THE KING THANKS THE PARISIANS FOR THEIR LOYALTY AND COURAGE,
CONFIRMS THEIR PRIVILEGES, AND OFFERS THEM NEW ONES.--HE RESTORES
SIR ROBERT D'ESTOUTEVILLE TO THE PROVOSTSHIP OF PARIS.--HE DISPLACES
SOME AND APPOINTS OTHERS TO FILL THEIR OFFICES, AND THEN GOES TO
ORLEANS.--CHARLES, THE KING'S BROTHER, IS RECEIVED BY THE NORMANS AS
THEIR DUKE.--THE KING GOES INTO NORMANDY.--OTHER EVENTS.
The Monday following, sir Robert d'Estouteville[1], knight, lord of
Beyne, who had been provost of Paris during the former reign,--but
the king had deprived him of that office, and given it to Jacques de
Villiers, lord of l'Isle-Adam,--who was now restored by him to the
provostship. He presided this day at the town-house, and the watchword
for the night was given to him as provost of Paris.
On the Tuesday, the king supped at the town-hall, where was a handsome
service of flesh and fish,--and many of the nobility, with their
ladies, were invited to meet him. Before supper, the king addressed
some of the heads of the wards, who were come thither for the purpose,
and said, that he thanked them all, generally and individually, for
their great loyalty, and the services they had done him; that, in
return, he was disposed to do every thing possible for them; and that
as he had, during the war, remitted several imposts, which some might
think was done from the necessity he was then in for their assistance
and support, and that after a peace he would renew them, he therefore
declared that such was not his intention, for that he had, from his
great affection, freely remitted them, never to be renewed,--and that
if there were any other things they wished from him, they need only
mention them, and he would grant their requests. He added, that he
should leave in their town the lord de Beyne as their provost, to whom
they would pay the same obedience as to himself, because he had well
served him at the affair of Montlehery, and for other causes, which he
told to the provost des marchands, and to the sheriffs of the city of
Paris. He begged of them to be always true and loyal to him and to the
crown of France, without any partiality being found in their town.
This day, the natural daughter to the king was betrothed to the bastard
of Bourbon; and, after supper, dancings and other amusements took
place: the lord bastard there danced and made good cheer.
On the ensuing Monday, the 7th of November, sir Robert d'Estouteville
was conducted to the Châtelet of Paris, by sir Charles de Melun and
master John Dauvet first president of the parliament of Toulouse, whom
the king had ordered to receive the oaths of office from sir Robert,
as he had nominated him provost of Paris in the room of Jacques de
Villiers, lord of Isle-Adam, who had received the appointment on his
joyous entry into Paris, and to institute sir Robert into the same.
When the letters of his patent were read before the court of the
Châtelet, sir Robert was instituted into the office of provost, without
prejudice to any appeal from the said lord de l'Isle Adam.
When this was done, the king summoned before him the presidents
of his court of parliament, and addressed them nearly as follows:
'On my coming to the throne, I constituted sir Helie de Thorettes
first president of our court of parliament, who soon after died. Our
affections were then fixed to replace him by master John Dauvet, our
first president of our parliament of Toulouse, now present; but through
the importunities of several, and at the particular solicitation of sir
John Bureau, we appointed the president de Nanterre, who has enjoyed
the office, until the arrival of some princes of our blood before
Paris, who have remonstrated with us on various existing abuses within
our realm, and even in our court of parliament; for which, and other
causes, we declare the said de Nanterre to be no longer first president
of our said court of parliament, but do appoint, in his place, the said
master John Dauvet, to hold the same during our good pleasure.'
The next day, Saturday, sir Pierre de Morvilliers, chancellor of
France, was dismissed from that office, and sir John Juvenal des
Ursins, who had been chancellor at the time of the decease of king
Charles, was re-appointed in his stead. At the same time, sir Pierre
Puy was displaced from his office of master of requests in ordinary to
the king's household, and master Regnault des Dommans succeeded him.
The king set out for Orleans when he had made the above arrangements,
and took with him Arnoult L'Huillier, burgher and banker at Paris,
charging him expressly always to follow and be near him. He carried
also with him master John Longue-Jove, the younger, who had lately
married the damsel Genevieve, daughter to master John Baillet, and made
him of his great council. Just as he was leaving Paris, he created
master Charles d'Orgemont lord of Mery, treasurer of France, Arnoult
L'Huillier treasurer of Carcassonne, and master Pierre Ferteil, the
husband of Terteau, master of the requests of his household, but
without pay or emolument.
On the Monday following, a great comet appeared at Paris, about six in
the morning, and so resplendently bright that a man crossing the square
of the Greve at that hour, to hear the mass of the Holy Ghost, was so
frightened by it that he lost his senses and became mad.
The king's brother, as I have said, was gone into Normandy, and had
arrived at St Catherine's on the mount, near to Rouen, where he
remained some days, until the preparations making by the townsmen for
his entry into Rouen were ready. During this interval, a great quarrel
arose between the duke of Brittany and the count de Dammartin, when it
was told to the duke of Normandy, that the two said lords intended to
arrest and carry him into Brittany. Sir John de Lorraine, hearing of
this, went instantly to the town-house in Rouen, when the magistrates
ordered the inhabitants under arms; and sir John led a numerous body
of them to St Catherine's on the Mount, where admittance was at first
refused him,--but sir John, in despite of the duke of Brittany and the
count de Dammartin, and without much ceremony, made the new duke mount
a horse, that had a saddle, indeed, but no housings, and in this simple
state, with only a black velvet robe on, led him through the town of
Rouen to the church of our Lady, where 'Te Deum laudamus' was chaunted,
and thence to the castle of Rouen.
While the king resided at Orleans, he made many ordinances and
regulations for the better government of the realm, and displaced
several of his captains. Among the rest, he took from Poncet de
Riviere, the command of a hundred lances, but made him bailiff of
Montferrant; and he acted thus to many others. Poncet de Riviere, on
loosing his command, went on a voyage to Jerusalem, and thence to St
Catherine's on mount Sinai. The king re-appointed the lord de Lohéac
marshal of France, in the place of the count de Cominges, bastard of
Armagnac.
Having done this, the king left Orleans, and marched his whole army,
his franc-archers and his artillery, great and small, into Normandy,
by way of Argentan, Eynes, Falaise, Caen, and other places, to gain
possession of them. At the last town, he met the duke of Brittany, and
they were together for some time. The duke of Bourbon, in consequence
of the king's orders, had entered another part of Normandy, and came
before Evreux, which would not surrender on his first summons; but the
garrison afterward capitulated, and the duke and his men were admitted
into the town. He thence advanced to Vernon on the Seine, which also
demurred at first, but afterwards admitted him. Sir Charles de Melun,
grand master of the king's household, took possession of several towns
in Normandy, such as Gisors, Gournay, and others: he also overthrew six
score Scots, who were marching to the lord de Bueil[2] for the duke of
Normandy,--which affair took place at a village, called Cailly, in the
bailiwick of Caen.
At this time, the lord d'Esternay was general of Normandy,--but,
for fear of the king's anger, he had fled from Rouen, disguised as
a cordelier friar, in company with an augustin monk. They were met,
however, by some of the men of the grand master at Pont St Pierre, four
leagues from Rouen, who taking them prisoners, they were afterwards
searched, and much money and other precious effects found on them and
seized. The new duke of Normandy had gone from Rouen to Louviers,
expecting to meet the duke of Bourbon; but being disappointed, he
instantly returned to Rouen,--when the principal persons conducted
him to the town-house, and invested him with the duchy, by placing a
ring (as was customary) on his finger, and he promised to preserve and
defend all their rights and privileges. He, at the same time, reduced
the taxes they had paid before his investiture to one-half, and the
whole assembly of clergy, nobles, and populace swore obedience to him,
and to support him, as his loyal subjects, to the last drop of their
blood.
They then caused to be read to him aloud an extract from an old
chronicle preserved in the town-house, which contained in substance,
that there was formerly a king of France who left two sons on his
decease, the eldest of whom succeeded to his throne, and the younger
had for his appanage the duchy of Normandy, which his brother wanted
to annex to his crown, and great wars ensued. The Normans, however, so
successfully supported their duke that the king was forced into exile,
and the duke was crowned in his stead.
After this had been read, they told him not to be uneasy at any thing,
for that henceforward the townsmen would supply him with so many
engines of war, and other means of defence, that no harm should come to
him or to their town.