large fleur-de-lis made of precious stones—[probably as a compliment to the French king]. He was a prince of a noble and majestic presence, but a little inclining to corpulence. I had seen him before when the earl of Warwick drove him out of his kingdom, in 1470^[63]; then I thought him much handsomer, and, to the best of my remembrance, my eyes had never beheld a more handsome person. When he came within a little distance of the barrier he pulled off his cap, and bowed himself within half a foot of the ground; and the king of France, who was then leaning against the barrier, received him with abundance of reverence and respect. They embraced through the apertures of the barriers, and, the king of England making him another low bow, the king of France saluted him thus, 'Cousin, you are heartily welcome! There is no person living I was so desirous of seeing; and God be thanked that this interview is upon so good an occasion.' King Edward returned the compliment in very good French^[64]."

"Then the chancellor of England (who was a prelate, and bishop of Lincoln) began his speech with a prophecy (with which the English are always provided), that at Picquigny a memorable peace was to be concluded between the English and French. After he had finished his harangue, the instrument was produced containing the articles which the king of France had sent to the king of England. The chancellor demanded of the king, whether he had dictated the said articles? and whether he agreed to them? The king replied, Yes; and when king Edward's letters were produced on our side, he made the like answer. The missal being then brought and opened, both the kings laid one of their hands upon the book, and the other upon the holy true cross, and both of them swore religiously to observe the contents of the truce.

"This solemnity performed, king Louis (who had always words at command) told king Edward in a jocular way that he should be glad to see him at Paris, and that if he would come and divert himself with the ladies, he would assign the cardinal of Bourbon for his confessor, who he knew would willingly absolve him if he should commit any peccadillo in the way of love and gallantry. King Edward was extremely pleased with his raillery, and made him many good repartees, for he was aware that the cardinal was a gay man with the ladies, and a boon companion.

"After some further discourse to this purpose, the French king, to shew his authority, commanded those who attended him to withdraw, for he had a mind to have a little private discourse with the king of England. They obeyed; and those who were with king Edward, seeing the French retire, did the same, without waiting to be commanded. After the two kings had conversed together alone for some time, our master (continues Commines) called me to him, and asked the king of England whether he knew me. King Edward said that he did, naming the places where he had seen me, and told the king that I had formerly endeavoured to serve him at Calais, when I was in the duke of Burgundy's service. The king of France demanded, If the duke of Burgundy refused to be comprehended in the treaty—as might be suspected from his obstinate answer—what the king of England would have him do? The king of England replied, he would offer it to him a second time, and, if he then refused it, he would not concern himself any further, but leave it entirely to themselves. By degrees king Louis came to mention the duke of Bretagne, who was really the person he aimed at in the question, and made the same demand as to him. The king of England desired that he would not attempt anything against the duke of Bretagne, for in his distress he had never found so true and faithful a friend. Louis then pressed him no further, but, recalling the company, took his leave of king Edward^[65] in the politest and most flattering terms imaginable, and saluted all his attendants with especial courtesy; whereupon both monarchs at the same time retired from the barrier, and, mounting on horseback, the king of France returned to Amiens, and the king of England to his army. King Edward was supplied from the French household with whatever he required, to the very torches and candles."

By the treaty thus concluded king Edward engaged to return to England with his army so soon as king Louis had paid him the sum of 75,000 crowns. A truce for seven years was concluded between the two sovereigns; and they mutually undertook to assist each other in case either prince should be attacked by his enemies or by his rebellious subjects; and, to make this alliance still closer, Charles the son of Louis was to wed the princess Elizabeth, king Edward's eldest daughter, so soon as they were both of marriageable age.

By the fourth and last article, the king of France engaged to pay annually to the king of England, in two instalments, the sum of 50,000 crowns.

Commines states that the duke of Gloucester, king Edward's younger brother, and some other Englishmen of high rank, being averse to the treaty, were not present at the interview; though (he adds) they afterwards recollected themselves, and the duke of Gloucester waited upon king Louis at Amiens, where he was splendidly entertained, and received noble presents both of plate and of fine horses.

The chronicler Jean de Molinet also mentions the duke of Gloucester's disapproval of the peace, although, as we have seen, he had signed the preliminary articles of agreement on the 13th of August. It is by no means inconsistent with the aspiring character of Richard duke of Gloucester—who at this period was not twenty-three years of age—that he should have affected to place himself at the head of the more martial and chivalrous party of the English nobility, and that Commines had good information of his policy in that respect.

The same delightful historian, who, not content with barren facts, confidentially introduces his readers into the secret motives and reflections of the actors in his story, supplies some remarkable particulars of the sentiments of his master king Louis on the result of this memorable interview, which form as it were the finishing touches of his picture.

Whilst Louis was riding back to Amiens, he expressed his misgivings upon two incidents in what had passed. One was that the king of England had so readily caught at the idea of visiting Paris. "He is (said Louis,) a handsome prince, a great admirer of the ladies, and who knows but that he might find one of them at Paris, who would say so many pretty things to him, as to make him desirous to come again? His ancestors have been too often in Paris and Normandy already; and I do not care for his company so near, though on the other side of the water I shall be ready to esteem him as my friend and brother." Louis was also displeased to find the English king so resolute in relation to the duke of Bretagne, upon whom he would fain have made war; and to that purpose he made him further overtures by the lord de Bouchage and the lord de St. Pierre; but when Edward found himself pressed, he gave them this short but honourable answer, that if any one invaded the duke of Bretagne's dominions he would cross the sea again in his defence. Upon which the French king importuned him no more.

When Louis was arrived at Amiens, and was ready to go to supper, three or four of the English lords, who had attended upon the king of England at the interview, came to sup with his majesty; and one of them, the lord Howard, told the king in his ear that, if he desired it, he would readily find a way to bring the king his master to him to Amiens, and perhaps to Paris too, to be merry with him. Though this proposition was not in the least agreeable to Louis, yet he dissembled the matter pretty well, and began washing his hands, without giving a direct answer; but he whispered to Commines, and said that what he had dreaded was really coming to pass. After supper the subject was renewed, but the king then put it off with the greatest quietness and tact imaginable, alleging that his expedition against the duke of Burgundy would require his departure immediately.

Thus, (as our pleasant friend remarks,) though these affairs were of the highest moment, and required the gravest caution to manage them discreetly, yet they were not unattended by some agreeable incidents that deserve to be related to posterity. Nor ought any man to wonder, considering the great mischiefs which the English had brought upon the kingdom of France, and the freshness of their date, that the king should incur so much trouble and expense to send them home in an amicable manner, and endeavour to make them his friends for the future, or at least divert them from being his enemies.

The next day the English came into Amiens in great numbers, and some of them reported that the Holy Ghost had made the peace, producing some prophecy in support of the assertion: but their greatest proof was that during the interview a white dove came and sat upon the king of England's tent, and could not be frightened away by any noise they could make. The less superstitious, however, explained the incident more rationally; a shower having fallen, and the sun afterwards shining out very warm, when the pigeon, finding that tent higher than the others, came thither to dry herself. This was the explanation given to Commines by a Gascon gentleman named Louis de Bretailles,^[66] who was in the king of England's service. This gentleman was one of those who saw further than others into the state of affairs, and, being an old acquaintance of Commines, he privately expressed his opinion that the French were making sport of the king of England. During the conversation, Commines asked him how many battles king Edward had fought. He answered nine, and that he had been in every one of them in person. Commines then asked how many he had lost. Bretailles replied, Never but one; and that was this, in which the French had outwitted him now; for in his opinion the ignominy of king Edward's returning so soon after such vast preparations, would be a greater disgrace and stain to his reputation than all the honour he had achieved in his nine previous victories. Commines repeated this smart answer to his master, who replied, He is a shrewd fellow, I warrant him, and we must have a care of his tongue. The next day Louis sent for him, had him to dinner at his own table, and made him very advantageous proposals, if he would quit his master's service, and live in France; but, finding he was not to be prevailed upon, he presented him with a thousand crowns, and promised he would do great matters for his brothers in France. Upon his going away, Commines whispered him in his ear, and desired him to employ his good offices to continue and propagate that love and good understanding which was so happily begun between the two kings.

Though Louis could scarcely conceal his delight and self-gratulation at the success of his policy, yet his timidity was continually revived when he imagined that he had dropped any expressions that might reach the ears of the English, and make them suspect that he had overreached and deluded them. On the morning following the interview, being alone in his closet with only three or four of his attendants, he began to droll and jest upon the wines and presents which he had sent into the English camp, but, turning suddenly round, he became aware of the presence of a Gascon merchant who lived in England, and was come to solicit license to export a certain quantity of Bordeaux wines without paying the duties. Louis was startled at seeing him, and wondered how he had gained admission. The king asked him of what town in Guienne he was, whether he was a merchant, and whether married in England. The man replied yes, he had a wife in England, but what estate he had there was but small. Before he went away, the king appointed one to go with him to Bordeaux, and Commines had also some talk with him, by his majesty's express command. Louis conferred on him a considerable post of employment in his native town, granted him exemption from duty for his wines, and gave him a thousand francs to bring his wife over from England, but he was to send his brother for her, and not go personally to fetch her; and all these penalties the king imposed upon himself for having indulged in too great freedom of speech.

As soon as king Edward had received his money, and delivered the lord Howard and sir John Cheyne as hostages until he was landed in England, he retired towards Calais by long and hasty marches, for he was suspicious of the duke of Burgundy's anger, and the vengeance of the peasants; and, indeed, if any of his soldiers straggled, some of them were sure to be knocked on the head.

"Uppon the xxviijth daye of Septembre folowynge he was with great tryumphe receyved of the mayor and cytezeyns of London at Blakheth, and with all honoure by theym conveyed thorugh the cytie unto Westmynster, the mayer and aldermen beynge clade in scarlet, and the commoners to the nombre of v C. in murrey."^[67]

The treacherous constable of France again turning round, in order if possible to recover his lost favour with his own sovereign,^[68] sent a messenger to Louis, offering to persuade the duke of Burgundy to join his forces with the king's, and destroy the king of England and his whole army on their return. But this last shift of the baffled traitor only contributed to confirm his ruin. King Edward communicated to Louis (probably before this offer) two letters which the constable had addressed to him, and related all the proposals he had from time to time made; so that his three-fold treasons were revealed to all the princes with whose rival interests he had endeavoured to play his own game, and they were all alike provoked to join in his destruction.

Louis contemplated his punishment with the bitterest animosity. When he received the overture above stated, there were only in his presence the lord Howard the English hostage, the lord de Coutay, who was newly returned from an embassy to the duke of Burgundy, the lord du Lude, and Commines, which two had been employed to receive the constable's messenger. The king, calling for one of his secretaries, dictated a letter to the constable, acquainting him with what had been transacted the day before in relation to the truce; and adding that at that instant he had weighty affairs upon his hands, and wanted such a head as his to finish them. Then turning to the English nobleman and to the lord de Coutay, he said, "I do not mean his body. I would have his head with me, and his body where it is." After the letter had been read, Louis delivered it to Rapine the constable's messenger, who was mightily pleased with it, and took it as a great compliment in the king to write that he wanted such a head as his master's, for he did not perceive the ambiguity and sting of the expression.

We are now arrived at the closing reflections of Commines upon the course which events had taken in France at this memorable crisis. "At the beginning of our affairs with the English, you may remember that the king of England had no great inclination to make his descent; and as soon as he came to Dover, and before his embarkation there, he entered into a sort of treaty with us. But that which prevailed with him to transport his army to Calais was first the solicitation of the duke of Burgundy, and the natural animosity of the English against the French, which has existed in all ages; and next to reserve to himself a great part of the money which had been liberally granted him for that expedition; for, as you have already heard, the kings of England live upon their own demesne revenue, and can raise no taxes but under the pretence of invading France. Besides, the king had another stratagem by which to content his subjects; for he had brought with him ten or twelve citizens of London, and other towns in England, all fat and jolly, the leaders of the English commons, of great power in their countries, such as had promoted the wars and had been very serviceable in raising that powerful army. The king ordered very fine tents to be made for them, in which they lay; but, that not being the kind of living they had been used to, they soon began to grow weary of the campaign, for they expected they should come to an engagement within three days of their landing, and the king multiplied their fears and exaggerated the dangers of the war, on purpose that they might be better satisfied with a peace, and aid him to quiet the murmurs of the people upon his return to England; for, since king Arthur's days, never king of England invaded France with so great a number of the nobility and such a formidable army. But, as you have heard, he returned immediately into England upon the conclusion of the peace, and then reserved for his own private use the greater part of the money that had been raised to pay the army; so that, in reality, he accomplished most of the designs he had in view. King Edward was not of a complexion or turn of mind to endure much hardship and labour, and such any king of England must encounter who designs to make any considerable conquest in France. Besides, our king was in a tolerable posture of defence, though he was not so well prepared in all respects as he ought to have been, by reason of the variety and multitude of his enemies. Another great object with the king of England was the arrangement of a marriage between our present king Charles the Eighth and his daughter; and this alliance, causing him to wink at several things, was a material advantage to our master's affairs.

"King Louis himself was very desirous to obtain a general peace. The vast numbers of the English had put him into great alarm; he had seen enough of their exploits in his time in his kingdom, and he had no wish to witness any more of them."

When Louis went to meet the duke of Burgundy's plenipotentiaries at a bridge half-way between Avesnes and Vervins, he took the English hostages with him, and they were present when he gave audience to the Burgundians. "One of them then told Commines that, if they had seen many such men of the duke of Burgundy's before, perhaps the peace had not been concluded so soon. The vÎcomte of Narbonne, (afterwards comte of Foix,) overhearing him, replied, 'Could you be so weak as to believe that the duke of Burgundy had not great numbers of such soldiers? he had only sent them into quarters of refreshment; but you were in such haste to be at home again, that six hundred pipes of wine and a pension from our king sent you presently back into England.' The Englishman was irritated, and answered with much warmth, 'I plainly see, as everybody said, that you have done nothing but cheat us. But do you call the money your king has given us a pension? It is a tribute; and, by Saint George! you may prate so much as will bring us back again to prove it.' I interrupted their altercation, and turned it into a jest; but the Englishman would not understand it so, and I informed the king of it, and his majesty was much offended with the vÎcomte of Narbonne."

King Edward, being highly disgusted with the duke of Burgundy's rejection of his truce, and his subsequent offer to make a distinct peace with the king of France, despatched a great favourite of his, named sir Thomas Mountgomery, to king Louis at Vervins, and he arrived whilst the negociation was proceeding with the duke of Burgundy's envoys. Sir Thomas desired, on the behalf of the king his master, that the king of France would not consent to any other truce with the duke than what was already made.^[69] He also pressed Louis not to deliver St. Quentin into the duke's hands; and, as further encouragement, Edward offered to repass the seas in the following spring with a powerful army to assist him, provided his majesty would continue in war against the duke of Burgundy, and compensate him for the prejudice he should sustain in his duties upon wool at Calais, which would be worth little or nothing in war time, though at other times they were valued at 50,000 crowns. He proposed likewise that the king of France should pay one-half of his army, and he would pay the other himself. Louis returned Edward abundance of thanks, and made sir Thomas a present of plate: but as to the continuation of the war, he begged to be excused, for the truce with Burgundy was already concluded, and upon the same terms as those which had been already agreed to between them; only the duke of Burgundy had pressed urgently to have a separate truce for himself; which circumstance Louis excused as well as he could, in order to satisfy the English ambassador, who with this answer returned home, accompanied by the hostages. "The king (adds Commines) felt extremely surprised at king Edward's offers, which were delivered before me only, and he conceived it would be very dangerous to bring the king of England into France again, for between those two nations, when brought into contact, any trifling accident might raise some new quarrel, and the English might easily make friends again with the duke of Burgundy." These considerations greatly forwarded the conclusion of the king of France's treaty with the Burgundians.

In fact, the duke of Burgundy at last overreached his brother-in-law king Edward, for he concluded a truce with France for nine years, whilst that of England with France was for seven years only. The duke's ambassadors requested king Louis that this truce might not be proclaimed immediately by sound of trumpet, as the usual custom was, for they were anxious to save the duke's oath to king Edward (when he swore in his passion that he would not accept of the benefit of the truce until the king had been in England three months), lest Edward should think their master had spoken otherwise than he designed.

As for Edward himself, whatever selfish satisfaction he may have derived from the result of the campaign,—such as Commines has already suggested—it must have weakened his popularity both with his nobles and with his people, whilst it terminated the former cordiality that had existed with his brother of Burgundy. The king of England had now become the pensioner of France, the great absorbing power of that age, which was soon to swallow up England's nearest and best allies, the duchies of Burgundy and Britany.

The French pension of 50,000 crowns was, as Commines relates, punctually paid every half-year in the Tower of London; and by a treaty made in Feb. 1478-9 it was renewed for the lives of Edward and Louis, and extended for a hundred years after the death of both princes: which seemed to give it more directly the character of a tribute, a term that Commines says the English applied to it, but which the French indignantly repelled. However, after little more than four years longer, it had answered its purpose, and its payment ceased. The English voluptuary then found himself entirely outwitted by the wily Frenchman. After the duke of Burgundy's death (in 1477) and that of his only daughter the wife of the archduke Maximilian (in 1482) his grand-daughter Margaret of Austria was suddenly betrothed to the Dauphin, in the place of the lady Elizabeth of England. Louis caught at this alliance in order to detach the counties of Burgundy and Artois from the territory of the Netherlands, and annex them to the crown of France; and the turbulent citizens of Ghent, in whose keeping the children^[70] of their late sovereign lady were, were ready to make this concession, without the concurrence of the children's father, in order to reduce the power of their princes. This infant bride was then only three years and a half old; and had consequently made her appearance on the stage of life subsequently to the Dauphin's former contract with the English princess.^[71]

Commines describes at some length the mortification experienced by king Edward when he heard of this alliance,—"finding himself deluded in the hopes he had entertained of marrying his daughter to the Dauphin, of which marriage both himself and his queen were more ambitious than of any other in the world, and never would give credit to any man, whether subject or foreigner, that endeavoured to persuade them that our king's intentions were not sincere and honourable. For the parliament (or council) of England had remonstrated to king Edward several times, when our king was in Picardy, that after he had conquered that province he would certainly fall upon Calais and Guines, which are not far off. The ambassadors from the duke and duchess of Austria, as also those from the duke of Bretagne, who were continually in England at that time, represented the same thing to him; but to no purpose, for he would believe nothing of it, and he suffered greatly for his incredulity. Yet I am entirely of opinion that his conduct proceeded not so much from ignorance as avarice; for he was afraid to lose his pension of fifty thousand crowns, which our master paid him very punctually, and besides he was unwilling to leave his ease and pleasures, to which he was extremely devoted."

The enervated temper of Edward's latter years is faithfully depicted in the opening lines of one of the best-known works of our great Dramatic Poet:

In another place Commines attributes the death of Edward the Fourth to the vexation he conceived at the great reverse in his political prospects, which disclosed itself on his loss of the French alliance. This conclusion is probably imaginary, though Edward's death certainly occurred whilst the Dauphin's new betrothal was in progress. The treaty of Arras, by which the arrangement was made, was signed on the 23d Dec. 1482, and the lady Margaret was delivered to the French, and met the Dauphin at Amboise, on the 22d of June following. King Edward died on the intervening 9th of April, a victim, as is generally thought, to his long course of intemperate living. It is obvious, however, that the failure of the French alliance must have been a very serious loss to Edward's family, who were left defenceless on his death, although he had previously contracted his daughters to the heirs of France, Scotland, Spain, and Burgundy.

Altogether, the ruin of the house of York, if we may credit Commines, was the eventual result of the fatal compromise made in the campaign of 1475, and of the enervating and corrupting influences exercised by the French pensions which were then accepted by king Edward and his ministers. Thenceforward, any hope of recovering the English provinces of France was indefinitely deferred; the very echoes of those martial glories which had once made the English name so dreadful in that country were allowed to die away; the dreams of conquest were dissipated; and the hands of Englishmen again turned to internecine contests, which resulted in the total destruction of the royal house of Plantagenet, and the ruin of a large proportion of the ancient nobility.

The Boke of Noblesse, after the total failure of those more generous sentiments and aspirations which it was intended to propagate, at once became, what it is now, a mere mirror of by-gone days; and, considering these circumstances, we cannot be surprised that it was never again transcribed, nor found its way to the press.

It is with regret that I relinquish to some future more fortunate inquirer the discovery of the author of this composition. The manuscript from which it is printed is certainly not his autograph original; for its great inaccuracy occasionally renders the meaning almost unintelligible. And yet the corrections and insertions, which I have indicated as coming À secund manu, would seem to belong to the author.

I have already, in the first page of this Introduction, intimated the possibility of the work having been composed in the lifetime of sir John Fastolfe, and merely re-edited, if we may use the term, upon occasion of the projected invasion of France in 1475. There are three circumstances which decidedly connect the book with some dependent of sir John Fastolfe:—

1. That the writer quotes sir John as "mine autour," or informant, in pp. 16 and 64, as well as tells other anecdotes which were probably received from his relation.

2. His having access to sir John's papers or books of account (p. 68); and

3. There being still preserved in the volume, bound up with its fly-leaves, the two letters, probably both addressed to Fastolfe, and one of them certainly so, which are printed hereafter, as an Appendix to these remarks.

Sir John Fastolfe is not commemorated as having been a patron of literature. In the inventory of his property which is printed in the twentieth volume of the ArchÆologia, no books occur except a few missals, &c. belonging to his chapel. Though William of Worcestre, now famous for his historical collections, (which have been edited by Hearne, Nasmith, and Dallaway,) was Fastolfe's secretary, he was kept in a subordinate position, and valued for his merely clerical, not his literary, services. Sir John Fastolfe's passion was the acquisition of property; whilst William of Worcestre, on his part, followed (as far as he could) the bent of his own taste, and not that of his master; being (as his comrade Henry Windsore declared) as glad to obtain a good book of French or of Poetry as his master Fastolfe was to purchase a fair manor.^[72]

The translation of Cicero de Senectute, which was printed by Caxton in 1481, is indeed in the preface stated to have been translated by the ordinance and desire of the noble ancient knight sir John Fastolfe;^[73] and, though Worcestre's name is not mentioned by Caxton, we may conclude that it was the same translation which from Worcestre's own memoranda we know was made by him.^[74] Still, it was but a very slight deference to literature, if the ancient knight approved of his secretary's translating "Tully on Old Age," and did not make any further contribution towards its publication.

But on the particular subject of the loss of the English provinces in France, and the causes thereof, there can be no question that sir John Fastolfe, the "baron of Sillie le Guillem," once governor of Anjou and Maine, and lord of Piron and Beaumont, took the deepest interest; considering that he had spent his best days in their acquisition, administration, and defence, and that he was one of the principal sufferers by their loss. He may, therefore, well have promoted the composition of the work now before us.

William of Worcestre has the reputation of having written a memoir^[75] of the exploits of sir John Fastolfe; but this is not traceable beyond the bare assertion of Bale, and a more recent misapprehension of the meaning of one of the Paston letters.

Another person whose name has occurred as having been employed in a literary capacity for sir John Fastolfe^[76] is Peter Basset^[77]; who is commemorated with some parade by Bale as an historical writer, but whose writings, though quoted by Hall the chronicler, have either disappeared or are no longer to be identified.

I have, however, mentioned the names of William of Worcestre and Peter Basset only from the circumstance of their being connected with that of sir John Fastolfe; and not from there being any other presumptive proof that either of them wrote "The Boke of Noblesse." We have no known production of Basset with which to compare it; and as to Worcestre his "Collectanea" and private Memoranda can scarcely assist us in determining what his style might have been had he attempted any such work as the present.

Altogether, The Boke of Noblesse is more of a compilation than an original essay. It has apparently largely borrowed from the French; and I have already shown that it was partly derived from former works, though I cannot undertake to say to what extent that was the case. In its general character our book resembles one which was popular in the middle ages, as the Secretum Secretorum, falsely attributed to Aristotle,^[78] and which was also known under the title De Regimine Principum. The popularity of this work was so great that MS. copies occur in most of our public libraries, and not less than nine English translations and six French translations are known.^[79] A Scots translation by sir Gilbert de Hay, entitled "The Buke of the Governaunce of Princis," is contained in a MS. at Abbotsford, accompanying a version of The Tree of Batailes, already noticed in pp. iii. vi.

Another work of the same class is that of which Caxton published (about the year 1484) a translation entitled The booke of the ordre of Chevalrye or Knyghthode, and of which the Scots translation by sir Gilbert de Hay was printed for the Abbotsford Club by Beriah Botfield, esq. in 1847.

To his translations of the treatises of Cicero on Old Age and Friendship, which Caxton printed in 1481, he also appended two "declaracyons," or orations, supposed to be spoken by two noble Roman knights before the senate, in order "to know wherein Noblesse restith," or, as otherwise expressed in the title-page, "shewing wherin Honoure should reste." These imaginary orations were the work of an Italian, who styled himself, in Latin, Banatusius Magnomontanus.

After a time, the term Noblesse, which we here find synonymous with Honour, and (in p. xv. ante) with Chivalry, in the sense of a class or order of society, became obsolete as an English word. In the former sense, at least, it was changed into our English "Nobleness;" and about the year 1530 we find published a "Book of Noblenes," printed by Robert Wyer, without date.^[80] This work had been translated from Latin into French, and "now into English by John Larke." I have not seen it, but I imagine it was a far smaller and slighter composition than the present.^[81]

Ames^[82] mentioned our "Boke of Noblesse" as a printed work, on the authority of Tanner's MSS., but this was evidently a misapprehension.

It only now remains that I should describe the Manuscript, which is preserved in the Royal Collection at the British Museum, and marked 18 B. XXII.

It is written in a paper book, which is formed of four quires of paper, each consisting of six sheets, and is of the size of a modern quarto volume. The quires are marked in the lower margin with the signatures of the scribe: the first quire consisting of six sheets, placed within one another, and marked j. ij. iij. iiij. v. vj.; the second also of six sheets, marked .a.i. .a.ij. .a.iij. .a.iiij. .a.v. and .a.vj.; the third, b.1. .b.3. .b.4. .b.5. .b.6.; the fourth .c.1. c.2. c.3. c.4. c.5. c.6. Thus it is seen that the sheet containing the leaf b.2. and the attached leaf (b.11. as it might be called) is lost: and this loss occasions the defects which will be found in the present volume at p. 50 and p. 68.

In front of the volume are bound three leaves of vellum, on the last of which is fastened a slip of the like material, inscribed, apparently

Edwarde w [iiij?]

wych ys

bold