CHAP. LXXIV.
DUKE PHILIP OF BURGUNDY CONDUCTS HIS SISTER BACK TO PARIS, IN GREAT POMP TO HER LORD THE DUKE OF BEDFORD.
ON the 20th of September in this year, the duke of Burgundy left Hêdin, with his sister the duchess of Bedford, grandly accompanied, and lay that night at Dourlens. They proceeded the next day to Corbie, where they remained some days to wait the arrival of men at arms who were coming to them from all quarters.
From Corbie they went to Mondidier, and thence to Chastenay, quartering the men at arms, who amounted to from three to four thousand, in the country round. They crossed the river Oise at Pont St Maixence, and, passing by Senlis, were lodged at Louvres-en-Parisis.
The duke marched his men in handsome order, sir John de Luxembourg commanding the van, and the duke the main body. Near to him was his sister, mounted on a good trotting horse, attended by eight or ten ladies on hackneys. The lord de Saveuses and other knights, with a certain number of men at arms, followed by way of rear-guard.
The duke was much looked at by the French, who had come out of Senlis in great numbers on foot and on horseback, armed or not as they pleased on account of the existing truce. He was completely armed except the head, and mounted on a beautiful horse, and handsomely dressed and equipped, followed by seven or eight pages on excellent coursers.
The archbishop of Rheims, chancellor of France came first to meet and do him reverence in the plains without Senlis, and shortly after came the count de Clermont, with about sixty knights. When they had drawn near to the duke they both pulled off their hoods, bowed their heads, and addressed each other in obliging terms, but did not embrace through love and joy, as those nearly allied by blood are accustomed to do.
After these first salutations, the count de Clermont went to embrace his sister-in-law the duchess of Bedford, who was on the right hand of his brother-in-law the duke of Burgundy,—and having made a short acquaintance with her he returned to the duke; but observing that he did not seem willing to enter into any conversation, or have much to say to him, they took leave of each other and separated on the spot where they had met. Charles de Bourbon and the chancellor went back to Senlis, and the duke pursued his march to Louvres, where as I have said, he intended to pass the night.
On the morrow, he directed his march toward Paris, whither the duke of Bedford was returned from Normandy. On their meeting, joyous was the reception on both sides, and great and numerous were the embracings.
The men at arms of the duke of Burgundy were drawn up in array near to Paris, where they waited a considerable time before the harbingers had settled their quarters within the town. This done the princes and the duchess made their public entry with their men at arms. The Parisians were highly delighted at the arrival of the duke of Burgundy, and sung carols in all the streets through which he passed. They conducted the regent and his duchess to the palace of the Tournelles, and then the duke to his hôtel of Artois.
Great councils were held on the following day respecting the present state of public affairs; and, among other things the duke of Burgundy was required by the Parisians to be pleased to take on him the command of Paris, whose inhabitants had so strong an affection for him, and were ready and willing to support his and his late father's quarrels. They added, that it was absolutely necessary that he should comply with their wishes, considering the very many weighty matters the regent had on his hands in Normandy and elsewhere.
The duke of Burgundy granted their request until the ensuing Easter, but it was very much against his inclinations. The two dukes then determined to bring forward all their forces about Easter, in the spring of the year, to reconquer those towns in the Isle of France and on the Oise which had turned against them. Having arranged these matters, the duke of Bedford, with his duchess and the English, departed from Paris.
The duke of Burgundy appointed the lord de l'Isle-Adam governor of Paris, with a small number of men at arms at St Denis, the Bois de Vincennes, at the bridge of Charenton, and at other necessary posts. Having settled this business, and tarried in Paris the space of three weeks, he took leave of the queen of France, mother to king Charles, and returned, by the same route by which he had come, to Artois, and thence to Flanders. With him departed several of the burghers of Paris and some merchants.