heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

WALLER. 203
" theyr jackes were longe and easy to shote in, so that they might drawe
" bowes of great strentgth and shote arowes of a yerde longe, besyde the
" hedes. Upon the morrow, the Kynge caused dyuers masses to be songyn.
" The nyght before, the Englysshe hoost was occupied in prayer and
" confession.
" And that done, with a comfortable chere ordered his people as they
" should fight, hauynge unto them good and comfortable words, and so
" abode ye comyng of theyr enemyes, which of dyuers
" are remembered to be aboue xl M fyghtynge men " (40,000).
writers were and
He estimates the relative loss of that eventful day
as follows :
" But of Frenchmen were slayne yt day, after Englysshe wryters, over yt
" nombr of XM (10,000); of the Englysshe hoost were slayne
the Duke of
" Yorke and with hym iiii c men (400).
" At the sayd batayll was taken prysoners the Duke of Orleance,
" the Duke of Burbon, ye Erles of Vendosme, of Eur, of Rychemont and
" Bursigaut, then marshall of Fraunce, with many other knyghtes and
" esquyres, which were tedyous to name, to the nomber of xxiii C (2,300)
" and aboue, as wytnesseth y e boke of mayres.
" And in this batayl were slayne of the nobles of Fraunce the Dukes
" of Barre, of Alanson, and of Braban, viii erles, and barons above Ixxx,
" with other gentylmen in cote armours to the nombre of iii M (3,000)
" and aboue." *
Charles, Duke of Orleans, conspicuous amongst these French nobles,
though only twenty-five years of age, had been married six years before
to Isabel of Valois, the girl-widow of Richard II. On the death of her
husband she had been detained a close prisoner at Havering-atte-Bower,
where she remained until her father had acquiesced in Henry's preposterous
claim to retain her jewels and dower, for the sake of restoring to her the
peace and comfort of her early home without further delay. Strange as
it
may seem, Henry IV., having caused her husband to be murdered,
and taken from her all her dower and jewels, was anxious to betroth her
to his son, Henry, Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry V.
And there can be no doubt that the young Prince really
loved the
beautiful girl-widow, and wooed her with great pertinacity. But, faithful
to the memory of her murdered husband, these offers she sternly and
scornfully refused.
In the month of July, 1402, Isabella, who had not then completed
her fifteenth year, landed in her native country, and three years afterwards
defeated the overtures which the English king was even then making to
the Royal Council of France (viz., that if her hand was bestowed on his
son he would abdicate the throne in his favour), by marrying her cousin,
the young
Prince Charles of Orleans.
* Fabyan's Chronicles, p. 581.