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dangerous and false lies, as they have before done, and that events more pernicious may ensue than what we have lately experienced, and which it concerns every one, through the grace of God, to prevent with all diligence.

"This peace is considered so advantageous to all parties that the king of Sicily, the dukes of Orleans, of Bourbon, and the counts of Alençon and of Eu, have since sent their ambassadors to Paris, who daily attend to the due execution of all the articles of it, having fully approved of it and of everything that has been done by us; and the rupture of this peace at this moment would cause the destruction of us, our kingdom, and of all our faithful and good subjects. For this cause, we expressly enjoin and command you not to give credence to anything you may hear to the contrary,-for what we have assured you above is the real truth,-by any of these evil-minded persons who are inimical to the peace, nor to show them any manner of favour,-but, on the contrary, to throw them into prison, and send them to us, that we may inflict such punishment on them as the heinousness of the case may require. And you, bailiff, will cause the above to be proclaimed in all the considerable towns and villages within your jurisdiction; and you will also require from the clergy of the different churches, collegiate and others, within your bailiwick, that they do make processions, and offer up devout prayers to Heaven, for the effecting of the above peace, and that our Lord, through his grace, would incline to make it perpetual. You will also personally be careful that there be no failing on your part in the due execution of this our will and pleasure. "Given at Paris the 12th day of August, in the year of Grace 1413, and of our reign the 33d." Signed by the king and his council, present the dukes of Aquitaine, of Berry, and of Burgundy, the marshal Longny.-" FERRON."

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Another edict was published by the king against men-at-arms and other warriors, and to secure the people against their inroads, which was sent to all the bailiwicks and seneschalships in the kingdom, of the following tenour.

"Charles, by the grace of God king of France, to the bailiff of Amiens, or to his lieutenant, greeting.

"It has come to our knowledge, that within a short time many men-at-artas, archers and cross-bowmen, and other warriors, without any license from us given, either by written orders or otherwise, have unlawfully assembled, and continue so to do, in very many places and towns of our kingdom, with the intent of marching toward our good city of Paris, and

pillaging and murdering our poor subjects, and committing other ruinous acts and excesses, by which our faithful subjects are sorely oppressed, in addition to what they had before suffered, as well from the effects of the late war as from the epidemic disorder and mortality which ensued in consequence, causing the country to be deserted, whence great and irreparable evils may fall on us and our kingdom, if not speedily prevented. We therefore, desirous of guarding and preserving, to the utmost of our power, our people from such like plunderings and ill treatment, as we are bounden so to do,—and beside seeing a probability that the discords which have taken place between several of our blood and kindred are likely to be put an end to,―shall use (with God's good pleasure) every means in our power to have it accomplished.

"We therefore command and strictly enjoin you, that on the receipt of this letter, you lay aside all other business whatever, and instantly cause our commands to be publicly proclaimed with a loud voice, and with sound of trumpet, in such places where proclamations have been usually made. You will also make this our pleasure known to all our captains, governors, and men-at-arms within any fort, castle, or forming any garrisons within your said bailiwick; and you will strictly enjoin, that no person shall dare to assemble in arms without our especial license first had and obtained, under pain of corporal punishment and confiscation of goods. And should any such assemblies have taken place within your bailiwick, they must, on hearing the proclamation of this our pleasure, instantly disperse and return to their homes. Should any bodies of men-at-arms have taken possession of a town or fortress within your district, you will command them, in our name, instantly to surrender it to you, and depart thence; and you will renew the garrison with such persons as you shall judge expedient, and take the command of such town or fort yourself, until you shall receive further orders. Should they refuse to surrender themselves to you, you will make them your prisoners, and execute such justice upon them as their case may require; and should it seem necessary, you will employ force against them to reduce them to obedience, and summon to your aid all the nobles resident within your bailiwick, taking care to have a superior force to those you are about to attack, and keeping it up so long as you shall judge it right for the maintaining tranquillity in the country. And we order all our nobles, on the fealty they owe to us, to obey your orders whenever the case shall require it. Should it happen, that during any engagements that may take place between you and our rebellious subjects, any of them be killed or wounded, we will not that such murders be prejudicial to any one employed under your orders, but that they be acquitted and freed from all pursuits for the same hereafter, as we grant them our full pardon. We will likewise, that all arms, horses, or baggage that may be taken from any of our rebellious subjects, shall be converted toward paying the expenses of those who shall have taken and imprisoned such disobedient rebels.

"We therefore give full license and authority to all our subjects, should they be constrained to employ force against these rebels, to seize and hold possession of any parts of their territories without ever being called to account hereafter for so doing. And we especially command all our civil officers and subjects to afford you every aid in their power, and to obey your commands. We also direct, that our well-beloved members of the courts of justice, all masters of requests, as well of our hôtel as of the parliament, all bailiffs and sergeants, and every other dependant on the courts of law, do suspend all processes that may have been proceeding against any of the nobles employed in executing our orders, from the day they shall have set out until fifteen days after their return, without their suffering anything prejudicial to themselves or their possessions, or to those who may have been securities for them. Should any such acts have taken place, you will order everything to be replaced on the same ground as before the nobles had set out on the expedition; for such is our pleasure, according to the tenor of this present letter,—a copy of which, under our royal seal, we shall send you, because the original cannot be exhibited in all places where there may be occasion for it; and to this copy you will give equal credence as to the original letter. "Given at Paris, the 5th day of August, in the year of grace 1413, and of our reign the thirty-third." It was signed by the king in council,-present the dukes of Aquitaine, Berry, Burgundy, Bar, the duke Louis of Bavaria, and others. Countersigned, "FERRON." These two edicts were carried to Amiens, and proclaimed the 20th day of the same month.

CHAPTER CVII. -THE DUKE OF AQUITAINE 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 Aquitaine, 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 Aquitaine, 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 Bastile. When the prisoners had been set at liberty, the duke of Aquitaine 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 Aquitaine, obtained his liberty. Sir Charles was confined in the prison 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 Aquitaine.

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 sonin-law the duke of Aquitaine, 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 hotel 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 Aquitaine 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 hotel of the "Huis de fer," named Jean de Troyes, cousin-german to master

In

Jean de Troyes, the surgeon, of whom mention has been made, suffered in like manner. respect to the queen, the dukes of Aquitaine, 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 Aquitaine, 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 hotels 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 dissentions 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 everything 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 well-wishers, 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.

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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 ill-wishers 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 Aquitaine, 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.

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