THE KING APPOINTS THE COUNT OF DAMMARTIN GRAND MASTER OF HIS
HOUSEHOLD.--HE GOES WITH THE QUEEN TO ROUEN, WHERE HE HAD APPOINTED
THE EARL OF WARWICK TO MEET HIM.--THE DEATH OF DUKE PHILIP OF
BURGUNDY.--THE KING GOES TO CHARTRES, WHITHER HE SUMMONS SOME OF
THE PARISIANS, AND COMMANDS THEM TO HAVE BANNERS MADE ACCORDING TO
THE DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS AND TRADES.--A MONK IS MURDERED IN THE
TEMPLE.--THE QUEEN MOST HONOURABLY RECEIVED IN PARIS.
On Thursday, the 22d day of April, in this same year, Anthony de
Chabannes, count of Dammartin, who had escaped out of the bastile, and
had afterward done many mischiefs to the king's subjects in Auvergne
and elsewhere, on his arrival before Paris with the confederated
princes, was created grand master of the royal household in the room
of the lord de Croy,--and letters were granted him by the king, to
certify that the said Chabannes had sworn to serve him loyally and
faithfully against all the world.
In the month of June, the king set out from Paris for Rouen in
Normandy; and during his stay there, he sent for the earl of Warwick,
who, for some cause, had been forced to leave England. The earl landed
at Harfleur, and thence went in a boat, with his company, to the
village of La Bouille on the Seine, five leagues from Rouen. He arrived
there on Saturday, the 7th of June, in time for dinner, which he found
ready prepared for him; for the king was come thither to receive him,
and feasted him and his company very grandly. After dinner, the earl
reimbarked in his boat for Rouen, whither the king and his attendants
went by land. The inhabitants of the town went out to meet the earl as
far as the gate of the Quay St Eloy, where the king had ordered all
the parishes to give him a most honourable reception, with banners,
crosses, and holy water presented to him by the priests in their
copes. He was thus conducted in procession to the cathedral, where
he made his offering, and thence went to the lodgings that had been
prepared for him at the Jacobins.
The queen and princesses came likewise to Rouen,--and the king remained
there with the earl of Warwick the space of twelve days, when the earl
returned to England. On his departure, the king sent with him the lord
admiral, the bishop of Laon, master John Poupaincourt his minister,
master Olivier le Roux, and others. During his stay at Rouen, the king
made him many rich presents; such as pieces of gold plate, and a cup of
gold ornamented with precious stones: the lord de Bourbon presented him
also with a handsome diamond ring,--and the whole of the expenses of
himself and his attendants were defrayed by the king, from his landing
at Harfleur to his re-embarkation. The king, on his departure returned
to Chartres, where he made some stay.
In the month of June, in this year, died Philip duke of Burgundy, in
the town of Bruges: his body was afterward carried to Dijon, and
interred at the carthusian convent. But this has been fully described
in the last chapter of the chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet.
The king while at Chartres, ordered the inhabitants of Paris to have
banners made, for their respective professions and trades to range
themselves under: each banner to have a leader and a deputy-leader,
who were to have the management and care of them; and those enrolled
under their governance were to be armed in jackets, brigandines, light
helmets, and other sorts of offensive and defensive armour, according
to their several stations, as well tradesmen as officers, nobles,
merchants, churchmen, and persons of other ranks, which was done.
In this same month of June, the king summoned before him at Mellay,
near Chartres, some of the principal persons in Paris, among whom was
master John Boulenger, president in the court of parliament, master
Henry de Livres, counsellor in the said court, sir John Clerbout,
master-general of the mint, Jacques Rabours, procurator of the town
of Paris, master Eustache Milet, another counsellor in the aforesaid
court, Nicholas Laurens, Guillaume Roger, Jean de Hacqueville, and
other principal merchants, whom the king sent to his council at
Chartres, where they remained some time.
About this time, two persons, called Robert de la Motte and Jean Raoul,
had been long detained prisoners, on the accusation of a monk of Saint
Lo, at Rouen, named master Pierre le Marêchal, who had charged them,
and others, with being enemies to the king, and with having conspired
against his life. These charges he could not however, prove,--and they
were found to be nothing but lies; on which the accuser was sentenced
to death, and was accordingly drowned the 14th day of July. De la
Motte, Raoul, and the others, were acquitted, and sent to their homes.
The king, soon after this, sent an ordinance to be sealed at Paris:
it was signed Michel de Ville-Chartre: by which the king villed,
for the repeopling of Paris, which had been much depopulated by
wars, mortalities, and other events, that people of all nations and
countries might come and freely reside in that town, suburbs, and
within its jurisdiction, and enjoy all the privileges attached to the
citizens of Paris, relative to the crimes of murder, theft, and all
others, excepting that of high treason,--and during their residence
they were to bear arms for the service of the king, against all his
enemies. This was proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, in all the squares
of Paris, according to the privileges granted to such as had been
exiled to the towns of St Malo and Valenciennes.
This month, the king issued another proclamation, for all nobles
holding fiefs or arriere-fiefs, to be ready in arms; and for those in
Paris, and in the Isle of France, to be prepared on the 15th day of
August to march whithersoever he might be pleased to lead them.
On the 3rd day of August, a melancholy event happened at Paris. One
of the monks of the Temple called friar Thomas Lovecte, who was the
receiver of his house, had his throat cut by one of his brethren,
named friar Henry, in consequence of some dispute that had happened
between them. Friar Henry on committing the deed, absented himself,
and was not discovered until the 10th of that month, when, about 10
o'clock at night, an examiner at the Châtelet called master John Potin,
accompanied by three sergeants at mace, made such diligence that he
was found hid in a closet in the hôtel of St Pol at Paris, dressed
in a rocquet of white cloth, and a black hat on his head. In this
state, he was carried prisoner to the Châtelet, and thence surrendered
to the court of parliament, to which he had appealed against his
arrest,--alleging, that the place whence he had been taken was a place
of sanctuary, and claiming to be returned thither. The monks of the
Temple claimed him as a priest of their order,--and he was given up to
them and led to their prison. On the 12th of August, in the year 1467,
the grand prior of France, attended by many great lords, assembled at
the Temple to sit in judgment on friar Henry, when he was condemned to
a perpetual imprisonment in a dark dungeon, and had to be fed, so long
as he should live, on the bread of pain and water of sorrow.
At this time, the admiral, and those before mentioned, who had
accompanied the earl of Warwick to England, returned to France, after
having staid there some time and concluded nothing. The king of England
sent, however, to the king of France, presents of hunting horns,
bottles of leather, and other things, in return for the very rich
presents that had been made the earl and his attendants by the king and
other lords on his leaving Rouen.
Friday the 18th of August, the king came to Paris about eight o'clock
in the evening: he was attended by the duke of Bourbon and many other
lords. On Tuesday, the first of September, the queen arrived at Paris
by water, and landed near to the church of Nôtre Dame, where she found,
in waiting to receive her, all the presidents and counsellors of the
court of parliament, the bishop of Paris, and numbers of others of the
nobility, handsomely dressed.
Near this landing place, several rich pageants had been prepared by the
city of Paris,--and when it was known that she approached the city, a
grand procession of boats filled with the principal inhabitants, and
decorated with silks and tapestries, went out to meet her. In some
of these boats were placed choristers of the holy chapel at Paris,
who sang most melodiously certain virelays and pastorals adapted
to the occasion. There were also numbers of clarions and a band of
instrumental music, that saluted the queen and her ladies, as they
entered their boats, with a variety of melodies. The citizens had
placed in the queen's barge a beautiful stag of confectionary, having
her arms emblazoned hanging on his neck. There were likewise plenty
of salvers full of sweetmeats and fresh fruits of all sorts, with a
quantity of violets and other sweet smelling flowers scattered about
every part of the barge. Wines of different sorts were abundantly
distributed to all who pleased to partake of them.
The queen, having performed her prayers in the church of Nôtre Dame,
returned to her barge, and was rowed down the river to the gate in
front of the church of the Celestins, where she found other pageants.
Here she again landed, and, with her ladies, mounted the beautiful
hackneys and palfreys that were there, waiting for them, and rode to
the king's hôtel at the Tournelles, where, in front of the gate, was
another pageant. That night, bonfires were lighted in all the streets,
and round tables placed at different squares and open places, where
meat and drink was given to all comers.
The Thursday following, the 3rd of September, master Nicholas Balue,
brother to the bishop of Evreux was married to the daughter of sir
John Bureau, lord of Montglat. The marriage-feast was held at the
hôtel de Bourbon, and was abundantly splendid. Great honour was done
to this wedding, by the presence of the king, the queen, the duke and
duchess of Bourbon, the count de Nevers, madame de Bueil, and all their
attendants, who partook of the feast, and made them many and very rich
gifts.
The king and queen afterwards accepted of many invitations to
entertainments given by several of their courtiers. Among others, on
Thursday, the 10th of the same month, the queen, accompanied by her
sister, the lady Bona of Savoy, and the duchess of Bourbon, with other
ladies of their attendants, supped at the hôtel of master Jean Dauvet,
first president of the parliament, where most handsome preparations
were made for their reception,--and among other things were four
beautiful baths, in the expectation that the queen would bathe; but she
declined it from being unwell, and because the season was unfavourable.
In one of them, however, the duchess of Bourbon and the lady Bona
bathed, as did madame de Montglat and Perrette de Châlons, a Parisian,
in the adjoining one, and made good cheer there.