ing French forces, and of his greatest
victory, the famous battle of Agincourt.]

Shortly after his return to England, Henry was visited by Sigismund,
Emperor of Germany, accompanied by French ambassadors commissioned to
treat for peace under his mediation. But while Henry continued to
exact severe terms, the French gave him constant excuses for
proceeding in the war, by their efforts to recover Harfleur, which,
however, were constantly defeated by the activity of the English
monarch and his officers.

[Illustration: Henry V. rejects Falstaff.]

To conquer the former patrimony of the British kings seemed the
monarch's first object, and in a very short time he made himself
master of almost all the principal cities of the duchy. Caen, indeed,
resisted with devoted courage, and, after a severe siege, was taken by
assault; but the governors of the other fortified places in Normandy,
divided between the Armagnac and the Burgundian parties, had no
confidence in their soldiers or each other, and one after another
submitted to the power of the conqueror. Nor, indeed, did Henry spare
any means to obtain his purpose in such a bloodless manner. All his
proclamations announced that those who submitted should be safe in
person and property; and his address to all the French people holds
out to them that prospect of peace and protection which had long been
unknown amongst the dissensions of their nobles. The first person
of great influence, however, who joined the forces of the English
king, was the Duke of Brittany; and, though Henry exacted no very
great exertions from his new ally, the example of such a defection
from the crown of France was greatly in behalf of the invader. Rouen,
the capital of Normandy, however, still resolutely closed her gates
against the English.

The attack and capture of the Pont de l'Arche announced to the people
of Rouen, and to the King of France, that the war was about to
approach the gates of the Norman capital, and every exertion was made,
both by the Burgundian faction, who now held the king in their hands,
and the burghers of the city itself, to repel the English in the
attempt. A number of famous knights and commanders were thrown into
the city, which was, besides, garrisoned by upward of four thousand
men-at-arms, and fifteen thousand armed citizens, all eager in the
cause.

Immense efforts were now made by the English to force an entrance, but
the defences of the place were so strong