THE PARISIANS ARE REVIEWED BY THE KING.--OF THE ARRAGONIAN
AMBASSADORS.--A CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE KING AND THE CONSTABLE.--A
TRUCE WITH THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.--OTHER EVENTS.--THE DUKE OF ALENÇON
CONDEMNED TO BE BEHEADED AT PARIS.--THE KING TAKES POSSESSION OF
ANJOU.--THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY BESIEGES NUYS[48].--HE TAKES SEVERAL
TOWNS, NOTWITHSTANDING THE TRUCE BETWEEN THE KING AND HIMSELF.
The king ordered a review of the Parisians on Saturday the 20th of
April. They were drawn up from the bastile of St Anthony, along the
ditches, to the tower of Billy,--and thence, in battle-array, to
the Grange aux Merciers: there was another division formed on the
opposite side of the town. They made a brilliant and formidable
appearance,--for the whole number was estimated at one hundred and four
thousand men, all in uniforms, with red hoods and white crosses. A
large train of artillery was also drawn out of Paris, which added much
to the beauty of the spectacle.
The king was accompanied at this review by the arragonian ambassadors,
who were astonished at the numbers of men under arms that Paris alone
had sent forth. The king was attended by his guards, the gentlemen of
his household, the count de Dammartin in great pomp, Philip of Savoy
count of Bresse, the lord du Perche, Salazart, and several other
captains and gentlemen of renown. After the review, the king went
to Vincennes to supper, taking with him the arragonian embassy; and
shortly after, he gave to the two principal ambassadors two cups of
fine gold, embossed with figures, which weighed forty marcs, and had
cost three thousand two hundred crowns of gold.
The king left Paris for Senlis, where he made some stay; and during
that time two embassies came to him, one from Brittany and another from
Germany,--the chief of which last was the duke of Bavaria. With the
embassy from Brittany came Philip des Essars, lord of Thieux, master of
the household to the duke of Brittany, who had been very active against
the king. He was, however, kindly received by him, presented with ten
thousand crowns, and appointed general inquisitor and inspector of
waters and forests in Champagne and Brie,--which office the lord de
Châtillon had held, but it was taken from him to be given to Philip des
Essars.
While the king was at Senlis, Ermenonville, and other places in that
district, an embassy arrived from the duke of Burgundy, which remained
long, but concluded nothing. The king then departed for Compiégne,
Noyon, and divers places thereabout,--when a meeting was appointed
between him and the constable, to settle some differences between them,
near a village[49], where a bridge was thrown over a river, and each
had a large party of guards for his personal security. Their mutual
accusations were discussed, and particularly the capture the constable
had made, by force, of St Quentin, by driving thence the lord de Creton
and his garrison,--which had greatly angered the king, who, for this
reason, had stopped the payments due to the constable's troop of four
hundred lances, for the months of April, May, and June.
After a long conversation, the king ordered the arrears of pay to be
made good, and continued as before, and they parted good friends.
Peace was likewise made between the constable and the count de
Dammartin,--and the king, on his going away, freely pardoned the
constable, who promised and swore never to commit any more faults, but
to serve him henceforward faithfully against all, without any exception
whatever.
During this period, the king passed some time at Senlis, Ermenonville,
Pont St Maixence, and other places near. He went almost daily to the
abbey de la Victoire, to adore the statue of the Virgin, which was
there in great request,--and in honour to her, made the prior very rich
gifts, in money, to the amount of ten thousand golden crowns. This
year, from his singular love to his people, and his wish to avoid the
shedding of human blood, he agreed to a truce with his adversary the
duke of Burgundy for one year, to expire the first of April in the year
1475; although several embassies had come from the emperor of Germany,
humbly to desire that he would not conclude any truce, for that he
would reduce the duke by force of arms to sue for his mercy,--and that
whatever conquests the emperor should make, he would give to the king,
without his putting himself to the smallest cost. Notwithstanding these
flattering proposals, the king assented to a truce with the duke of
Burgundy, to the great displeasure of all his good and loyal subjects.
The Burgundians, nevertheless, and in contempt of the truce, at first
committed many outrages on the king's territories and subjects, without
making any reparation; and it was scandalous thus to see a vassal
of the king injure, with impunity, the country and subjects of his
sovereign lord.
In the beginning of July, the king returned to Paris, but only lay
there one night. On the morrow, he went to the church of Nôtre Dame,
and thence to the holy chapel in the palace. He dined in the apartments
of master John de Ladriesche, president of the chamber of accounts,
in the conciergerie of the palace; and about four in the afternoon he
embarked in a boat at the point of the palace, and went to the tower of
Nesle, where he mounted his horse and rode to Chartres, Amboise,--and
thence to Nôtre Dame de Behuart, in Poitou.
In this year, the king sent a very large army, with franc-archers and
others, and a considerable train of artillery to conquer the kingdom
of Arragon. Prayers were offered up that God would give them grace
to behave well, and return in health; for it was commonly said, that
Arragon was the churchyard of Frenchmen.
Monday, the 18th day of July, the duke d'Alençon was brought before
the court of Parliament,--when the chancellor, master Pierre d'Oriole,
recapitulated his former crimes, and the sentence that had been passed
upon him by the court held at Vendôme, under the late king Charles,
(whose soul may God pardon!) and the grace the present king had shown
him, not only by granting him his life, but his liberty and estates,
for which favours he had shown the blackest ingratitude. The present
accusations were then brought forward, when he was found guilty of
high treason, and condemned by the chancellor to be beheaded at Paris,
saving the good pleasure of the king to order otherwise; and all his
effects, hereditary and acquired, were confiscated to the king's use.
The duke, having heard his sentence, was led back to his prison in the
Louvre, under the guard of sir Denis Hesselin, sir James Hesselin his
brother, sir John de Harclay, commander of the night-guard in Paris,
and others appointed by the king for this purpose.
When this affair was finished, the king went toward Angers, and
took possession of that town and all other places and lordships in
Anjou belonging to the king of Sicily, for certain reasons moving
him thereto; and the government and administration of them was given
to master Guillaume de Cerisay, greffier civil in the court of
parliament. The king then returned through Beauce to Chartres, and to
Bois-de-Malesherbes, where he staid a long time, hunting stags, wild
boars, and other beasts, of which he found such plenty that he was very
fond of this part of his kingdom; although otherwise, it is but a poor
country.
On the king's departure, he went to Pont de Chamois, the residence of
the lord de Beaujeu, were he remained until the 6th of October, and
thence went to Montereau-faut-Yonne. During his absence, the members of
his grand council went daily to Pont de Chamois.
The duke of Burgundy had now declared war against the Germans, and
had marched an army to lay siege to Nuys, a good town near Cologne,
on the Rhine, where he and his army remained long. The king sent an
embassy into Brittany, composed of the chancellor, Philip des Essars,
and others, who on their return, brought with them sir Pierre de
Morvilliers, formerly chancellor of France, who had attached himself
to the late duke of Guienne, and on his death had sought an asylum in
Brittany.
The Burgundians, notwithstanding the truce, took the city of Verdun, in
Lorraine, of which the king was protector; and to recover it, he sent
thither three hundred lances, and four thousand franc-archers, under
the command of the lord de Craon, and others. The Burgundians took also
by storm a town in the Nivernois called Molins en Gibers, whither,
likewise, the king sent men at arms and artillery. The Burgundians,
however, regardless of the truce, never failed, when any favourable
opportunities offered, to oppress the subjects, towns, and countries of
the king of France.