[1] The English became masters of the duchy of Guienne about the year
1159, in consequence of the marriage of King Henry II. with Eleanor of
Guienne. Charles VII. regained possession of the duchy in 1451; but
Bordeaux having placed itself once more in the hands of the English, the
French king reduced it finally on the 17th of October, 1453.
[2] Commines here alludes to the series of successes obtained over the
English by the French under Joan of Arc.
[3] The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 25th of October, 1415. The
English army, under Henry V., did not consist of more than 15,000 men;
the French were, at the least, 50,000, and, by some computations, still
more numerous. They lost 10,000 killed, of whom 9000 were knights or
gentlemen. Almost as many were made prisoners. The English, according to
Monstrelet, lost 1600 men; but their own historians reduce this to a much
smaller number.
[4] Thomas Rotherham, Bishop of Lincoln, was chancellor in February,
1475. “He owed his elevation,” says Lord Campbell, “to his own merits.
His family name was Scot, unillustrated in England at that time, and,
instead of it, he assumed the name of the town in the West Riding of
Yorkshire in which he was born. He studied at King’s College, Cambridge,
and was one of the earliest fellows on this royal foundation, which has
since produced so many distinguished men. He was afterwards Master of
Pembroke Hall, and Chancellor of this University. For his learning and
piety he was at an early age selected to be chaplain to Vere, thirteenth
Earl of Oxford, and he was then taken into the service of Edward IV.
Being a steady Yorkist, he was made Bishop of Rochester in 1467, and
translated to Lincoln in 1471. In 1480, he became Archbishop of York,
and he received a cardinal’s hat from the Pope.” In April, 1476, he
was removed from the chancellorship, but reinstated in the office in
September of the same year; and he “continued chancellor and chief
adviser of the Crown during the remainder of the reign of Edward IV.
He was considered the greatest equity lawyer of the age.” On the death
of Edward IV., he delivered up the great seal; but though “he did not
take any active part in the struggles which ensued, he was so strongly
suspected by Richard III., that he was detained in prison till near the
end of this reign. After the battle of Bosworth he quietly submitted
to the new government, but he was looked upon with no favour by Henry
VII. He died of the plague at Cawood, in the year 1500, aged 76, and
was buried in his own cathedral. He was founder of Lincoln College,
Oxford, and showed his affection to the place of his nativity by
building a college there, with three schools for grammar, writing, and
music.”—CAMPBELL’S _Lives of the Chancellors_, vol. i. pp. 393-403.
[5] “John Morton was born at Bere in Dorsetshire, of a private
gentleman’s family, in the year 1410. He received his earliest education
at the Abbey of Cerne, from whence he was removed to Balliol College,
Oxford, where he devoted himself to the study of the civil and canon
law, and took with great distinction the degree of LL.D. He then went to
London, and practised as an advocate in Doctors’ Commons, where he soon
became the decided leader, and rose to such distinction by his learning
and eloquence, that he gained the good opinion of Cardinal Bourchier,
who recommended him to Henry VI. He was sworn of the Privy Council by
that sovereign, was made prebendary of Salisbury, and had the rich living
of Blakesworth bestowed upon him. On the accession of Edward IV. he
made submission to the House of York, and the new king continued him a
privy councillor, appointed him Master of the Rolls, and conferred on
him great ecclesiastical preferment, crowned with the Bishopric of Ely.
Richard III. imprisoned him, but he contrived to escape to the Continent.
Immediately after the battle of Bosworth, Henry VII. recalled him,
raised him to the see of Canterbury on the death of Cardinal Bourchier,
procured a cardinal’s hat for him from Pope Alexander VI., and made him
Lord Chancellor. He continued in this office, and in the unabated favour
and confidence of his royal master, down to the time of his death, a
period of thirteen years, during which he greatly contributed to the
steadiness of the government and the growing prosperity of the country.
Several important statutes were passed on his recommendation, including
that which protects from the pains of treason all who act under a _de
facto_ king. In 1494, Morton was made Chancellor of the University of
Oxford, and on the 13th of September, 1500, he died, after a lingering
illness. Notwithstanding some arbitrary acts of government, which should
be judged of by the standard of his own age, he left behind him a high
character for probity as well as talents. His munificence was great, and
he was personally untainted by the vice of avarice which disgraced the
sovereign. Sir Thomas More, who was brought up in his house, says of him:
‘He was a man no less venerable for his wisdom and virtue than for the
high reputation he bore. He was of a middle stature, in advanced years,
but not broken by age; his aspect begot reverence rather than fear. He
spoke both gracefully and mightily; he was eminently skilled in the law;
he had a comprehensive understanding, and a very retentive memory; and
the excellent talents with which nature had furnished him were improved
by study and discipline. The king depended much on his counsels, and the
government seemed to be chiefly supported by him; for from his youth he
had been constantly practised in affairs, and having passed through many
changes of fortune, he had, at a heavy cost, acquired a great stock of
wisdom, which, when so purchased, is found most serviceable.’”—See LORD
CAMPBELL’S _Lives of the Chancellors_, vol i. pp. 417-425.
[6] Thomas Gray, first Marquis of Dorset.
[7] On the 4th of May, 1471, the Duke of Burgundy granted a pension of
twelve hundred florins to Lord Hastings.—LENGLET, ii. 198.
[8] Pierre Cleret, esquire, councillor, and steward to Louis XI. for many
years.
[9] See book iv. chap 9. of these Memoirs.
[10] The Princess Elizabeth, who afterwards was married to Henry VII.,
by which match the Houses of York and Lancaster were united, was born in
1466.
[11] Charles VIII. was born on the 30th of June, 1470.
[12] Jeanne de la Clite, Lady of Commines, and wife of the Lord of
Halewyn. She was a cousin of the author of these Memoirs.
[13] Charles of Orleans, Count of Angoulème, and father of King Francis I.
[14] According to Molinet (ii. 94.) these ambassadors were “My Lord
Bishop of Mayence, Duke Louis of Bavaria, and a very elegant prothonotary
named George Hesler.” To this list Lenglet adds a certain doctor, William
Mortingle; and Oliver de la Marche (ii. 422.) substitutes the Bishop of
Metz for the Bishop of Mayence.
[15] The character of this emperor is thus sketched by Mr. Hallam:
“Frederic III. reigned fifty-three years—a longer period than any of
his predecessors; and his personal character was more insignificant.
With better fortune than could be expected, considering both these
circumstances, he escaped any overt attempt to depose him, though such
a project was sometimes in agitation. He reigned during an interesting
age, full of remarkable events, and big with others of more leading
importance. The destruction of the Greek empire, and appearance of the
victorious crescent upon the Danube, gave an unhappy distinction to the
earlier years of his reign, and displayed his mean and pusillanimous
character in circumstances which demanded a hero. At a later season he
was drawn into contentions with France and Burgundy, which ultimately
produced a new and more general combination of European politics.
Frederic, always poor, and scarcely able to protect himself in Austria
from the seditions of his subjects, or the inroads of the King of
Hungary, was yet another founder of his family, and left their fortunes
incomparably more prosperous than at his accession. The marriage of his
son Maximilian with the heiress of Burgundy began that aggrandisement
of the house of Austria which Frederic seems to have anticipated.
The Austrian provinces were re-united, either under Frederic, or in
the first years of Maximilian: so that at the close of that period,
which we denominate the middle ages, the German empire, sustained by
the patrimonial dominions of its chief, became again considerable in
the scale of nations, and capable of preserving a balance between the
ambitious monarchies of France and Spain.”—HALLAM’S _Middle Ages_, vol.
i. pp. 449, 450.
[16] On the 18th of August, 1477.—See Gachard’s edition of BARANTE’S
_Dukes of Burgundy_, vol. ii. p. 577.
[17] Guines and Hames.
[18] The rule that a woman was incapable of succeeding to the crown of
France—_quod in regno Franciæ mulier non succedit_—was first proclaimed
when Philip the Long succeeded to the throne in 1317, to the exclusion
of his niece. “French writers,” says Mr. Hallam, “almost unanimously
concur in asserting that this exclusion was built upon a fundamental
maxim of their government. No written law, nor even, as far as I know,
the direct testimony of any ancient writer, has been brought forward to
confirm this position. The text of the Salic law, which has, indeed,
given a name to this exclusion of females, can only by a doubtful and
refined analogy be considered as bearing any relation to the succession
of the crown. It is certain, nevertheless, that from the time of Clovis,
no woman had ever reigned in France; but, on the other hand, the crown
resembled a great fief, and the great fiefs were universally capable
of descending to women. And it was scarcely beyond the recollection of
persons living, that Blanche had been legitimate regent of France during
the minority of St. Louis. For these reasons it may be fairly inferred
that the Salic law, as it was called, was not so fixed a principle at
that time as has been contended. But however this may be, it received at
the accession of Philip the Long a sanction which subsequent events more
thoroughly confirmed. Philip himself, leaving only three daughters, his
brother Charles mounted the throne; and upon his death, the rule was so
unquestionably established, that his only daughter was excluded by the
Count of Valois, grandson of Philip the Bold.”—HALLAM’S _Middle Ages_,
vol. i. pp. 43, 44.
[19] Philip, Archduke of Austria, was born on the 22nd of July, 1478. He
married Joanna, the second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain;
their nuptials were celebrated with great pomp and solemnity in the city
of Lisle, on the 21st of October, 1496; and the first fruit of their
marriage was the celebrated Charles the Fifth. Philip succeeded to the
throne of Castile in 1506, and after a reign of two months, he died, on
the 25th of September, 1506.
[20] The Princess Margaret had been affianced in her cradle to Charles
VIII. of France, but their marriage never took place; and when her
intended husband espoused Anne of Brittany, she was returned to her
native land under circumstances of indignity never to be forgotten or
forgiven by the House of Austria. In 1495 she was betrothed to Prince
John, the heir of the Spanish monarchy, and on her passage to Spain, in
1497, to join her husband, she was nearly shipwrecked. She retained,
however, sufficient composure amid the perils of her situation to indite
her own epitaph, in the form of a pleasant distich:
“Ci gist Margot, la gentil’ damoiselle,
Qu’a deux maris, et encore est pucelle!”
Fortunately, her epitaph was not needed, as she reached Spain in safety,
and was married to the Prince of the Asturias on the 3rd of April, 1497.
On the 4th of October, in the same year, her husband died; and shortly
afterwards Margaret returned to her native land. She subsequently married
the Duke of Savoy, who died without issue in less than three years; and
Margaret passed the remainder of her life in widowhood, being appointed
by her father, the emperor, to the government of the Netherlands, which
she administered with great ability. She died in 1530.
[21] This boy, born at Brussels, on the 10th of September, 1481, died on
the 26th of December in the same year.
[22] She died at Bruges, at about two o’clock in the afternoon, on the
27th of March, 1481.—MOLINET, ii. 302.
[23] Commines is here in error as to the date; the year 1482 (old style)
did not begin until the 7th of April, and the princess died on the 27th
of March.
[24] The treaty of Trèves, by which the king restored all that he held
in Burgundy and Hainault, bears date on the 11th of July, 1478.—LENGLET,
iii. 540.
[25] Sigismund transferred his hereditary estates to his nephew, the
Archduke Maximilian, in 1492.
[26] Maximilian was elected King of the Romans on the 16th February 1486.
[27] Dole, formerly the capital of Franche-Comté, is a very ancient town
in the department of Jura, in France. It stands on the right bank of the
Doubs, and is well placed for trade on the canal that joins the Rhone and
Rhine. It is pleasantly situated on the crest and slope of a hill; the
streets are rather steep, but well built, and ornamented with fountains;
and the neighbourhood is prettily laid out in gardens, vineyards, and
promenades. A ruined aqueduct and amphitheatre, and some remains of the
old Roman road from Lyons to the Rhine, mark the place as having been
a Roman station. After its capture by the French, as related in the
text, it sustained several remarkable sieges. In 1530, it was strongly
fortified by the Emperor Charles V., into whose hands it had come with
the rest of Franche-Comté. In 1636 it was fiercely, but ineffectually,
besieged by the Prince of Condé; but Louis XIV. took it in 1668, and
again in 1674, when he demolished the fortifications. At length, by the
treaty of Nimeguen, the town, together with the whole of Franche-Comté,
was made over to France.
[28] The chief commander in Dole was the Lord of Montballon; with him was
a Knight of Berne, with about 900 Swiss; the garrison consisted in all
of about 2000 fighting men. In their sally, they slew 800 or 900 of the
French.—MOLINET, ii. 49.
[29] On the 15th of June, 1478.
[30] Hugh de Chalon, son of William Prince of Orange.
[31] This Lord de Craon was at that time Governor of Champagne, Brie,
Burgundy, and Touraine: he was also in possession of the government of
several cities in France, and chief chamberlain to the king, besides
enjoying the whole revenue of the barony of Craon in Anjou, which was his
own inheritance.
[32] Rochefort, in the department of Jura, about four miles from Dole.
[33] Auxonne, a fortified town on the Saône, eighteen miles from Dijon;
celebrated for its fine bridge and causeway. It surrendered to the king
on the 4th of June, 1479.
[34] Joux, a strong fortress on a high mountain in the department of
Doubs, was eventually surrendered to the king by the treachery of its
governor, who sold it to Louis XI. for 14,000 crowns. In later times,
Joux has acquired celebrity as the prison of Fouquet, of Mirabeau, and of
Toussaint l’Ouverture.
[35] Besançon, now the chief town of the department of Doubs, is a
very ancient city. Julius Cæsar mentions it as one of the largest and
strongest cities of Gaul; it was then the capital of the Sequani. In 456
it was devastated by the Burgundians, and in 937 by the Hungarians. From
1184 to 1664 it was an imperial city; but in 1668 it was captured by
Louis XIV., and it has since belonged to France.
[36] Beaune, an old Burgundian town in the department of Côte-d’Or, 23
miles from Dijon. It is now chiefly celebrated for its wines.
[37] Semur, a considerable town in the department of Côte-d’Or, built on
a granite rock on the left bank of the Armançon, 45 miles west of Dijon.
[38] Verdun-sur-Saône, in the department of Saône-et-Loire.
[39] The Cardinal of Pavia wrote to the Pope: “I know that there is
coming to us, on the part of the King of France, an ambassador of high
esteem in Gaul, with a mission of overweening pride. He is charged to
threaten us with the withdrawal of the allegiance of the French, and
with an appeal to a council, if we do not revoke the censures pronounced
against the Florentines; if those who murdered Giuliano de’ Medici, and
those even who abetted his murder, are not punished; and, finally, if we
do not abandon the war which we have just commenced.”—SISMONDI, xi. 110.
[40] The history of the Medici family is too well known to require
recapitulation in this place. The family of the Pazzi was one of the
noblest and most respectable in Florence: numerous in its members, and
possessed of great wealth and influence. Of three brothers, two of
whom had filled the office of gonfaloniere, only one was living at the
period referred to in the text; and this man, Giacopo de’ Pazzi, who was
regarded as the chief of the family, though far advanced in years, was,
if we may credit the account of Politiano, an unprincipled libertine, who
having, by gaming and intemperance, dissipated his paternal property,
sought an opportunity of averting or concealing his own ruin in that of
the republic. For a full account of the conspiracy of the Pazzi, see
ROSCOE’S _Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici_, in BOHN’S _Standard Library_.
[41] Sixtus IV., previously called Francesco da Savona, or Della Rovere,
was the son of a fisherman. By his talents he became general of the
Franciscan order, and afterwards Cardinal. He was elected Pope on the 9th
of August, 1471. “He was the first,” says Machiavelli, “who began to show
how far a pope might go, and how much that which was previously regarded
as sinful lost its iniquity when committed by a pontiff.” He died on the
13th of August, 1484, in the seventy-first year of his age.
[42] Ferdinand I., King of Naples, succeeded to the throne on the
death of his father in 1458. His claim was contested by John of Anjou,
supported by many of the chief barons of the kingdom; but Ferdinand
subdued them, and reigned for thirty years, after the discomfiture of his
competitor, with success and ability. His character was, however, dark
and vindictive, and his government was marked by a degree of ill-faith as
well as tyranny towards his subjects that rendered him deservedly odious.
He died in 1494.
[43] Lorenzo de’ Medici, surnamed the Magnificent. For a full account
of this illustrious man, no less celebrated as a politician than as an
author and patron of science and art, see his _Life_, by Mr. ROSCOE, in
BOHN’S _Standard Library_.
[44] Giuliano de’ Medici, a younger brother of Lorenzo, was born in the
year 1453. Between him and his illustrious brother there subsisted a
warm and uninterrupted affection. Educated under the same roof, they had
always participated in the same studies and amusements. Giuliano was
well acquainted with the learned languages; he delighted in music and in
poetry, particularly in that of his native tongue, which he cultivated
with success; and, by his generosity and urbanity, he gained, in a great
degree, the affections of the populace. At the death of his father he was
associated with his brother Lorenzo in the government of Florence, and
he therefore incurred the animosity of the Pazzi. He was assassinated on
Sunday, the 26th of August, 1478.
[45] In the Church of Santa Reparata at Florence, since called Santa
Maria del Fiore.—MACHIAVELLI, p. 359. (BOHN’S _Standard Library_ edition.)
[46] Francesco Nori, a most intimate friend of the Medici.—MACHIAVELLI,
p. 360.
[47] The assassination of Lorenzo de’ Medici had been committed, in
the first instance, to Giovan Battista Montesecco, a distinguished
condottiere in the service of the Pope; and he had willingly undertaken
the office, whilst he understood that it was to be executed in a private
dwelling; but he shrank from the idea of polluting the house of God with
murder. Two ecclesiastics—Stefano da Bagnone, an apostolic scribe, and
Antonio Maffei, a priest of Volterra—were therefore selected for the
commission of the bloody deed. Maffei aimed a blow at Lorenzo’s throat,
which took effect behind his neck, and only roused him to defend himself.
Drawing his sword, he drove off his assailants, and made good his retreat
to the sacristy.—See ROSCOE’S _Lorenzo de’ Medici_, pp. 142-144.
[48] Piero de’ Medici, who died in 1472.
[49] This was probably Francesco Nori.—ROSCOE, pp. 144, 501. Sismondi
(xi. 97.) mentions two esquires, Andrea and Lorenzo Cavalcanti, as having
assisted Lorenzo de’ Medici to beat off his assailants.
[50] Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa, with about thirty
followers.—MACHIAVELLI, p. 360.
[51] Giacopo de Pazzi was the head of the family of that name, and at the
time of this conspiracy was far advanced in years. He escaped from the
city during the tumult; but on the following day he was made prisoner by
the peasants of Romagna, who, regardless of his entreaties to put him to
death, brought him to Florence, and delivered him up to the magistrates.
He was immediately hanged from the palace windows; but, in consideration
of his rank, his relatives were allowed to inter his body in the church
of Santa Croce. “But,” says Machiavelli (p. 363), “as if to mark the
event by some extraordinary circumstance, after having been laid in the
tomb of his ancestors, he was disinterred like an excommunicated person,
and thrown into a hole outside the city walls: from this grave he was
taken, and with the halter in which he had been hanged, his body was
dragged naked through the city, and, as if unfit for sepulture on earth,
was thrown by the populace into the Arno, whose waters were then very
high.” Such was the fate of a man who had enjoyed the highest honours of
the republic, and for his services to the state had been rewarded with
the privileges of equestrian rank.
[52] Francesco Salviati was appointed Archbishop of Pisa by Pope Sixtus
IV., in opposition to the wishes of the Signory of Florence, who had
for some time endeavoured to prevent him from exercising his episcopal
functions. Hence his hostility to the Medici family. He appears to have
been totally unfit for his high preferment; and his last moments, if we
may credit Politiano, were marked by a singular instance of ferocity.
Being suspended close to Francesco de’ Pazzi, he seized the naked
body with his teeth, and relaxed not his hold even in the agony of
death.—ROSCOE, pp. 141, 146.
[53] Giovanni Battista de Montesecco, a distinguished captain of
Condottieri in the service of Pope Sixtus IV.
[54] Girolamo Riario was either the son or nephew of Pope Sixtus IV.
He was dignified by the Pontiff with the appellation of count; and
that it might not to be an empty title, 40,000 ducats were paid out of
the papal exchequer for the principality of Imola, which was at once
conferred on him, and to which was afterwards added the dominion of
Forli. This dilapidation of the patrimony of the Church to aggrandise
the relatives of the Pope was one of the most scandalous examples of
what was afterwards called the nepotism of the Court of Rome. Girolamo
Riario married a natural daughter of Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan; and
was assassinated by three of his subjects, over whom he had shamefully
tyrannised, on the 14th of April, 1488.
[55] Francesco de’ Pazzi, a nephew of Giacopo, seems to have been the
leader in this conspiracy. He it was who gave the death-stroke to
Giuliano de’ Medici; and such was the violence of his rage that, in
striking his victim, he wounded himself severely in the thigh. He then
hastened to his house, and endeavoured to mount his horse, in order to
ride through the city, and call the people to arms; but he found himself
unable to do so, from the nature of his wound, and the great effusion
of blood it had caused. Soon after he was dragged from his bed by the
infuriated populace, and hanged from the windows of the palace. His
brother Renato was also hanged; and the rest of this devoted family were
condemned either to imprisonment or exile; with the single exception
of Guglielmo de’ Pazzi, who was connected by marriage with the Medici
family, and spared accordingly.
[56] “The executioner,” says Sismondi, “did not rest till 200 Florentines
had perished in consequence of the conspiracy of the Pazzi. All those
who had any relation of blood or connection of friendship with them, all
those who had shown any opposition to the government, were torn from
their houses, dragged through the streets, and put to death.”
[57] The duchess granted him a contingent of 300 men-at-arms, to assist
the Florentines against the Pope.—GUICHENON, ii. 145.
[58] The bull of excommunication was dated at Rome, on the 1st of June
1478.
[59] La Castellina, a fortress about eight miles from Sienna.
[60] Lorenzo de’ Medici was thirty years old at this time: he was born on
the 1st of January, 1448.
[61] Federigo da Montefeltro, second Duke of Urbino, succeeded his
natural brother Oddantonio, in 1444. His character is thus sketched by
a writer in the _Edinburgh Review_ (xciv. 348.): “He was a man for whom
every human being that becomes acquainted with him is bound to express
his love and reverence. He himself was of a loving, a reverencing, and
a thankful nature. He was a soldier, yet a lover of books; religious,
but not bigoted; energetic, but superior to anger; severely bred, yet
cheerful; voluptuous by temperament, but not by habit; a prince at once
magnificent and paternal; a right gentleman and fellow-creature; and,
above all, a man true to his word in an age of liars. He had the good
fortune to receive an excellent education, as far as one person could
give it. His master understood the training both of mind and body. At
eight years of age he was affianced, and at fifteen he was married.
He studied the art of war under Piccinino and Sforza, whose different
systems of daring and caution he is said to have combined. He had long
and successful contests with Sigismund Malatesta, his neighbour, a
ferocious dilettante, who committed murders, and struck medals. He had
also the honour of being excommunicated by Pope Eugene the Fourth for
adhering to an unfortunate friend; became successively Captain-General
of the Florentines, of the Duke of Milan, and of the King of Naples, the
last of whom he delighted by his honesty; was then general in the service
of the Church; refused to break his word with the most faithless of his
enemies; built a splendid palace and library, and kept a stately court,
which did not hinder him from mixing in the pleasantest manner with
his people; was chosen commander of the first National Confederation,
prototype of the measure so often since desired by Italians, and so
invariably nullified by their divisions; helped to procure for his
country, nevertheless, twenty-eight years of comparative tranquillity;
attended with pomp the convocation of Pope Sixtus IV., who invested him
with the dukedom, and married a nephew to his daughter; received the
order of the Garter from our Edward IV., which, though truly fit for such
a mirror of knighthood, was bestowed with an eye to his good offices with
the Pope; indulged his love of scholarship and philosophy, and patronised
art and science; rejected with scorn and horror a proposal to aid the
Roman Court in the assassination of Lorenzo de’ Medici and his brother,
yet thought it no dishonour to conceal the plot from its objects, and
to conduct troops against them for his papal employer; found himself,
nevertheless, in a short time fighting on the side of Lorenzo against
papal encroachment; and on the 10th of September, in the year 1482, died
of a fever, caught during a campaign, and rendered fatal by his refusal
to quit his post.”—See DENNISTOUN’S _Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino_.
[62] Roberto Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, one of the most celebrated among
the condottieri captains of this period.
[63] Costanzio Sforza, Prince of Pesaro, another eminent condottiere,
nephew of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan.
[64] Alphonso II., Duke of Calabria, succeeded his father on the throne
in May, 1494. On the 23rd of January, 1495, he was forced to abdicate;
and he died on the 19th of November following.
[65] Frederic, Prince of Tarento, became King of Naples in 1496, and died
on the 9th of November, 1504.
[66] It is not surprising that Commines was pleased at his treatment
by the Florentines, when he took leave of them; for Ammirato (iii.
126) informs us that, at his departure, the Signory presented him with
fifty-two pounds weight of wrought silver for the use of his table.
[67] Giovanni Galeazzo Maria Sforza became Duke of Milan on the death
of his father in 1476. In 1483 he married Isabella, granddaughter of
Ferdinand, King of Naples. He died on the 22nd of October, 1494, at the
age of twenty-five; and the popular belief of the time was that he was
poisoned by his uncle. At the period referred to in the text the young
Duke was only nine years old, and it was on this account that his mother
did homage for him.
[68] On Thursday, July 29, 1479.—MOLINET, ii. 200.
[69] Guinegatte, a small village in the department of the Pas-de-Calais.
The battle was fought on the 7th August, 1479. A detailed account of it
will be found in MOLINET (ii 220.). The battle of the Spurs was fought on
the same ground between the English and the French in 1513—See HUME, ii.
589.
[70] Elsewhere called Thomas D’Orican or D’Aurican.
[71] Aire, a town on the Lys, in the department of the Pas-de-Calais.
[72] Molinet tells several stories of the duke’s prowess in the fight. He
says that “he charged a man-at-arms so violently that he broke his lance
in three pieces; after which he knocked down a Frank archer with a stick
which he had in his hand; and, finally, he took prisoner a native of
Brittany named Alexander.”
[73] Engelbert, Count of Nassau and Vianden, Knight of the Golden Fleece,
and Governor of Brabant. He was chief chamberlain to Duke Maximilian. He
died in 1504.
[74] These projects were afterwards realised by the Treaty of Arras,
concluded on the 23rd December, 1482.
[75] Adam Fumée, Knight, Lord of Roches St. Quentin in Touraine,
councillor of the king, Master of Requests in the royal household,
and Commissioner of the Great Seal of France. He died in November,
1494.—ANSELME, vi. 420.
[76] Claude de Molins, physician and councillor to the king.
[77] The other editions erroneously say “forty days.”
[78] Jacques d’Espinay, Lord of Segre and Ussé, and captain of the
town of Saint-Macaire, was the son of Richard d’Espinay, one of the
chamberlains of Francis II., Duke of Bretagne. He was afterwards
appointed one of the councillors and chamberlains of King Charles VIII.
[79] See Vol. I. p. 258.
[80] Louis d’Amboise, Bishop of Alby, was the son of Pierre d’Amboise,
Lord of Chaumont. In 1480 he was appointed the king’s lieutenant-general
in Burgundy; and he died in 1505.
[81] See Vol. I. p. 34.
[82] See Vol. I. p. 271.
[83] The order for the cardinal’s deliverance was in these terms:—“My
Lord Chancellor,—After dinner assemble the whole council, and deliver
Cardinal Balue from my hands, and give him up to the Archpresbyter of
Lodau, in the name of the Legate, who has express commission from our
Holy Father to receive him: that is to say, I give him into the hands
of our Holy Father, or to the Legate for him, or to the Archpresbyter
for the Legate, until he shall come. I have written to him to come with
all haste, and accordingly I believe he will be at Orleans at Christmas;
whither you will go, as well as the greatest personages I can find, to
require justice at his hands. Look to the protestations which you have to
make after dinner, and give them up when you deliver him. And God keep
you, my Lord Chancellor. Written at Plessis du Parc, on the 20th day of
December, 1480.”
[84] Cardinal Balue was a prisoner for eleven years only, as he was
arrested in April, 1469. See Vol. I. p. 165. of these Memoirs. He was
confined in an iron cage of his own invention, in which it was impossible
for him to stand upright, or to stretch himself at length. A special cage
was made for his reception, at a cost of sixty livres.—DUPONT, ii. 217.
[85] This armament awakened the suspicions of the King of England, as
is proved by the following letter from Louis XI. to Lord Hastings:—“My
good cousin,—I have been informed by some merchants of Normandy just
returned from England, that there is a report in your country that I was
at Boulogne, and intended to lay siege to Calais. My good cousin, as this
matter affects me and my honour, I beg you to be so good as to tell my
cousin your king, that I have no such thought, nor will I do or suffer
any damage to the smallest village in the territory of Calais, and if
any one should attempt to injure it, I would defend it to the best of
my power. And I did not go from Plessis du Parc until the 26th day of
May; but I am going to see my camp at Pont de l’Arche, which I have not
yet seen; and I have ordered the Lord des Cordes and the Picards to be
there at the end of this month; and I assure you that this is the truth,
and my cousin the king shall find no departure from what I have promised
him.”—DUPONT, ii. 219.
[86] He was at Argenton in November, 1481; at Thouars in the months of
January and February following; and at Saint-Claude in April.
[87] Louis, Count of La Chambre and Léville, and Viscount of Maurienne,
in Savoy.
[88] Louis de Myolans, appointed Marshal of Savoy in 1478.
[89] Philibert de Grolée, Knight, Lord of Huis, councillor and
chamberlain of Louis XI., and Governor of Lyons.
[90] Two hundred Frank archers of the King’s guard.
[91] “The Count de Bresse, being informed of the king’s intention,
proceeded to Turin at daybreak on the day before St. Sebastian’s day,
the 19th of January, 1480, accompanied by Thomas de Saluces, brother
of the marquis. They entered the Castle of Turin, and went into the
duke’s bed-chamber, where the Count de la Chambre was sleeping; whom
Thomas de Saluces, by command of the Count de Bresse, seized, saying,
‘You are prisoner of the King of France;’ and he had him put in
prison.”—GUICHENON, ii. 42.
[92] On the 27th of March. Her feminine delicacy was so great, that she
preferred to die rather than allow a surgeon to examine her wounds.
[93] Margaret and Philip. See pp. 16, 17.
[94] William Ryn, appointed tenth echevin of Ghent in 1476, and town
councillor in 1482; beheaded on the 8th of August, 1484.
[95] John Coppenolle, a hosier of Ghent, “a man of no better condition
than William Ryn, and nevertheless appointed steward to the king of
France, with a pension of six hundred francs a year.” He was beheaded at
Ghent on the 11th of August, 1491.
[96] “He immured himself,” says Sir Walter Scott, “in his castle of
Plessis, intrusting his person to the doubtful faith of his Scottish
mercenaries. He never stirred from his chamber; he admitted no one
into it; and wearied Heaven and every saint with prayers, not for the
forgiveness of his sins, but for the prolongation of his life. With a
poverty of spirit totally inconsistent with his shrewd worldly sagacity,
he importuned his physicians, until they insulted as well as plundered
him. Bodily health and terrestrial felicity seemed to be his only object.
Making any mention of his sins when talking on the state of his health
was strictly prohibited; and when, at his command, a priest recited a
prayer to St. Eutropius, in which he recommended the king’s welfare both
in body and soul, Louis caused the two last words to be omitted, saying
it was not prudent to importune the blessed saint by too many requests at
once. Perhaps he thought, by being silent on his crimes, he might suffer
them to pass out of the recollection of his celestial patrons, whose aid
he invoked for his body.”
[97] His physician in ordinary was named Jacques Coitier. He also held
the office of Vice President of the Chambre des Comptes, of which he
became President in 1482. He died on the 29th of October, 1506.
[98] In previous editions it is erroneously stated that the name of this
holy man was Friar Robert; but there can be no doubt, that the personage
alluded to in the text was St. Francis de Paulo, the founder of the
Minims, or lowest order of monks. He was born at Paulo in Calabria in the
year 1416. He began his career by retiring to a cave on a desert part of
the coast, where his sanctity soon obtained for him many followers, who
ere long constructed a monastery round his cell. His rule was extremely
rigorous; he enjoined his disciples to abstain from wine, fish, and meat,
never to sleep on a bed, to go always barefooted, and to practise many
other bodily mortifications. He died in France, on the 2nd of April,
1507, at the age of ninety-one, and he was canonised by Pope Leo X. in
1519. By the confession of his admirers, he was perfectly illiterate.
[99] By letters patent, dated on the 6th of May, 1491, Charles VIII.
ordains “that the furniture, vestments, and ornaments which decorate the
chapel of St. Matthew in the lower court of his house at Plessis, and
which belong to Francis de Paulo and his companions, shall be removed to
the place where, at their prayer and request, he has recently caused a
church to be built for them, behind the enclosure of the park of Montils,
and dedicated to Jesu Maria.”
[100] Guynot de Boussière, or Guynot de Lauzière, as he is called in
a letter from Louis XI. to Francis de Genas, superintendent of the
finances. The letter is as follows:—“Mr. Superintendent,—The seneschal
of Quercy, Guynot de Lauzière, who brought to me the good holy man,
complains that you have deprived him of half of his pension, which
amounts to 600 livres tournois, and that you told him I had ordered it,
which I did not, and never intended to do. And I assure you I am not
pleased with you, wherefore take care (and fear to disobey me), that as
soon as you see these letters, the matter may be entirely settled, and
the pension paid in such a manner that I may hear no more about it; for
if you fail to obey, you shall be lodged in the hands of my Lord of Alby;
and from this time forth, and until he is satisfied, I detain in my hands
the wages and pensions which you receive from me. Written at Plessis du
Parc, on the 15th day of May, 1482.”—DUPONT, ii. 229.
[101] Another letter from Louis XI. to Francis de Genas illustrates the
holy man’s mode of life:—“Mr. Superintendent,—I beg you to send me some
limes and sweet oranges and muscadel pears and water melons, for the holy
man who eats neither flesh nor fish: and you will thereby give me very
great pleasure. Written at Clery on the 29th of June, 1483.”
[102] He arrived at the castle of Plessis on the 24th of April, 1482.
[103] The marriage of the Dauphin with the Princess Elizabeth of England.
[104] The accounts of Jehan Raguier for the year 1479 inform us that he
gave “to a Portuguese, who had brought some dogs to the King, six gold
crowns; to an Englishman, who brought him a great dog, ten gold crowns;
to a man who brought him a little dog, one crown; to six men who brought
him some live hares, thirty crowns.”
[105] In 1482, a sum of 160 livres was paid to Master Macé Bastard, for
the expenses of a journey he had made into Provence, by the King’s order,
“to await the coming of certain galleys with strange and savage beasts,
and other things, which the King had ordered to be brought from the
countries of Barbary.”—FONTANIEU, 142.
[106] In the accounts of Pierre de Lailly for the year 1479, the
following entry occurs:—“To Bernard More, an Easterling merchant, 750
livres, as agreed upon, for bringing to the King six beasts named elks,
three males and three females, and six others named reindeer, also three
males and three females.”—DUPONT, ii. 234.
[107] He was probably satisfied by the letter of Louis XI. to Lord
Hastings. See p. 40.
[108] Aire surrendered on the 28th July, 1482. It was sold by the Lord de
Cohen for an annual pension of ten thousand crowns.—MOLINET, ii. 306.
[109] Philip of Burgundy, Lord of Bevres and La Vere, councillor and
chamberlain of Maximilian, King of the Romans, Knight of the Golden
Fleece, and Governor of Artois.
[110] These ambassadors arrived at Paris on Saturday, the 3rd of January,
1483, and proceeded on the following Monday to Amboise, where the King
was then residing.—LENGLET, ii. 168.
[111] John de Berghes, knight, Lord of Cohen and Olhain, and governor of
the town of Aire for the Archduke Maximilian.
[112] Baudoin de Lannoy, second of the name, Lord of Molembrais, Knight
of the Golden Fleece, chamberlain and steward of the Archduke Maximilian.
He died on the 7th of May, 1501.
[113] Anne of France, daughter of Louis XI. and Charlotte of Savoy,
married Pierre de Bourbon, Lord of Beaujeu, in 1474, and assumed the
title of Duchess of Bourbon in 1488. She died on the 14th of November,
1522, after having governed the kingdom with great prudence and energy
during the minority of Charles VIII.
[114] Alain le Grand, son of Jean d’Albret, Viscount de Tartas, succeeded
his grandfather Charles II. in 1471. He married Frances, daughter of Jean
de Blois, Count of Penthièvre; and in virtue of this marriage, set up a
claim to the duchy of Brittany, and became a competitor for the hand of
Anne of Brittany. He died in October, 1522.
[115] Margaret was then three years and a half old, and the Dauphin
rather more than twelve. Their meeting took place on Sunday, the 22nd
of June, 1483, at a place called Metairie le Rayne, near Amboise. “The
Dauphin,” says a contemporary letter, “left the Castle of Amboise,
dressed in a robe of crimson satin, lined with black velvet, and
mounted on a hackney, and attended by thirty archers. At the bridge he
dismounted, after having saluted the ladies, and changed his dress and
put on a long robe of cloth of gold.... Presently the Dauphiness arrived,
and descended from her litter; and immediately they were betrothed by the
prothonotary, nephew of the Grand Seneschal of Normandy, who demanded
of the Dauphin in a loud voice, so that all could hear him, If he would
have Margaret of Austria in marriage? and he answered, Yes; and a similar
question was put to the Dauphiness, who gave the same answer. Upon which,
they joined hands, and the Dauphin kissed the Dauphiness twice; and
then they returned to their lodgings. And the streets of Amboise were
hung with cloth, and in the market place was a figure of a Siren, who
spouted forth white wine and red from her breasts.” The next day, the
young couple went through the ceremony of marriage in the chapel of the
castle.—DUPONT, iii. 345, 352.
[116] King Edward IV. died on the 9th of April, and the Dauphin’s
marriage did not take place until the 22nd of June, more than two months
later; so that the supposition of Commines that he died of grief at the
disappointment of his own daughter, who had long been contracted to the
Dauphin, is evidently erroneous. His dissolute mode of life renders it
exceedingly probable that he died of a surfeit, according to the popular
report. “He was a prince,” says Hume, “more splendid and showy than
either prudent or virtuous; brave, though cruel; addicted to pleasure,
though capable of activity in great emergencies, and less fitted to
prevent ills by wise precautions, than to remedy them after they took
place, by his vigour and enterprise.”
[117] Richard III. did not assume the title of King until the 26th of
June, 1483, after the death of his nephew Edward V.
[118] Molinet (ii. 402.) gives the following account of the murder of
the princes: “The eldest was simple and very melancholy, aware of the
wickedness of his uncle, but the youngest was joyous and witty, nimble,
and ever ready for dances and games; and he said to his brother, who wore
the order of the garter, ‘My brother, learn to dance;’ and his brother
answered, ‘It would be better for us to learn to die, for I think we
shall not long remain in the world!’ They were prisoners for about five
weeks; and Duke Richard had them secretly slain by the captain of the
Tower. And when the executioners came, the eldest was asleep, but the
youngest was awake, and he perceived their intention, and began to say,
‘Ha! my brother, awake, for they have come to kill you.’ Then he said
to the executioners, ‘Why do you kill my brother? kill me, and let him
live.’ But they were both killed; and their bodies cast into a secret
place.”
[119] See notes, vol. i. pp. 395, 396.
[120] Arthur, born on the 20th of September, 1486, and Margaret, born in
1488.
[121] Molinet (ii. 403) also asserts that Buckingham was implicated
in the murder of the princes; but there is no evidence to be found in
support of the statement, which rests probably on the fact that the duke
was a prominent supporter of Richard’s usurpation, and was therefore
likely to have been concerned in the assassination of his nephews.
[122] The Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII.
[123] Richmond was considered as representing the line of Lancaster by
right of his mother, Margaret Beaufort, who was daughter of a Duke of
Somerset, and a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt.
[124] Henry left Harfleur on the 1st of August, 1485, with an army of
about 2,000 men, and landed at Milford Haven on the 7th of August. He met
with little opposition in Wales, and at Shrewsbury he was joined by Sir
Gilbert Talbot and all his vassals. Marching onwards, through the midland
counties, he came up with his rival at Bosworth, in Leicestershire, on
the 22nd of August. Henry was at the head of 6,000 men, and Richard had
an army of above double the number. But during the action Lord Stanley
joined Henry with 7,000 men, and decided the battle in his favour.
[125] By letters dated on the 23rd of May, 1462, the King of Arragon
pledged the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne to Louis XI. for the sum
of 300,000 golden crowns, on condition that Louis should supply him with
a sufficient number of troops to reduce Catalonia, and to carry on the
war in Arragon and Valencia. These counties were restored to Castile by
the Treaty of Barcelona, signed on the 19th of January, 1493.—PRESCOTT’S
_Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. ii. p. 249.
[126] James III. See note, Vol. I. p. 398.
[127] John II., son of Alphonso V., King of Portugal. He succeeded to the
throne in 1481, and died on the 25th of October, 1495. It was to him that
Columbus first submitted the theory on which he had founded his belief
in the existence of a western route; but the foolish monarch refused his
patronage to the adventure.
[128] Navarre was then divided by two opposing factions; that of Queen
Catherine, the niece of Louis XI., and that of the Viscount of Narbonne,
who wished to gain possession of the crown. It is to the former of these
parties, doubtless, that Commines alludes.
[129] Among other things, he tried _aurum potabile_, and paid dearly for
it, though it does not seem to have done him much good.
[130] Sixtus IV. died on the 13th of August, 1484. See note, p. 25.
[131] Nor was this the full extent of the Pope’s benevolence. He sent
two briefs to Francis de Paulo, ordering him to pray for the restoration
of the King’s health, under penalty of excommunication in case of
refusal.—RAYNALDUS, xix. 29.
[132] The supposition of Commines is correct: the King did not dare to
ask, in the first instance, to be entrusted with the phial itself. “Dear
and well-beloved,” he wrote to the Abbot of St. Rémy at Rheims, on the
17th of April, 1483, “we should much wish, if it were possible, to have
a _little drop_ from the Holy Ampulla; wherefore we pray you to consult
and inquire whether a little could be taken from the phial in which it is
contained, without sin or danger.” This humble and modest request having
been refused, Louis XI. had recourse to the authority of the Pope, from
whom he obtained the desired permission. Three commissioners, the Bishop
of Seez, the Governor of Auvergne, and the Lord de la Heuze, were sent
to fetch the Holy Ampulla from Rheims. It was escorted into Paris, on
the 31st of July, 1483, with great pomp; and on the following day it was
taken to the King.
[133] Notre Dame de Clery, a pretty little town on the left bank of the
Loire, nine miles from Orleans.
[134] Bajazet II., son of Mahomet II., succeeded his father in 1481; and
was dethroned and died in 1512.
[135] The name of this ambassador was Hussein.—HAMMER, iii. 361.
[136] Djem, or Zizim, brother of Bajazet II., on hearing of his father’s
death, resolved to make a vigorous effort for the empire; but finding
that his forces were far inferior to those of his brother, he applied
to the Knights Hospitallers at Rhodes for assistance, who resolved
to concede his demands, and sent a squadron to escort him to Rhodes,
where he was received with all the honours due to a powerful sovereign.
Bajazet, in great alarm, hastened to negotiate a treaty with the Order;
the Knights, however, dared not violate the laws of hospitality by giving
up Zizim; but the Grand Master concluded a secret compact with the
Sultan, in which, for the annual pension of 45,000 ducats, he engaged
to detain the prince a prisoner. The subsequent fate of the unfortunate
captive was truly calamitous. He was held in durance for a long time in
France, constantly mocked with false hopes, until Pope Innocent VIII.
bribed the Grand Master D’Aubusson with a cardinal’s hat to resign to him
the guardianship of his profitable prisoner. In 1489 Zizim was removed
to Rome, where he was tormented by frequent proposals to change his
religion, all of which he peremptorily rejected. When Alexander Borgia
ascended the papal throne, he sent an embassy to the Sultan, demanding
the continuation of the pension for the custody of Zizim, and offering
also to put him to death for 300,000 ducats, paid in one sum. Before an
answer could arrive from Constantinople, the Pope was forced to resign
his prisoner to Charles VIII., King of France; but Borgia soon procured
the death of the unfortunate prince by poison. After ten years’ captivity
among Christians, he was murdered in 1495.
[137] Louis XI. was nearly seventeen years old at the time of the
Praguerie, having been born in July, 1423.
[138] The Praguerie (so called in allusion to the Hussite wars in
Bohemia) was a rebellion of the nobles against Charles VII., in
consequence of his having established a regular army, in order to drive
the marauding free-companies out of the kingdom. The vigorous measures
taken by Charles to suppress this insurrection put an end to the war in
less than six months.
[139] See Book I. Chaps. 2-14. of these Memoirs.
[140] The marriage of the Dauphin to the Princess Margaret of Flanders.
[141] Monday, the 25th of August, 1483. The King died on Saturday, the
30th of August.
[142] William, Lord of Rochefort. See Vol. I. p. 16.
[143] Stephen de Vesc, knight, belonged to a noble family of Lower
Dauphiny. He was one of the chamberlains of Charles VII., who appointed
him Seneschal of Beaucaire and Nismes, on the 3rd of March, 1490. He
afterwards became President of the Chamber of Accounts; and was dignified
with the baton of Constable of France on the King’s entrance into Naples.
He died on the 6th of October, 1501.
[144] M. de Barante (x. 82.) says this divine was Jean de Rely, doctor
in theology, and canon of Paris. Gabriel Naudé asserts, on the contrary,
that his name was Philippe, and that he was a monk of the Abbey of St.
Martin.
[145] See note, Vol. I. p. 16.
[146] See Book IV. Chap. 12. The constable’s trial lasted from the 27th
of November, 1475, to the 19th of December following. His sentence
was read to him in these terms:—“You have been long in the custody of
the King, and you have been diligently interrogated with regard to
the extreme offences you have committed. The sentence of the Court of
Parliament against you is, that you be publicly beheaded and put to
death to-day on the Grève, opposite the Hotel de Ville.” At these words
the constable cried aloud and said: “My God! what news! this is a hard
sentence!”—MOLINET, i. 183.
[147] Francis of Orleans, Count of Longueville and Dunois, was born in
1447; married Agnes of Savoy; was appointed Governor of Dauphiny by
Charles VIII. in 1483, and Grand Chamberlain of France in 1485; and died
on the 25th of November 1491. He was a son of the celebrated Bastard of
Orleans, so distinguished in the wars against the English in the time of
Joan of Arc.
[148] Pierre Versé, appointed to the bishopric of Amiens, on the 16th of
August, 1482.
[149] The same, or nearly the same story is told of Tiberius, who
demanded of a soothsayer, Thrasullus, if he knew the day of his own
death, and received for answer, it would take place just three days
before that of the emperor. On this reply, instead of being thrown over
the rocks into the sea, as had been the tyrant’s first intention, he was
taken great care of for the rest of his life.—TACITI _Annales_, vi. 21.
[150] Guillaume de Haraucourt. See Vol. I. p. 165.
[151] Jean de Bruges, Lord of Avelghem and Espières, and afterwards Lord
of La Gruthuse, and Prince of Steenhuys, in Flanders. He was knighted
by Duke Maximilian of Austria, on the 7th of August, 1479, just before
the battle of Guinegatte, in which he was taken prisoner. Louis XI.
afterwards appointed him one of his chamberlains, and married him to
Renée de Bueil, daughter of the Count of Sancerre. In 1484, Charles VIII.
appointed him Seneschal of Anjou; in 1498 he was made Grand Master of
the crossbow-men of France; and in 1491 he was raised to the office of
Captain of the Louvre. He died on the 8th of August, 1512. In regard to
his father, see note, Vol. I. p. 193.
[152] Louis de Halewin, Lord of Piennes, having been made prisoner by
the French, some time after the siege of Neuss, entered the service
of Louis XI., who appointed him Captain of Montlhery in 1480. In 1486
Charles VIII. gave him the government of Bethune; and in 1512 Louis XII.
appointed him Governor and Lieutenant-General of Picardy. He died in 1518.
[153] The Lord of Vergy was made prisoner in 1477. See note, Vol. I. p.
362.
[154] The Lord of Richebourg, brother of the Constable of St. Paul, was
made prisoner in 1475. See Vol. I. pp. 245-249.
[155] Pierre de Roquebertin, Knight, Councillor and Chamberlain of Louis
XI., Governor of Roussillon and Cerdagne, and Lord of Sommières.
[156] Sir Walter Scott’s description of the Royal Castle of Plessis is
sufficiently accurate to deserve insertion. “There were three external
walls, battlemented and turreted from space to space, and at each angle;
the second enclosure rising higher than the first, and being built so
as to command the exterior defence, in case it was won by the enemy;
and being again, in the same manner, itself commanded by the third and
innermost barrier. Around the external wall was sunk a ditch of about
twenty feet in depth, supplied with water by a dam-head on the River
Cher, or rather on one of its tributary branches. In front of the second
enclosure there ran another fosse, and a third of the same unusual
dimensions was led between the second and the innermost enclosure. The
verge, both of the outer and inner circuit of this triple moat, was
strongly fenced with palisades of iron, serving the purpose of what are
called _chevaux-de-frise_ in modern fortification; the top of each pale
being divided into a cluster of sharp spikes, which seemed to render any
attempt to climb over an act of self-destruction.
“From within the innermost enclosure arose the castle itself, containing
buildings of different periods, crowded around, and united with the
ancient and grim-looking donjon-keep, which was older than any of them,
and which rose like a black Ethiopian giant, high into the air, while
the absence of any windows larger than shot-holes, irregularly disposed
for defence, gave the spectator the same unpleasant feeling which we
experience on looking at a blind man. The other buildings seemed scarcely
better adapted for the purposes of comfort, for the windows opened to an
inner and enclosed courtyard; so that the whole external front looked
much more like that of a prison than a palace.
“This formidable place had but one entrance; at least none could be
seen along the spacious front, except where in the centre of the first
and outward boundary arose two strong towers, the usual defences of a
gateway, with their ordinary accompaniments, portcullis and drawbridge.
Similar entrance towers were visible on the second and third bounding
wall; but not on the same line with those on the outward circuit, because
the passage did not cut right through the whole three enclosures at the
same point, but, on the contrary, those who entered had to proceed nearly
thirty yards betwixt the first and second wall, exposed, if their purpose
were hostile, to missiles from both; and again, when the second boundary
was passed, they must make a similar digression from the straight line,
in order to attain the portal of the third and innermost enclosure; so
that, before gaining the outer court, which ran along the front of the
building, two narrow and dangerous defiles were to be traversed under a
flanking fire of artillery, and three gates, defended in the strongest
manner known to the age, were to be successively forced.
“The environs of the castle, except the single winding path by which the
portal might be safely approached, were surrounded with every species of
hidden pitfall, snare, and gin, to entrap the wretch who should venture
thither without a guide; and upon the walls were constructed certain
cradles of iron, called _sparrow-nests_, from which the sentinels, who
were regularly posted there, could, without being exposed to any risk,
take deliberate aim at any who should attempt to enter without the proper
signal or pass-word of the day.”
[157] These directions will be found in Dupont, iii. 339-344. Master
Colin of Amiens is therein directed to represent the king “on his knees
on a cushion, with his dog beside him, his hat in his clasped hands, his
sword by his side, and his horn hanging behind his shoulders. Let him
be dressed in a hunting suit, with boots on his feet; and withal the
handsomest countenance you can make him, young and smooth; with his nose
rather long and turned-up a little, as you know; and do not make him
bald.” This effigy was to be made of molten copper, and gilt with ducat
gold; and the sum to be paid for it was a thousand gold crowns.
[158] This son’s name was Joachim. He was born on Tuesday, the 17th
of July, 1459, at the Castle of Genappes; and he died on the 29th of
November in the same year.
[159] Margaret, daughter of James I., King of Scotland. She was married
to the Dauphin on the 24th of June, 1436; and died on the 16th of August,
1444. Her lot in France was singularly wretched, as she was treated by
her husband with marked contempt and dislike. The story of her adventure
with Alain Chartier is well known. Finding the famous poet asleep in a
saloon of the palace, she stooped down and kissed him, observing to her
ladies, who were somewhat astonished at her proceeding, that she did not
kiss the man, but the mouth which had uttered so many fine things.
[160] In the year 1446. See Vol. I. p. 60.
[161] Charlotte, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy, was married to the
Dauphin in March, 1451; and died on the 1st of December, 1483.
[162] The Duke of Burgundy granted the Dauphin a monthly pension of 2000
francs; to the Dauphiness he allowed 1000 gold crowns per month; to the
Lord of Montauban, 500 crowns; to the Marshal of Dauphiny, a similar sum;
and to others according to their degree.
[163] John, Bastard of Armagnac, was created Count of Comminges and
Marshal of France in 1461, and died in 1473.
[164] See Vol. I. p. 19.
[165] He once borrowed thirty crowns from the Lord de Sassenage, to
whom he gave the following receipt: “We, Louis, eldest son of the King
of France, Dauphin of Viennois, confess that we owe to James, Lord of
Sassenage, the sum of thirty crowns for a black horse, which he has
handed over and delivered, by our order, to Henry Guerin, to whom we
have given it: which sum of thirty crowns we promise to pay him before
Christmas next. In witness whereof we have signed these presents.” The
Dauphiness, on her accession to the throne of France, was obliged to
borrow the palfreys of the Countess of Charolais for her journey.—DUPONT,
ii. 275.
[166] He remained there only five years.
[167] On learning the reception given to Louis by the Duke of Burgundy,
Charles VII. said: “Our brother Philip has taken home a fox who will eat
his chickens.”
[168] Chastellain (129.) reports this speech of Louis XI. on his
accession to the crown: “Only yesterday I held myself to be the poorest
son of a king that ever was, and one who, from my infancy to the present
day, have had nought but suffering and tribulation, poverty, anguish,
and want; and, what is more, expulsion from my inheritance, and loss of
my father’s love, so as to be obliged, my wife and myself, to live by
borrowing and begging, without a foot of land, a house to cover us, or
a penny in our pockets, except by the goodness and charity of my good
uncle, who has maintained me thus for the space of five years.”
[169] The exact age of Louis XI. at the time of his death was sixty
years, one month, and twenty-seven days.
[170] In the year 1462.
[171] See Vol. I. p. 48.
[172] Richard Neville, Earl of Westmoreland and Salisbury.
[173] Margaret of Anjou, daughter of René, King of Naples and Sicily. She
was born on the 23rd of March, 1429; married to King Henry VI. in 1444;
and died on the 25th of August, 1482.
[174] The first battle was fought in 1455, and the last in 1471. See Vol.
I. p. 181.
[175] See Vol. I. p. 273.
[176] This is the third explanation given by Commines of the cause of
Edward’s death. At Vol. I. p. 394, he says he died of _melancholy_, and
at p. 62. of this volume he ascribes his decease to a _catarrh_. Apoplexy
is the most probable explanation of the event.
[177] Matthias I., surnamed Corvinus, was the son of John Hunniades, and
was proclaimed King of Hungary in 1458, at the age of sixteen years. He
reigned for thirty-two years with considerable reputation, to which his
patronage of learned men, who repaid his munificence with very profuse
eulogies, did not a little contribute. He died in 1490.
[178] Mahomet II., son of Amurath II., was proclaimed Sultan in 1451,
and died in 1481. He is usually distinguished by European historians by
the title of Mahomet the Great, first Emperor of the Turks. His reign
was signalised by the capture of Constantinople, and the fall of the
Byzantine empire.
[179] John Hunniades, Voyvode of Transylvania, was Regent of Hungary
during the minority of King Ladislaus. This hero stood in the breach
for twelve years against the Turkish power, frequently defeated, but
unconquered in defeat. “If the renown of Hunniades,” says Mr. Hallam,
“may seem exaggerated by the partiality of writers who lived under the
reign of his son, it is confirmed by more unequivocal evidence, by the
dread and hatred of the Turks, whose children were taught obedience
by threatening them with his name, and by the deference of a jealous
aristocracy to a man of no distinguished birth.” Hunniades was a
Wallachian, of a small family. His last and most splendid service was
the relief of Belgrade. That strong city was besieged by Mahomet II.,
three years after the fall of Constantinople; its capture would have laid
open all Hungary. A tumultuary army, chiefly collected by the preaching
of a friar, was entrusted to Hunniades. He penetrated into the city,
and having repulsed the Turks in a fortunate sally, wherein Mahomet
was wounded, had the honour of compelling him to raise the siege in
confusion. The relief of Belgrade was more important in its effects than
in its immediate circumstances: it revived the spirits of Europe, which
had been appalled by the unceasing victories of the infidels. Mahomet
himself seemed to acknowledge the importance of the blow, and seldom
afterwards attacked the Hungarians. Hunniades died in 1456, soon after
this achievement.
[180] Ladislaus V., King of Hungary, was the posthumous son of Albert,
Duke of Austria, who acquired the crown of Hungary for his progeny by
marrying Elizabeth, daughter of the Emperor Sigismund. Ladislaus was born
on the 22nd of February, 1440; became king on the 13th of February, 1453;
and died on the 23rd of November, 1457.
[181] Ladislaus, the eldest son of John Hunniades, was beheaded on the
8th of March, 1456, for having assassinated the Count of Cillei during
the preceding year.
[182] Madelaine of France, daughter of King Charles VII., was born on the
1st of December, 1443, and betrothed to the King of Hungary in 1457. In
1461 she married Gaston de Foix, Prince of Viane; and she died in 1486.
[183] As might have been expected, from his having no personal knowledge
of Hungarian affairs, Commines falls into many inaccuracies about
Matthias Corvinus, who was forty-eight years old when he died, in the
year 1490. His election to the kingdom is to be ascribed far less to any
intrigues of his mother than to the aversion felt by the Hungarian nobles
to the character and Austrian connections of the Emperor Frederic II.,
the other candidate for the crown.
[184] Amurath II. succeeded his father Mahomet I. in 1421, and died in
1451.
[185] The siege of Constantinople began on the 6th of April, 1453, and
the city was taken on the 29th of May following.—See GIBBON’S _Roman
Empire_, chap. 68.
[186] Constantine Palæologus XIV., surnamed Dragases, was born in
February, 1403, and succeeded to his father’s throne in November, 1448.
He fought bravely in defence of his capital, and when he found resistance
unavailing, “he folded around him the imperial mantle, and remembered the
name which he represented in the dignity of heroic death.”
[187] The empire of Trebizond was overthrown by Mahomet in 1461.
[188] The Venetian settlements of Modon and Coron in the Morea were
surrendered to the Turks in the year 1500.
[189] Caramania, a province of Asiatic Turkey, on the south of Anatolia.
Its emirs were formerly powerful princes; but Mahomet II. greatly
weakened them in 1440, and his son Bajazet incorporated their dominions
with the Turkish empire in 1488.
[190] Charles VIII. set out from Grenoble, on his journey into Italy,
on the 29th of August, 1494. He had previously resided for four months
at Vienne, and left that city for Grenoble on the 23rd of August, as is
stated in the text.
[191] Guillaume Briçonnet was the son of Jean Briçonnet, Lord of
Varennes, Secretary to the King, and Receiver-General of the Finances. He
at first embraced his father’s profession, and was appointed General of
the Finances in Languedoc by Louis XI. In 1490 he was installed in the
bishopric of St. Malo, and created Chief Superintendent of the Finances.
In 1495 he received a cardinal’s hat; in 1497 he was translated to the
archbishopric of Rheims, and performed the ceremony of consecrating Louis
XII.; and he died at Narbonne, of which he was archbishop, in 1514.
[192] By letters patent, issued at Lyons on the 30th of April, 1494,
Charles VIII. authorises Master Pierre de Lignac to receive and
distribute at Milan a sum of 20,000 ducats “for the payment of the
troops we are raising in that neighbourhood to serve in our army for the
conquest of our kingdom of Naples.” This money was borrowed from the
bank of Paul Sauli at Genoa, as is proved by a receipt in the writing of
Pierre de Lignac, which still exists, and is printed in DUPONT, ii. 292.
[193] Charles VIII. was born on the 30th of June, 1470, and consecrated
at Rheims on the 30th of May, 1484.
[194] René II. See note, Vol. I. p. 242.
[195] Dated December 10, 1481. See LENGLET, iii. 334.
[196] Of the three sisters of the Duke of Lorraine, two only were living
in 1484; namely, Yolande, who married the Landgrave of Hesse in 1496;
and Margaret, who married René, Duke of Alençon, in 1488. As the Duke
of Bourbon did not lose his second wife, Catherine of Armagnac, until
March, 1487, he must, if Commines be right, have formed the project of a
matrimonial alliance with the Duke of Lorraine during her lifetime.
[197] By letters patent, dated on the 7th of August, 1486. King Charles
VIII. appointed the Duke of Lorraine his Grand Chamberlain, “with all the
perquisites and pre-eminence attaching to the office.”
[198] This pension was to become due on and after the 1st of October,
1483.
[199] The Lord of Argenton was included in the List of Councillors of the
King, drawn up immediately after the death of Louis XI. He was also one
of the fifteen persons suggested to the States-General as most worthy to
constitute the council of the young King.—MASSELIN, 123.
[200] She did not obtain the title of Duchess of Bourbon until after
the death of her brother-in-law, John II., which occurred on the 1st of
April, 1488.