Holingshed, p. 629.

No sooner was the truce concluded between the two kingdoms, than Charles
employed himself, with great industry and judgment, in repairing those
numberless ills to which France, from the continuance of wars both
foreign and domestic, had so long been exposed. He restored the course
of public justice; he introduced order into the finances; he established
discipline in his troops; he repressed faction in his court; he revived
the languid state of agriculture and the arts; and, in the course of
a few years, he rendered his kingdom flourishing within itself, and
formidable to its neighbors. Meanwhile, affairs in England had taken
a very different turn. The court was divided into parties, which were
enraged against each other: the people were discontented with the
government: conquests in France, which were an object more of glory than
of interest, were overlooked amidst domestic incidents, which engrossed
the attention of all men: the governor of Normandy, ill supplied with
money, was obliged to dismiss the greater part of his troops, and to
allow the fortifications of the towns and castles to become ruinous;
and the nobility and people of that province had, during the late open
communication with France, enjoyed frequent opportunities of renewing
connections with their ancient master, and of concerting the means for
expelling the English. The occasion, therefore, seemed favorable to
Charles for breaking the truce.

{1449.} Normandy was at once invaded by four powerful armies: one
commanded by the king himself; a second by the duke of Brittany; a third
by the duke of Alencon; and a fourth by the count of Dunois. The places
opened their gates almost as soon as the French appeared before them;
Verneuil, Nogent, Chateau Gaillard, Ponteau de Mer, Gisors, Mante,
Vernon, Argentan Lisieux, Fecamp, Coutances, Belesme, Pont de l'Arche,
fell in an instant into the hands of the enemy. The duke of Somerset,
so far from having an army which could take the field and relieve these
places, was not able to supply them with the necessary garrisons and
provisions. He retired, with the few troops of which he was master, into
Rouen; and thought it sufficient, if, till the arrival of succors
from England, he could save that capital from the general fate of the
province. The king of France, at the head of a formidable army, fifty
thousand strong, presented himself before the gates: the dangerous
example of revolt had infected