THE DUKE OF ACQUITAINE ORDERS THE PRISONERS TO BE LIBERATED.—THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY LEAVES PARIS.—SEVERAL PRINCES ARRIVE THERE.—THEIR ACTIONS.
ON the 4th day of September, the duke of Acquitaine, in consequence of the king's commands, caused all the prisoners confined within the palace to be set at liberty; and, shortly after, the whole of the furniture of John de Troyes, then keeper of the palace, and who had gone abroad for some private affairs, was carried out of the same, in pursuance of the orders of the duke of Acquitaine, by those Parisians who had usually accompanied him. His office of keeper of the palace was taken away, and restored to him who had before holden it. In like manner were several offices in Paris restored to their former holders, namely, to Anthony des Essars, to the two dukes of Bar and of Bavaria; the former being reinstated in his government of the Louvre, and the other in that of the bastille.
When the prisoners had been set at liberty, the duke of Acquitaine ordered all the bells of the churches to ring together, and two days and nights were passed in the utmost joy and revelling throughout the town, for the re-establishment of peace, which was a delightful sight.
The lord de Viefville and sir Charles de Lens, brother to the châtelain de Lens, were arrested in the hôtel of the duke of Burgundy; but sir Robinet de Mailly, for fear of being taken, fled,—and the lord de Viefville, at the entreaty of the duke of Burgundy and his daughter, the duchess of Acquitaine, obtained his liberty. Sir Charles was confined in the prisons of the Châtelet,—and the other, who had fled, was banished the realm.
The lord de Jacqueville, during his absence, was deprived of his government of Paris; and, hearing of this while he was at Montereau-faut-Yonne with some of his principal supporters among the butchers, they all fled to Burgundy: at the same time, Jean Caboche, master Jean de Troyes and his children, with many others of the Parisians, hastened into Flanders. Master Eustace de Lactre, the new chancellor of France, fled like the rest from Paris,—and in his place was appointed master Arnold de Corbie, who had before been chancellor of France, but, at his own request, on account of his age, had been deprived of it, when the first president of the parliament of Paris was nominated in his stead. Master John Jouemel, king's advocate, was made chancellor of Acquitaine.
Very many knights, particularly those who had been appointed commissioners to try the late prisoners, quitted Paris; and the duke of Burgundy, observing the conduct of his son-in-law the duke of Acquitaine, began to be apprehensive that he was not well pleased with his former conduct, and that he would remember the outrages which had been committed personally against him, as well in his hôtel as elsewhere, as has been before related, and would have him arrested. He daily saw the most faithful of his adherents quit Paris privately, and without taking leave of him: some of them were even made prisoners,—and he was told that there had been guards placed round his hôtel of Artois, and that great numbers of those who had been enemies to the duke of Acquitaine were now reconciled to him.
To prevent any dangerous consequences, and to avoid the perils that might ensue, he prevailed on the king to hunt in the forest of Ville-neuve. The lord de St George accompanied him,—and when he found the opportunity favourable, he took leave of the king, saying, that he had received such intelligence from Flanders as would force him to return thither instantly, on account of the important business which he would have to transact. On saying this, he set off, and passed the wood of Bondis in much fear: he continued his road without stopping, and attended by a small company, to St Maixence, where he lay that night. On the morrow, very early, the lord de Ront came thither to meet him, with two hundred men at arms, and thence escorted him in a few days to Lille in Flanders.
When his departure was known, the Parisians and others attached to the Orleans party began loudly to murmur against him, saying that he had fled for fear of being arrested. Those of his party who had remained in Paris were in great alarm; for daily some of them were imprisoned, and summary justice done upon them. Even the two nephews of Jean Caboche were executed, after having been for some time dragged through the streets; and the host of the hôtel of the 'huis de fer,' named Jean de Troyes, cousin-german to master Jean de Troyes, the surgeon, of whom mention has been made, suffered in like manner.
In respect to the queen, the dukes of Acquitaine, Berry, Bar and Bavaria, they were perfectly pleased and happy that the duke of Burgundy had quitted Paris, as were many of the great lords: in short, the whole town was now turned against him both in words and deeds.
It was not long before the dukes of Orleans and of Bourbon, the counts d'Alençon, de Vertus, d'Eu, de Vaudemont and de Dammartin, the archbishop of Sens, friar Jacques le Grand, and the borgne Foucault, came in handsome array to Paris; and the dukes of Berry, Bar and Bavaria, the bishop of Paris, with many nobles and citizens, went out on horseback to meet them, and escorted them, with every sign of joy, to the palace, where the king, the queen, and the duke of Acquitaine were waiting to receive them.
Their reception by the royal family was very gracious, and they all supped at the palace, after which they retired to their different hôtels in the town. On the morrow, the lord Charles d'Albreth came to Paris, when the office of constable was instantly restored to him. On the 8th day of September following, the king, at the instance of the aforesaid lords, held a grand council in the usual chamber of parliament, and issued the following edict, which was proclaimed throughout his realm.
'Charles, by the grace of God, king of France, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.
'Whereas, during the discords and dissensions that took place between several of our blood and kindred, many damnable falsehoods have been reported to us; under pretext of which our council have been very much constrained, and our city of Paris did not enjoy its usual freedom, and ourself was not advised so loyally as we ought to have been for the honour and general welfare of the public, as it has since appeared, for several acts have been done that were partial and irregular. Others of our subjects were under the greatest alarm (and this happened to some of tried courage), for they saw that those were in danger of losing every thing dear to them who should utter the truth. In fact, several of our prelates, nobles, and members of our council were wrongfully arrested, robbed of their wealth, and forced to pay ransoms for their liberty, which caused many of our well wishers to absent themselves from our council, and even to fly from Paris.
'Many letters patent were unjustly and damnably obtained in our name, sealed with our seal, and sent to our sovereign father, the head of Christian princes, at the holy college of Rome, and to other monarchs, declaring that these letters were sent with our full knowledge and approbation.
'We have lately been well informed from papers that have been discovered, and laid before us in council, of a fact of which indeed we had our suspicions, that envy and malice were the grounds on which our uncle John de Berry, our nephews Charles of Orleans and his brothers, John de Bourbon, John d'Alençon, Charles d'Albreth, our cousins, and Bernard d'Armagnac, with their accomplices and supporters, were charged with the wicked and treasonable design of depriving us and all our descendants of our royal authority, and expelling us our kingdom, which God forbid! and also with the design of making a new king of France, which is an abominable thing to hear of, and must be painful even in the recital to the hearts of all our loyal subjects. In regard, therefore, to such charges, those who have made them are guilty of iniquitously imposing upon us, and are culpable of enormous crimes as well treasonable as otherwise.
'Very many defamatory libels have been written and affixed to the doors of churches, as well as distributed to several persons, and published in different places, to the great dishonour and contempt of some of the highest of our blood, such as our very dear and well-beloved son, our well-beloved nephews and cousins, the dukes of Orleans and of Bourbon, the counts de Vertus, d'Alençon, d'Armagnac, and d'Albreth, constable of France, and against other nobles and barons, our wellwishers, consequently against ourself and our government.
'We, therefore, for these causes, do by these letters patent give permission to our said uncle, nephews, cousins, and to their adherents, to seize on and destroy the lands and property of all who may have been guilty of the aforesaid acts, declaring them to have forfeited to us both their bodies and estates.
'We the more readily consent to their being thus sorely oppressed, because they, under pretence of an ancient bull which had been issued against the free companies forty years ago, without any permission and authority, did raise and assemble companies of men at arms against us and against our realm. This bull could not any way refer, as the simple inspection of it would show, to our said son, uncle, nephew, or cousins, but was applied to them, through wicked counsel, without any authority from our said sovereign father the pope, without any deliberations holden on the subject,—nor was any suit instituted, as was usual in such cases; but without any forms of proceeding that should have been observed, or any preceding admonitions, they were illegally, through force and partiality, condemned as excommunicated, with all their adherents and friends,—which sentence was, in defiance of truth, publicly proclaimed throughout our kingdom.
'They were likewise declared traitors and wicked persons, banished our kingdom, and deprived of all their possessions and offices. On this occasion, many injurious reports were industriously spread abroad against them, and they were themselves treated with the utmost inhumanity. Several of them were put to death without any attention being paid to their souls, like to outlaws and beasts, without administration of the sacraments of the holy church, and then thrown into ditches, or exposed in the fields, like dogs, to be devoured by the birds.
'Such acts are damnably wicked and cruel, more especially among Christians and true Catholics, and have been done at the instigation of seditious persons, disturbers of the peace, and illwishers to our said uncle, nephews and cousins, by means of their abominable fictions in order to gain their false and wicked purposes, as we have since been more fully and truly informed.
'We therefore, desirous, as is reasonable, that such false accusations as have been brought against those of our blood and their adherents, should not remain in the state they are now in, to their great disgrace, and earnestly wishing that the real truth should be published, and reparation made for these illegal proceedings, make known that we are fully persuaded, from the information we have received, that our said uncle, son, nephews, cousins, prelates, barons, nobles, and others their partisans, have ever had loyal intentions toward our person, and have been good relatives and obedient subjects, such as they ought to be in regard to us, and that all which has been done has been treacherously, and wickedly, and surreptitiously contrived against truth and reason, at the instances and importunities of these aforesaid seditious disturbers of the peace, by whom all letters and edicts, that any way tend to tarnish their honour, have been procured under false pretences.
'We declare, by these presents, that such edicts and letters patent have been wrongfully and surreptitiously issued, and are of no weight, having been procured by those rebellious disturbers of the peace, authors of the evils that have afflicted our city of Paris, and whom we also declare guilty of high treason.
'Being desirous that the truth of these crimes should be made public, and that all may be acquainted with the real facts, to prevent any evil consequences that might ensue to us and to our realm, were they to remain in ignorance, as may happen to any prince who has subjects to govern, we therefore make known, and assert it for truth, that we being at our usual residence in Paris, in company with our very dear and well-beloved consort the queen, our very dear and well beloved son the duke of Acquitaine, our uncle the duke of Berry, with several others of our kindred, and such of our servants and councillors as were accustomed to attend on us,—it happened that on the 27th day of April last past, sir Elion de Jacqueville, Robinet de Mailly, Charles de Recourt, called de Lens, knights, William Bareau, at that time a secretary, a surgeon, named Jean de Troyes, and his children, Thomas le Goys, and his children, Garnot de Saint Yon, butcher, Symon de Coutelier, skinner of calf skins, Bau de Bordes, Andrieu Roussel, Denisot de Chaumont, master Eustace de Lactre, master Pierre Canthon, master Diusque François, master Nicolle de Saint Hilaire, master Jean Bon, master Nicolle de Quesnoy, Jean Guerin, Jean Pimorin, Jacques Laban, Guillaume Gente, Jean Parent, Jacques de Saint Laurent, Jacques de Rouen, Martin de Neauville, Martin de Coulonniers, master Toussaints Bangart, master Jean Rapiot, master Hugues de Verdun, master Laurens Calot, Jean de Rouen, son to a tripe woman of Puys Nôtre Dame, Jean Maillart, an old clothes-seller, with many others, their accomplices, of divers ranks and conditions, (who had, before this time, held frequent assemblies, and secret conspiracies in many places, both in the day and night-time) appeared in a very large body armed, with displayed standard, by way of hostility, before our said residence of Saint Pol, without our having any knowledge of such their disorderly intent.
'They proceeded thence to the hôtel of our son the duke of Acquitaine, which they would forcibly enter, and broke open the gates of it contrary to the will of our said son, his attendants and servants. Having done this, they entered his apartment in opposition to his expostulations and prohibitions; and when there, they seized by force and violence our cousin-german the duke of Bar, the chancellor of our said son, with many other nobles our chamberlains and counsellors to our son, and carried them away whithersoever they pleased: some of them they confined in close imprisonment, where they detained them so long as they were able. These excesses raised the anger of our son in so violent a degree that he was in danger of suffering a serious disorder from it.
'The said seditious rebels, persisting in their wicked courses, came to us in our hôtel of St Pol, when they proposed, or caused to be proposed, whatever seemed good to them, positively declaring, however, that they would have certain persons, whose names were written down in a small roll, which they had with them, which persons were then in our company.—Among the number were Louis duke of Bavaria, brother to our consort the queen, and many other nobles, our knights, counsellors, the master of our household, with numbers of our servants of different ranks and conditions. These they arrested by force against our will, and carried them to prison, or wherever else they pleased, as they had done to the others.
'After this, they entered the apartments of the queen our consort, and in her presence, and contrary to her will, they seized many ladies and damsels, several of whom were of our kindred, and carried them away to prison, as they had done to the others. This disloyal and indecent conduct so greatly alarmed our dear consort the queen, that she was in great danger of losing her life from the illness that ensued.
'After the imprisonment of these several persons of both sexes, the insurgents proceeded against them, contrary to all law and justice, by very severe tortures, and even put to death many of the nobility in the prisons, afterward publishing that they had killed themselves. Their bodies they hung on gibbets, or flung them into the Seine. Some they beheaded privately while in prison. With regard to the ladies whom they had arrested, they treated them most inhumanly; and although they were urgently pressed to allow the laws to take their course, in regard to these prisoners, and that the court of parliament, as was reasonable, should take cognizance of them, they positively refused every request of the sort, and had letters drawn up as seemed good to them, and to which they had the great seal of our chancery set by force, and, besides, constrained our son to sign all their acts with our seals manual, as approving of their deeds.
'That they might have the chancellor the more under their command, to seal whatever edicts they should please to have proclaimed, they dismissed from that office our well-beloved Arnold de Corbie, who had so long and so faithfully served us, and put in his place master Eustace de Lactre, by whom letters were sealed and issued contrary to all truth, but conformable to the acts of these wicked men. We were deceived by them, from want of able counsellors, and from freedom of speech not being permitted, as has before been noticed.
'All these letters, therefore, and edicts mandatory that have been published to the dishonour of our said uncle, nephews, cousins, and their friends and adherents, we holding a bed of justice in our court of parliament, in the presence of many of our blood-royal, prelates, churchmen, as well members of the university of Paris, our daughter, as from elsewhere, several great barons, and other able persons of our council, and many principal citizens of Paris, do now annul, condemn and for ever annihilate. And we forbid all our subjects, under pain of incurring our highest indignation, to act, by word or deed, any way hereafter contrary to the strict tenour of this our will and pleasure. Should any of these disgraceful acts be produced in courts of justice, we forbid any faith to be placed in them, and order them to be torn and destroyed wherever they may be found.
'In consequence whereof, we command our beloved and faithful counsellors of our parliament, our provost of Paris, and all others our bailiffs, seneschals, provosts and officers of justice, or their lieutenants, each and all of them to cause this our present edict to be publicly proclaimed by sound of trumpet in the usual places where proclamations are made, that none may plead ignorance of this our will. And we also command, that it be publicly read by all prelates and clergymen, or such as have usually preached to the people, that in time to come they may not again be seduced by similar evil machinations.
'We also order, that as full obedience be paid to all copies of these presents, sealed with our seal, as to the original. In testimony of which, we have set our seal to these presents. Given in our great chamber of the parliament of Paris, at a bed of justice holden the 12th day of September, in the year 1413.
'By the king, holding his bed of justice in his court of parliament.' Countersigned, 'Baye.'—This ordinance was, consequently, proclaimed in Amiens[22] on the 15th day of December following.