5. The subjects, vassals, and adherents of both parties
shall return to the peaceable possession of their houses and
inheritances, whether within or without the kingdom, and so
remain without any cessions or donations to the contrary.
6. All moveable goods shall be restored to those they belonged
to before the said troubles; as also all such as have been
taken away during the truce.
7. The cities and communities which took part with either side
shall no ways be molested and damaged in their privileges, or
otherwise, on that account.
8. The places, taken during the troubles on either side, shall
be restored.
9. The king shall not oblige the said lords to come to him in
person, but yet they are not exempted from the services they
owe him, when there is occasion for the defence and manifest
good of the kingdom.
10. And when the king shall please to go to the houses and
habitations of the said lords, where they shall be in person,
he is to give them three days’ notice; neither shall the said
lords wait on the king before they first send to know his
pleasure.
11. If any crime shall be laid to the charge of the said lords
or their adherents, the king shall not proceed against them, or
detain their persons, without the utmost deliberation, and very
sufficient cause shown; neither shall the said lords proceed
against the king’s servants or adherents for any crime alleged,
without the maturest deliberation.
12. In order to redress all grievances and disorders on the
part of the said lords, and divers of the king’s subjects of
all conditions, in reference to church and state, and for the
public good, the king shall give a commission to thirty-six
eminent men of his kingdom, to meet at a place appointed, to
inquire into all such grievances and disorders, to hear and
determine all remonstrances, and apply suitable remedies for
the preservation of justice, the rights and franchises both of
the church and all the people.
13. And whatever edicts, ordinances, declarations, and the
like, shall be made by the thirty-six persons, or the major
part of them, they shall within fifteen days after they are
brought before the king, be verified in form in the courts
of parliament and chambers of accounts, and all the officers
sworn to observe them; and no instruments of the king from the
chancery or elsewhere shall disannul or make them void.
14. The commission of the said thirty-six persons shall last
two months, and they shall have power to adjourn once for
forty-two days: and if any of their number shall be sick, or
incapacitated any way to act, the rest shall substitute others
in their room.
15. The king and the said lords shall entirely maintain all the
pacts and agreements made between them, as well in relation to
the appanage of the Duke of Normandy, as other things granted
to the said lords and their adherents, as fully as if expressly
set down in this treaty.
16. And seeing the king, during the said troubles, seized
into his hands the lands and lordships of Parthenay, Vouvent,
Mirebeau, Secondigny, Coudray, Salvart, and Chastellerault,
and conferred the same upon his uncle, the Count of Maine,
in prejudice to, and to the dispossessing of the Count of
Dunois of the said territories; it is agreed, for the public
tranquillity, towards which the Count of Dunois does much
contribute, that the Count of Maine shall surrender up all
those lands to the king, in due form, who shall effectually
re-convey them to the Count of Dunois, who shall enjoy them
peaceably, and without any molestation whatsoever.
17. And the king shall, by way of compensation to the Count du
Maine, confer upon him the land and signiory of Taillebourg.
18. The king restores Anthony de Chabannes, Count of Dammartin,
to all his honours, castles, territories, &c., as he and his
wife, Margaret de Nanteuil, enjoyed them in the time of the
late king. All his personal estate shall also be restored,
notwithstanding any decree of parliament to the contrary.
19. Both parties shall mutually swear to the exact observation
of all these articles, and enjoin them to be observed by all
their officers, parliaments, prelates, &c.; and if the king
would contravene any of them, they shall no manner of way
assist him therein.
20. Both parties shall swear and promise they will not seek
for a dispensation of their said oaths and promises, on any
occasion whatsoever.
Lastly. If any of the said lords shall attempt anything against
the king, in prejudice of the said treaty, the others shall be
obliged to assist the king against them.
CH. XV.—How the King recovered into his hands whatever had been given
to his Brother, by the Division between the Dukes of Normandy and
Bretagne.—1465.
But to return to the Dukes of Normandy and Bretagne, who had marched to
take possession of the Duchy of Normandy. It was not long after they had
made their entry into Rouen, before they began to fall out and differ
about the division of the spoil; for the persons of quality and officers
whom I have mentioned were still with them, and having been used to great
honours and preferments in the reign of Charles VII., perceiving the war
was at an end, and the king was not to be depended upon, they thought it
hard not to be advanced to some considerable post, and every man expected
the best place for himself.
The Duke of Bretagne pretended to a share of them, and thought it very
reasonable that part of them should be wholly at his disposal, since he
had brought the greatest number of troops into the field, and had been
at the greatest expense in the war; which the Duke of Normandy refusing,
the dispute grew so high, that, for the safety of his person, the Duke of
Bretagne was forced to retire to Mount St. Catherine, near Rouen; and the
debate continued so strong, that the Duke of Normandy, by the assistance
of the citizens of the town, had resolved to have besieged him, had he
not marched away directly for Bretagne. As soon as the king had received
the news of this division, he drew down with his forces towards that
country, and one may easily imagine he knew what he had to do, for he
was a perfect master in that science, and knew how to improve everything
to his own advantage. Some of those who had the command of the principal
towns began to deliver them up, and make their peace with him. I speak
not of these affairs upon my own knowledge, for I was not there present,
but as the king has since been pleased to inform me. He treated privately
with the Duke of Bretagne (who was in possession of some towns in Lower
Normandy), in hopes to persuade him altogether to abandon his brother’s
interest: they had several conferences together at Caen, where they came
to an accommodation[164], by which the said town of Caen and several
others were to remain in the hands of the Lord de Lescut, with a certain
number of paid troops; but this treaty was so intricate and perplexed, I
believe neither of them understood it very well. Immediately after this,
the Duke of Bretagne returned into his own country, and the king went
back towards his brother.
The Duke of Normandy, finding himself unable to hold out against the
king, who had taken Pont de l’Arche, and other places about him, resolved
to fly, and take sanctuary in Flanders. The Count of Charolois was
still at St. Tron[165] (a small town in the diocese of Liege), but much
troubled and disturbed, his army having been defeated and broken, and
part of it employed (though in the winter time) against the Liegeois;
which division vexed him at the heart, for the only thing which he most
ambitiously desired, was to see a duke in Normandy, because by that means
the king would be much weakened, and be deprived of almost the third
part of his kingdom. He ordered some forces immediately to be raised in
Picardy, to reinforce the garrison of Dieppe; but before they could be
assembled, the governor had made his peace, and the king became master of
all the duchy of Normandy, except such places as were left in the custody
of the Lord de Lescut by the treaty at Caen.
CH. XVI.—The new Duke of Normandy retires into Bretagne very poor and
disconsolate, upon account of his having miscarried in his Design.—1465.
The Duke of Normandy (as I said before) had once a design to have retired
into Flanders, but on a sudden, a reconciliation was made between the
Duke of Bretagne and him,[166] when it was too late; for both of them
found their errors, and soon grew sensible that there was nothing in this
world so firm and stable, but that division is able to destroy it at
last. And, indeed, it is next kin to an impossibility, that many great
lords of equal quality and power should continue long in a confederacy,
unless one of them be invested with a supreme command and authority over
the rest; and it is absolutely necessary, that that person should be a
man of great wisdom and highly beloved, to keep them all in obedience.
With my own eyes I have seen many examples of this nature, and therefore
I speak not by report: besides, we are all but too much inclined to
divide thus to our own prejudice, without any regard to the consequences
which may follow; and, in my opinion, one wise prince with the command
of 10,000 men, and money to pay them, is more to be feared and esteemed
than ten, who every one of them has 6000, and all of them allied and
confederate together; and the reason is, because they have always so
many ceremonies and punctilios of honour to be adjusted and accommodated
between them, that half their opportunity is lost before they can agree
or decide among themselves.
In this manner the Duke of Normandy retired into Bretagne, poor and
disconsolate, being forsaken by all those officers that had served his
father, Charles VII., who had made their peace with the king, and were
advanced to places of higher trust and honour than they ever enjoyed
under his father. These two dukes were wise, as the proverb says of the
Bretons, when it was too late, and kept themselves close in Bretagne
with the Lord de Lescut, their chief servant; during which time, several
ambassadors were still going and coming, sometimes from them to the
king, sometimes from the king to them; now from them to the Count of
Charolois, then from the count to them; sometimes from the king to the
Duke of Burgundy, and then again from the Duke of Burgundy to him: some
for intelligence, and some to debauch their respective subjects, and make
what pernicious bargains they could, and all under the specious pretence
of amity and friendship.
However, some were honest, and went with a true zeal to accommodate
matters between them; but they were not a little conceited, to presume
so far upon their own wisdom as to think that their presence could
prevail anything upon such powerful princes as they, who were cunning
and penetrating, and understood their own interest too well. I saw
the proposals myself, and truly, in my judgment, neither the one nor
the other were reasonable. But there is a sort of people so vain and
self-conceited as to believe they can perform things which they do not
understand; for very often their masters will not tell them their secret
thoughts. People of such a kidney are sent only in formality, and to
fill up a table, and many times to their own cost; for always they have
some hanger-on or other who has some secret designs, as I have observed
at all times, and in all places, wherever I have been concerned; so that
(as I said before) great princes ought to be very careful into whose
hands they commit the management of their affairs; and it also concerns
those who are employed in negotiations abroad, to be very cautious how
they undertake them; and he that can excuse himself and get off (unless
he knows himself capable of performing it, and finds his master to be
well affected to the business) is, in my judgment, the wisest man; for
I have known many an honest man much puzzled and troubled in managing
such an affair. I have seen princes of two quite contrary, or, at least,
very different, dispositions; some are of so subtle and jealous a temper,
that no man knows how to live with them, and they think everybody
betrays them. Others are as confident on the other side, and commit too
much to their ministers, but then they are so dull and so unskilful in
state affairs, they cannot distinguish when a man does well or ill; and
these princes are very wavering and inconstant, and their love changes
suddenly into hatred, and their hatred into love; and though neither
with the one nor the other, are there many good ministers to be found
(and where they are, they do not continue long in favour, and are never
safe), yet I had rather live with a wise than with a weak prince, for
there a man may have an opportunity of excusing himself and recovering
his favour; but with the ignorant, there is no reconciliation, for he
does nothing of himself, but refers all to his ministers, who have the
sole administration of affairs, and then he changes his mind upon every
trifling occasion. However, their subjects are obliged to obey them in
the countries where they reign. But the result of all this is, that we
should place our confidence only in God, for in him (and in none else)
all our virtue, goodness, and safety, consist. It is our misery that few
people understand this, till it is too late, and they have been taught by
their misfortunes: yet it is better to be wise late, than never.