1407-1412
Departure of royal family--Hundred Years’ War--Valentine
d’Orléans--Queen returns to Louvre--Death of Valentine--Forced
reconciliation--Philippe de Bourgogne and Michelle de
France--Misconduct of the Duc de Bretagne--Death of Isabelle de
France--Of the Duc de Bourbon--Quarrels of the Duke and Duchess
of Aquitaine--Of the princes.
Never did there appear to be a more conspicuous example of successful
crime than the one recorded in the last chapter. Jean Sans-peur
had satisfied his vengeance and got rid of his rival, and although
retribution eventually fell upon him, he was for many years able to
rejoice in his deed and escape the punishment of it by reason of his
powerful position and the weakness of those opposed to him.
For Charles VI. was in a much worse state of health than he had been
at the time of the attack on Clisson, and though he was transported
with sorrow and indignation and swore vengeance upon the murderers, he
almost immediately fell into one of his fits of madness, and when he
got better he was so confused and weak as to be unable to take any
decided measures. The Queen had implored him to punish the assassins,
but she had no power to do so when he was again mad, and, fearing for
her own safety, she left Paris with the Duke of Aquitaine, his wife,
her other children and her brother, and took up her abode at Melun with
them.[225] The other members of the royal family were afraid of the
Duke of Burgundy,[226] who besides his violent character and immense
power, could easily have endangered France by throwing in his lot with
the English, who were carrying on the war, notwithstanding the absurd
injustice of the claim they put forward to the crown of France.
{1407}
It will be remembered that, as was explained in the former volume,[227]
Edward III. of England claimed that throne through his mother,
Isabella, daughter of Philippe IV., and persisted in it, although it
was finally decided that the Valois, as nearest heirs male, descending
from Charles, brother of that King, were the lawful possessors of the
throne ascending to the _loi salique_ or Salic law, which henceforward
was adopted by the country; and notwithstanding the existence of
daughters and grandsons through them, who would have come before the
sister of the then last Kings, Louis Hutin, Philippe-le-Long and
Charles-le-Bel, supposing the female line to have been admitted at all.
But Henry IV. had still less pretensions than Edward III., for he was
not the lawful heir even of the English King. If, as has been shown,
the claim of King Edward was an unjust one, of course he had no ground
to stand upon. If, on the other hand, it were a just one, then it would
belong, not to the descendant of his third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of
Lancaster, but to the Mortimers, who descended by the female line from
Lionel, Duke of Clarence, his second son, Richard II., son of the Black
Prince, having left no children. In fact, the Mortimers were the right
heirs to the crown of England.[228]
However, the English were still a very serious danger for France,
and the Duke of Burgundy would have been an invaluable ally, whom,
in consequence, they did not dare to drive to desperation. And as he
always posed as a friend of the people when he wanted to injure Louis
d’Orléans, who was supposed to be their chief oppressor, he was very
popular with the credulous mob, who did not, after the first horror
caused by the assassination of the King’s brother, trouble themselves
much about it, but said, alluding to the knotted stick which had been
the emblem of Orléans, and the plane of Burgundy, “_Le bâton noueux est
enfin raboté._”[229]
Louis d’Orléans had been buried with great solemnity in the Chapelle
d’Orléans of the Céléstins, all the princes of the blood, including
his murderer, attending in white mantles, the day before the council
at which the Duke of Burgundy had owned his guilt. Valentine was
still in the country when the news was brought to her, with her
children. Overwhelmed with grief, she sent her daughter and her two
eldest boys, the young Duc d’Orléans and the Comte de Vertus, for
safety, to the strong castle of Blois, and with her youngest son and
her daughter-in-law, the Princess Isabelle, she set off, in spite of
the fearful cold, to Paris, where they arrived on December 10th, went
to the hôtel St. Paul, threw themselves at the feet of the King, who
had got better again, and implored justice on the murderer. Charles
received his daughter and sister-in-law with kindness and affection,
and promised all they asked, but early in January another of his
attacks came on, and Valentine seeing that nothing could be done and
not thinking herself safe, as the Duke of Burgundy seemed all powerful
at Paris where he had returned amid the acclamations of the mob,
retired to Blois, and fortified herself there with her children.[230]
{1408}
The great frost broke up and the melting of the snow and ice swelled
the rivers into frightful torrents, carrying away houses, trees, and
cattle. The monk of St. Denis says that he saw in the Seine masses of
ice three hundred feet long dashing against each other, destroying
boats and bridges. At Paris, on the second day of the thaw, the pont
St. Michel was swept away, with all the houses on it, and so was a
wooden bridge on the other branch of the Seine. Much it was feared
that the Grand Pont also would give way, as it shook terribly with
the icicles, but only fourteen shops fell. The roads were impassable
by reason of the rocks and trees with which they were covered by the
floods. Many mills were destroyed, and the price of bread rose. The
King ordered all bakers to sell flour at the same price, but great
distress prevailed, and no one alive had ever seen such a winter.[231]
About May the Princess Marie took the perpetual vows at Poissy, in
presence of the King, Queen, and court.
The King went to Melun to visit the Queen, who had sent for the provost
of Paris and made him tell her all that had been done there, and
found that the Duke of Burgundy had been trying to throw upon her the
same suspicions of magic that he had formerly done upon the Duchesse
d’Orléans. He had now left Paris, and Isabeau, greatly incensed,
resolved to return there in state. Charles was taken ill again the day
after his visit to Melun, and Isabeau sent for several of the princes,
including Berry, Bourbon, Alençon, and the young Duc de Bretagne,
husband of her second daughter Jeanne, and went to Paris escorted by
them, in a gilded coach, the Dauphin Louis, who was usually called Duc
d’Aquitaine, riding in the procession for the first time, with a guard
of three thousand men in armour. Proclamations were issued that any
one misbehaving or causing any disturbance would be imprisoned in the
Châtelet, which was indeed no desirable place of abode.[232]
The Queen took up her residence in the strong fortress of the Louvre
with her children, where she doubtless felt safer than in the hôtel St.
Paul, and had herself appointed regent in case of the King’s illness.
The princes were divided between their anger at the murder of Orléans
and their fear of Burgundy, but as he was now absent, the Duchesse
d’Orléans and her children came to Paris and appealed to the Duc
d’Aquitaine and other princes for vengeance on the murderer of their
husband and father. The King was just then ill again. As he, when in
his mad state, either did not know Isabeau at all, or else was so
fierce that she could not go near him without danger to her life,
she had ceased to take much trouble about him. In fact, a young girl
called Odette had been chosen, with the full consent of the Queen, to
be his mistress and constant companion. She seems to have been the
only consolation of Charles, who was devoted to her; always listened
to her in his most insane moments, and did whatever she told him. She
was called by the household and courtiers, “La petite reine.” Their
daughter, named Marguérite de Valois, was recognised by the King, and
afterwards married to a French noble.
The monk of St. Denis says she was of low origin, and such has been
the general opinion; but M. Vallet de Viriville says there is good
reason to suppose her to have been the daughter of Odin de Champdivers,
a Burgundian gentleman who had a château near Dôle, where, after the
death of Charles, she took refuge.[233]
While the Queen and princes were deliberating on the means of punishing
Jean Sans-peur, the news of his victorious return from an expedition
to Flanders filled them with consternation. The Queen first tried to
borrow money to escape with the King and her children, but no one would
lend her any. The King, therefore, left Paris with the Duc de Bourbon
on the 3rd of November, and went by boat to the Céléstins, and thence
to St. Victor with 1,500 men. The Queen, with the Duke and Duchess of
Aquitaine,[234] the rest of the children, the Duc de Berry, the Kings
of Sicily and Navarre left two days later, went down the Loire to Tours
and joined the King. The Duke of Burgundy entered Paris amidst cries of
“Noël! Noël!” from the populace.[235]
Valentine Visconti, Duchesse d’Orléans, despairing of getting either
justice or vengeance, returned to Blois with her children, and also the
little son of Louis d’Orléans and the Dame de Canny, the afterwards
famous Dunois, the Bastard of Orléans.
Jean Sans-peur, finding the King, Queen, and royal family all gone,
was much disturbed. He resolved to negotiate, and persuaded his
brother-in-law, the Comte de Hainault, who was also father-in-law to
the King’s second son, to go to Tours for that purpose.
Perhaps what made peace with Burgundy more possible was the death of
Valentine Visconti on the 4th of December, at Blois. Overcome with
grief, disappointment, and anxiety, her health had given way. She took
for her device a _chante-pleurs_[236] dropping tears, and the motto
“_Rien ne m’est plus; plus ne m’est rien_,” which she had embroidered
on the black hangings of her room. She always charged her sons to
avenge their father, and pointing to the little Jean (afterwards
Dunois), then six years old, she said, “_Celui-là m’a été enlevé, il
n’y a point d’enfant si bien taillé pour venger la mort de son père._”
As the result of the negotiations an interview was arranged in solemn
state in the church of Notre Dame de Chartres. A platform was raised
before the great crucifix, all around sat the King, Queen, Kings of
Sicily and Navarre, Dukes de Berry and Bourbon, the Cardinal de Bar,
the Archbishop of Sens, and all the princes and great nobles. The Duke
of Burgundy, with his advocate, then came forward and knelt before the
King, the advocate making a speech of which the arrogance was only
thinly veiled by the formal respect for the sovereign, ending by asking
pardon for the Duke of Burgundy, to which the latter added, “_Sire,
de ce ie vous prie._” The King was silent, but the Duc de Berry knelt
before the Queen, whispering something to her, upon which she rose, and
with the Duc d’Aquitaine and the Kings of Sicily and Navarre, knelt
and joined in the request, to which he replied, “_Nous le voulons
et accordons pour l’amour de vous._” The Duke of Burgundy and his
advocate then approached the young princes of Orléans, who in deep
mourning and with tearful eyes stood behind the King; the advocate
saying: “_Messeigneurs voici le Duc de Bourgogne qui vous prie qu’il
vous plaise oster de vos cœurs la vengeance ou hayne que porriez avoir
contre luy pour l’éxcés fait et perpetré en la personne de Monseigneur
d’Orléans vostre père et que doresnavant vous demourez et soyez bons
amys ensemble_;” to which Burgundy added, “_et de ce ie vous en prie_.”
The princes of Orléans, of whom the eldest, the young Duke, was then
seventeen, stood in silence, and it was only in obedience to the desire
of the King that they reluctantly, and with tears, answered, “_Sire,
puisqu’il vous plait commander, nous luy accordons sa requeste, et luy
pardonnons toute la maleveillance que aurions contre luy car en rien
ne voulons désobéir à chose qui soit à vostre plaisir._”[237] Peace
was then signed, sealed, and sworn upon the gospels, but in spite of
the grandeur and solemnity of the scene and the intense interest and
importance of the occasion, the whole thing was a hollow and worthless
form. There was no repentance in the heart of Jean Sans-peur, and no
forgiveness in those of the sons, friends, and followers of Louis and
Valentine d’Orléans. As to the Queen, she was too weak and shallow for
any lasting passion or feeling, in which her son the Duc d’Aquitaine
closely resembled her. He expressed great anger at the murder of his
uncle, and yet he persuaded his father to appoint the Duke of Burgundy
his guardian. It is true that at this time he was only twelve years
old, but the same vacillating, unreliable character was the despair of
his friends and of France during his life. Burgundian one week and
Armagnac the next, he, like his mother, was neither to be trusted by
friends nor feared by enemies.
The King and Queen returned to Paris in March. All the Queen’s
ladies were dressed in white, and there was much feasting at the
palaces of the King and Queen, and the hôtels of the nobles and chief
burghers.[238]
In June the Princess Michelle was married to the eldest son of the Duke
of Burgundy, Philippe, Comte de Charolais, and this marriage turned out
very happily, for Michelle, then seventeen years old, was a charming
character, like her sisters, and Philippe was in most respects unlike
his fierce, unscrupulous father. Gay, kind-hearted, and affectionate,
he was known as Philippe-le-Bon, and was adored by his subjects as no
other duke had been since all Burgundy mourned for Philippe de Rouvre,
the last of the beloved Capétienne house.
In August the Duke of Burgundy was hastily summoned by the King and
Queen to come to Paris and bring a strong body of men-at-arms who
might be wanted, as there was a serious quarrel going on with the
Duc de Bretagne, husband of their second daughter Jeanne; who had
not only brought over[239] a number of English and made war on the
Comtesse de Penthièvre, but had quarrelled with his wife because she
opposed his proceedings, and was even said to have struck her. Her
father and mother were, of course, much incensed at this, so they
resolved to send the Duke of Burgundy and some of the other princes
to attack and subdue him. Jean Sans-peur was all the more willing as
the Comte de Penthièvre had married one of his daughters, so he came
at once with his troops, and preparations were going on vigorously for
the invasion of Bretagne; but the Duke, hearing of the indignation
of his mother-in-law, “_et de ceux qui gouvernoit le roi_,” became
so frightened that he came to Paris and made his submission. All the
princes were very angry, and the Duc d’Orléans, his brother-in-law,
told him that the lion in his heart was not bigger than that of a child
of a year old.[240] In fact, he seems to have been what some in these
days would call “well hustled,” and it would appear that the quarrel
between him and the Princess Jeanne was made up. One may imagine that
at any rate he must have altered his conduct as we find years after,
that the Penthièvres having taken him prisoner and threatened his life,
she persuaded her brother, the Dauphin, to forbid them to do him any
injury, and taking up arms herself she besieged and took their castles
and forced them to set him at liberty.
{1409}
The next calamity that happened was the death, at Blois, of the
Princess Isabelle, Duchesse d’Orléans, in giving birth to her first
child. The young duke was overwhelmed with grief, and the only
consolation he seemed to find at first was in the infant daughter who
survived.[241] In her “Life of Isabelle de Valois,” Miss Strickland
declares that the second marriage of Isabelle had been an extremely
happy one, and remarks upon the talents and virtues of the young
Charles d’Orléans, the well-known poet, of whose despairing verses on
the death of Isabelle she gives a translation, also of a later poem,
which she declares to have been written on the same subject.[242] The
young duke gave the rich dresses belonging to her to make vestments for
the abbey of St. Denis, where prayers were said for her.
But none of the misfortunes that befel the royal family or the
country stopped the gaieties of the court. The King was at the
Palais for Christmas and sent for the Queen, who was at Vincennes,
to come and join him and bring the Duc d’Aquitaine, who had hitherto
remained under her care. The princes went to meet her and various
splendid entertainments took place when she arrived. She formally
gave the Duc d’Aquitaine into the care of the King, who appointed the
Duke of Burgundy his governor. Nothing, however, could be done in
council without consent of the Queen. The Ducs de Berry and Bourbon,
disapproving of the overweening power of Jean Sans-peur, left Paris and
retired to their châteaux.
Jeanne, Duchesse de Bretagne, who had a son in this year, was very
anxious that her brother the Duc d’Aquitaine should come and attend
her “_lever_.” He was not allowed to do so, but a seigneur was sent
instead, with splendid jewels as presents for her.[243] The monk of
St. Denis in his chronicle tells us that in the early part of July
there was a strange omen in Hainault. Innumerable flocks of birds of
prey assembled and fought in the air, as if leagued against each other.
Storks, herons, and magpies attacked rooks, crows, and jays, and a
fierce battle ended in the victory of the former, the ground being
strewn with the bodies of the latter, and causing people “of learning
and experience” to say that bloody battles would soon be going on.[244]
{1410}
It was a tolerably safe prediction to make at that time, more
especially as the death of Louis had not, as the Duke of Burgundy
supposed it would, annihilated the party of his opponents. On the
contrary the Orléanists married the young Duke Charles, now a widower,
to Bonne, daughter of Bernard, Comte d’Armagnac, one of the most
powerful nobles in the kingdom. He claimed descent from Clovis and had
married a daughter of the Duc de Berry. Brave, liberal, unscrupulous,
a faithful friend, and a relentless foe, he was the man chosen by the
princes to take the leadership of the party which none of them were
capable of holding themselves. From this time the name of the party
changed from Orléanist to Armagnac, and the strife became fiercer and
more desperate than it had ever been under the leadership of the more
gentle, easy going Louis.
The royal family and court had sustained a great loss in the death of
the Duc de Bourbon, who died in August, 1410, on his way to help the
Armagnacs at the head of his troops, for he had never for an instant
been persuaded to condone the murder of his nephew by the Duke of
Burgundy. The lofty character and noble life of Louis II., Duc de
Bourbon, stand out conspicuously amidst the corruption and depravity
with which he was surrounded during his later years. When the court
and rule of his brother-in-law and sister had fallen to his nephews,
Isabeau, and the brothers of Charles V., the Duchesse de Bourbon
withdrew from court and lived almost entirely with her children on
their own estates in the Bourbonnais, where he also spent a great deal
of his time, although obliged to be frequently at Paris and elsewhere
with his nephews, to whom he was always a good friend and who were
extremely fond of him. The only letter existing in the handwriting of
Charles VI. is to him. As a son, brother, husband, father, soldier,
statesman, and ruler, he was idolised, and after his death his funeral
train, as it travelled through the country was followed by crowds of
people weeping and lamenting. He had, with the consent of the Duchess,
intended after this last expedition to retire to the monastery of
the Céléstins at Vichy, and after his death two knotted cords were
found under his clothes, which he wore secretly. He knew he could not
recover, received the last sacraments and prayed constantly, dying
peacefully at the age of seventy-three, leaving a stainless name and a
heroic example.[245]
Meanwhile the dissensions amongst the different members of the royal
family only increased. The marriage of the Duc d’Aquitaine with
Marguérite de Bourgogne had turned out as badly as possible. He
slighted and neglected her and made open love to other people. One of
the ladies of the Queen’s household especially was his mistress, he
wore her colours and device to the great indignation of the Duke of
Burgundy, who took the part of his daughter. Isabeau seems to have done
the same, for it is frequently mentioned that the Duchesse d’Aquitaine
was with the Queen while the Duke was elsewhere.
{1412}
There was open war between Burgundians and Armagnacs. The Duke of
Burgundy had placed his own people in the household of his son-in-law,
and tried by all means to gain influence over him, which seemed to
be easy enough, and to retain it, which was not easy at all, as no
dependence whatever could be placed on any friendship, affection, or
opinion of his lasting a single week. The Comte de Clermont, Duc de
Bourbon by the death of his father, was like him, an Orléanist. In
company with the Ducs de Berry and Orléans, the Comtes d’Alençon and
Armagnac, and the Sire d’Albret he had entered into a treaty with the
English, offering, among other concessions, to restore to them the
duchy of Aquitaine. This treaty was discovered and the above-named
princes, who had taken refuge in Bourges, were besieged there by the
Burgundians about the end of June, 1412.
[Illustration: BOURGES.]
But the Duc d’Aquitaine began to get tired of these constant quarrels
of Burgundians and Armagnacs, for whose sake the kingdom, which was his
own inheritance, was being wasted and destroyed, and he resolved to put
a stop to the war. To the consternation of his father-in-law he forbade
the gunners and engineers to fire any more, or to demolish or destroy
the walls, gates, or fortifications of Bourges, saying that the war
had gone on long enough. The Duke of Burgundy said that the sooner it
was finished the better, only it must be by the complete subjection
of the Armagnacs. To which the Duc d’Aquitaine rejoined that he would
doubtless welcome their submission to the King, his father, but that
in any case this had gone on too long already, to the detriment of
the kingdom; that the discredit would fall upon him, the heir of
France, and that the opposing party were his uncles, cousins, and near
relations, against whom he refused any longer to fight. The Duke of
Burgundy was obliged to submit, the siege was raised and peace for a
short time restored.[246]
The princes and court returned to Paris, where the usual amusements
and festivities began again. The Duc d’Aquitaine was the leader of all
the follies and dissipation that went on. He was as extravagant and
licentious as his uncle Louis d’Orléans had been, without his intellect
or charm.
Louis d’Orléans, in spite of his countless infidelities, lived on good
terms with his wife, but the Duc d’Aquitaine seems not only to have
been unfaithful, but brutal. He was not without cultivation, spoke
Latin almost as well as French, and was exceedingly fond of music,
but he cared nothing for the affairs of state, spent his nights in
balls, suppers, and entertainments, and stayed in bed all day. His
life seemed even more full of dissipation and debauchery than those of
his father and uncle, while it was not redeemed by any of the gallant,
warlike deeds of a soldier’s life, such as had won them popularity
even in early boyhood. Every one complained of the Duc d’Aquitaine; his
father-in-law was indignant at his behaviour to his wife, very serious
apprehensions were entertained for his health amongst the members of
the royal family, the people pointed to the example of his father,
whose manner of life had caused his madness, and predicted that if
he went on so he would lose his reason in the same way, and even the
Queen several times threatened that unless he reformed his conduct in
some degree the succession to the throne should be transferred to his
brother Jean, Duc de Touraine, who, in the charge of his father-in-law,
the Comte de Hainault, was being better brought up.