That day the host passed before
Vendôme and the
river Loire and came to lodge at
Azé in the county of
Vendôme and the following day at
Saint-Calais where the army rested for two days. On the third day they decamped and came to
Le Grand-Lucé, and the next day to
Pontvaillain.
SHF 2-167 syncThis is how the
English progressed but they knew not who to speak to, for none came forth to encounter them or check them on their march. Yet the entire country was full of men-at-arms and there were spectacular numbers in the city of
Le Mans and the city of
Angers. At that time the
duke of Anjou advanced via
Tours in
Touraine, and on through
Blois and
Orléans to
Paris, for he heard that the
king, his brother, was failing fast and would not recover, and so he wished to be present at his passing. And since there was no hope of recovery, the men-at-arms did not abandon their garrisons but continued to do everything in their power to pursue and track the
English without putting themselves at excessive risk. French men-at-arms who knew the waterways were commanded to go to the
river Sarthe, which the
English needed to cross, for if they took this path they would cause them dreadful difficulties and surround them if they could, by means of which they could starve them and have them at their mercy and engage them in combat with the advantage, whether the
king of France consented to it or not. And so those French lords who were most experienced in arms had sharpened stakes brought to the point on the
river Sarthe at which it would be necessary for the
English to cross.
They had them planted in the river so that neither they nor their horses nor their carts could cross, and also at each possible landing point on the river banks they had huge, deep trenches dug which would keep the enemy from setting foot there. This is how they organised matters to the greatest possible hindrance of the
English.
At that moment, the
earl of Buckingham and his company were on the march. They departed
Pontvaillain, passed through the
forest of Le Mans, and reached the
river Sarthe where the army came to a halt, for they could not find or see anywhere to ford it since the river is so wide and deep and too difficult to pass, except at certain places where it may be crossed without a bridge. The vanguard, who rode in front, had searched up and down the river and to say the least they could find no point of passage except the place where the stakes had been set and embedded in the river by the labour of many men. The lords dismounted, examined the ford and said,
"If we wish to continue onwards, we must cross here for we will not find a fording place elsewhere."
"Onward then," called out all manner of men-at-arms, "we must not spare ourselves, we must forcefully drag these stakes out of the water which are blocking our way."
You would have seen there barons, knights and squires going into the river, which was in full spate and fast flowing, putting themselves at great risk of going under, for they were fully armed except for their basinets.
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