THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY LEADS A GREAT FORCE, WITH THE PARISIANS, TO ST CLOUD, AGAINST THE ARMAGNACS.
The duke of Burgundy having remained some time at Paris with his army, and having held many councils with the princes and captains who were there, marched out of the town about midnight, on the 9th of November, by the gate of St Jacques. He was magnificently accompanied by men at arms and Parisians, among whom were the counts de Nevers, de la Marche, de Vaudemont, de Penthievre, de St Pol, the earl of Arundel, Boucicaut marshal of France, the lord de Vergy marshal of Burgundy, the lord de Heilly, lately appointed marshal of Acquitaine, the lord de St George, sir John de Croy, Enguerrand de Bournouville, the lord de Fosseux, sir Regnier Pot governor of Dauphiny, the seneschal of Hainault sir John de Guistelle, the lord de Brimeu, the earl of Kent, an Englishman, with many other nobles, as well from Burgundy as from Picardy and different countries. They were estimated by good judges at six thousand combatants, all accustomed to war, and four thousand infantry from the town of Paris.
When they had passed the suburbs, they advanced in good array, under the direction of trusty guides, to within half a league of Saint Cloud, where the Armagnacs were quartered. It might be about eight o’clock in the morning when they came thither, and the weather was very cold and frosty. Being thus arrived without the enemy knowing of it, the duke of Burgundy sent the marshal of Burgundy, sir Gaultier des Ruppes, sir Guy de la Trimouille, and le veau de Bar, with eight hundred men at arms, and four hundred archers, across the Seine, toward St Denis, to prevent the enemy from there crossing the river by a new bridge which they had erected over it. These lords so well executed the above orders that they broke down part of the bridge, and defended the passage.
The duke, in the mean time, ascended the hill of St Cloud in order of battle, and at the spot where four roads met posted the seneschal of Hainault, sir John de Guistelle, the lord de Brimeu, John Phillips and John Potter[75], english captains, at one of them, with about four hundred knights and esquires, and as many archers. At another road, he stationed the lords de Heilly and de Ront, Enguerrand de Bournouville, and Aymé de Vitry, with as many men as the knights above-mentioned. The third road was guarded by Neville earl of Kent[76], with some picard captains; and the Parisians and others, to a great amount, were ordered to Sevres, to defend that road.