respect to the funds appropriated for the mainenance of these troops; for a favourite courtier charged by the king to distribute the same, consumed the whole amount in purchasing silver vessels, trinkets, and precious stones. In conse

quence of this, the army, on arriving within six leagues of Meulan, disbanded for want of pay; and the result was, that the besieged, rendered furious on finding themselves betrayed to such men, and for such ignoble purposes, tore the standards of Charles into pieces, trampled them under foot, entered into an immediate capitulation, and the garrison forthwith passed into the service of the enemy.

The duke of Brittany, who had hitherto continued neuter, at length joined the English, and after this alliance, took possession of numerous places. Charles, in the spring, received reinforcements from Scotland and from Spain, when an army of ten thousand men was collected, and employed to lay the siege before Crévant. The allies, under the command of the earl of Suffolk, marched to their rencounter; but the positions occupied by the French were impregnable; the army, therefore, without any risk, might have continued the siege and braved the English forces - but the French stood in need of experienced commanders; and Charles, whose presence on this occasion might have served to make them act with circumspection,

and stifle those divisions that existed among the principal corps, did not make his appearance in the field. Under these circumstances, the French abandoned their strong position, and marched towards the enemy, without having previously adopted any of those necessary precautions prescribed by the rules of war; the consequence was, as might have been expected, a complete victory obtained over the French, three thousand of whom were killed or made prisoners,* together with a number of generals and officers: the raising of the siege of Crévant followed, together with many other places that voluntarily surrendered to the victors.

However fortunate the result of this conflict was to the English, the consequences did not prove decisive, owing to the following circumstances. The duke of Bedford was entirely occupied for two years in smoothing the difficulties connected

Berry, at page 270, states from 800 to 1,000: the Parliamentary Registers of France (in Villaret, ibid.) compute the loss at more than 3,000 killed: the Journal of Paris, page 94, says, 6,500 killed, captured, or drowned: Claude de Chastellux, governor of Crevant, affirms that there were from 4,000 to 5,000 killed, taken, or marched away. See the two Acts of the 6th of August, 1413, six days after the battle.-Lebauf's History of the Diocese of Auxerre, vol. ii. Nos. 385 and 384, page 315.

The loss of this battle led to the surrender of Mâcon, of which town the French had recently obtained possession.-See Villaret, xiv. pages 281 and 284.

with the establishment of a regency; in gaining over the duke of Brittany; in rendering the link more firm that bound him to the duke of Burgundy by a marriage with his sister; and in appeasing the differences that existed between his brother, the duke of Gloucester, and the duke of Burgundy. Shortly after, the victories of Gravelle in the Maine,† and Bassière in the Mâconnais, gained by the French, procured some respite, and enabled them at the opening of the second campaign to receive another army furnished by the king's allies the Scotch, and a small reinforcement sent by the duke of Milan.‡

By the treaty of the 17th April, 1423.-See Monstrelet, vol. ii. folio 4; Dutillet, Rec. des Traités, page 343. She was asked in marriage in the month of February, 1422, affianced in May, and married in October.

+ L'Abrégé Chronologique, page 328, and Monstrelet, vol. ii. folio 4, places this battle towards the end of 1422; and, consequently, prior to that of Crevant. Chartier, page 4-6, Berry, page 370, Histoire de la Pucelle, page 483, the Cronique de France, folio 330, and Dom Plancher, vol. iv. page 78, ascribe it subsequently to the affair of Crevant, and this opinion we have adopted. Chartier, and the biographer of La Pucelle, seem to have been much better informed than the other historians respecting the detail of this action, and Berry positively affirms that it took place after that of Crevant.

The

According to Berry, page 370, this force consisted of six hundred horsemen bearing lances, and one thousand foot. duke of Milan above adverted to, was Philippe Marie Visconti, brother of Valentina, who died in 1408, four months after the

The adherents of Charles, being encouraged, made a considerable effort; and, in consequence, an army of about eighteen thousand men was assembled,* destined to succour the city of Ivry, then closely besieged by the duke of Bedford. The two armies came in face of each other in the month of August, 1424, near the town of Verneuil, when the superiority of the English commanders, as at Cressy, Poitiers, Azincourt, and Crévant, crowned the arms of the allies with victory. The French upon this occasion, though displaying prodigies of valour, were entirely defeated, sustaining a loss of five thousand men,+ with the greater part of the nobility, besides a multitude of prisoners while the rest of the army dispersed. The immediate results of the victory at Verneuil were, the capture of the equipage and the treasures of the army; the surrender of Verneuil and the whole province of Maine; with the plunder of Anjou and all the surrounding territory.

assassination of her husband Louis, duke of Orleans. Philippe was uniformly attached to the cause of Charles VII.

* Hume states, after Monstrelet, vol. ii. page 14, and Grafton, that the army amounted to fourteen thousand troops, half of whom were Scotchmen. Villaret computes the force at twenty thousand.

In regard to the number of killed at this encounter, Hume states four thousand, Berry four thousand five hundred, while the Journal de Paris estimates the loss at nine thousand men.

More disastrous consequences were anticipated, 'when the good fortune of Charles once more intervened to rescue him from total destruction, at least during a certain period of time. Jacquelina, of Hainault, heiress of the western districts of Belgium, had separated from her husband, the duke of Brabant, in 1421, to seek refuge at the court of Henry V. for the purpose of annulling her marriage, through the aid and protection of the English monarch. The duke of Gloucester, who had now become regent of England, flattered by the hope of receiving a crown, gave Jacquelina his hand in marriage; which circumstance produced a breach with the duke of Burgundy, who was very nearly related to the duke of Brabant, and had calculated upon inheriting the joint territories of the separated couple. The endeavours and crafty conduct of the duke of Gloucester only tended to

* Or Jacquelina of Bavaria, widow of the dauphin Jean, and wife of the duke of Brabant, cousin-german of Philip. Consult, in respect to this misstatement, St. Remi, page 123 and 152; Monstrelet, vol. i. folio 236, &c. &c.; Daniel, vii. page 22, and various other authorities.

Jean of Burgundy, duke of Brabant, was the son of Anthony, second male heir of Philip le Hardi. A maternal great aunt of Anthony had bequeathed to him, in 1406, the duchies of Brabant and of Limbourg, and at the death of Jean, in 1427, they descended to his brother, Philip le Bon, their cousin.-See Anselme, Généalogies, vol. i. page 248.