THE EOYAL AETILLEEY INSTITUTION. 
11 
so shaked, crushed, and riued the walles that within few dayes the Citie was 
dispoyled of all her toures and outward defences.” 4 Even Holinshed 
writing as near the time as we are to the campaigns of Marlborough, does 
not find this campaign in Normandy worthy of any special notice. Perhaps 
the brilliant appearance of the Maid of Orleans on the stage, four or five 
years later, eclipsed the minor events of the period; or the vital interest at 
stake in the heart of the Erench monarchy caused the border warfare to sink 
into comparative insignificance; whatever be the cause, there is no allusion 
of this particular siege of Mont St Michel in any English work I have been 
able' to consult. 5 Fortunately a learned and enthusiastic local historian has 
related the events in a way which leaves little to be desired. 
It w r as, according to the Abbe Desroches, 6 “ a period of frightful calamity. 
Attacks, surprises and combats followed in rapid succession, the vanquished 
of to-day being often the victor of to-morrow.” The country immediately 
around Mont Sfc Michel was more particularly the theatre of these exploits 
and of these disasters. The Count d'Aumale made frequent excursions. 
One day he learnt that the English captain, Jean de la Pole, had started from 
Normandy with two thousand five hundred men to pillage Anjou. Desirous 
of cutting off his retreat, d'Aumale summoned his fighting men from all 
parts. Jean de Lahage, baron de Coulonces, brought him a goodly company, 
and they were not long before they lighted upon the English, who following 
as it appears the instincts of their nature, were in the act of driving off 
great herds of beeves, {(Vimt ■ 'ise iroiipeciux de triufs ). “ Quand les batailles 
dudifc comte d’Aimnile C. dudit la Poule Anglais” says a contemporary 
historian quoted by the Abbe, “furent pres Pune de Pautre comrne un trait 
d'arc les Anglais marchaient fort,et en marchant ils piquaient devant eux de 
gros paux. . . It y eut de grandes variances d^armes faites mais les dites 
Anglais ne purent soutener le faix que leur baillaient les Fran^ais ct furent 
defaits et les chefs furent pres.” Not long after these events the English 
set siege to Mont St Michel by sea and land; it was towards the end of 
4 See also Camden’s Remaines. 
5 Eobert Fabyan records tbe burning of a Lollard, and even gives us a glimpse of Whittington 
thrice Lord Mayor of London, but is very brief in his notice of the events in France. “ The first 
day of Marche (1423) was of his preesthod deregradyd an herytike, named William Tayllour and 
brent to asshes x Smythfeld ; whose oppinyons, for the heryng of the shuld be tedious and vnfruttefull 
I therefore wyll nat w fc them blot my booke. In this moneth of Marche also, was y e towne of Pont 
Melance, on the river of Seyne, deliuered by apoyntmet vnto Grafton y e Eegent of Frauce: of the 
whiche appoyntement one artycle was y t al horses, abylementes of warre, barneys and other shulde be 
lefte within the sayd place: and also golde and syluer, and other iewellys there to remayne hooly, 
and that if any persone were within the holde founde whiche before tyme had been gylty or con- 
sentyng to the deth of the Duke of Burgoyn, that he should be delyuei'yd vnto y e regent and nat 
to take any benefet or pryualage by that appoyntemet. 
“ And this yere the west gate of the cytie called Newgate was newly buyldyd and repayred by the 
executours of Eicharde Whytyngdon late Mayre of London, and thys yere after mydsomer fyl great 
water or rayne so that for the more party, euery daye atwene the begynnynge of July and ende of 
September, it rayned lytell or morhe, and yet that notwithstandynge that yere was conuenyent 
plentye of all grayne, so that whete passyd nat vm s. at London, and malte v s.”—The new 
Chronicles of England and France, by Eobert Fabyan, (died a.d. 1511). 
6 Histoire du Mont Saint Michel et le Vancien diocese d' Avranclies, “par M. VAbbe Desroches. 
Caen , 1839. 
