Shakespeare's Kings (48 page)

Of
the
country's
three
most
troublesome
neighbours
Wales
was
at last
quiet,
while
with
Scotland
an
uneasy
peace
was
preserved
by
means of
consta
ntly
renewed
truces;
France,
on
the
other
hand,
constituted
a growing
problem.
Its
King,
Charles
VI,
was
by
now
in
even
worse
state than
Henry
of
England.
He
still
had
brief
spells
of
lucidity,
during
which his
considerable
intelligence
appeared
almost
undimmed;
but
these
were steadily
growing
less
frequent,
and
of
ever
shorter
duration.
Meanwhile
-
and
for
some
years
past
-
there
had
been
an
unremitting
struggle
for power
between
two
of
his
close
relatives,
the
Dukes
of
Burgundy
and of
Orleans.
The
Duke
of
Burgundy
was
the
king's
first
cousin
John Sans
peur,
'the
Fearless',
consumed
with
ambition
and
totally
without scruple,
who
had
succeeded
his
father
Philip
the
Fair
in
1404;
his
rival Charles
of
Orleans,
the
King's
nephew,
had
inherited
the
dukedom even
more
rece
ntly
,
when
his
father
Louis
had
been
assassinated
-
on John's
orders
-
in
1407,
near
the
Porte
Barbette
in
Paris.
Charles,
as we
have
seen,
had
married
Richard
II's
widow
Isabelle
in
1406,
and after
her
death
three
years
later
had
taken
as
his
second
wife
Bonne, daughter
of
the
formidable
Count
Bernard
of
Armagnac
-
a
marriage which
had
allied
the
house
of
Orleans
with
one
of
the
most
powerful magnates
in
all
France.
Unlike
the
Duke
of
Burgundy
he
was
a
man
of courage
and
integrity,
and
was
later
to
prove
one
of
the
greatest
poets of
his
day.

It
was
only
natural
that
each
of
the
two
rivals
was
eager
for
English support;
and
each
had
a
valuable
prize
to
offer
in
exchange.
Burgundy
—
which
then
extended
from
the
Jura
in
the
south
as
far
north
as
the river
Scheldt
-
could
guarantee
the
safety
of
the
vital
bridgehead
of Calais
and
its
links
with
the
weavers
of
Flanders;
Orleans,
on
the
other hand,
with
its
Gascon
ally,
could
give
similar
protection
to
Bordeaux and
the
all-important
wine
trade.
The
first
to
take
the
initiative
was John
the
Fearless,
who
in
July
1411
—
at
a
time
when
the
King
lay gravely
ill
-
appealed
to
England
for
help
against
Orleans
and
the Armagnacs,
offering
the
Prince
of
Wales
in
return
the
hand
of
his daughter
Anne.
The
Prince
-
who,
having
recently
been
appointed Captain
of
Calais
as
well
as
Warden
of
the
Cinque
Ports,
instinctively favoured
Burgundy
-
immediately
sent
out
a
small
force
of
about
1,200 men
under
his
friend
the
Earl
of
Arundel,
which
after
a
brief
engagement at
St
Cloud
secured
Paris
for
the
Duke
and
drove
his
enemies
beyond the
Loire.
Meanwhile
he
opened
negotiations
to
discuss
the
size
of
his bride's
prospective
dowry.

The
expedition
returned
to
England
generously
rewarded
by
Burgundy
and
much
exhilarated
by
its
success;
as
for
the
Prince,
it
must have
given
him
just
the
encouragement
that
he
needed
for
the
later and
far
more
ambitious
expedition
that
was
already
germinating
in
his mind.
Unfortunately,
however,
towards
the
end
of
the
year
King
Henry rallied
and,
as
usual
at
such
moments,
took
grave
offence
at
the
way
in which,
as
he
saw
it,
he
was
being
elbowed
aside
—
not
on
this
occasion by
his
eldest
son
alone
but
also
by
his
own
half-brothers
the
Beauforts,
¹
the
youngest
of
whom,
Thomas,
had
succeeded
Archbishop
Arundel as
Chancellor
in
January
of
the
previous
year.
It
seems
quite
possible that
at
the
time
of
the
opening
of
the
last
Parliament
of
his
reign, in
November
1411,
Thomas's
brother
Henry
Beaufort,
Bishop
of Winchester,
may
even
have
gone
so
far
as
to
suggest
the
King's
abdication in
favour
of
the
Prince
of
Wales;
this
would
certainly
have
prompted a
furious
refusal,
and
made
Henry
still
more
determined
to
reassert
his authority.
In
any
case
the
Beauforts
were
dismissed
from
the
council, while
the
Prince,
shrinking
from
the
prospect
of
an
open
breach
with his
father,
yielded
his
place
on
it
to
his
brother
Thomas
-
who
now became
Duke
of
Clarence
—
and
left
London
on
an
extended
progress through
the
northern
midlands.

He
was
still
away
when,
at
the
beginning
of
1412,
there
arrived
at Eltham
envoys
from
the
Dukes
of
Orleans
and
Berry.
Their
purpose was
to
frustrate
the
proposed
marriage
and
the
Burgundian
alliance; and
to
achieve
it
they
were
prepared
to
pay
a
price
considerably
higher than
that
offered
by
their
rival.
As
well
as
various
other
marriage proposals
with
members
of
their
own
families,
they
now
offered
the Duchy
of
Aquitaine
in
full
sovereignty,
as
well
as
their
own
personal service
in
arms,
if
England
would
agree
to
join
them
against
the
Duke of
Burgundy.
To
the
King
the
prospect
was
irresistible.
On
18
May,
in return
for
extensive
territory
in
Guyenne
and
several
towns
in
Angou-leme
and
Poitou,
he
agreed
to
make
available
1,000
men-at-arms
and 3,000
archers,
and
even
at
one
moment
proposed
to
lead
this
army himself;
but
since
by
this
time
he
was
totally
unable
to
walk
and
could hardly
even
ride,
it
was
the
Duke
of
Clarence
who
commanded
the force
which,
three
months
later,
left
for
Normandy.

This
second
expedition
achieved
little
of
the
success
of
that
led
by the
Earl
of
Arundel
in
the
previous
year.
While
it
was
still
engaged
in somewhat
desultory
raiding
and
pillaging
in
the
Cotentin
peninsula around
Cherbourg,
the
Armagnacs
unexpectedly
concluded
a
truce with
the
Burgundians,
paid
off
the
English
army
and
sent
it
home. Clarence,
it
appeared,
had
been
made
a
fool
of;
the
King
scarcely
less so.
The
Prince
of
Wales,
on
the
other
hand,
had
been
vindicated;
what