THE KING OF FRANCE OBTAINS INDULGENCES FOR THOSE WHO SHALL SAY AVE
MARIA THREE TIMES.--THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF PARIS.--OF THE DUKE OF
CALABRIA.--THE ROOF OF NÔTRE DAME OF CLERY BURNT.--THE DEATH OF THE
DUKE OF GUIENNE.--A TRUCE WITH THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.--OF THE SIEGE
AND ATTACK OF BEAUVAIS.--THE TOWNSMEN OF AUXERRE DEFEATED.--DIFFERENT
EDICTS PUBLISHED AT PARIS.--ACCUSATIONS MADE AGAINST THE
CONSTABLE.--PARIS AND ORLEANS SEND SUPPLIES TO BEAUVAIS.
On the first of May, in this year, a general procession was made to the
church of Nôtre Dame in Paris, where a solemn sermon was preached by a
doctor in divinity, called master Peter Brete, a native of Tours, who
declared, among other things, the king's singular confidence in the
blessed Virgin; and he entreated his audience, and the inhabitants of
Paris, in his majesty's name, that henceforward, when they should hear
the great bell of the church toll at midday, they would fall on their
knees, and repeat three Ave Marias for the welfare of the kingdom of
France.
Not long after this procession, master John Chartier, bishop of
Paris, was taken suddenly ill and died the same day. His loss was
much regretted, for he was a devout and good man, and very learned.
The episcopal palace was crowded with the populace of Paris, to see
his body, which lay in state in the great hall, where they piteously
lamented him, and prayed for the salvation of his soul; on going away,
the greater part kissed his hands and feet, firmly believing him to
be a saint and well beloved by God. On the 15th of May, the king sent
letters to the provost and sheriffs, to declare, that the bishop,
during his life-time, had been his enemy, and kept up an intelligence
with the duke of Burgundy and the confederate princes when before
Paris, and had practised with the inhabitants to favour them. For these
causes, he willed, that an epitaph be placed on his tomb, declaratory
of his conduct toward his king, which the aforementioned officers
ordered to be written for the purpose of being thereon affixed.
The truce between France and Burgundy, which would have expired on
the 4th of May, was prolonged until the 15th of the ensuing month of
June. In the month of May, the duke of Calabria, nephew to the king of
Jerusalem and Sicily, whom the king had honoured by promising him his
eldest daughter in marriage, went from his duchy of Lorraine to the
duke of Burgundy, to treat of a marriage with the duke's daughter, thus
leaving the daughter of the king,--which astonished every one, that
he should thus falsify his faith by neglecting a princess of France,
to seek to unite himself with a daughter of Burgundy, a subject and
vassal to the king of France. Prior to this, the duke of Burgundy had
made a severe war on France, in favour of the duke of Guienne, and
under pretence of giving him his daughter in marriage,--which he never
accomplished, but acted quite contrary, and abused many others, under
shadow of giving them his daughter.
On the 14th of May, an unfortunate accident happened to the church of
Nôtre Dame of Clery, near Orleans, which the king had lately rebuilt,
and covered with a handsome roof of carpentry, slates, and lead. A
plumber at work on the roof had inadvertently come down leaving a fire,
which had served to heat his soldering irons, unextinguished, which
being blown by the wind, set the wood on fire, and the whole was burnt
to the ground.
The king received, this day, certain intelligence by the lord de
Malicorne, a confidential servant to the duke of Guienne, that his
brother was dead, at Bordeaux. The lord de Craon, master Pierre
d'Oriole, master Olivier le Roux, with other ambassadors to the duke of
Burgundy, now returned, to inform the king what they had done, and of
the truce they had prolonged to the 15th of June. During the truce, the
duke, nevertheless, took the field with his army, and posted his park
of artillery between Arras and Bapaumes, at a place called Hubuterne,
in Artois.
The king, in consequence of the death of his brother being confirmed,
departed from Plessis, near Tours, and proceeded toward Guienne, and
appointed new officers in La Rochelle, St Jean d'Angeli, Bordeaux,
and other places. He made the lord de Beaujeu, brother to the duke of
Bourbon, governor of the duchy of Guienne.
The duke of Burgundy, still persevering in his wickedness, and mad
attempts against France, sent his army before the town of Nesle[38],
in which was captain for the king one called the Petit Picard, having
under him five hundred franc-archers from the Isle of France. They
endeavoured to gain it by storm, and make several furious attacks,
but were gallantly opposed by Picard and his companions. The next
day, about five in the morning, Picard, in company with the countess
of Nesle, issued out of the town to meet the bastard of Burgundy, who
commanded the army, and endeavoured to conclude a treaty.
But the bastard would only consent to the following terms of
capitulation,--namely, that Picard and his men should be allowed to
march away in safety, on surrendering the place, but leaving behind
their arms and baggage. On Picard's return to Nesle, he told the
franc-archers of the terms he had obtained; but though their lives were
spared, they were to leave their horses, arms and baggage; when some of
them immediately pulled off their armour, even before the terms were
signed,--and, in this interval, the townsmen admitted the Burgundians,
who notwithstanding the capitulation, charged these disarmed archers,
and murdered all they could. A party fled for safety to the church of
Nesle, but were followed by the Burgundians, and barbarously put to
death. When this slaughter had been completed, the duke of Burgundy
arrived, on horseback, and entered the church, which was half a foot
deep of blood, from the poor creatures who there lay naked and dead. On
looking around, he said, it was a fine sight! and he was glad to have
with him such excellent butchers!!
The ensuing day, Saturday the 13th, the petit Picard and others that
had been made prisoners, were ordered by the duke to be hanged,--and
the town was razed and set on fire. On the morrow, the burgundian
army marched from before Nesle to Roye, wherein were fourteen hundred
of the company, and under the command of Pierre Aubert, bailiff of
Melun and Nugnon. There were also other captains, such as Loiset de
Belagny governor of Beauvais, the lord de Mouy, the lord de Rubempré,
having full two hundred lances, well appointed. But notwithstanding
the fortifications had lately been repaired and strengthened by the
king, and the town well victualled, with plenty of artillery on the
walls, they surrendered on the 16th, with the loss of all their horses,
armour, baggage and artillery, to the detriment of the king of more
than one hundred thousand golden crowns. They were obliged to march out
naked all but their purpoints, with wands in their hands,--and the duke
remained there a long time.
The duke marched from Roye, to lay siege to Beauvais, and arrived
before it on the 27th of June, when he instantly began to attack it.
In the course of that night, Guillaume de la Vallée, lieutenant to the
seneschal of Normandy, entered the town with two hundred lances, which
greatly succoured the garrison and inhabitants, for he arrived very
opportunely as the Burgundians were recommencing their attack,--when,
mounting the walls, they made them to retreat. On the morrow, there
arrived, the lord de Crussol, Joachim Rohault, the company of the lord
de Bueil, Guevin le Groing, the lord de Torcy, and other nobles from
Normandy, to the amount of more than three hundred lances. They made
a vigorous defence, and were strongly supported by the city of Paris,
who sent thither a body of pioneers, with pickaxes, shovels, flour,
wine, gunpowder, and plenty of all sorts of stores, which were of great
relief to those in the town. Several sallies and skirmishes took place
before the town, in which many Burgundians were killed and wounded.
At this time, a number of the inhabitants of Auxerre sallied out
of their town on a foraging party, to collect cattle and whatever
else they should find in the countries attached to the king, for
the victualling of Auxerre, and advanced as far as Joigny, and
Seignelay[39]. The bastard of Seignelay, the lord de Plancy, and
others, to the number of three hundred, took the field to fight
them,--and they no sooner came in sight than these gentlemen charged
them so vigorously that eight score were killed, and four score made
prisoners; the rest escaped by flight, or were drowned.
As the Burgundians had approached so near to Paris as Beauvais[40],
sir Denis Hesselin, pantler to the king and provost of the merchants,
made great preparations against them,--such as repairing the walls and
the battlements, cutting deep and wide trenches, having the chains to
barricade the streets in good order, walling up some of the gates,
strengthening others, and causing abundance of cannon to be prepared.
On the 2d of July, the lord de Rubempré, arrived at Paris from
Beauvais, with letters from the captains in that town to the lord
de Gaucourt, lieutenant for the king in Paris, and to the provosts
and sheriffs, to inform them, that there was such scarcity in the
burgundian camp that a loaf of bread, worth two farthings in Beauvais,
was of the value of three sols parisis to the enemy; and that the duke
of Burgundy was in such despair that he had determined to gain the
town or lose the greater part of his army. They therefore desired that
there might be sent them, without delay, small artillery, cross-bows,
and provision,--all of which was done, under the conduct of the bastard
de Rochechouart, lord of Meru, who carried thither sixty cross-bowmen,
cross-bows, artillery and provisions, from Paris.
About seven in the morning of the 9th of July, after the duke of
Burgundy had kept up a brisk fire, from his artillery, against the
walls of Beauvais, at the gate of the general hospital, a large
detachment entered the ditches with faggots, and other materials,
to fill them, and erected their ladders against the wall near the
hospital-gate, which they vigorously attacked. The guard of this gate
was intrusted to the care of sir Robert d'Estouteville lord of Beine,
and provost of Paris, who with his company behaved themselves most
gallantly. This attack lasted from seven in the morning until near
eleven in the forenoon; and the Burgundians were so roughly treated
that, including those thrown down from the walls, killed and wounded,
their loss amounted from fifteen to sixteen hundred men: it would have
been much more considerable, if the besieged could have made a sally;
but all the gates on the side of the enemy's camp were walled up.
This was a great vexation to those nobles, and valiant captains, in
the town,--such as the count de Dammartin, Joachim Rohault, marshal
of France, Salazart, Guillaume de la Valleé, Mery de Coué, Guerin le
Groing, the lord de Beine, the brothers de Torcy, and several more, who
had under their command from fourteen to fifteen thousand combatants.
During this attack, through the mercy of God, only three or four of the
royalists were slain, and it was said that this was owing to their own
rashness. And although the burgundian artillery kept up a continued
fire until the 9th of July, not more than four persons were killed by
it. On the day succeeding this attack, sir Denis Hesselin sent from
Paris to Beauvais, by daybreak, a fresh supply of arrows, cross-bows,
gunpowder, and surgeons to attend the wounded.
Saturday the 21st day of July, a messenger of the king's household was
confined in the prison of the Châtelet for having published in several
parts of Paris, that the constable had drawn out of Beauvais the
principal captains, under pretence of holding a council to consider on
the means of defending that town, during which the burgundian army had
been well victualled, which would not have happened if these captains
had been left in Beauvais. This charge was highly offensive to the
constable; and on his complaining thereof, the messenger was, by the
king's orders, delivered into the hands of master Miles, usher of the
household to the constable, and conducted to him, to make good his
accusations against him.
The besieged in Beauvais made a deep trench, on the day after the late
attack, to enable them to sally out undiscovered,--by which means,
Salazart and others of his company, one morning at daybreak, entered
the enemy's camp, and killed all they met. They burnt three tents, and
all within them. In one were slain two persons of rank, although they
offered a large sum for their ransoms. The alarm being now spread, and
the shouting of 'Salazart for ever!' having roused the Burgundians, it
was necessary for him to retreat toward Beauvais; but in doing so, he
carried off some handsome artillery, particularly some mortars that had
done much mischief to the town,--and as they were heavy, they threw
them into the ditch. They brought into the town two fine serpentines
and a large brass cannon, called One of the Twelve Peers, which the
king had lost at the battle of Montlehery.
Salazart was very closely pursued, and much beaten and wounded; and
though his horse had suffered greatly from the pikes of the Flemings
it carried him into Beauvais, when it dropped down dead. From this
sally to the 21st, nothing material occurred,--when the inhabitants of
Orleans sent, by way of Paris, to Beauvais one hundred tuns of wine
from their vineyards, as a present to the lords and the garrison, to
invigorate them against the Burgundians. They sent thither, at the same
time, large supplies of arrows, cross-bows, and gunpowder, under the
escort of some of the burghers of Orleans.