THE COUNT WALERAN DE ST POL DIES AT YVOIX, IN THE COUNTY OF CHINY IN LUXEMBOURG.—THE PRINCES OF THE BLOOD GO TO MELUN, BY ORDERS FROM THE QUEEN AND THE DUKE OF ACQUITAINE.
ON the 9th day of April, in this same year 1415, Waleran count de Saint Pol and de Ligny, calling himself constable of France, fell ill in the castle of Yvoix, in the county of Chiny. His disorder, as it was reported, was occasioned by his physician having administered to him too strong a clyster; and about twelve days after, he departed this life, and was buried in front of the great altar in the principal church in Yvoix, amidst the tears and lamentations of his attendants,—although he had ordered, by a will made in his lifetime, that his body should be carried to the abbey of Cercamp, of which his ancestors the counts de St Pol had been the founders.
In the course of his illness, he had sent for his countess, the sister to the duke of Bar, having an earnest desire to converse with her before his last hour; but, notwithstanding the diligence she made to comply with his request, she did not arrive, accompanied by a niece of the count's, sister to sir John Luxembourg, until about two hours after his decease, although they had rode a straddle, on hard-trotting horses, to make the more speed. They were much shocked on hearing of his death. When the countess had remained at Yvoix about eight hours, and disbanded the men at arms of her late lord, she returned to Ligny-en-Barrois, where she had the obsequies of the count celebrated in the cathedral church.
She publicly renounced, by her attorney, all the debts and estates of her late lord excepting her dower, by placing on his tomb his belt and purse, of which act she demanded from the public notaries present to have certificates drawn up. The count's heirs were the two sons of the duke of Brabant by the daughter of his first wife.
In this same month, the princes of the blood then at Paris went to Melun, by command of the queen and the duke of Acquitaine, who were there resident. While they were occupied on business with the queen, the duke of Acquitaine set off for Paris with few attendants; and thence he sent the princes word that they were not to return to Paris until ordered by the king or himself, and commanded them to retire to their estates, and to attend to their own affairs.
After this, the duke knowing that the queen his mother had deposited large sums in the hands of three persons in Paris, who were her confidents, namely, Michault de l'Allier, Guillaume Sanguin and Picquit de la Haye, suddenly entered their houses with his people, and seized all the money found therein and carried it to his hotel. He then summoned the provosts of Paris, the university, and the principal inhabitants to come to him at the Louvre, where he caused to be laid before them, by the bishop of Chartres, his chancellor, article by article, the whole history of the government of the kingdom, from the coronation of the king his father until that moment, showing how the duke of Anjou had seized the treasures of king Charles his grandfather, and wasted them in Italy, as well as the portions of the dukes of Berry and Burgundy, last deceased; then mentioning the death of the late duke of Orleans and his government, and concluding with the administration of the present duke of Burgundy, who had consumed the whole of the finances, and despoiled the kingdom. He then declared, that as duke of Acquitaine, dauphin of Vienne, and presumptive heir to the crown, he would no longer suffer such waste to be committed on the public revenues, or on his father's demesnes.
To this end, therefore, and for the security and welfare of the king and realm, he had thus assembled them, to make known to them, and all the world, his resolution of taking on himself the government of the kingdom, with a firm determination to provide a remedy against such abuses in future.
When the above had been eloquently and elaborately explained to the assembly, it broke up, and every one returned to his home.
The princes of the blood, on receiving the orders from the duke of Acquitaine, took their leave of the queen, and separated from each other. The duke of Berry went to Dourdan[21], in his county of Estampes, the duke of Orleans to Orleans, and the duke of Bourbon to his duchy of Bourbon. The duke of Burgundy was before, as has been mentioned, in his duchy of Burgundy.
The king was very ill at his hotel of St Pol at Paris. The next step of the duke of Acquitaine was to take away his duchess from the company of the queen, which he did in person, accompanied by the count de Richemont, and had her placed at St Germain-en-Laye.