Henry wished to preserve the city and offered such generous terms
of surrender that the people accepted them. Not only Rouen but
the whole of Normandy, which the French had held for two hundred
years, was now forced to submit to Henry.
The war continued for about two years more, and the English gained
possession of such a large part of France that at Christmas Henry
entered Paris itself in triumph.
But, strange to say, the king against whom he had been fighting
and over whom he was triumphing sat by his side as he rode through
the streets. What did this mean? It meant that the French were
so terrified by the many victories of Henry that all--king and
people--were willing to give him whatever he asked. A treaty was
made that as the king was feeble Henry should be regent of the
kingdom and that when the king died Henry should succeed him as
king of France.
In the treaty the French king also agreed to give to Henry his
daughter, the Princess Katherine, in marriage. She became the
mother of the English King, Henry VI.
The arrangement that an English sovereign should be king of France
was never put into effect; for in less than two years after the
treaty was signed the reign of the great conqueror came to an end.
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