of Agincourt, the Earl of Buchan received the sword and office of Constable of France, which had been last held by Charles, Duke of Lorraine, and which the Dauphin sent to him from Tours, where he first heard of the victory.

Such was the battle of Baugé, in Anjou, which was fought on the 22nd March, 1421.

The office of constable (according to Mr. Hill Burton)" was considered too formidable to be always full, and seems to have been reserved, like the Roman dictatorship; and that hour of emergency and of destitution of native spirit must have been dark indeed, when its highest dignity, and also the custody of the honour of the nation, were together conferred upon a stranger. The dignity was followed by princely domains and castles stretching over the territory between Avranches and Chartres. These the new comer (Buchan) seems almost to have taken into his own hand, for the French authorities speak of his putting himself in possession of the castle of Chartres after the battle of Baugé."

But both castle and city fell afterwards into the hands of the English, who held them until expelled by the brave Dunois in 1432.

THE CONSTABLE IN SCOTLAND-THE SCOTS ROUTED IN HIS

T

ABSENCE.

to zbod HE field of operations in Anjou being now left entirely to the Scots and Dauphinois, the heir of France, the future Charles VII, with b the Constable Buchan and the Duke of Alençon, recaptured several places from the English in the: counties of Perche and the Chartrain, the Earl of ce Salisbury, who had now succeeded Clarence in 57 authority, not having sufficient force to oppose is them.-(De Mezeray, &c.) and at Paling

The Constable laid siege to the strong old for to tress of Alençon, which stands on a wide plain onts the north bank of the Sarthe, and which had f fallen into the hand of the English five years I before. At the head of his Scottish men-at-arms # and pikemen he was pushing on the siege when Salisbury, with his English knights and archers, marched to its relief, but did not feel in sufficient strength to attempt it, as the Scots were strongly posted, and, moreover, were flushed by their recent victory.

Salisbury thus retired, and Buchan, who had

grown weary of the protracted investment, fell suddenly on his army, and cut off about four hundred men.

At the head of his Scots and French he afterwards captured the town of Avranches, in Normandy; but the English retook it again, and retained it until 1450.

Towards the end of February, 1422, a great body of the allied troops came from the county of Berry, under the command of Buchan, the Count of Aumale, the Viscounts of Narbonne and d'Annechy; but, according to Monstrelet, after marching 6,000 men within six leagues of Meulan, which they meant to besiege, " a quarrel arose among the leaders, so that they broke up in a very disorderly manner, and departed without advancing further." This quarrel probably originated in the Viscount of Narbonne's jealousy of Buchan, an unworthy sentiment, by which he afterwards lost the battle of Verneuil and his own life. In this affair there is a discrepancy between Monstrelet and Rapin, who alleges that the quarrel was with Sir John Stewart.

The besieged in Meulan, on finding that the Scots and French had retired without succouring them, in their rage tore down the banner of King Charles, and on the battlements many gentlemen rent to pieces the crosses which they had worn as badges of their loyalty.

The retreating troops meanwhile lost many

men from desultory attacks of the English. After a treaty concluded with the Earl of Salisbury, the famous Sir John Fastolfe and others, Meulan surrendered, and its garrison swore fealty to the English Regent.

About this time the Scots in Berry seemed to have carried matters with a high hand, for Michel records that they hanged up eight peasants to revenge themselves for being robbed in the vicinity of the place where they were found.

The weak and slothful character of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, together with the feuds and quarrels that broke out over all Scotland during his regency, compelled the Earls of Buchan and Wigton, with several other knights, their companions, now to return home, leaving Sir John Stewart of Darnley as commander, or, as he was styled, Constable of the Scots in France.

Surviving his adversary, Henry V. of England, by only two months, Charles VI., "the well-beloved," died on the 21st October, 1422, and the Duke of Bedford (John of Lancaster, an eminent soldier and statesman, whose name the future persecution of the Maid of Orleans covered with disgrace) ordered young Henry VI., his nephew, to be proclaimed King of France, whilst the Dauphin, now Charles VII., to whom the Scots adhered, was mockingly called "the King of Bourges," for the English and Burgundians had all Normandy, with the best provinces of

France, and all the land between the Scheldt and the Loire. The Scots guards, of whom Darnley was now captain,* were with the Dauphin at the castle of Espailly, near Du Puy, in Auvergne, when tidings came of the old king's death. The first day Charles VII. put on mourning, on the second he appeared clad in scarlet at the mass in the chapel, when he set up the banner of France, on which all the knights and nobles present waved their pennons of arms, and cried, "Vive le Roi!"

All the princes of the blood and bravest captains in France adhered to Charles VII., and his affairs were seeming to prosper, when there came to court bad tidings of his Scottish auxiliaries at Crevant, and though that matter has no immediate connection with the Constable Buchan, we may be pardoned narrating it here.

Monstrelet, though usually pretty correct in his details, mentions that "in the beginning of the month of July, 1423, king Charles ordered a large body of forces to cross the Loire and besiege the town of Crevant. The chief of this expedition was the Constable of Scotland." But this is

* It is about this time we begin to find the French mode of spelling the name of the Scottish royal family. "24th March, 1422. Jean Stuart, Seigneur d'Arnelay et d'Aubigné : -Jean Stuart, Seigneur d'Aubigné, fils du précédant, &c. -Robert Stuart, cousin du précédant, Seigneur d'Aubigné, fait maréchal de France en 1515."-Liste des Commandeurs de la Compagnie des Gendarmes Escossois, depuis son Institution. Père Daniel, 1727.