Page:History of Norfolk 1.djvu/549

 with his master to the town of Harflue, which stands on that river, and besieged it on all sides, and was at its surrender; after which the King ordained the Duke of Exeter, his uncle, Captain and Governour of that town, who established Sir John Fastolf, his lieutenant, there, with 1500 men, (or as some say) 2036 knights, of which the Baron of Carew, and Sir Hugh Lutterell, were his two counsellors. In 1415, he was in the battle of Agincourt, in that part which was commanded by the Duke of Exeter, where he behaved so gallantly, that he was soon after made the King's Receiver in his city and dominion of Vernevil in Normandy; and when the King returned into England, he went with the Duke, and staid with him and Sir John Fastolf at Harflue, from whence they soon after made a great inroad with 3000 Englishmen into Normandy, almost to the city of Roan, and got abundance of riches and prisoners; but as they returned, the new made Constable of France, hoping to win honour in his first enterprise, having with him about 5000 horsemen, encountered them, and a sore conflict ensued, in which the Duke lost 300 of his footmen, and was forced to retire into an orchard, which was strongly fenced with thorns, so that the Englishmen kept them off, and stayed there all night, and went towards Harflue in the morning, which the French being advertised of, followed and overtook them on the sands near Chiefe de Caux (or Quies de Cauz) and there attacked them, but in the end were quite discomfited, and many of them slain by the English, who came safe to Harflue, to the Constable's disgrace; this was called by some the battle of Kidcaux, and by others, the battle of Vallemont. Soon after this, the Constable (to retrieve his lost honour) besieges them in Harflue, but by the valiant behaviour of the Duke, Sir John Fastolf, our Sir John Ratcliff, and others, the town was manfully defended, till the King's navy, under the command of the Duke of Bedford, came to their assistance, and meeting with the French navy at the mouth of the Seine, engaged and vanquished it, sunk 500 ships, went up the river and refreshed the town with victuals and money; the Constable hearing the navy was vanquished, raised his siege and returned to Paris, with less glory than he expected. In the year 1417, he was at the taking of the castle of Tonque, the city of Caen, the castle of Coursie, the city of Sees, the town of Faleis, and at the great siege of the city of Roan, being then in the King's troop, which joined with my Lord of Gloucester's, laid before St. Hillary's gate, the rest of the generals encompassing the whole town, which had then (according to historians) 21,000 souls in it, and such resolute commanders and governours among them, as swore to each other never to yield the city, as long as they could hold sword in hand, upon which ensued one of the greatest sieges that the history of that age furnishes us with, which is largely recited in Holinshed's history,  together with the miserable famine in the city during the latter part of the siege, "If (says he) I should rehearse

''how deerlie dogs, rats, mise, and rats, were sold within the town, and how greedilie they were by the poore