ng, when the battle began. It were
tedious to describe the faulty manoeuvres of the French army and their
deplorable consequences on that day. Never was battle more stubborn or
defeat more complete and bloody. Eight thousand men of family, amongst
whom were a hundred and twenty lords bearing their own banners, were left
on the field of battle. The Duke of Brabant, the Count of Nevers, the
Duke of Bar, the Duke of Alencon, and the Constable d'Albret were killed.
The Duke of Orleans was dragged out wounded from under the dead. When
Henry V., after having spent several hours on the field of battle,
retired to his quarters, he was told that the Duke of Orleans would
neither eat nor drink. He went to see him. "What fare, cousin?" said
he. "Good, my lord." "Why will you not eat or drink?" "I wish to fast."
"Cousin," said the king, gently, "make good cheer: if God has granted me
grace to gain the victory, I know it is not owing to my deserts; I
believe that God wished to punish the French; and, if all I have heard
is true, it is no wonder, for they say that never were seen disorder,
licentiousness, sins, and vices like what is going on in France just now.
Surely, God did well to be angry." It appears that the King of England's
feeling was that also of many amongst the people of France. "On
reflecting upon this cruel mishap," says the monk of St. Denis, "all the
inhabitants of the kingdom, men and women, said, 'In what evil days are
we come into this world that we should be witnesses of such confusion and
shame!'" During the battle the eldest son of Duke John the Fearless, the
young Count of Charolais (at that time nineteen), who was afterwards
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, was at the castle of Aire, where his
governors kept him by his father's orders and prevented him from joining
the king's army. His servants were leaving him one after another to go
and defend the kingdom against the English.

[Illustration: Already distressed----57]

When he heard of the disaster at Agincourt he was seized with profound
despair at having failed in that patriotic duty; he would fain have
starved himself to death, and he spent three whole days in tears, none
being able to comfort him. When, four years afterwards, he became Duke
of Burgundy, and during his whole life, he continued to testify his keen
regret at not having fought in that cruel battle, though it should have
cost him his life, and he often talked with his servant