heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

206
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THE
HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
" No more, no more! My
When I the life recall
Of her who lived so free from taint,
So virtuous deemed by all ;
Who in
herself was so complete,
I think that she was ta'en
By God to deck His paradise,
heart doth faint
And with His saints to reign ;
For well she does become the skies,
Whom while on earth each one did prize,
The fairest thing to mortal eyes." *
Five years of widowhood (even though for state reasons he had
entered on a second marriage with Bona, daughter of Bernard, Count
d'Armagnac) had not, we may believe, extinguished the grief of such a
mourner ;
and we can well imagine that he took little part in the vainglorious
merriment which Shakespeare describes as pervading the French
host the night before the battle.
Perhaps his only longing was that he might by an honourable
soldier's death escape from the troubles of life, and find rest with her
whom he had so tenderly loved, in the paradise of God.
But the morning came, and with the morning came the battle, which,
as the French herald had tauntingly assured Henry the night before, was
to result in such a facile victory to France. And foremost amongst the
nobles of France was Charles, Duke of Orleans, at the head of his 500
lances, with the arms of his house (Azure three fleurs-de-lys or, and a label
of three points argent) emblazoned on the pennon which fluttered over his
head, and on the shield which he held to his left side.
I need not tell the old familiar story of Agincourt over again. How
the French, vainly confident in their superior numbers, advanced with
impetuous valour upon the English archers, who, sheltered behind fixed
pallisadoes, safely plied them from that defence with a shower of arrows
which nothing could resist. The clay soil, moistened by some rain which
had lately fallen, hampered the movements of the cavalry, already impeded
by the crowd of men-at-arms on foot who thronged their ranks ;
the
wounded horses disordered their lines ;
and the rapidly increasing heaps
of dead and dying men hindered them in the narrow compass in which
they were pent from recovering any order. The whole army was soon a
scene of terror, confusion, and dismay. At the command of Henry, the
archers threw down their bows, and rushing upon the enemy
with their
battle-axes, supported by the men-at-arms from behind, covered the field
with wounded, dismounted and overthrown, and secured the victory for the
English king.f
*
Agnes Strickland. Isabella of lr alois. t Hume.