The Fractured Kingdom: France on the Brink

In the early 15th century, France was a kingdom divided. The bitter feud between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions had escalated into open warfare, paralyzing the monarchy and leaving the realm vulnerable to external threats. While the English under Henry V menaced Normandy, the northern frontiers faced an equally dire crisis as John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, mobilized his forces for a sweeping invasion. The summer of 1416 saw Burgundian envoys delivering ultimatums to key towns along the Somme—Amiens, Corbie, Péronne—demanding allegiance and threatening retribution against those who resisted.

The Armagnac-controlled royal government, already strained by financial exhaustion and military setbacks, watched helplessly as Burgundian propaganda eroded local loyalties. Towns like Amiens, fearing the duke’s wrath, expelled royal officials like Hugh de Puiseux, fracturing the defensive chain meant to shield Paris. Meanwhile, Burgundian forces tightened their grip on Champagne, capturing Neufchâtel-sur-Aisne and repelling Armagnac relief efforts. France’s northern defenses were crumbling from within.

The English War Machine: Preparation and Provocation

Across the Channel, England’s ambitions burned brighter than ever. Despite the 1416 naval victory at Harfleur under John, Duke of Bedford, Henry V knew the French fleet remained a latent threat. The English crown embarked on a logistical blitz: contracts with merchants secured grain shipments from Wales and Ireland to coastal strongholds like Calais and Bordeaux. Harfleur alone received 1,100 quarters of wheat by September 1416, while laborers fortified its ditches and dismantled abandoned French earthworks. The cost was staggering—over £15,000 spent on Harfleur between 1415 and 1417—but necessary for the coming invasion.

By January 1417, Henry’s war machine roared to life. Summonses sealed with the royal signet demanded nobles and archers muster at Southampton by June. The king’s attention to detail was meticulous: even the collection of goose feathers for arrows was bureaucratized. Simultaneously, secret negotiations with Burgundy bore fruit. A July 1417 treaty extended the Anglo-Burgundian truce to 1419, though John the Fearless—aware of Henry’s looming invasion—raced to strike first, seizing Nogent and Troyes in a lightning campaign.

The Duke’s Gambit: Burgundy’s Northern Offensive

John the Fearless moved with calculated audacity. By August 1417, his wife Margaret had assembled 3,500 troops at Dijon, while Burgundian heralds proclaimed his manifesto across northern France. Troyes fell after a theatrical standoff: its captain, Simon de Bono, defiantly shut the gates, only for Burgundian sympathizers to overthrow him. The crowd’s cheers of “Long live the king and the Duke of Burgundy!” marked a propaganda triumph. Chalons and Reims soon followed, their surrenders lubricated by promises of tax relief—though Burgundy’s real financial muscle came from Flanders’ 200,000-livre subsidy.

The Armagnac response was desperation masquerading as diplomacy. Royal envoy Aubert le Flamenc’s mission to John in Amiens ended in humiliation. The duke’s chilling threat—”I’d like to cut off your head for bringing such a message”—exposed the crown’s impotence. Burgundy’s subsequent manifesto, accusing Armagnacs of colluding with England and imprisoning Queen Isabeau, spread like wildfire after Le Flamenc’s secretary leaked copies. Paris descended into panic as the document reached the streets.

The English Storm: Henry V’s Masterstroke

While France unraveled, Henry V struck. The June 1417 naval battle off Chef-de-Caux annihilated France’s last fleet: Genoese carracks fled as Huntingdon’s archers captured Admiral Bastard de Bourbon. With naval supremacy secured, 12,000 English troops landed near Touques on August 1. Unlike earlier chevauchées, this was a war of conquest—methodical, brutal, and irreversible. Caen fell in weeks; by 1419, Normandy was Henry’s.

Legacy of the Crisis: A Kingdom Undone

The events of 1416–17 sealed France’s fate for decades. Burgundy’s northern campaign shattered Armagnac cohesion, while Henry’s invasion exploited the paralysis. The dual crises exposed the monarchy’s fatal weakness: without unity, even a wealthy kingdom could be dismembered by determined foes. Modern historians see this period as the nadir of medieval French statehood—a cautionary tale of how factionalism invites catastrophe. For Henry V, it was the prelude to Agincourt’s unfinished business: the conquest of France itself.

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