Rouen’s Ruin!
On July 31st, 1418, Henry arrived at Rouen, the capital of Normandy and besieged the city. It was to be a long and bitter siege, causing immense hardship to its citizens.
The siege of Rouen, 1418 – 1419.
The siege was to last six months and when the food supply began to run low in October, the citizens appealed to the king for help. They also requested aid from Duke John ‘The Fearless’ of Burgundy.
John, Duke of Burgundy.
However, their pleas fell on deaf ears and no help would ever come to the besieged of Rouen. Food shortages became chronic and soon starvation stalked the streets of Rouen:
‘They ate dogs, they ate cats,
They ate mice, horses and rats,
For thirty pence, went a rat.’
The poor people of Rouen. Henry V at his most ruthless.
‘Rouen cast out its weakest of the weak!
If they want help, then the English king they must seek!’
In December, the city expelled a large number of people, women with children and the elderly, but Henry would not let them pass. They were consigned to a ditch at the base of the city walls. There, stuck between two armies, they dwelt in inconceivable misery. When some of the English soldiers took pity on the people and gave them food, they were ordered to stop. However, Henry did grant one concession to these abandoned folk. On Christmas Day, he allowed food to be sent to the people in the ditch, but it was for one day only. Cold and hunger would soon take the lives of these, the most unfortunate of the unfortunate.
On January 19th 1419 , Rouen surrendered to Henry V.
Onwards to Paris.
The whole of Normandy was soon under his control and now Henry made his way to Paris. By August, English forces were camped outside the city gates. Meanwhile, the Duke of Burgundy and the Dauphin (the heir to the French throne) had agreed to meet to discuss how best to defeat Henry V.
A most convenient murder.
Then a very strange thing happened which worked to Henry’s advantage. On September 10th, Duke John of Burgundy met with the Dauphin at Montereau to discuss tactics in their endeavour to rid France of the English presence. However, the unfortunate Duke was hacked to death on the bridge at Montereau in circumstances which remain obscure. He appears to have met the Dauphin on bended knee when he was attacked.
‘Duke John knelt in homage to the Dauphin, but he never arose!
As he knelt, he was struck by multiple deadly sword blows!’
The murder of John, Duke of Burgundy in September 1419.
Although the Dauphin was said to have been visibly disturbed by the murder, it is difficult to believe that he was not involved. The murder caused outrage across France. Many in France viewed Henry in a more favourable light than the Dauphin. The new Duke of Burgundy John the Good, determined to avenge his father, immediately allied himself with Henry. Henry was now approaching the pinnacle of his success.