THE KING OF FRANCE RECOVERS THE DUCHY OF NORMANDY FROM HIS BROTHER,
CHARLES DUKE OF BERRY.--THE LORD D'ESTERNAY IS DROWNED, AND SEVERAL
OFFICERS IN NORMANDY ARE EXECUTED OR BANISHED.--THE DUKE OF BERRY
LEAVES NORMANDY.--AND SIR JOHN DE LORRAINE, THINKING TO FOLLOW HIM, IS
MADE PRISONER AND CARRIED TO THE KING.
On Monday, the last day but one of December, the king of France,
returning from lower Normandy, came to Pont Audemer, and thence to la
Champagne du Neufbourg, near Conches. He sent the duke of Bourbon to
Louviers,--and on the first of January, that town submitted to the duke
of Bourbon for the king. This same day the king entered it, in the
afternoon when the lord d'Esternay was brought him by the men of the
grand master,--and he was immediately after drowned in the river Eure,
and the augustin monk with him, by the officer of the provost-marshal.
The body of the lord d'Esternay was afterwards taken out of the river,
and buried in the church of our Lady at Louviers, where his obsequies
were performed.
At this period, very many officers of Normandy, were executed or
drowned by the provost-marshal, on account of their having interfered
in the dissensions between the king and his brother. On the king's
departure from Louviers, he laid siege to the town of Pont de l'Arche,
four leagues distant from Rouen; and on the 6th of January it was
proclaimed in Paris, that all purveyors, who had been accustomed to
supply the army with provisions, should repair thither instantly with
forage,--and, also, that the pioneers should make themselves ready to
march from Pont de l'Arche on the morrow, under the command of sir
Denis Giber, one of the four sheriffs of Paris who had been appointed
to conduct them.
On the Wednesday, a detachment of the king's army, that had gone on a
foraging party, took four men at arms belonging to the duke of Berry,
but who had formerly belonged to the king. One was called le Petit
Bailiff, and had been in the company of Joachim Rohault marshal of
France, and an accomplice in the betraying Pontoise to the Bretons.
When brought before the king, they were ordered to be beheaded
instantly; but they offered, on their lives being spared, to cause Pont
de l'Arche to be surrendered,--and as the duke of Bourbon and other
lords seconded their offer, the king pardoned them.
This same day, the king entered Pont de l'Arche with his army, the
garrison having retreated from the town into the castle: among them was
master John Hebert, superintendant of the french finances. Three days
after, the castle likewise surrendered to the king.
In consequence of these surrenders to the king, the town of Rouen sent
a deputation to request a conference,--which deputation laid every
thing that had been done amiss to the charge of the dukes of Brittany
and Bourbon. Their commissioners at the conference made several
requests and remonstrances, insisting, among other things, that the
king should declare himself satisfied with them, notwithstanding any
acts to the contrary, and that he would not only grant them his full
pardon, but similar franchises to those he had lately granted to Paris.
They made many other demands, to all of which the king said he would
consider on them. While this was going on, several of the king's army
passed and repassed into the town without interruption.
The duke of Berry, in the mean time, quitted Rouen, in company with
several of his friends, and went to Honnefleur and Caen, where he
remained some time. John lord of Lorraine thought also to escape into
Flanders; but he was met by a party of the king's army, who made him
prisoner, and brought him to the king.
On the departure of the duke of Berry, the town of Rouen surrendered
to the king, who, having displaced the greater part of the officers
in Normandy, appointed others in their places. He disbanded his franc
archers, giving them leave of absence until the first day of the
ensuing month of March, and sent back his artillery to Paris: he
himself took the road toward lower Normandy, and to St Michael's Mount.
At this time, Anthony de Chabannes, count de Dammartin, (of whom
mention has been often made) accompanied the king, and had the command
of one hundred lances of the gens d'armes, which sir Charles de Melun
had before had. The king also deprived sir Charles of his office of
grand master of the household, and gave it to the lord de Craon,
although many persons were of opinion that sir Charles had well served
the king, and done him many considerable services,--more especially by
his great prudence and activity in the guard of Paris, while the king
was absent in the Bourbonnois; for it was observed, that had he not
been as diligent as he was, the king and kingdom would have suffered
much more. While the king was thus employed, he made an exchange
with the count de Dammartin for a castle he had in Gascony called
Blancaffort; for which he gave him, in sovereignty, all the rights
and royalties in the towns of Gonesse, Gournay sur Marne, and Crecy in
Brie,--and gave orders for his parliament to annex them, in perpetuity,
to his said county of Dammartin.
At this same time, the king commanded that the fortress of Chaumont sur
Loire, which belonged to sir Pierre d'Amboise, lord of Chaumont, should
be set on fire, and razed to the ground, which was done.
Monday, the 4th of February, Gauvain Manniel, who had been
lieutenant-general of the bailiff of Rouen, was arrested in that town,
and carried prisoner to Pont de l'Arche,--where, by orders of the
marshals, a scaffold had been erected, on which the said Gauvain was
beheaded for certain crimes laid to his charge. His head was placed
on a lance on the said bridge, and his body thrown into the river
Seine. At the same time, the dean of the cathedral of Rouen and six of
the canons were expelled the town, and banished out of the duchy of
Normandy.