THE KING OF FRANCE PRESENTS RICH GIFTS TO SEVERAL CHURCHES.--A COUNCIL
HELD AT ORLEANS ON THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION.--AN ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE
KINGS OF FRANCE AND OF CASTILLE.--A TAME LION ESCAPES IN AUVERGNE,
AND DOES MUCH MISCHIEF.--THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF ARTOIS BEHEADED
AT TOURS.--A NEW BOMBARD ON TRIAL BURSTS, AND KILLS MANY PEOPLE AT
PARIS.--A GASCON CAPTAIN, NAMED ORIOLE, AND HIS LIEUTENANT BEHEADED
AT TOURS.--OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN THE COURSE OF THIS YEAR
MCCCCLXXVIII.
The king, on his return from Picardy, made many rich presents to
divers churches and saints. When he was at the abbey of Nôtre Dame de
la Victoire, near Senlis he gave two thousand francs to be employed
in procuring silver lamps to hang before the altar of the Virgin. He
covered the shrine of St Fiacre with silver, which amounted to the
weight of seven or eight score marcs. From his great and singular
faith in St Martin, he ordered a handsome trellis of silver to be made
round his shrine, in his church at Tours,--which was done, and weighed
from sixteen to seventeen thousand marcs, and cost, when finished and
put up, full two hundred thousand francs. It should be known, that to
furnish silver sufficient for all these great works, commissioners were
appointed to seize on all the plate they could find in Paris and other
towns, which was reasonably well paid for; but notwithstanding this,
great quantities were hidden and no longer seen in those places where
they were used to be visible,--and henceforward, on this account, when
any weddings or other feasts took place, where much silver plate was
wont to be exhibited, nothing was seen but handsome cups of glass and
dishes of earthen ware.
About this period, the king held a grand council of prelates,
churchmen, and learned men, as well from the universities of Paris and
Montpellier as elsewhere, in the town of Orleans, to consult on the
best means of recovering the pragmatic sanction, and of preventing the
money for the vacant benefices being sent out of the kingdom to Rome.
At this assembly the lord de Beaujeu presided, as representative for
the king,--and the lord chancellor, with other lords of the council,
attended.
The lord chancellor, in the presence of the lord de Beaujeu and the
rest, opened the meeting, by declaring the cause of this assembly being
held at Orleans, and the reasons which had moved the king to call them
together. He was replied to by master John Hue, dean of the faculty
of theology, in the name of the university of Paris, who made many
remonstrances on the subject, and spoke loudly and boldly, because he
was supported by the university. Another learned clerk spoke also, as
representative of the university of Montpellier. When this assembly had
continued some time, the king came to pay his devotions to our Lady at
Clery[88], and thence came to Orleans, where he only staid half a day.
The assembly now broke up, without having concluded any thing,--and
it was adjourned to Lyon, to be there holden on the first day of May
following.
While the king was in Touraine, he sent sealed letters to his good
citizens of Paris, to make known to them, that having sent ambassadors
to the king of Castille and Leon, respecting some differences that had
arisen between them, they had reported, on their return, that the king
of Castille was perfectly satisfied with what the ambassadors had said
from the king, and had promised and sworn to observe a strict alliance
with him. For this the king was desirous that public thanksgivings
should be offered up to God and to the blessed Virgin; that a general
procession should be made at Paris, with bonfires in all the streets.
A procession was, consequently, made from the church of Nôtre Dame
to that of St Genevieve, where a sermon was preached by the prior of
the carmelite friars, in which he detailed at length the honourable
intentions of the king, and the contents of his letter.
A gentleman in Auvergne having kept a tame lion, he, after some time,
escaped, and was the terror of the country,--for he devoured men,
women, and children, whenever he chanced to meet them. The country
people rose against him, to kill him, and his master accompanied them.
On meeting the lion, he recognised his master, and came up to him, when
he was instantly put to death. Another extraordinary event happened
also in Auvergne, by a spring bursting forth where no water had been
before, which event was preceded by an earthquake.
In the month of November of this year, Simon Courtois, whom the
king had made his attorney-general for the county of Artois, taking
advantage of the truce, left Arras, under pretence of looking after
his concerns in Flanders; instead of which, he went to the princess
of Flanders, consort to Maximilian of Austria, and, unmindful of
the honour the king had just conferred on him, by making him his
attorney-general, told the princess that he was her very humble
servant, as all his family had been. He added, that if she would accept
of his allegiance, and make him her attorney-general, Artois should be
restored to her,--for he would rather that it was in her hands than
in the king's. This was told to the king's governor in Arras, who had
Simon Courtois arrested and sent to Tours, where, having confessed the
above, he was beheaded.
A great bombard, that had been cast at Tours, was brought to Paris
the Monday before Epiphany to be proved, and was, for this purpose,
drawn out into the fields in front of the bastile of St Anthony. It
was pointed toward Charenton, and when first fired threw the ball as
far as the gallows on the bridge of Charenton; but as those present
did not think it had discharged all the powder that had been put
into the chamber, they ordered it to be recharged, and the chamber
perfectly cleaned of all that remained within it, which was done,
and an iron ball, weighing five hundred weight, put into its mouth,
before which stood John Maugué the founder of it. As the ball rolled
down the bombard, by some unknown accident the powder in the chamber
took fire before the match was put to it, and by its discharge tore in
pieces John Maugué and fourteen other persons, whose heads, legs, arms
and bodies, were blown into the air. The ball killed a poor innocent
bird-catcher that was attending his nets in the fields; and the
bursting of the bombard maimed fifteen or sixteen others, several of
whom died; so that by this accident twenty-two or twenty-three persons
lost their lives. The remains of John Maugué were collected, put on a
bier, and carried to St Merry for interment; and proclamation was made
through the streets of Paris, that all people should pray for the soul
of John Maugué, who had lost his life in the king's service.
The 22d of May, the body of Laurence Garnier, of the town of
Provins[89], which, by sentence of the court of parliament, had been
hanged on the gibbet a year and half, for his having murdered a
receiver of taxes in the town of Provins (but for which a pardon had
been granted, though not confirmed by the court,) was taken down, at
the request of his brother, by Henry Cousin, the executioner at Paris.
The body was put on a bier, covered with a pall, and from the gibbet
carried into Paris by the gate of St Denis; four of the town-criers
preceded the body, ringing their bells, and having the arms of Garnier
emblazoned on their breasts. Round the bier were four wax-tapers,
and eight lighted torches, borne by men in mourning, having on their
breasts similar arms to the criers. In this state was the body carried
through Paris to the gate of St Anthony, when it was placed on a
mourning car, to be conveyed for interment at Provins. One of the
before named criers went first, crying aloud, 'Good people, say your
Pater-nosters for the soul of Laurence Garnier, who, while living,
resided at Provins, and whose body has been lately found dead under an
oak, that God may have mercy on his soul!'
On the 18th of March, a gentleman of Gascony, named Oriole, was brought
prisoner to Tours. He had commanded a company of one hundred lances for
the king: but his company having been lately broken with some others,
he was disgusted,--and it was reported to the king that he had used
threatening language, and that he was plotting with his lieutenant
to quit the service and attach himself to the duke of Austria. He
was convicted of high treason, and, for this and other offences, was
beheaded at Tours, in company with his lieutenant. After the execution,
master Henry Cousin, who had beheaded them, carried their heads and
part of their members to be fastened to the gates of Bethune and Arras.
The lord de Mauves, whose company of a hundred lances had been broken,
was also confined a prisoner in Paris. He was arrested at the hôtel du
Cornet, near to St Jean en Gréve, by Philip L'Huillier, governor of
the bastile, and was afterward carried by him or others to the king at
Tours, where he was set at liberty, as innocent of the crimes laid to
his charge.