CHAP. LVII.
KING HENRY OF ENGLAND RETURNS TO FRANCE WITH A POWERFUL ARMY TO COMBAT THE DAUPHIN, WHO HAD BESIEGED CHARTRES.
KING HENRY OF ENGLAND RETURNS TO FRANCE WITH A POWERFUL ARMY TO COMBAT THE DAUPHIN, WHO HAD BESIEGED CHARTRES.
Whenking Henry had settled the government of England during his absence, and when his army was advanced to Canterbury, having received pay for eight months, he came to Dover; and thence, and at the neighbouring ports, he and his army embarked at day-break, on the feast of St Barbara, and that same day arrived in the harbour of Calais at two o'clock in the afternoon.
The king disembarked from his vessel and was lodged in the castle of Calais; the others landed also, and were quartered in the town and the adjacent parts, according to the orders of the king and his harbingers. Shortly after, when the vessels were unladen, they were discharged, and ordered back by the king to England. It was estimated by competent judges that from three to four thousand men at arms disembarked that day, and full twenty-four thousand archers.
On the morrow of the feast of St Barbara, the king sent the earl of Dorset and the lord Clifford to the assistance of his uncle the duke of Exeter and the Parisians, who were much straitened for provisions by the garrisons of the Dauphinois that surrounded Paris. They had under their command twelve hundred combatants, and, avoiding all the ambushes of the enemy, rode hastily forward to Paris, where they were joyfully received by the inhabitants, by reason of the intelligence they brought of the king of England being at Calais, to whom they had sent several messages before he left England.
The dauphin had now a considerable army, which he marched toward Chartres; and the towns of Bonneval and Galardon, with other castles, surrendered to him, which he regarrisoned, and then fixed his quarters as near to Chartres as possible, and encompassed it on all sides. It was defended by the bastard de Thian and other captains, who had been dispatched thither in haste from Paris for that purpose.
The dauphin's army was supposed to consist of from six to seven thousand having leg-armour, four thousand cross-bows and six thousand archers, and this statement was sent to the king of England by those who had seen them. The Dauphinois erected many engines to batter the walls and gates, which did some mischief; but as the inhabitants were assured of being speedily relieved by king Henry, they were not under any alarm at their attacks.