heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

WALLER. 207
As soon as the terrible strife had ceased, the first thought of the
chivalrous King was to care for the wounded, and to secure such prisoners
as might be left helpless on the field. Amongst many engaged
in this
generous duty was the young English archer, Richard Waller, who, attracted
by a faint moan, or by a moving limb, drew out from beneath a heap of
the mangled bodies of the slain in the fearful slaughter which had ensued,
Charles, Duke of Orleans. Life was not extinct, and, by the efforts of his
preserver, he was brought back to an unwelcome existence. As soon as
the rank of his captive was discovered, Richard Waller took him at once
to
the King, who received his lately triumphant, but now fallen, rival with
dignified courtesy, and directed that he should be treated with every consideration.
On the way to Calais, Henry sent him bread and wine (and
bread was then a luxury in the English camp) from his own table, but
Charles would neither eat nor drink ;
nor were his miseries alleviated by
a personal visit from the King, who assured him that God had fought
against the French on account of their manifold transgressions.
After a tempestuous voyage, in which many of the French nobles
declared that they would rather endure another Agincourt, they landed in
England and eventually the triumphant conqueror and his brave army
;
entered London, amidst the clashing of bells, and the shouting of the
multitude, and waving banners and scattered flowers. But there was one
sad heart amidst all that jubilant multitude, one unwilling participator in
that great national pageant Charles, Duke of Orleans.
Of course, according to the custom of those days, a prisoner could
only be liberated by a ransom ;
and for such a prisoner
the ransom must be high, and 300,000 crowns were
named as the price of his liberty.
Until the time of its payment, he was committed
to the charge of his captor, Richard Waller, who had
been knighted, and who received, in addition, the
permission to have the shield of his captive, Azure
three fleurs-de-lys or, over all a label of three points
argent, added to his crest, a walnut tree, with this
appropriate motto, " Haec fructus virtutis."
The generous captor did all in his power to make his country home
agreeable to his unwilling guest. The old house, if not entirely rebuilt,
was very extensively enlarged and improved.
There were frequent hawking
and hunting parties, and no lack of money or books. Indeed, the duke,
who was no mean poet, wrote several of his most beautiful compositions
here. A chivalrous friendship grew up between him and Sir Richard ; and
Charles so far succeeded in acquiring the language of his host that he
wrote a roundel in English. He took an interest in the parish church of
Speldhurst.