The king, having left the Granges, advanced toward Pavia,--and when
he was near that city, the clergy came out in handsome procession, to
meet him. They conducted him in this state to the principal church,
called Il Duomo, and thence to his apartments in the castle, which was
large and well situated. The duchess and her young son were waiting
there to welcome him on his happy arrival; and he and his company were
well feasted with a variety of meats and wines, from the 14th until
the 17th, when he took his departure, after hearing mass, to dine at
Beriofle, and sup and lie at Castel San Joanne. On the morrow, he dined
at Roqueste, and thence resolved to make his entry into Piacenza.
As the king approached Piacenza in the afternoon of the 18th of
October, the clergy, judges, officers, and principal inhabitants came
out to meet him in a handsome procession, as all the other towns had
done, and led him in triumph to the apartments that had been prepared
for his reception. While he was in this town, a messenger came to him
in haste with letters, containing in substance, that on that day the
young duke of Milan had died, which much afflicted and vexed the king.
Tears filled his eyes, without any dissembling, and to perform his
duty to God, he ordered on the morrow a solemn funeral service to be
celebrated,--after which were distributed large sums in alms to the
poor, all at the king's expense, and chiefly under the direction of the
lord Reginald d'Oreilles. It should not be forgotten, that the king
invited the nobles and principal inhabitants to this funeral service:
and that they, in gratitude for his benignant humanity, presented him
with several immense cheeses, as large as our greatest millstones,
which he sent to France, as a gift to the queen. The king, having staid
six days in Piacenza, departed.