II.

/The Wines of the Champagne from the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century./

Coronations at Reims and their attendant banquets--Wine flows profusely at these entertainments--The wine-trade of Reims--Presents of wine from the Reims municipality--Cultivation of the vineyards abandoned after the battle of Poitiers--Octroi levied on wine at Reims--Coronation of Charles V.--Extension of the Champagne vineyards--Abundance of wine--Visit to Reims of the royal sot Wenceslaus of Bohemia--The Etape aux Vins at Reims--Increased consumption of beer during the English occupation of the city--The Maid of Orleans at Reims--The vineyards and wine-trade alike suffer--Louis XI. is crowned at Reims--Fresh taxes upon wine followed by the Mique-Maque revolt--The Rémois the victims of pillaging foes and extortionate defenders--The Champagne vineyards attacked by noxious insects--Coronation of Louis XII.--François Premier, the Emperor Charles V., Bluff King Hal, and Leo the Magnificent all partial to the wine of Ay--Mary Queen of Scots at Reims--State kept by the opulent and libertine Cardinal of Lorraine--Brusquet, the Court Fool--Decrease in the production of wine around Reims--Gifts of wine to newly-crowned monarchs--New restrictions on vine cultivation--The wine of the Champagne crowned at the same time as Louis XIII.--Regulation price for wine established at Reims--Imposts levied on the vineyards by the Frondeurs--The country ravaged around Reims--Sufferings of the peasantry--Presents of wine to Marshal Turenne and Charles II. of England--Perfection of the Champagne wines during the reign of Louis XIV.--St. Evremond's high opinion of them--Other contemporary testimony in their favour--The Archbishop of Reims's niggardly gift to James II. of England--A poet killed by Champagne--Offerings by the Rémois to Louis XIV. on his visit to their city 12