THE SIEGE OF PERPIGNAN.--THE DUKE OF ALENÇON DETAINED PRISONER IN
THE LOUVRE.--THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF CALABRIA.--THE EXECUTION OF
JOHN HARDY FOR INTENDING TO POISON THE KING.--EDICTS FROM THE KING
RESPECTING THE GENS D'ARMES AND THE COIN.--AN EMBASSY FROM THE KING OF
ARRAGON.--OTHER EVENTS IN THIS YEAR.
About the end of April, in the year 1473, the king of Arragon made an
attack on the town of Perpignan, and gained it from the lord du Lau,
who had the guard of it; but the castle remained unconquered,--and the
garrison held it for the king of France a long time after the capture
of the town.
When Lectoure had been destroyed, the king ordered the army to
Perpignan, in which were besieged the king of Arragon and his son.
With the nobles and captains of this army was the cardinal of Alby who
behaved himself most prudently and courageously. This siege lasted
long, even until the month of June,--when the king, to hasten it, sent
thither a reinforcement of four hundred lances from Amiens and the
adjacent towns, together with a large train of artillery and cannoniers.
The duke of Alençon, who had been confined in the castle of Loches,
was brought to Paris, and arrived at the castle of the Louvre between
nine and ten at night, the 16th day of June. He disembarked from the
boats that had brought him from Corbeil, under the guard of the lord
de Gaucourt and the lord de la Chaloterie, master of the household to
the king, having with them fifty archers of the guards, and twenty-four
gentlemen of the household. When they had left him in the castle
of the Louvre, they all returned to the king, except the lord de la
Chaloterie, who had the care of him,--and he was guarded by the archers
of the town of Paris. The first night, he was lodged at the Silver
Lion, in the street of St Honoré: and the following day, which was
Corpus-Christi-day, he was brought back to the Louvre at the same hour,
between nine and ten in the evening.
During this long siege of Perpignan, the king's troops had suffered
greatly from the excessive heats, and from want of provisions,--which
made them agree to a truce, for a short time, with the besieged, when
each party was supplied as to their greatest wants. In this interval
the king sent another reinforcement of men at arms, artillery and
provisions, under the command of the lord de Gaucourt. He also ordered
master John Bouvré and the banker of the treasury to buy up all the
provisions they could lay hands on, and send them to Perpignan.
About this time, in the month of July, died the last born child of
the king, called the lord Francis duke of Berry. The king was so much
grieved that for six hours no one dared to speak to him.
In this same month, the duke of Calabria died of the plague, in his
duchy of Lorraine. Immediately after his decease, news was brought,
that a german, the commander of the late duke's forces, had taken
prisoner the count de Vaudemont heir to the duchy of Lorraine, with
the avowal and by the instigation of the duke of Burgundy. In order
to obtain the count de Vaudemont's liberty, a youth, nephew to the
emperor of Germany, and then a student at Paris, was arrested by way of
reprisal, and as an hostage for the count's safety. A conference was
appointed to be holden this month at Senlis, between commissioners from
the king and the duke of Burgundy, to settle their differences.
The king sent thither the count de Dammartin, who went in great pomp,
the lord chancellor, the lord de Craon, the first president of the
parliament of Paris, master Guillaume de Cerisay, and master Nicholas
Bataille, who after remaining there until the middle of August,
returned without having done any thing.
At this period, the duke of Burgundy marched an army into Guelderland,
to subdue and take possession of it.
On the 8th of August, as the king was coming out of the castle of
Alençon, by accident a very large stone fell from the battlements on
his sleeve: he narrowly escaped being killed by it, but was saved by
his confidence in God, and the blessed Virgin Mary, in whom he put his
whole trust.
The commissioners from the king and the dukes of Burgundy and Brittany
now left Senlis without having accomplished any of the points they had
met on.
In regard to the weather of this year, it was exceedingly hot from the
month of June to December, more so than had been felt in the memory of
any man living,--which caused the wines to be of such bad qualities
that quantities were thrown away,--and there was not any frost until
after Candlemas-day.
As there were now reports, that the Burgundians were marching
for Lorraine and the Barrois, the king sent thither five hundred
lances, under the command of the lord de Craon, whom he made his
lieutenant-general. He also ordered the nobles from the Isle of France
and Normandy, with the franc-archers cantoned in divers parts of
Champagne, to advance toward Lorraine, where they remained for more
than two months, and then returned without having seen the enemy.
The duke of Burgundy brought the emperor of Germany to Luxembourg,
whence he went to the town of Metz, to exhort the inhabitants to admit
the duke of Burgundy and his forces: but as they refused to comply, he
returned to Luxembourg and thence into Germany.
At this time, the duke of Burgundy sent to Venice to negotiate a loan,
that he might subsidize, for three months, six hundred lances from that
country. These troops passed through the duchy of Milan, and proceeded
to the upper parts of Burgundy, to form a junction with the subjects of
the said duke, whose army was not sufficiently strong to meet that of
the king which lay upon his frontiers. The king now married his eldest
daughter[46], whom he had promised to the late duke of Calabria, to the
lord de Beaujeu, brother to the duke of Bourbon. The Burgundians, by
treason and otherwise, suddenly invaded the country of the Nivernois,
and took several towns belonging to the count de Nevers, such as La
Roche, Châtillon, and others.
The king's commissioners, who had before been at Senlis, now went to
Compiégne, in expectation of meeting those from Burgundy, who had
promised to come thither; but after waiting some time in vain, they
returned to Paris, and went thither again on the 15th of January. It
was now currently reported, that the duke of Burgundy, seeing he could
not by open force destroy the kingdom of France, notwithstanding all
the pains he had taken to accomplish it, had formed a conspiracy to
poison the king; in which business he employed a person called master
Ythier Marchant, who had been a servant to the late duke of Guienne,
and another called John Hardy, servant to this Ythier, who, after the
death of the duke of Guienne, had sought protection from the duke of
Burgundy.
John Hardy undertook to manage this affair, and consequently, the
poisons, were delivered to him, with promises of great wealth on his
success: at the same time, fifty thousand crowns were paid him down,
for him to distribute among such as he should judge able to, assist
him. He had also money given him for his expenses; and this madman,
Hardy, not having the fear of God before his eyes, nor foreseeing, that
had his plot succeeded, (which, thanks to God, it did not) the whole
of the noble realm of France would have been destroyed, set out on his
journey to the place of the king's residence.
On his arrival at Amboise, forgetting that the king had formerly kindly
received him and given him great sums of money, in order to execute
his damnable enterprise, he addressed himself to a person who had the
charge of making sauces in the royal kitchen, with whom Hardy was
acquainted during the time they were both in the service of the duke
of Guienne. Hardy communicated to him his plan, and offered him twenty
thousand crowns if he would assist him to accomplish it. The saucemaker
listened to him, but said he could not engage in the business without
the consent of Colinet, the king's head cook, who had likewise been in
the same service with themselves. He promised to mention the matter to
Colinet, and urge him to join them,--but desired Hardy to give him the
poisons to show the head cook. Soon after, the saucemaker and head cook
having discussed the business together, went and informed the king of
the plot, who was very much alarmed, but most honourably and handsomely
rewarded them for having discovered it. John Hardy had set out for
Paris, but was instantly followed and overtaken near Estampes, where he
was arrested and brought back to the king, who interrogated him, and
had him examined by others, as to the charges made against him,--all of
which he confessed to be true.
To make the matter public, and that his trial might have the greater
notoriety, the king set out from Amboise for Chartres, Meulanc, Creil,
and other places in the Beauvoisis, followed by Hardy, chained with
heavy irons, in a low cart, under the guard of John Blosset, esquire,
captain of one hundred archers of the dauphin's guard, fifty of whom
always surrounded the cart. Thus guarded, he was sent to Paris, to be
delivered up to the provost and sheriffs, where he arrived on Thursday
the 20th day of January, about three o'clock in the afternoon; when sir
Denis Hesselin, the provost, and others, went out to receive him in
the suburbs, beyond the gate of St Denis. With sir Denis were the four
sheriffs, their officers and great crowds of people, and the archers of
the town in handsome array.
Hardy was placed on a high chair in the middle of the cart, that he
might be seen by the populace, who were strictly forbidden to abuse
him by words or deeds. Thus was he conducted along the great street of
St Denis, to the town-house, when he was delivered up, by John Blosset,
to the provost and sheriffs, under whose guard the king had ordered him
to be placed, that they might have the honour of trying and executing
him.
While the king was at Creil, he issued an edict respecting the gens
d'armes of his realm, by which he declared that each lanceman should
not have more than six horses,--namely, three horses for himself, his
page and his armour-bearer; the two archers have two horses, and one
for the varlet; but they were no longer to have panniers to carry
their arms. They were not to remain longer than one day in any village
when on their march. And proclamation was made to forbid all merchants
from selling or affording to any of the gens d'armes cloths of silk or
camlets, on pain of forfeiting the money these gens d'armes might give
or owe for them; and no woollen cloths were to be sold them of a higher
price than thirty-two sols parisis the ell.
At the same time, he issued another edict touching the coin, and
ordered the grands blancs to be exchanged for eleven deniers although
before they had only been worth ten deniers,--the targes, eleven
deniers tournois, that had been worth twelve,--the crown, thirty sols
three deniers tournois; and so on with the rest, for the whole value of
the coin was changed.
On the 20th of January, a reconciliation took effect between the king
and the constable. He had possessed himself of the town of St Quentin,
and driven out the lord de Creton, who there commanded one hundred
lances for the king. By this reconciliation, the constable remained not
only master, as before, of St Quentin, but the town of Meaux and other
places were given up to him, of which he had before been deprived.
Commissioners were also appointed to inquire after those who had spoken
disrespectfully of the constable relative to his taking St Quentin,
that they might be brought to punishment. Money was likewise given him
for the pay of his troops, which was the means of preventing his town
of St Quentin from being taken.
The king about this time, left Amboise for Senlis, where he remained
while his commissioners and those from Burgundy were labouring to
bring about a peace. At length, the truce was prolonged to the middle
of the ensuing May, in the expectation of a more lasting agreement
being concluded before then. The king went from Senlis to Ermenonville
in Santerre, belonging to master Pierre L'Orfevre, counsellor in the
chamber of accounts where he staid a month,--during which time, the
duke of Bourbon, whom the king had repeatedly sent for, came at last,
but did not remain more than ten or twelve days, and returned, with the
king's leave, to his own country, to celebrate Easter, promising to
come back the Sunday after Easter which he did.
On the 30th of March, John Hardy, before mentioned, was condemned by
the court of parliament to be taken to the gate of the prisons of
the Conciergerie, and there put into a tumbrel and drawn before the
town-house, where a scaffold had been erected for the quartering
of his body, according to the sentence, which was executed. His
head, placed on the point of a lance, was to remain in front of the
town-house, and his four quarters were sent to four of the principal
towns, at the extremities of the kingdom,--on each of which an
inscription was to be put, declaring the cause why they were thus
placed,--and the body was ordered to be burnt, and reduced to cinders
at the place of execution. All the houses of the said John Hardy,
particularly that in which he had been born, were to be razed to the
ground, and no buildings were to be thereon erected in future; an
inscription was also to be placed on the spot, declaratory of the
enormity of the offence, and why these buildings had been destroyed.
Hardy was executed in the presence of the lord de Gaucourt, king's
lieutenant, the first president of the parliament Boulenger, the two
provosts, and sheriffs, and other principal persons of the town; and
he had a celebrated doctor in divinity, called doctor Hue, assigned
to him for the care of his soul. On the Saturday following, the head
of Hardy, which had been placed on a lance before the town-house, was
taken down, nobody knew how, and thrown into a cellar hard by.
This day, a handsome embassy came to Paris from the king of Arragon,
and was honourably received there by the count de Penthievre[47], the
lord de Gaucourt and others, who feasted them well in divers parts of
Paris until Palm Sunday, when their festivities ceased on account of
the approaching Passion-week. The king arrived at Paris after Easter,
the 16th day of April, in the year 1474.