Henry replied that he maintained the conditions he had laid down
by his ambassadors, and that he would accept none others. He had, in fact,
no wish to negotiate, for he, too, knew that the French would very shortly
be largely reinforced, and that were he to delay his march, even for a day
or two, his army would be starved.
Perceiving at last that the constable was determined not to begin the
battle, he sent off two detachments from the rear of his army, so that
their movements should be concealed from the sight of the French. One of
these, composed of archers, was to take post in the wood on the left hand
of the French, the other was to move on through the wood, to come down in
their rear, and to set on fire some barns and houses there, and so create
a panic. He waited until noon, by which time he thought that both
detachments would have reached the posts assigned to them, and then gave
the orders for the advance. The archers were delighted when their
commander, Sir Thomas Erpingham, repeated the order. None of them had put
on his armour, and many had thrown off their jerkins so as to have a freer
use of their arms either for bow or axe. Each man plucked up his stake,
and the whole moved forward in orderly array until within bow-shot of the
enemy. Then the archers again stuck their stakes into the ground, and,
taking up their position as before, raised a mighty shout as they let fly
a volley of arrows into the enemy.
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