A HEAVY TAX IS LAID ON THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE BY THE GOVERNMENT, TO THE GREAT DISCONTENT OF THE PARISIANS.—EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN CONSEQUENCE OF IT.
WHEN the emperor had left Paris, a very heavy impost was laid on all France, by those who governed the king, namely, the queen, the king of Sicily, the duke of Berry and others. The populace, more especially such as were attached to the duke of Burgundy, were very clamorous against these lords; for many of the duke's friends had remained in the city, who were day and night practising on the means of his restoration to the king's favour, and to the government of the realm. To accomplish this, they had advised him to send secretly to Paris some well-informed and prudent persons, to whom they might resort and have advice in case of need.
In compliance with their request, he sent thither sir Jennet de Poix, Jacques de Fosseux, the lord de St Leger, and Binet d'Auffeu, who brought credential letters, signed by the duke, to those whom he knew to be attached to his party.
The Parisians, having thus entered into a conspiracy under pretence of the severity of the new tax, swore to rise in a body in the afternoon of Good Friday, and make prisoners of all that should oppose them. Their first object was to seize the provost of Paris, and, if he refused to sanction their conduct, they intended to kill him and then seize and confine the king. They were afterward to put to death the queen, the chancellor of France and numberless others, with the queen of Sicily; and after dressing the king of Sicily and the duke of Berry in some old cloaths of the king, and shaving their heads, to carry them through Paris on two lean bullocks, and then put them to death. The day of action was however put off by some of the conspirators, who said that many of their intended victims might escape on Good Friday, from being at their devotions in and out of Paris, or at confession in the churches, or on pilgrimages, which would prevent them being found at their houses,—and that it would be better to defer the matter until Easter-Day, when they all promised to meet for the above purposes.
This conspiracy was revealed by the wife of Michel Lallier, who sent letters to her lover, Bureau de Dampmartin, advising him to fly instantly from Paris. This he did; but, before his departure, sent information of it to the chancellor, as he was at dinner, who lost no time in hastening to the Louvre, to advise the queen and princes of the blood to save themselves by flight. His council was followed by all except the provost of Paris, who, arming himself and his men, to the number of fifty, suddenly took possession of the market-place, and seized some of the conspirators before they had armed themselves, in their houses, and imprisoned them in the Châtelet, which so confounded the other conspirators that an end was put to their project.
The provost, being reinforced with men at arms, forced different houses in which he found many gentlemen hidden, who were armed for this massacre. In the number, he seized sir Almeric d'Orgemont, archdeacon of Amiens, dean of Tours and canon of Paris, with one of the presidents of the chamber of accounts and some masters of requests, Robert de Belloy, a very rich draper, the host of the hôtel of the Bear, at the Porte Baudet, and many other considerable persons.
The chancellor sent information of this conspiracy to the constable and marshal of France, then on the confines of Harfleur, who, without delay, dispatched Remonnet de la Guerre, with eight hundred men, to the assistance of the princes in Paris, and concluded a truce with the English in Harfleur, from the 5th day of May to the 2nd day of June.
On Saturday, the 2nd of May, the above-mentioned prisoners were brought to the market-place and beheaded as traitors; but sir Almeric d'Orgemont, being an ecclesiastic, was, by orders from the council, delivered by the provost of Paris to the dean and chapter of Nôtre Dame, for them to try him: this was soon done; and he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment on bread and water.
The constable, on the conclusion of the truce, came to Paris, with three hundred men at arms, and, being attended by the provost with a very strong force, detached the iron chains from the streets, and sent them to the bastille, at the same time taking away all armour and offensive weapons from the Parisians.
Louis Bourdon came also to Paris with two hundred men at arms, and was followed by Clugnet de Brabant and the lord de Bosquiaux, governor of Valois, with another considerable body of men at arms. Those in Paris who were friendly to the duke of Burgundy were now in much perplexity, especially such as had been concerned in the late conspiracy; for they were punished without mercy, some publicly beheaded, others drowned in the Seine. The gentlemen whom the duke of Burgundy had sent to Paris escaped as secretly as they could, and were neither taken nor stopped.
When this business was over, numbers of men at arms were collected in the name of the king, by his ministers, throughout France; and in like manner did the duke of Burgundy, or permitted it to be done by those under him, so that the clergy and poorer sorts of people suffered greatly in various parts of the kingdom,—for there were few who defended them,—and they had no other support but their earnest prayers to God their Creator to take vengeance on their oppressors.