The king had with him twelve thousand archers on horseback, one thousand guisarmes, and armour-bearers mounted also, and two hundred franc archers on foot, of whom the greater part were quartered in the villages round. The siege was pushed forward with the greatest diligence on the arrival of the king, and trenches were made round the town, in which every person individually exerted himself. The count de Dunois made an attack on the outworks of Vaucelles, on the river Dive[97], which were valorously defended; but after many gallant deeds on both sides, they were gained by the French, and numbers of the English slain, wounded, and taken, to the great dismay of their companions. From all the quarters of the French, deep mines were made even unto the ditches of the town, more particularly from the constable's quarters, which advanced under St Stephen's,--so that all the wall above fell to the ground, and the French and English could there engage hand to hand. The English, perceiving the near approach of the enemy, were fearful of being taken by storm, and demanded to capitulate. The king of France, moved by compassion and pity, after the example of our Lord, who desires not the death of sinners, but would rather that they would turn to their God,--and considering what a loss the destruction of so fine a town would be, and the miseries that would ensue from pillaging the churches, violating women and damsels,--and desirous also of sparing a further effusion of human blood, consented to their request, and agreed that the place should be surrendered on capitulation. In truth, the town might have easily been taken by storm, as there were many practicable breaches; but the English might have retired into the castle, and have held out for a considerable time, if they had had the courage so to do,--although, in the end, they must have yielded to the numerous chivalry then before it. To show that the castle was tenable to those who have never seen it, I must say that it is the strongest in all Normandy, fortified with high and great bulwarks of a very hard stone, situated on a rock, and containing in extent as much as the whole town of Corbeil. It has a very strong keep, consisting of a large and high square tower, surrounded by four massy ones from the foot of the ditch to the level of the ground, the whole strengthened by a high wall all round, with towers at proper distances, and a very deep ditch cut out of the solid rock. In this castle were lodged the duke of Somerset, his lady and children,--and in the town were quartered sir Robert Vere, brother to the earl of Oxford, sir Henry Radford, and others, who commanded, under the duke of Somerset, four thousand English as the garrison of Caen.