Part 16

On the king's side, the captain Beavoisien, and Vaast de Mompedon, bailiff of Rouen, were killed, and about three hundred of the franc-archers. After this defeat, the duke of Austria, the count de Romont, and others of their captains, having rallied their men, marched to a place, called Malaunoy, in which was a gascon captain, called le Cadet Remonnet, having with him seven or eight score gascon cross-bows. The Burgundians attacked the place, which was for some time well defended by the Gascons; but at length it was stormed and the greater part of the garrison put to death: the rest saved themselves by leaping into the ditches. With regard to Remonnet he was made prisoner, and, on assurance of his life, carried to the duke of Austria, who, regardless of the assurance that had been given, had him hanged, three days afterward, in cold blood. The king of France was so enraged at this that he ordered fifty of the principal prisoners that had been taken to be hanged by the provost marshal, by way of revenge. Seven of the chief prisoners were hanged on the spot where Remonnet had been executed,--ten before Douay, ten before St Omer, ten before Arras, and ten before Lille. The provost was escorted, to perform these executions, by eight hundred lances and six thousand franc-archers, who afterwards advanced into the country of Guines and Flanders, where they took seventeen towns or strong holds, burning and destroying the country, and carrying off cattle, sheep, horses, and every thing portable, to their different garrisons.

At this time, Coulon and other adventurers at sea from the coasts of Normandy captured four score flemish vessels, which were on their voyage to fetch rye from Prussia, to victual their country, and the produce of the herring fishery for that year. It was the greatest loss that had befallen the Flemings at sea for upwards of an hundred years, and they suffered much from it.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 90: Dole,--on the river Doux, in Franche Comté.]

[Footnote 91: It is singular that the three contemporary monarchs, Edward IV. of England--James III. of Scotland--Louis XI. of France, should have each murdered his brother.]

[Footnote 92: For further particulars relative to the duke of Albany, I refer to Pinkerton's History of Scotland. In a note to the Cronique Scandaleuse by the abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy, he says,--'Alexander Stuart, brother to James III. king of Scotland, died at Paris 1483, and was buried in the convent of the Celestins. But by Pinkerton he was alive in 1484, and was accidentally killed, when a spectator at a tournament between the duke of Orleans and another knight, by a splinter from a lance. His son John was duke of Albany, and regent of Scotland during the minority of James V.]

[Footnote 93: This battle of Guinegate decided nothing; for though Maximilian was beaten, he remained master of the field,--and Comines says, that had he attempted Therouenne or Arras, he would have found both towns empty.]

[A.D. 1480.]

CHAP. XXIX.

AN EMBASSY ARRIVES FROM THE KING OF ENGLAND TO THE KING OF FRANCE.--THE KING ISSUES A COMMISSION AGAINST THE DUKE OF BOURBON.--THE CARDINAL OF ST PIETRO AD VINCULA COMES TO FRANCE AS LEGATE.--THE KING SETS THE CARDINAL BALLUE AT LIBERTY.--A BODY OF SWISS TROOPS SUBSIDISED INSTEAD OF THE FRANC-ARCHERS.--A VERY SEVERE WINTER.--TRUCES ARE ESTABLISHED BETWEEN THE FLEMINGS AND THE ENGLISH.

At the commencement of this year, the lord Howard, a prothonotary, and other ambassadors from England, crossed the channel to wait on the king of France respecting the maintaining of the truce. They were handsomely received, and magnificently feasted by the king, who, on their return, made them rich presents in money and in silver plate.

In this year, the king issued a commission to master John Avais, counsellor in his court of parliament, and to John Doyac of the town of Cusset[94], in Auvergne, to examine into different charges that had been made against the duke of Bourbon his towns, officers, and subjects. These two men accepted their commission with pleasure, in the hope of destroying the duke of Bourbon, against all truth and justice, but in order to gain the good graces of the king, and to force the duke into banishment. In obedience to the commission, they summoned all the principal officers of the duke, such as his chancellor, his attorney-general, the captain of his guard, and others, to appear personally before the court of parliament on an appointed day, when they were severally interrogated by commissaries, and detained long in Paris. Master Francis Hasle, the king's advocate, pleaded against them, and wanted stronger measures to be pursued,--but they were all set at liberty by the court, and returned to their homes.

Master John Hebert, bishop of Constance, was next summoned to appear before the parliament, to answer to certain crimes of which he was accused. On his appearance, he was examined, and, by orders of the court, was committed as a prisoner to the prisons of the Conciergerie,--and all his temporal effects were confiscated to the king's use.

In the month of August, a truce was concluded with the duke of Austria for seven months: during three of them a free intercourse was to be allowed for merchants and merchandise to pass and repass from each country: three others were to be void of all warfare,--and the seventh for consideration as to war or peace.

Monday the 4th of September, the cardinal of St Pietro ad vincula[95], legate from the pope, arrived at Paris, and was most honourably received there by all ranks of people, who went out to meet him by the gate of St Jacques. All the streets through which he passed to the church of Nôtre Dame, where he made his devotions, were hung with tapestry. When these were finished he proceeded to the lodgings that had been prepared for him at the college of St Denis near the Augustins, accompanied by the cardinal of Bourbon.

On the Tuesday master Olivier le Diable, called le Daim, the king's barber, feasted the legate, the cardinal of Bourbon, and many other prelates and nobles, as grandly as possible. When dinner was over, he carried them to the park of Vincennes, to amuse themselves in hunting deer; after which, they returned to their different homes.

On Thursday and Friday, the vigil and feast of the nativity of the blessed Virgin, the legate attended vespers in the church of Nôtre Dame; and great crowds were there to see the ceremonies observed on the occasion, which were solemn and magnificent.

On Sunday the legate dined and supped with the cardinal of Bourbon at his hôtel. There were present, at these entertainments, many archbishops, bishops, and nobles of high rank; such as the archbishops of Besançon and Sens, the bishops of Chartres, Nevers, Therouenne, Amiens, Aleth[96], and others; the lord de Curton, Moireau, master of the household to the king, and many more.

Monday the 14th, the legate went to St Denis, where he was feasted by the abbot, and thence into Picardy and Flanders, to attempt bringing about a peace between the king and the duke of Austria. He staid some time at Peronne, thinking he should have an easy access into Flanders, whither the king sent master Francis Hasle, the provost of Paris, and others, who returned without having done any thing.

The legate came back to Paris on the 21st of December, and went to the hôtel of Bourbon, where he was entertained by the cardinal at supper, and lay there that night. On the morrow he left the hôtel of Bourbon by the golden gate, and crossed the river to the hôtel of Neelle, where he mounted his horse, which was waiting for him, and proceeded, with his attendants, to Orleans, and there remained until the king had set at liberty the cardinal Ballue, who came to the legate at Orleans.

The king had remained almost the whole of the winter in Touraine. About the Epiphany he went to Poitiers, and other places, and returned to Tours, and to Forges[97], the end of January. It was about this time that the king reduced the whole body of franc-archers in France, and substituted, in their place, the Swiss with their pikes; and he caused a prodigious quantity of pikes, halberds, and large daggers, to be made, by all the cutlers in his kingdom.

The winter, this year, began late: there was no frost until St Stephen's day, and it lasted only until the 8th of February. But, if it began late, it was most severe; for the oldest persons did not remember the frost so sharp: the river Seine, Yonne, Marne, and all that fell into the Seine, were so hard frozen that all kinds of carriages passed over, as on dry land. Great mischiefs were done to several bridges by the thaw: some were quite ruined, and carried away on the before-named rivers,--and large pieces of ice drove many boats against the bridges of Nôtre Dame and Saint Michel at Paris. They, however, for some hours, formed a rampart, and perhaps saved these bridges; but the danger was thought so great that all who lived upon them carried away every thing of value out of their houses. The ice broke seven of the large piles at the Temple-mill. During this hard weather, no floats of wood came down the river,--which raised the price excessively, insomuch that the billet cost seven or eight sols parisis. To relieve the poorer sorts, the country people of the neighbouring villages daily brought green wood in carts or on horses' backs to Paris. The wood would have been dearer if the astrologers had told truth, for they predicted that this frost would last until the 8th of March: the thaw, however, began three weeks sooner than they had foretold,--but the weather continued extremely cold until May was far advanced, which destroyed all the buds of the early vines, and the fruit-blossoms were cut off.

In the course of the winter, and even during the month of April, when the truce with the Flemings expired, no hostilities took place; for the duke of Austria, had sent an embassy to the king, at Tours, and a prolongation of the truce was agreed on for one year, in the expectation that in the interval means might be found for a general peace. Another embassy came likewise from England respecting the truce; and the king took the trouble of going as far as Château Regnault[98], to meet the ambassadors and hear their business. This being settled, they returned to king Edward,--and on their departure, it was publicly said, that the truce between France and England had been renewed for a very long time.

In the month of March, the king was suddenly taken ill while at Plessis le Parc, near Tours, and was for some time in very great danger; but, by the grace of God, his health was restored, and he was soon perfectly recovered.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 94: Cusset,--a town in the Bourbonnois, near St Gerand.]

[Footnote 95: Julian de la Rovere, afterwards pope Julius II.]

[Footnote 96: Aleth,--a small city in upper Languedoc.]

[Footnote 97: Forges. There are several towns of this name one in Aunis, near la Rochelle, which I should suppose to be the one in the text,--another in Normandy, famous for its mineral waters.]

[Footnote 98: Château Regnault,--a town in Touraine, near Tours.]

[A.D. 1481.]

CHAP. XXX.

THE KING OF FRANCE FORMS A CAMP BETWEEN PONT DE L'ARCHE AND PONT DE ST PIERRE.--ARMOUR WHICH THE DUKE OF BRITTANY HAD ORDERED FROM MILAN IS INTERCEPTED.--THE KING TAKEN ILL AT TOURS.--DURING CERTAIN PILGRIMAGES HE MAKES, HE VISITS THE DAUPHIN AT AMBOISE, AND GOES THENCE TO ST CLAUDE.--A GREAT FAMINE THIS YEAR.

Early in this year the king ordered an inclosed camp, which he had caused to be made of wood, to be erected on a large plain near Pont de l'Arche, to be ready when he should take the field against his enemies, and went thither to see it. Within were posted a numerous body of men armed with pikes and halberds, according to his new regulations. The command of these troops was given to sir Philip de Crevecoeur, lord des Cordes, and to master William Picard, bailiff of Rouen. The king ordered the men to remain in this camp the space of a month, to see how it would answer, and what sorts of provision would be the most suitable to them.

This camp was ordered to be ready on the 15th of June; and the king on his way thither, celebrated the feast of Whitsuntide at the church of our Lady in Chartres. Thence he came to Pont de l'Arche, and to this large inclosure, which was formed between Pont de l'Arche and Pont de Saint Pierre. One side of the inclosure had a ditch on the outside,--and within were pitched tents and pavilions, with the artillery and all requisite stores. The king judged from its proportions what quantity of provision would be necessary were the space completely filled with all he intended to send. When he had visited and fully examined it, he departed, very well satisfied for Chartres, Selome, Vendôme, and Tours, having ordered the troops that had been encamped to march back to their former quarters.

The duke of Brittany had sent, in the course of this year, to purchase armour at Milan; such as cuirasses, salades, &c. which were packed up with cotton to prevent their rattling, and like bales of silks. These packages were put on mules, and arrived in safety until they came to the mountains of Auvergne, when the officers of John Doyac[99] seized them and sent instant information thereof to the king, who, by way of recompense, gave the armour to John Doyac and his servants.

The vines almost universally failed this year throughout France,--and the wines of the preceding year, though of little worth, were sold, in consequence, at an extravagant price: what at the beginning of the year was sold for four deniers the bottle at taverns now rose to twelve. Some merchants of Paris, who had preserved their wines at Champigny sur Marne and other places, sold it by retail very dear, viz. at not less than two sols parisis the bottle, which was at the rate of thirty-six livres the hogshead. The scarcity was so great that the wine-merchants were obliged to fetch wine from the farther parts of Spain, which was brought to Paris.

The garrisons on the frontiers of Picardy and Flanders, regardless of the truce, made constant inroads on each other, carrying on a deadly warfare; for whatever prisoners were made, they were unmercifully hanged by both parties, without ever accepting of ransoms.

The king, when recovering from his late illness, set out from Tours for Thouars, where he had a relapse, and was in great danger of dying. To obtain better health, he sent great offerings, and large sums of money, to divers churches, and made many religious foundations. Among others, he founded in the holy chapel at Paris, a perpetual mass, to be daily chaunted at seven o'clock in the morning, in honour of St John, by eight choiristers from Provence, who had belonged to the chapel of the late Réné king of Sicily, and on his decease had been taken into the service of the king of France. He established one thousand livres parisis as the fund for this mass, to be received annually from the receipt of taxes on all sea-fish sold in the markets at Paris.

The king had also vowed to make a pilgrimage to St Claude[100], which he undertook, but went first to make his offerings to our Lady of Clery, and thence departed for St Claude. For the security of his person, he was escorted by eight hundred lances, and a large force of infantry, amounting, in all, to six thousand combatants. Before he set out from Touraine, he went to Amboise to see his son the dauphin, whom he had but little noticed, gave him his blessing, and put him under the care of the lord de Beaujeu, whom he made lieutenant-general of the kingdom during his absence. The king declared to the dauphin that he must obey the lord de Beaujeu in whatever he should order him, the same as if he himself were present and gave the orders.

Corn was exceedingly dear this year throughout France, more especially in the Lyonnois, Bourbonnois, and in Auvergne, insomuch that great numbers of people died of famine; and had it not been for the profuse alms and succours from such as had corn, the mortality would have been more than doubled. Crowds of poor people left the above-named provinces, and came to Paris and other great towns. They were lodged in the barn and convent of St Catherine-du-Val-des-ėcoliers, whither the good citizens of both sexes came from Paris to relieve and nurse them. They were at length carried to the great hospital, where the most part of them died; for when they attempted to eat they could not, having fasted so long that their stomachs were ruined.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 99: John Doyac--was governor of the province of Auvergne.]

[Footnote 100: St Claude,--in Franche Comté, six leagues from Geneva.]

[A.D. 1482.]

CHAP. XXXI.

THE DEATHS OF THE LADY JANE OF FRANCE, DUCHESS OF BOURBON, AND OF THE COUNTESS OF FLANDERS,--AND ALSO OF SEVERAL PERSONS AT PARIS.--EVENTS THAT HAPPENED THERE.--THE KING RETURNS FROM HIS PILGRIMAGE TO ST CLAUDE, TO NÔTRE DAME OF CLERY, AND TO OTHER PLACES.--AMBASSADORS ARRIVE FROM FLANDERS.--OF THE CAPTURE OF THE TOWN OF AIRE.--OF THE ASSASSINATION OF THE LORD LOUIS OF BOURBON, BISHOP OF LIEGE.--OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN THE COURSE OF THE ABOVE YEAR.

On Thursday the 4th of May, between four and five in the afternoon, that noble example of good morals and virtue, the lady Jane of France, wife to John duke of the Bourbonnois and Auvergne, departed this life, in her castle of Moulins in the Bourbonnois, in consequence of a fever which the art of medicine could not subdue. She was buried in the church of our Lady at that town, and was greatly lamented by her lord, her servants, and indeed by all in France who were any way acquainted with her virtues and the many excellent qualities she was endowed with.

Some little time prior to this event died the countess of Flanders and of Artois, sole child to the late Charles duke of Burgundy, wife to the duke of Austria, and niece to the duke of Bourbon. She left issue two children, a son and a daughter, who remained at Ghent under the guardianship of the Flemings.

In this same year of 1482, many noble persons of both sexes died of fevers and other incurable disorders. In the number were the archbishops of Narbonne and Bourges, the bishop of Lisieux, master John le Boulenger, first president of the parliament, sir Charles de Gaucourt, lieutenant for the king in the town of Paris, who was much regretted,--for he was a handsome frank knight, a prudent man and very learned. Several counsellors and advocates of the parliament died also: among others, master Nicolle Bataille, who was said to be the greatest lawyer in all France, a good and pleasant companion, and was, not without reason, much lamented. It was said that he died of indignation and grief at the conduct of his wife the daughter of the late master Nicolle Erlaut, who had been treasurer of Dauphiny. Notwithstanding that she had enjoyed all possible pleasure with her husband, had brought him twelve children, and he was not more than forty-four years of age when he died, yet she conducted herself most wantonly, and like a common strumpet, with several rakish fellows during her marriage. In the number, she was particularly attached to a young lad called Regnault la Pie, son to a woman who sold sea-fish in the Paris-market. He had been formerly in great confidence with the king, as his valet de chambre, but had been dismissed for some faults and irregularities, of which Olivier le Diable, called Le Daim, his companion, and barber to the king, had accused him.

This woman became passionately fond of him, and for his support sold or pawned her jewels, and the plate of her husband,--and even robbed her husband of money to give to her lover. Of all this, the husband was informed: and anger and grief thereat caused his death, which was a great loss. May his soul rest in repose in the kingdom of Heaven!

The king returned from St Claude to the abbey of our Lady at Clery very ill. He performed nine days devotion there; and by the grace of the blessed Virgin, in whom he had singular faith, he went away greatly recovered and eased of his complaints. During his stay at Clery, there was great mortality in his household: among others, died a doctor of divinity, whom he had lately appointed his counsellor and almoner: he was the son of a butcher, a native of Tours, and his name was doctor Martin Magistri. The king on leaving Clery went to Mehun sur Loire, and to St Laurens des Eaux, and remained thereabouts until the middle of August, when he returned to Clery to celebrate the feast of the Virgin. While at Clery, an handsome embassy came to him from Flanders, who explained to his ministers that the cause of their coming was to endeavour to obtain a conference to be holden,--for that the sole wish of the country of Flanders was to have a lasting peace with the king. These ambassadors were well received by him,--and he gave such answers as satisfied them. On their return to Flanders, they were, by the king's orders, conducted by the lord de St Pierre to Paris, and well feasted by the provost of marchands and sheriffs: thence they set out for Ghent, and the other towns in Flanders whence they had come.

After the return of the Flemish ambassadors, the king ordered the troops that were in garrison in Picardy to take the field under the command of the lord des Cordes. This army made a fine appearance, consisting of fourteen hundred well furnished lances, six thousand Swiss, and eight thousand pikes. They marched triumphantly, but without noise, to lay siege to the town of Aire, which is a considerable place between St Omer and Therouenne, and was garrisoned by a party from the duke of Austria. The French soon opened their batteries and frightened the inhabitants; but some of the captains of the garrison, having a good understanding with the lord des Cordes, concluded a capitulation for the surrender of the place to him. It was managed by a knight called the lord des Contrans[101], who was of Picardy, and governor of the town for the duke of Austria. On his surrendering the place, he took the oaths of allegiance to serve the king faithfully,--and the king, as a recompence, gave him the command of a hundred lances. He also received thirty thousand golden crowns in ready money.