An Island Story - H. E. Marshall (best books to read in your 20s .TXT) 📗
- Author: H. E. Marshall
- Performer: -
Book online «An Island Story - H. E. Marshall (best books to read in your 20s .TXT) 📗». Author H. E. Marshall
The eldest son of the King of France was called the Dauphin, just as the eldest son of the King of England is always called the Prince of Wales.
At this time the King of France was mad, so the Dauphin ruled. When he heard that Henry V. was coming to fight against him he sent a present of some tennis balls.
“Tell the English king,” he said to his messenger, “that he is too young and foolish to claim dukedoms here. It will be better for him to amuse himself at home with these balls.”
Henry laughed when he received the present and send back this message:—
“And tell the pleasant prince, this mock of his
Hath turned his balls to gun stones.”
Henry gathered his army and, landing in France, laid siege to the town of Harfleur. The town held out bravely for a long time, and, when at last it fell, the English army was so worn out, so many of them had been killed and wounded, that they were not strong enough to fight any more. Yet Henry did not want to return to England having only taken one French town. He resolved to march from Harfleur to Calais, and sail home from there. He would show the French that the English were not afraid of them.
So the army left Harfleur and, day after day, ragged, hungry, and worn, they marched along the weary way towards Calais. Day after day passed, but no French soldiers ever came in sight, till one evening, when they had gone about half the long journey, the enemy appeared. Even then, weary and worn though the English were, the French did not think themselves strong enough to attack, and fell back before them. But about forty miles from Calais Henry found the French army right across his path. If Calais was to be reached, the French must be beaten. And Calais had to be reached, as it was the only way home, and Henry’s men were utterly weary and almost starving.
On the morning of the battle, Henry rode along the lines, cheering his poor tired soldiers. He had a gold crown upon his helmet, and the coat which he wore over his armor was embroidered with the leopards of England and the lilies of France, for already he called himself King of France and England.
As Henry rode along he heard one of his nobles say, “I would that some of the thousands of warriors, who lie idle this day in England, were here to aid us.”
“Nay,” replied the King, “I would not have one man more. If we win, the greater is the glory God gives to us. If we die, the less is the loss to England.”
When Henry had ridden all along the lines, he got off his horse and took his place among his soldiers, with the royal standard waving over him.
The fight began, and a terrible fight it was. It seemed as if it were the story of Crecy and Poitiers over again. The French had an army ten times greater than that of the English; many of the English, too, were sick and ill, weary, ragged and half fed, and yet they won the battle.
When it was over, Henry, riding across the field, met one of the French heralds. “To whom does the victory belong?” he asked.
“To you, sire,” replied the man.
“Nay,” said the King, “but to God. We English made not this great slaughter. What fortress is that?” he added, “for it is fitting that the battle should have a name.”
“That is the castle of Agincourt, sire,” replied the herald.
“Then Agincourt shall this battle be called,” said Henry. And by that name we know it.
This was one of the greatest battles ever fought between the French and English but, although the English won, the army was too worn out to do more, and so they went home to England.
But Henry soon gathered another army, and returned to France. There was more fighting till at last, five years later, peace was made, and Henry married Catherine, the daughter of the French king.
It was arranged that King Charles who, you remember, was mad, should keep the title of king while he lived, but that Henry should rule, and that when Charles died, Henry should be King of France.
But about two years after this, Henry himself died. He was only thirty-four and had reigned but ten years. He was a wise king and ruled well, yet his great battles are what we hear most of in his reign, and they brought suffering and sorrow to many of his people. Still his people loved him, and their grief at his death was great.
“Henry the fifth, too famous to live long.
England ne’er lost a king of so much worth,
England ne’er had a king until his time.
Virtue he had deserving to command:
His brandished sword did blind men with his beams:
His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings:
His sparkling eyes replete with wrathful fire
More dazzled and drove back his enemies,
Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech.
He ne’er lift up his hand but conquer?d.”
HENRY VI. OF WINDSOR—THE STORY OF THE MAID OF ORLEANS
WHEN Henry V. died in 1422 A.D., his son, who was also called Henry, was only a tiny baby nine months old. Yet the people had loved Henry V. so much that they chose that this tiny baby should be called their King. Of course a baby nine months old, who could not even speak, could not rule, so his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, ruled instead. Queen Catherine, the baby’s mother, married a Welsh gentleman called Owen Tudor and took no part in ruling the kingdom.
For a little time things seemed to go well, but soon troubles began. Charles, the mad King of France, died about two months after the death of Henry V., and the baby Henry VI. was proclaimed King of France in his place. “May God grant long life to Henry, by the grace of God, King of France and England,” cried the heralds. But the Dauphin, Charles, felt that he was the rightful heir, and he, too, called himself King of France.
The baby king of course did not know anything about what was happening, but his uncle John, Duke of Bedford, who ruled France for him, was very angry with the Dauphin and began to fight with him.
The English were so strong that at first they defeated the French armies, and the Dauphin was in despair.
The Scots had been helping the French. To stop them doing so, the English said that they would set their King free if they would promise not to help the French any more. You remember that King James, when he was a little boy, had been taken prisoner by Henry IV., and he had now been in person for nineteen years.
While in prison James had seen a beautiful lady, from his window, as she walked in the garden of the palace. He loved her, although he had never spoken to her, nor heard her speak. James was a poet as well as a king, and he wrote some beautiful poetry about her.
“And therewith cast I down my eyes again,
Where as I walking saw beneath the tower,
Full secretly, new coming her to play,
The fairest and the freshest young flower
That ever I saw, methought, before that hour,
For which sudden surprise, anon did start
The blood of all my body to my heart.
“And when she walk?d had a little time
Under the sweet green branches bent,
Her fair, fresh face as white as any snow,
She turned has, and forth her way she went.
But then began my sickness and torment,
To see her go and follow not I might,
Methought the day was turned into night.
“Bewailing in my chamber thus alone,
Despairing of all joy and remedy,
Oft weary of my thoughts and woe begone,
Unto the window would I walk in haste,
To see the world and the folk who went forbye,
As for the time, though I of mirthe’s food
Might have no more, to look it did me good.”
As soon as James was free, he married this beautiful lady and went back to Scotland with her. But before he went the English made him pay a large sum of money in return for all that had been spent on him while he was in prison. He also promised not to help the French in their battles with the English.
So this is why the Scots could no longer fight for the French. But other help came to them. They found a great leader who brought them victory. This great leader was a woman.
In a peaceful little village, far away from the sounds of war, lived a peasant girl called Jeanne d’Arc or as we call her in English, Joan of Arc. She had never been to school. She could neither read nor write. Ever since she had been quite a little girl she had had to work hard all day long in the fields and in the house. But although she was ignorant, Joan was gentle and good, and her heart was full of love for her country.
From time to time stories of battle and loss and death, were brought to the little village by sick and wounded soldiers from the battlefields. As Joan listened to these stories, tears filled her eyes, and a great longing grew in her heart to do something for her dear country.
She spent long days alone in the fields taking care of her master’s sheep. While she watched the sheep, she kept thinking and longing. “What can I do?” she said to herself. “I am only a poor, ignorant girl; what can I do for my country?”
At last it seemed to her as if the empty air around her was full of voices, which answered her question. It seemed to her that saints and angels came to her and whispered that she was chosen to free France.
“Put on the courage and the armor of a man,” said the voices, “and lead the armies to victory.”
When Joan told people that God had chosen her as captain, they thought at first that she was mad. But she was so earnest and so sure that at last they took her to the Dauphin.
Dressed like a man in shining white armor, riding upon a beautiful white horse, and carrying a white banner sewed with gold lilies of France, she looked so beautiful and so good that the Dauphin and the soldiers could not but believe in her.
So this peasant girl, who knew nothing of war, who had never before worn armor, nor carried a sword, nor ridden upon a horse, took command of the army. The rough soldiers honored, obeyed and almost worshiped her. New hope sprang up in their hearts, new strength to fight.
So full of courage were they now, that in less than a week fortune changed, the English began to lose and the French to win. Joan’s first fighting was at Orleans, which had been besieged by the English for some months. Joan beat the English and drove them away, and because of that she was afterwards often called the Maid of Orleans. Battle after battle was fought, town after town was taken from the English, until about two months from the time Joan began to fight, the French were so completely victorious that the Dauphin was crowned at Rheims.
It was a very splendid sight. The church was crowded with knights
Comments (0)