THE ANSWER OF KING HENRY TO THE LETTER OF THE DUKE OF ORLEANS.
‘Henry, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and lord of Ireland, to the high and mighty prince Louis, duke of Orleans.
‘We write to inform you, that we have seen your letter, containing a request to perform a deed of arms; and, from the expressions contained therein, we perceive that it is addressed to us, which has caused us no small surprise, for the following reasons.
‘First, on account of the truce agreed on, and sworn to, between our very dear lord and cousin king Richard, our predecessor, whom God pardon! and your lord and brother,—in which treaty, you are yourself a party. Secondly, on account of the alliance that was made between us at Paris,—for the due observance of which you made oath, in the hands of our well-beloved knights and esquires, sir Thomas de Spinguchen[33], sir Thomas Ramson, and John Morbury, and likewise gave to them letters signed with your great seal, reciting this treaty of alliance, which I shall hereafter more fully state.
‘Since you have thought proper, without any cause, to act contrary to this treaty, we shall reply as follows, being desirous that God, and all the world, should know it has never been our intention to act any way contradictory to what we have promised. We therefore inform you, that we have annulled the letter of alliance received from you, and throw aside henceforward all love and affection toward you; for it seems to us that no prince, lord, knight, or any person whatever, ought to demand a combat from him with whom a treaty of friendship exists.
‘In reply to your letter, we add, that considering the very high rank in which it has pleased God to place us, we are not bound to answer any such demands unless made by persons of equal rank with ourselves. With regard to what you say, that we ought to accept your proposal to avoid idleness,—it is true we are not so much employed in arms and honourable exploits as our noble predecessors have been; but the all-powerful God may, when he pleases, make us follow their steps, and we, through the indulgence of his grace, have not been so idle but that we have been enabled to defend our honour.
‘With regard to the proposal of meeting you at a fixed place with one hundred knights and esquires of name and arms, and without reproach, we answer, that until this moment none of our royal progenitors have been thus challenged by persons of less rank than themselves, nor have they ever employed their arms with one hundred or more persons in such a cause; for it seems to us that a royal prince ought only to do such things as may redound to the honour of God, and to the profit of all Christendom and his own kingdom, and not through vain glory nor selfish advantage. We are determined to preserve the state God has intrusted to us,—and whenever we may think it convenient we shall visit our possessions on your side of the sea, accompanied by such numbers of persons as we may please; at which time, if you shall think proper, you may assemble as many persons as you may judge expedient to acquire honour in the accomplishment of all your courageous desires,—and should it please GOD, our Lady, and my lord St George, you shall not depart until your request be so fully complied with that you shall find yourself satisfied by a combat between us two personally so long as it may please God to suffer it, which mode I shall prefer to prevent any greater effusion of Christian blood. God knows, we will that no one should be ignorant that this our answer does not proceed from pride or presumption of heart, which every wise man who holds his honour dear should avoid, but solely to abase that haughtiness and over presumption of any one, whosoever he may be, that prevents him from knowing himself. Should you wish that those of your party be without reproach, be more cautious in future of your letters, your promises and your seal, than you have hitherto been. That you may know this is our own proper answer, formed from our knowledge of you, and that we will maintain our right whenever God pleases, we have sealed with our arms this present letter. Given at our court of London, the 5th day of December, in the year of Grace 1402, and in the 4th of our reign.’