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156 THE BLACK PRINCE'S RUBY.
Henry's
crown from his head or perish in the attempt. They accordingly rushed
upon him in a body, and one of them knocked off a part of the crown,
but the king defended himself bravely until supported by some of his
own knights.
The
sequel of this broken fragment of the crown is not so picturesque or
heroic. One of the prisoners taken in the fight, a person named
Gaucourt, declared after he was brought to England that he knew where
the jewels were which had been struck from the crown. On promise of his
liberty without ransom if he restored them, he went to France and got
the lost gems, returning with them to London. It is a sorry thing to
have to record of the hero of Agincourt that he appears to have taken
the recovered jewels and then neglected to liberate Gaucourt.
The
identical helmet worn by Henry, now shorn of all its jewels and only
decked with the dust of four centuries, hangs high aloft in
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