OF BURGUNDY LEAVES PARIS.--SEVERAL PRINCES ARRIVE THERE.--THEIR ACTIONS.
On the 4th day of September, the duke of Acquitaine, in consequence
of the king's commands, caused all the prisoners confined within the
palace to be set at liberty; and, shortly after, the whole of the
furniture of John de Troyes, then keeper of the palace, and who had
gone abroad for some private affairs, was carried out of the same, in
pursuance of the orders of the duke of Acquitaine, by those Parisians
who had usually accompanied him. His office of keeper of the palace
was taken away, and restored to him who had before holden it. In like
manner were several offices in Paris restored to their former holders,
namely, to Anthony des Essars, to the two dukes of Bar and of Bavaria;
the former being reinstated in his government of the Louvre, and the
other in that of the bastille.
When the prisoners had been set at liberty, the duke of Acquitaine
ordered all the bells of the churches to ring together, and two days
and nights were passed in the utmost joy and revelling throughout the
town, for the re-establishment of peace, which was a delightful sight.
The lord de Viefville and sir Charles de Lens, brother to the châtelain
de Lens, were arrested in the hôtel of the duke of Burgundy; but sir
Robinet de Mailly, for fear of being taken, fled,--and the lord de
Viefville, at the entreaty of the duke of Burgundy and his daughter,
the duchess of Acquitaine, obtained his liberty. Sir Charles was
confined in the prisons of the Châtelet,--and the other, who had fled,
was banished the realm.
The lord de Jacqueville, during his absence, was deprived of
his government of Paris; and, hearing of this while he was at
Montereau-faut-Yonne with some of his principal supporters among the
butchers, they all fled to Burgundy: at the same time, Jean Caboche,
master Jean de Troyes and his children, with many others of the
Parisians, hastened into Flanders. Master Eustace de Lactre, the new
chancellor of France, fled like the rest from Paris,--and in his place
was appointed master Arnold de Corbie, who had before been chancellor
of France, but, at his own request, on account of his age, had been
deprived of it, when the first president of the parliament of Paris was
nominated in his stead. Master John Jouemel, king's advocate, was made
chancellor of Acquitaine.
Very many knights, particularly those who had been appointed
commissioners to try the late prisoners, quitted Paris; and the duke
of Burgundy, observing the conduct of his son-in-law the duke of
Acquitaine, began to be apprehensive that he was not well pleased
with his former conduct, and that he would remember the outrages
which had been committed personally against him, as well in his
hôtel as elsewhere, as has been before related, and would have him
arrested. He daily saw the most faithful of his adherents quit Paris
privately, and without taking leave of him: some of them were even made
prisoners,--and he was told that there had been guards placed round his
hôtel of Artois, and that great numbers of those who had been enemies
to the duke of Acquitaine were now reconciled to him.
To prevent any dangerous consequences, and to avoid the perils that
might ensue, he prevailed on the king to hunt in the forest of
Ville-neuve. The lord de St George accompanied him,--and when he found
the opportunity favourable, he took leave of the king, saying, that
he had received such intelligence from Flanders as would force him to
return thither instantly, on account of the important business which he
would have to transact. On saying this, he set off, and passed the wood
of Bondis in much fear: he continued his road without stopping, and
attended by a small company, to St Maixence, where he lay that night.
On the morrow, very early, the lord de Ront came thither to meet him,
with two hundred men at arms, and thence escorted him in a few days to
Lille in Flanders.
When his departure was known, the Parisians and others attached to the
Orleans party began loudly to murmur against him, saying that he had
fled for fear of being arrested. Those of his party who had remained in
Paris were in great alarm; for daily some of them were imprisoned, and
summary justice done upon them. Even the two nephews of Jean Caboche
were executed, after having been for some time dragged through the
streets; and the host of the hôtel of the 'huis de fer,' named Jean de
Troyes, cousin-german to master Jean de Troyes, the surgeon, of whom
mention has been made, suffered in like manner.
In respect to the queen, the dukes of Acquitaine, Berry, Bar and
Bavaria, they were perfectly pleased and happy that the duke of
Burgundy had quitted Paris, as were many of the great lords: in short,
the whole town was now turned against him both in words and deeds.
It was not long before the dukes of Orleans and of Bourbon, the
counts d'Alençon, de Vertus, d'Eu, de Vaudemont and de Dammartin, the
archbishop of Sens, friar Jacques le Grand, and the borgne Foucault,
came in handsome array to Paris; and the dukes of Berry, Bar and
Bavaria, the bishop of Paris, with many nobles and citizens, went out
on horseback to meet them, and escorted them, with every sign of joy,
to the palace, where the king, the queen, and the duke of Acquitaine
were waiting to receive them.
Their reception by the royal family was very gracious, and they all
supped at the palace, after which they retired to their different
hôtels in the town. On the morrow, the lord Charles d'Albreth came to
Paris, when the office of constable was instantly restored to him.
On the 8th day of September following, the king, at the instance of
the aforesaid lords, held a grand council in the usual chamber of
parliament, and issued the following edict, which was proclaimed
throughout his realm.
'Charles, by the grace of God, king of France, to all to whom these
presents shall come, greeting.
'Whereas, during the discords and dissensions that took place between
several of our blood and kindred, many damnable falsehoods have been
reported to us; under pretext of which our council have been very much
constrained, and our city of Paris did not enjoy its usual freedom, and
ourself was not advised so loyally as we ought to have been for the
honour and general welfare of the public, as it has since appeared, for
several acts have been done that were partial and irregular. Others of
our subjects were under the greatest alarm (and this happened to some
of tried courage), for they saw that those were in danger of losing
every thing dear to them who should utter the truth. In fact, several
of our prelates, nobles, and members of our council were wrongfully
arrested, robbed of their wealth, and forced to pay ransoms for their
liberty, which caused many of our well wishers to absent themselves
from our council, and even to fly from Paris.
'Many letters patent were unjustly and damnably obtained in our name,
sealed with our seal, and sent to our sovereign father, the head of
Christian princes, at the holy college of Rome, and to other monarchs,
declaring that these letters were sent with our full knowledge and
approbation.
'We have lately been well informed from papers that have been
discovered, and laid before us in council, of a fact of which indeed we
had our suspicions, that envy and malice were the grounds on which our
uncle John de Berry, our nephews Charles of Orleans and his brothers,
John de Bourbon, John d'Alençon, Charles d'Albreth, our cousins, and
Bernard d'Armagnac, with their accomplices and supporters, were charged
with the wicked and treasonable design of depriving us and all our
descendants of our royal authority, and expelling us our kingdom, which
God forbid! and also with the design of making a new king of France,
which is an abominable thing to hear of, and must be painful even
in the recital to the hearts of all our loyal subjects. In regard,
therefore, to such charges, those who have made them are guilty of
iniquitously imposing upon us, and are culpable of enormous crimes as
well treasonable as otherwise.
'Very many defamatory libels have been written and affixed to the doors
of churches, as well as distributed to several persons, and published
in different places, to the great dishonour and contempt of some of
the highest of our blood, such as our very dear and well-beloved son,
our well-beloved nephews and cousins, the dukes of Orleans and of
Bourbon, the counts de Vertus, d'Alençon, d'Armagnac, and d'Albreth,
constable of France, and against other nobles and barons, our
wellwishers, consequently against ourself and our government.
'We, therefore, for these causes, do by these letters patent give
permission to our said uncle, nephews, cousins, and to their adherents,
to seize on and destroy the lands and property of all who may have been
guilty of the aforesaid acts, declaring them to have forfeited to us
both their bodies and estates.
'We the more readily consent to their being thus sorely oppressed,
because they, under pretence of an ancient bull which had been issued
against the free companies forty years ago, without any permission and
authority, did raise and assemble companies of men at arms against
us and against our realm. This bull could not any way refer, as the
simple inspection of it would show, to our said son, uncle, nephew,
or cousins, but was applied to them, through wicked counsel, without
any authority from our said sovereign father the pope, without any
deliberations holden on the subject,--nor was any suit instituted,
as was usual in such cases; but without any forms of proceeding that
should have been observed, or any preceding admonitions, they were
illegally, through force and partiality, condemned as excommunicated,
with all their adherents and friends,--which sentence was, in defiance
of truth, publicly proclaimed throughout our kingdom.
'They were likewise declared traitors and wicked persons, banished
our kingdom, and deprived of all their possessions and offices. On
this occasion, many injurious reports were industriously spread
abroad against them, and they were themselves treated with the utmost
inhumanity. Several of them were put to death without any attention
being paid to their souls, like to outlaws and beasts, without
administration of the sacraments of the holy church, and then thrown
into ditches, or exposed in the fields, like dogs, to be devoured by
the birds.
'Such acts are damnably wicked and cruel, more especially among
Christians and true Catholics, and have been done at the instigation
of seditious persons, disturbers of the peace, and illwishers to our
said uncle, nephews and cousins, by means of their abominable fictions
in order to gain their false and wicked purposes, as we have since been
more fully and truly informed.
'We therefore, desirous, as is reasonable, that such false accusations
as have been brought against those of our blood and their adherents,
should not remain in the state they are now in, to their great
disgrace, and earnestly wishing that the real truth should be
published, and reparation made for these illegal proceedings, make
known that we are fully persuaded, from the information we have
received, that our said uncle, son, nephews, cousins, prelates, barons,
nobles, and others their partisans, have ever had loyal intentions
toward our person, and have been good relatives and obedient subjects,
such as they ought to be in regard to us, and that all which has
been done has been treacherously, and wickedly, and surreptitiously
contrived against truth and reason, at the instances and importunities
of these aforesaid seditious disturbers of the peace, by whom all
letters and edicts, that any way tend to tarnish their honour, have
been procured under false pretences.
'We declare, by these presents, that such edicts and letters patent
have been wrongfully and surreptitiously issued, and are of no weight,
having been procured by those rebellious disturbers of the peace,
authors of the evils that have afflicted our city of Paris, and whom we
also declare guilty of high treason.
'Being desirous that the truth of these crimes should be made public,
and that all may be acquainted with the real facts, to prevent any
evil consequences that might ensue to us and to our realm, were they
to remain in ignorance, as may happen to any prince who has subjects
to govern, we therefore make known, and assert it for truth, that we
being at our usual residence in Paris, in company with our very dear
and well-beloved consort the queen, our very dear and well beloved
son the duke of Acquitaine, our uncle the duke of Berry, with several
others of our kindred, and such of our servants and councillors as
were accustomed to attend on us,--it happened that on the 27th day of
April last past, sir Elion de Jacqueville, Robinet de Mailly, Charles
de Recourt, called de Lens, knights, William Bareau, at that time a
secretary, a surgeon, named Jean de Troyes, and his children, Thomas
le Goys, and his children, Garnot de Saint Yon, butcher, Symon de
Coutelier, skinner of calf skins, Bau de Bordes, Andrieu Roussel,
Denisot de Chaumont, master Eustace de Lactre, master Pierre Canthon,
master Diusque François, master Nicolle de Saint Hilaire, master Jean
Bon, master Nicolle de Quesnoy, Jean Guerin, Jean Pimorin, Jacques
Laban, Guillaume Gente, Jean Parent, Jacques de Saint Laurent, Jacques
de Rouen, Martin de Neauville, Martin de Coulonniers, master Toussaints
Bangart, master Jean Rapiot, master Hugues de Verdun, master Laurens
Calot, Jean de Rouen, son to a tripe woman of Puys Nôtre Dame, Jean
Maillart, an old clothes-seller, with many others, their accomplices,
of divers ranks and conditions, (who had, before this time, held
frequent assemblies, and secret conspiracies in many places, both in
the day and night-time) appeared in a very large body armed, with
displayed standard, by way of hostility, before our said residence of
Saint Pol, without our having any knowledge of such their disorderly
intent.
'They proceeded thence to the hôtel of our son the duke of Acquitaine,
which they would forcibly enter, and broke open the gates of it
contrary to the will of our said son, his attendants and servants.
Having done this, they entered his apartment in opposition to his
expostulations and prohibitions; and when there, they seized by force
and violence our cousin-german the duke of Bar, the chancellor of our
said son, with many other nobles our chamberlains and counsellors to
our son, and carried them away whithersoever they pleased: some of them
they confined in close imprisonment, where they detained them so long
as they were able. These excesses raised the anger of our son in so
violent a degree that he was in danger of suffering a serious disorder
from it.
'The said seditious rebels, persisting in their wicked courses, came
to us in our hôtel of St Pol, when they proposed, or caused to be
proposed, whatever seemed good to them, positively declaring, however,
that they would have certain persons, whose names were written down in
a small roll, which they had with them, which persons were then in our
company.--Among the number were Louis duke of Bavaria, brother to our
consort the queen, and many other nobles, our knights, counsellors,
the master of our household, with numbers of our servants of different
ranks and conditions. These they arrested by force against our will,
and carried them to prison, or wherever else they pleased, as they had
done to the others.
'After this, they entered the apartments of the queen our consort, and
in her presence, and contrary to her will, they seized many ladies and
damsels, several of whom were of our kindred, and carried them away
to prison, as they had done to the others. This disloyal and indecent
conduct so greatly alarmed our dear consort the queen, that she was in
great danger of losing her life from the illness that ensued.
'After the imprisonment of these several persons of both sexes, the
insurgents proceeded against them, contrary to all law and justice, by
very severe tortures, and even put to death many of the nobility in the
prisons, afterward publishing that they had killed themselves. Their
bodies they hung on gibbets, or flung them into the Seine. Some they
beheaded privately while in prison. With regard to the ladies whom they
had arrested, they treated them most inhumanly; and although they were
urgently pressed to allow the laws to take their course, in regard to
these prisoners, and that the court of parliament, as was reasonable,
should take cognizance of them, they positively refused every request
of the sort, and had letters drawn up as seemed good to them, and
to which they had the great seal of our chancery set by force, and,
besides, constrained our son to sign all their acts with our seals
manual, as approving of their deeds.
'That they might have the chancellor the more under their command,
to seal whatever edicts they should please to have proclaimed, they
dismissed from that office our well-beloved Arnold de Corbie, who
had so long and so faithfully served us, and put in his place master
Eustace de Lactre, by whom letters were sealed and issued contrary to
all truth, but conformable to the acts of these wicked men. We were
deceived by them, from want of able counsellors, and from freedom of
speech not being permitted, as has before been noticed.
'All these letters, therefore, and edicts mandatory that have been
published to the dishonour of our said uncle, nephews, cousins, and
their friends and adherents, we holding a bed of justice in our court
of parliament, in the presence of many of our blood-royal, prelates,
churchmen, as well members of the university of Paris, our daughter,
as from elsewhere, several great barons, and other able persons of our
council, and many principal citizens of Paris, do now annul, condemn
and for ever annihilate. And we forbid all our subjects, under pain of
incurring our highest indignation, to act, by word or deed, any way
hereafter contrary to the strict tenour of this our will and pleasure.
Should any of these disgraceful acts be produced in courts of justice,
we forbid any faith to be placed in them, and order them to be torn and
destroyed wherever they may be found.
'In consequence whereof, we command our beloved and faithful
counsellors of our parliament, our provost of Paris, and all others
our bailiffs, seneschals, provosts and officers of justice, or their
lieutenants, each and all of them to cause this our present edict to
be publicly proclaimed by sound of trumpet in the usual places where
proclamations are made, that none may plead ignorance of this our will.
And we also command, that it be publicly read by all prelates and
clergymen, or such as have usually preached to the people, that in time
to come they may not again be seduced by similar evil machinations.
'We also order, that as full obedience be paid to all copies of these
presents, sealed with our seal, as to the original. In testimony of
which, we have set our seal to these presents. Given in our great
chamber of the parliament of Paris, at a bed of justice holden the 12th
day of September, in the year 1413.
'By the king, holding his bed of justice in his court of parliament.'
Countersigned, 'Baye.'--This ordinance was, consequently, proclaimed in
Amiens[22] on the 15th day of December following.
CHAP. XXIV.
THE DUKE OF BRITTANY COMES TO PARIS.--THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY HOLDS A
COUNCIL AT LILLE.--THE ACTIONS OF THE COUNT DE ST POL,--AND OTHER
MATTERS THAT HAPPENED AT THIS TIME.
At this period, John duke of Brittany, son in law to the king, came to
Paris, with his brother the count de Richemont. The duke d'Evreux[23]
and the earl of Rutland arrived there also from England, to treat of
the marriage of their king with Catherine daughter to the king of
France, and to prevent the alliance which the duke of Burgundy was
desirous of forming between the king of England and his daughter[24].
These ambassadors, having explained to the king of France and his
ministers the cause of their coming, returned to England.
The duke of Burgundy, during this time, was holding a grand council at
Lille, which was attended by deputies from Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, the
Quatre Mestiers, and by many nobles: among the latter was count Waleran
de St Pol, constable of France, who had just concluded the negotiation
with the English at Boulogne and Leulinghen. The envoys from England
were the earl of Warwick and the bishop of St Davids, and others, who
were commissioned to treat of a truce between the two kings, which was
agreed on to last until the feast of St John the Baptist next ensuing.
The count de St Pol, when on this business, received letters from
the king of France, ordering him to come to Paris and surrender the
constable's sword. Finding that it was intended to deprive him of this
office, he came to ask advice of the duke of Burgundy, who counselled
him not to obey these orders; and in consequence, he went to his castle
of St Pol en Ternois, where his lady resided, and thence to Amiens, and
there tarried four days.
From Amiens, he sent to Paris, as ambassadors to the king of France,
his nephew the count de Conversen and the vidame of Amiens, attended by
master Robert le Jeusne, advocate at Amiens, to harangue the king on
the subject of their embassy. On their arrival, the advocate opened
his harangue in full council before the king, the chancellor and the
other members of it, saying, that the constable, the count de St Pol,
his lord and master, had never been of any party which had disturbed
the realm; that he had never raised any troops, nor had attacked any of
the king's castles, as several others had done.
When he had finished his speech, he was required to produce those
who would vouch for what he had said, as had been done in similar
cases; but the ambassadors would not support him, and he was instantly
arrested and confined in the prisons of the Châtelet, where he remained
for two days; and it was with great difficulty that the duke of Bar,
brother in law to the count de St Pol, by his entreaties, obtained his
liberty.
On Saturday, the day after the feast of St Mor[26], the count de St Pol
left Amiens, and returned dispirited and melancholy to his own county.
Other royal edicts were now published at Paris and sent to all parts
of the kingdom for proclamation, complaining of the great disorders
that had been committed in the capital by the Parisians, to the great
displeasure of the queen and the duke of Acquitaine.--I shall not
particularise these edicts, for the atrocious acts of the Parisians
have been already sufficiently declared.
Soon after these proclamations, the duke of Orleans, conformably to the
articles of the peace, demanded of the king restitution of his castles
of Pierrefons and Coucy, which the count de St Pol had refused to
surrender to him. His request was granted, and orders were sent to sir
Gasselins du Bos, bailiff of Sens, to go thither and receive the homage
due to the king,--and thus they were restored to the duke of Orleans.
On the following Saturday, the count d'Armagnac, and Clugnet de
Brabant, knight, came to Paris with a numerous company of men at arms,
and were received by the king, lords and barons, with great joy. All,
or the greater part of those who had followed the faction of the duke
of Orleans, now came to Paris,--and the affairs of the nation were
governed according to their good pleasure, for the king and the duke
of Acquitaine were at this time under their management. With regard to
the Burgundy-faction, they were kept at a distance, and could scarcely
ever obtain an audience, how high soever their rank might be, insomuch
that such as had remained in the town were forced to hold down their
heads, and to hear many things that were neither pleasant nor agreeable
to them.
FOOTNOTES: