As the season progressed and winter approached, the Dauphin of France, aware of the Scots' good fortune and relying on their support, after mature deliberation, sent the Earl of Buchan, Constable of France, to Scotland to bring back a larger Scottish army. This Earl Archibald Douglas, the second of this name, returned with ten thousand armed men, along with many other nobles, knights, barons, and distinguished leaders; some of whom landed in Brittany and others in La Rochelle, at the Feast of Shrove Tuesday, in the year of Our Lord 1423. The King of France had died, and his son Charles, the Dauphin, was not yet crowned, hindered by various cities between him and the site of his coronation, namely the city of Reims. Although he was king, he was not crowned. He had few supporters in the kingdom, due to the division between him and the Duke of Burgundy, which was caused by the killing of the Duke of Orléans; because of this, he was in great financial distress. The king indeed bestowed the Duchy of Touraine on the said Earl of Douglas; and gratified other lords according to their status, so that they were content, whether by gifts or promises, to live and die for the king against the English in his cause.

Delphinus vero Franciæ, videns præt[er]ire sestatem et yemem appropinquantem, attendens eciam fortunam bonam Scotorum et confisus in subsidio eorum, ex matura deliberacione preehabita misit in Scociam prædictum comitem Buchanise, constabilarium Franciæ, ad majorem Scotorum exercitum reducendum. Qui comitem Archibaldum de Douglas, secundum hujus nominis, cum x millibus armatorum secum reduxit, cum multis aliis nobilibus, militibus, baronibus, proceribus et aliis, egregie ordinatis: quorum quidam in Britania, alii in Rupella applicuerunt, ad festum Carnis Brevii, anno Domini M°cccc°xxiii. Rex Franciæ defunctus est, et filius suus Karolus Delphinus non dum ad huc coronatus erat, obstantibus sibi diversis civitatibus inter eum et locum suse coronacionis, viz. civitatem Remensem Rex vero erat, licet non coronatus. Qui paucos habuit in regno faventes, propter divisionem inter eum et ducem Burgundiæ, causa occisionis ducis Aurilianensis: propter quod magnam habuit pecuniæ penuriam. Qui[n]ymmo rex contulit dicto comiti de Douglas ducatum Turonensem; ac alios dominos secundum eorum statum gratificavit, taliter quod contenti erant, quid per dona quid per promissa, pro rege contra Anglicos vivere et mori in sua querela.

Ultimately, the Duke of Bedford, the deceased King of England's brother, then ruling in France, along with the Earl of Salisbury and the Duke of Gloucester, sent a large family of soldiers to lay siege at the castle of Evry in Perche; negotiations were held that within forty days, in the absence of relief, the said castle would be surrendered to them. The Scottish princes, seeing this, prepared themselves with all eagerness and speed for the encounter. And so it happened: the Earl of Douglas and the Duke of Touraine, having become the general lieutenant of the King of France, was crowned as the duke in Bourges in Berry with great solemnity, but later, after leaving guards in their camps and their towns, he prepared himself for the appointed day; with him, the said Earl of Buchan, Constable of France, and the son-in-law of the said lord duke; also all the Scottish nobility then present; and also from France, the Earls of Harcourt, Amale, Tonnere, and Narbonne, with many of the French nobility, all of whom fell in battle, so that almost no nobleman, neither of Scotland nor France, escaped from that battle, each either captured or killed. And there died, near a field near the village of Vernueil, between the said castle of Evry and the aforementioned village, the said Duke of Touraine, with the Constable of France, his son-in-law, and James of Douglas, his second son, a most valiant knight, and grandson of the King of Scotland, with other barons and knights up to the number of fifty notable lords; and of others a great multitude, both nobles and archers, of whom no certain number can be ascertained: but an estimated seven thousand Scots and five thousand French. The mode and cause of the destruction of the war were as follows: The army of France did not yet come timely to the appointed day of battle for the recovery of the castle of Evry, but in the castle; and so, the castle having been returned to the English, the French army at Vernueil in Parche, held on behalf of the King of England, prepared themselves, gave assault, and took the village; and around it they placed their camps, thinking that the English army would return to Normandy. At last, the scouts of the Gauls came with great haste, saying that the entire military force of the English divided into three battle lines was intending to attack with speed. Hearing this, the leaders of the Scots, who were divided among themselves as to which of them seemed greater, conceived great envy; and thus unjoined, divided, not well united in heart, they entered the battlefield. The French, however, among themselves united, formed another line. The Lombards and Germans indeed prepared a third line.

Tandem dux Bedfordise, frater regis Anglise defuncti, tunc regens in Francis, cum eo comes de Salisbery et dux Glocestrise, cum multa armatorum familia apud castellum de Evry in Perchia obsidionem miserunt: cum quibus tractatum fuit quod infra xl dies, in defectu succursus, prsedictum castrum eis redderent. Principes vero Scotorum, hsec videntes, omni alacritate et festinancia prseparaverunt se ad incongressum [cum] eis habendum. Quod ita factum est: Ut ipse comes de Douglas et Turonice dux locum tenens generalis regis Francise effectus est et dux coronellatns apud Burges in Bery cum maxima solemnitate, postea vero dimissis custodibus in castris et in villis suis, ad diem prsefixum se prseparavit; cum eo dictus comes de Buchania, constabilarius Francise, et gener dicti domini ducis; eciam tota nobilitas Scocise ibidem [pro tunc] existens; ac eciam de Francia comites de Hairtour, de Amale, de Tun[n]aare, de Nerbon, cum multa nobilitate Gallicana: qui omnes in bello ceciderunt, ita quod nullus quasi nobilis nec Scocise nec Franciae [a] preedicto bello evasit, quin aut captivus aut occisus erat. Ibidemque obiit, apud locum prope villam de Vernueil campestrem, inter dictum castrum de Evry et villam supradictam, dictus dux Turonise, cum constabilario Franciæ, generi suo, ac Jacobo de Douglas, secundo filio suo, validissimo milite, et nepos regis Scocise, cum aliis baronibus et militibus usque ad numerum quinquaginta notabilium dominorum: ac de aliis multitudo magna, tam nobilium quam architenencium, quorum nullum certum numerum habere comprobatur: ad sestimacionem vero septem millium Scotorum et quinque Gallicorum. Modus vero et causa perdicionis belli talis erat: Exercitus vero Franciae non dum tempestive venit ad diem statutum belli pro recuperacione castri de Evry, sed in castro; et sic, castro Anglis reddlto, exercitus Franciae apud Vernueil en Parche, ex parte regis Angliae tentum, se praeparaverunt, insultum dederunt, et villam ceperunt; et in circuitu exercitum eorum locantes castrametati sunt, putantes Anglorum exercitum in Normanniam redditurum. Tandem exploratores Gallorum venerunt cum magna festinacione, dicentes quod tota milicia Anglorum in tribus aciebus bellicis divise in eo irruere intendentes cum celeritate appropinquaverunt. Quod audientes Scotorum principes, qui inter eos ut quis eorum major videretur divisi erant, magnam invidiam conceperunt; et sic inconjuncti, divisi, in corde non bene uniti, campum bellicum intraverunt. Gallici vero, inter eos uniti, aliam aciem fecerunt. Longobardi vero et Almani terciam aciem paraverunt.

Because of this, the English, pressured between the wars of the Lombards and the French, such that they had to either defend themselves or die in battle, exerted force, and thus entering between their wars, they achieved final victory, and cruelly killed all the lords and nobles without mercy. The Lombards, after capturing the spoils, along with their followers, seeing the victory in battle, the cruel slaughter and the flight of the French, without retreating, gathered into one mass, and did not pull back until they reached the river Laar; and there they divided the spoils. And thus their plundering was the cause of the destruction in battle. Consequently, after the victory, with the field plundered, the heralds requested the bodies of the lords, namely the Duke of Touraine, the Earl of Buchan, who was also the constable, and James of Douglas, son of the said duke: whose bodies were drawn in a single carriage to Tours, and in the cathedral of the said city, in the middle of the choir, were buried in one and the same grave. The Duke of Bedford, after achieving victory, returning in his pomp and vain glory to Rothomago, was struck by a severe leprosy and expired; leaving the Earl of Salisbury in charge: who began to exercise the office of regent not without great arrogance.

Propter quod Anglici, inter bella Longobardorum et Francorum angustiati, sic quod eos oportebat vel defendere vel mori in bello, vim facientes, et sic inter bella eorum intrantes, finalem victoriam adepti sunt, et omnes dominos et nobiles sine misericordia crudeliter occiderunt. Longobardi vero, post prsedam captam, cum eorum sequacibus, visa belli victoria, ceede crudeli et Francorum fuga, sine redditu in unam massam recesserunt, et usque ad ripariam de Laar frenum non retraxerunt; et ibidem spolia diviserunt. Et sic eorum spoliacio perdicionis belli fuit occasio. Et consequenter post victoriam, campo spoliato, harraldi corpora dominorum pecierunt, viz. ducis Turonensis, comitis Buchaniae, qui et constabilarius fuit, ac Jacobi de Douglas, filii dicti ducis: quorum corpora in una quadriga ducta Turonis, in ecclesia cathedrali dictee civitatis, in medio chori, in una et in eadem fossa inhumata fuerant. Dux vero Pedfordiae, post victoriam adeptam in sua pompa et vana gloria Eothummago rediens, percussus lepra pessima expiravit; comite de Salisbery ad regimen relicto: qui non sine summa arrogancia officium regentis exercere incepit.

For the purpose of gaining control over the Duchy of Orléans, who was still held captive in England after the battle of Agincourt, [the leader] was so eagerly longing that he prepared himself with all his might for the siege of the aforementioned city of Orléans. This was done in the year of Our Lord 1427, bringing with him lords such as the Earl of Suffolk, Lord Lancelot de Lesly, Lord de Calebot, Lord de Scalis, Lord de Willemby, with many others, numbering thirty thousand armed men, with their chariots and horsemen, and formidable war machines, cannons, and other necessities required for the siege; and in the year of Our Lord 1428 he affirmed the siege: initially capturing the fortresses and surrounding villages and fortifications, such as the villages of Baugy, Melun Surlair, Yenwille en Beausse, Laferte Ymbaud, Laferte Newart, Laferte Galis, Saint Memmyn, Saint Benoit, and Gearguaw; also capturing the monastic churches in the suburbs of the city; and from these altered and transformed, fortified bastilles were made on all sides of the city, both on the islands of the river Laar both below and above the said city, and even in the monastic churches in the suburbs, as previously mentioned, surrounded, up to the number of seven very strongly fortified bastilles.

Nam ad conquirendum dominium ducis Aurilianensis, qui captivus ad huc post bellum de Agentcourt in Anglia rellctus remansit, tam ardenter anelabat, quod ad obsidium civitatis supradictse Aurilianensis omnibus viribus se prseparabat. Anno Domini M° cccc° xxvii hoc factum est, adductis secum dominis comite de Suthfok, domino Lanceloto de Lesly, domino de Calebot, domino de Scalis, domino de Willemby, cum multis aliis, numero xxx millia armatorum, cum curribus et equitibus suis, ac machinamentis eoram bellicis formidalibus et cannalibus, et aliis necessariis ad obsidionem requisitis; et anno Domini M° cccc° xxviii obsidionem affirmavit: captis primitus fortaliciis et villiculis circumsitis ac municionibus, veluti villas de Baugy, de Melun Surlair, de Yenwille en Beausse, de Lafert[e] Ymbaud, Laferte Newart, Laferte Galis, Saint Memmyn, Saint Benait et de Gearguaw; captis eciam ecclesiis monasterialibus in suburbanis civitatis; et ex hiis alteratis et transmutatis fortalicia bastilliata facta sunt ex omni parte civitatis, tam in insulis riparii de Laar tam subtus quam supra dictam civitatem, ac eciam in ecclesiis monasterialibus in suburbanis, ut praemittitur, circumsitis, usque ad numeram vii bastilliaram fortissime munitaram.