"Better lose the battle than the king and the battle." All the princes
of the royal blood and all the flower of the French nobility, except the
king and his three sons, and the Dukes of Berry, Brittany, and Burgundy,
joined the army. The Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and the Constable
d'Albret, who was in command, sent to ask the King of England on what day
and at what place he would be pleased to give them battle. "I do not
shut myself up in walled towns," replied Henry; "I shall be found at any
time and any where ready to fight, if any attempt be made to cut off my
march." The French resolved to stop him between Agincourt and
Framecourt, a little north of St. Paul and Hesdin. The encounter took
place on the 25th of October, 1415. It was a monotonous and lamentable
repetition of the disasters of Crecy and Poitiers; disasters almost
inevitable, owing to the incapacity of the leaders and ever the same
defects on the part of the French nobility, defects which rendered their
valorous and generous qualities not only fruitless, but fatal. Never had
that nobility been more numerous and more brilliant than in this
premeditated struggle. On the eve of the battle, Marshal de Boucicaut
had armed five hundred new knights; the greater part passed the night on
horse-back, under arms, on ground soaked with rain; and men and horses
were already distressed in the morning, 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