IX. Poem, Entitled the " SIEGE of ROUEN :" Written in the Reign of Henry the Fifth

43 IX. Poem, entitled the " SIEGE OF ROUEN :" written in the Reign of Henry the Fifth. Communicated in a Letter from the Rev. J. J. CONYBEARE, late Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford, to HENRY ELLIS, Esq. F R. S. Secretary. Read 2*th November, 1823. Bath Easton, June 27, 1823. MY DEAR SIR, THE Poem, of which I inclose a faithful Transcript and a hasty abstract, is contained in N°. 124 of the Bodley MSS. at Oxford. It is fairly written upon parchment, in a hand apparently very few years later than the date of the event which it commemorates. Some leaves have unfortunately been torn away at the conclusion. As it gives a very detailed, and (if we may judge from internal evi- dence) a very accurate account of one, certainly not among the least important of those military operations which secured to Henry the Fifth the conquest of France, I have thought that an Abstract of it, by way of Introduction, might not be altogether unacceptable to the Society. If it has not any pretensions to poetical merit beyond those which are usually found in the productions of our early Minstrels, it is at all events less tedious as well as more circumstantial than the unintelligible Latinity of Thomas de Elmham ; the only contemporary writer of note, from whom our historians have drawn their narrative of Henry's campaigns. The Author commences, in the true minstrel style, with a prayer for 44 Siege of Rouen. the happiness of those who have the patience to listen to his tale; the better to secure their notice, he boasts that " A more worthier siege was never none sette Since that Troy and Jerusalem were first ygette." The popularity which the tale of Troy obtained during the Middle as well as Classical Ages, is amply known ; that of Jerusalem had also furnished a copious theme for the minstrels. The Bodleian Library contains one Romance of considerable length on this subject; and two copies probably of the same Poem, are mentioned by Roquefort. a But to proceed with our Bard. " All the better," he says, " tell it I may, For with my liege thereat I lay ; And thereto I took right good devise, Like as my wit would me suffice." The Duke of Exeter was first employed to reconnoitre and summon the garrison, who indignantly rejected his proposal, and to shew that they were bent on making a resolute defence, immediately burnt down the whole of their suburbs. " A full cursed deed (says the poet) and synfully done ;" for they thus destroyed at once eight parish churches, and the Abbey of St. Gervais. Their further preparations for resistance are described with all the circumstantiality of an eye-witness. The king "sette the Siege" the Sunday before Lammas, and having taken up his own lodgings at the east end of the city, in a mansion belonging to the Carthusians, assigned each of his generals a station near one or other of the principal gates, from which the besieged made constant sallies. The leaders mentioned are the Dukes of Clarence and Exeter the Earl Marshal, the Lords Haryngdon and Talbot, and Sir William Haryngdon. The king's next step was to complete the blockade by water. This was effected by throwing a large iron chain across the Seine, while the freedom of its navigation was secured for the English a Glossaire, torn. ii. p. 776, Siege of Rouen. 43 by dispatching Warwick to Caudebec. A bridge was also thrown over the river for the purpose of ensuring an uninterrupted communication between the different English detachments. The host was now com- pleted by the return of Warwick from his successful negotiation, and by the addition of Gloucester, Suffolk, and Burgoyne. " And then the power of Killmain Was come within the mouth of Seine, Up at Harfleet he landed then With fifteen hundred of his men. # # # # Well they were arrayed of war wyse Like as the country hath her guise." The French captains are next enumerated, and the amount of their force estimated at more than eighty thousand, the population of the city (including this garrison) exceeded four hundred thousand. These, by their frequent sallies, added to the vigour and dexterity with which their artillery was plied, much annoyed the besiegers. The spirits moreover of the garrison were much elevated by reports that " the Burgundy" was on his march to raise the siege, with a hundred thousand men (our author has no distaste for large numbers). The king availed himself of their expectation to practise " a point of' war," by which he hoped to produce a sortie of the whole garrison. He caused one corps of his army to march out of a wood with the Burgundian colours and ensigns, and a second to make a shew as if opposing their advance. The stratagem however failed, and the siege continued without decisive advantage to either party until near Christmas. By this time famine began to make havock within the walls. Its effects, both civil and moral, are described with much truth and force. This produced the cruel expedient of forcing out from the several gates the poorer and more unwarlike part of the population. These unhappy creatures were not suffered to pass through the English ranks, and therefore remained dying with cold and hunger in the town ditch. Such scanty relief as 46 Siege of Rouen. the soldiers of the besieging army could spare, appears to have been oc- casionally administered to the nearest; and on the festival of Christmas- day, Henry, with the reluctant acquiescence of the garrison, supplied the whole with abundant refreshments of meat and drink. It is pleasing to see the horrors of warfare softened in ever so small a measure by reli- gious feeling, but one cannot help reflecting that a fuller operation of that feeling would have induced Henry to extend his compassion to somewhat beyond a mere ostentatious exercise of benevolence which could only serve to prolong the misery of its objects. The only reason assigned by the minstrel for their not being allowed to pass the English lines is, " lest they should see our watch." The true one, perhaps, was least they should convey any communications from the garrison to the French monarch. The besieged yet held out until New Year's-eve. By this time " Hunger had broken the stone wall," and they resolved to treat. After attempting, without success, to attract the notice of the commanders stationed at the principal gates, they at last found means, through Umfreville, to make their communications to Clarence, who, at their earnest suit, gladly undertook the charitable work of making them known, and interceding with his sove- reign : " For he was manfull while war did laste, And mercifull when war was paste." A negotiation takes place, which ends in the admission of twelve delegates to Henry's presence. They request free passage for the sufferers in the trenches, and permission to hold correspondence with the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy. This Henry refuses, alleging that they themselves were the offending party in the affair of the poor outcasts ; that France and Burgundy, if they wished to find him, full well knew where he was, and on what business; and lastly, that the city was his own, and that its inhabitants owed no allegiance to any other Siege of Rouen. 47 prince. Henry's aspect and behaviour during this conference are not ill described: " Still stood the king all that while With countenance sad—he would not smile. But while they in presence before him were, He was full lordly in his cheer, Neither too mild, neither too strange, But in a mien withouten change ; His countenance did he never bate, But kept him still in one state." No easier terms being attainable, their spokesman proposes the sur- render of the city and garrison. Henry grants a truce for arranging the terms; promises " to take (wise" for the relief of the sufferers in the trenches, and dismisses the .envoys full of gratitude and admiration of his person, his discretion, and his princehood : " For he is merciful in fight, And asketh nothing but that is right." With their return to the city, the Poem (which is imperfect) abruptly terminates. Believe me, my dear Sir, Sincerely and obediently yours, J. J. CONYBEARE. To HENRY ELLIS, Esq. &c. &c. &c. P. S My residence at a distance from any of ..our larger Libraries pre- cludes my attempting the addition of notes either to the Transcript or Abstract. 48 SEGE OF ROAN. God that deyede uppon the Rode Tre, And bou3ht us alle with hys blode so fre, Untyll hys blysse he hem brynge That wyll lystene to my talkynge. For ofte tymys men talken of here travayle, Bothe of sawtys,b and also of batayle, They have yn romance, and also ymade yn ryme, Off thatt y1 hathe be done byffore thys tyme. But nowe y wylle to yowe telle yn present, To my talkynge an j,e wulle take tente, How that kynge Herry the fyfyth owre lege Wyth ryalte by sette there a sege, As byfore Rone that reche cyte Fore that he lovyde as hys own volante. A more worthyer sege was never none sette Sythe that Troy and Jerusalem was fyrste ygette, Nother so myche pepyll was never ere sene, Nother syche another sege sette, as I wene. Lystenethe nowe unto me a lytylle space And y wylle yowe telle howe that hyt was. And alle the better telle hyt y may, For wyth my Lege thereate y lay, And ther to I toke ryhte 3ode devyse, Lyke as my wyte wolde me suffyse.

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