The number of troops mustered by the besieged and besiegers was as
follows:--

On the side of the English, there were quartered at the Tournelles
five hundred men, under the command of Glansdale; three hundred under
Talbot; twelve hundred with Fastolfe. Including those who had come
with Suffolk at the commencement of the siege, the English force
amounted to four thousand five hundred men.

On the side of the besieged, excluding the armed citizens, who were
from three to four thousand strong, was a garrison numbering between
six and seven hundred men; also some thousand soldiers had been thrown
into the city between the middle of October 1428 and the January
following.

Both in strength of position, and as regards the number of their
troops, the French had the advantage. The comparative weakness of the
English force--which, all told, could only count about four thousand
men to carry on the siege--is to be accounted for by the garrisons
which were left in the conquered places over the north and south of
the country.

The siege was weakly conducted during the winter--a series of
skirmishes from the bastilles or towers thrown up by the besiegers led
to little result on either side; and it was not till the month of
February that a decisive engagement took place.

Near Rouvray a battle was fought, which is known by the singular
appellation of the Battle of the Herrings, from the circumstance that,