The king of England appointed the earl of Warwick, the lord chancellor, and the archbishop of Canterbury to meet them at Pont de l'Arche, with others of his council. The negotiations lasted fifteen days,--during which the cardinal paid a visit to the king of England, at his siege of Rouen, and was handsomely received by him and the other lords. The ambassadors from the king of France had brought with them a portrait of the princess Catherine, daughter to the king, which was presented to the king of England, who liked it well; but he made too great demands for her marriage-portion, namely, that with the princess should be given him a million of crowns of gold, the duchy of Normandy, of which he had conquered a part, the duchy of Acquitaine, the county of Ponthieu, with other lordships, the whole to be held independent of the crown of France. Nothing therefore was concluded; and the English ambassadors replied to those from France, that their king was not in a situation to form any treaty with,--for the dauphin was not made a party, and it was unbecoming the duke of Burgundy to dispose by treaty of the inheritances of France. On receiving this answer, the cardinal and ambassadors returned to the king and queen of France and the duke of Burgundy, who had lately quitted Paris, and were at Pontoise. They reported to the council all that had passed at Pont de l'Arche; and soon after the cardinal went to pope Martin at Avignon, for he saw clearly that no peace was likely to take effect between the three parties. The inhabitants of Rouen knowing well that the negotiation between the kings of France and England was broken off, and fearing that succour would be too long delayed, resolved to make a sally, and fight their way through one of the quarters of king Henry's army, to seek for succour themselves. On mustering their forces, they found they were full ten thousand combatants, leaving a sufficiency for the defence of the town. Orders were given for each man to provide himself with two days provision. When all were ready, and two thousand of them had made an attack on the king's quarters, where they had done much damage, they began their march out of the town; but it happened that the props which bore the drawbridge had been wickedly and secretly sawed nearly through, so that when their first ranks advanced thereon it broke, and very many fell into the ditch and were killed or wounded. They hastened to another gate to support their men that were engaged with the English, and ordered them to retreat; but they could not regain their town without great loss, although they had made their enemies suffer also. There were now many murmurings against the honour of sir Guy le Bouteiller, who was believed to have caused the supporters of the drawbridge to be sawn.