Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/579

A.D. 1423.] Scotland, was now dead, and his son and successor Murdoch, a man of an easy disposition, not finding any employment for the more restless and martial spirits amongst his subjects, those Scots eagerly offered their services to Charles VII., who gave them every encouragement, and heaped all the distinctions in his power upon them. The Earl of Buchan, the brother of the Scottish regent, was himself not only their leader, but the Constable of France. Continued arrivals of these Scotch adventurers swelled the ranks of Charles. Amongst others the Earl of Douglas brought over 5,000 men. These strengthened Charles in the south, but as ho possessed some fortresses in the north, Bedford determined first: to clear those of the enemy, in order that he might afterwards advance with more confidence southwards. The castles of Dorsoy and Noyelle, the town of Rue in Picardy, and Pont-sur-Seine, Vertus, and Montaigne, successively fell before the English arms. But a still more decisive action took place in June at Crevant in Burgundy. There James Stuart, Lord Darnley, at the head of a body of Scottish auxiliaries, and the Marshal of Severac with a number of French troops, sat down before the town. The Duke of Burgundy, feeling himself too weak in that quarter to cope with them, sent a pressing message to Bedford for aid. The duke at once dispatched the Earls of Salisbury and Suffolk to raise the siege of Cervant. But the French, relying on their numbers, and still more on the well-known valour of their Scottish allies, stood their ground, and awaited the attack. On their march the English fell in with the Burgundians at Auxerre, under the Count of Toulongeon, hastening to the same goal. Still their united numbers wore inferior to the enemy, and they had to force the passage of the Yonne in the face of the main body of the enemy.

The Duke of Brabant driving away the Ladies of his Wife Jacqueline.

The discipline of the combined army may be conceived from the regulations issued at Auxerre for its conduct The soldiers were ordered to love and treat each other as brothers; that the vanguard should consist of 120 men-at-arms, and the same number of archers, taken in equal proportions from each nation. When the orders were given for dismounting in the presence of the enemy, disobedience was to be punished with death. The horses were to be left half a league in the rear; and any man leaving his post in the line should suffer death. No prisoners wore to be made till the victory was secure; or all such prisoners should be put to death, and the captor, too, if he resisted. Finally, every archer was ordered ta supply himself with a stake sharpened at both ends, as used by Henry V. at Azincourt. The men carried