ページの画像
PDF
ePub

Burgundy, contrary to his promise on oath, came thither, intending to annul the said peace made by us, and sworn to by him, as has been before said, and caused to be drawn up certain letters in our name, which he had attached to our edict concerning the peace, by which he made us repeal and annul the greater part of what had been granted by us and our said eldest son, thus infringing the articles of the peace, namely, the restitution of estates, inheritances, honours, and offices, to such as had adhered to the party of our said uncle and nephews, and to others of our blood and lineage, their allies and partisans. He has, moreover, retained, for a long space of time, against our will, and contrary to the agreements we had entered into, and his own oath, the castles of Coucy and Pierrefons, belonging to our said nephew the duke of Orleans, with many other castles, estates, and houses of several of that party, notwithstanding letters of restitution granted by us, and verified by our court of parliament. Neither the duke of Orleans nor any of his adherents could regain the possession of their lands, for there was scarcely any one member of our court of parliament who dared to gainsay the will and enterprises of the duke of Burgundy or his accomplices, who were solely bent on having the entire management of us, of our dear companion the queen, our well-beloved eldest son the duke of Aquitaine, and the whole government of the realm. "To keep us in the greater subjection, the said Burgundian raised persons of low rank and consideration in Paris to places of trust, who, by his authority and exhortations, and being in his full confidence, undertook the government of our royal self, that of the queen, the duke of Aquitaine and the whole kingdom. These persons frequently came to our councils, and those of our court of parliament, in a violent and disorderly manner, menacing our faithful and honest counsellors in such wise that the regular course of justice was stopped; and it was impossible to prevent whatever they should ordain or desire from being agreed to, one way or other. In pursuing their wicked courses and damnable designs, it is a fact, that on Friday the 28th day of April last past, when the said Burgundian, his accomplices, adherents, and people of low degree began to perceive that several of our blood and lineage, and others our officers, and those of our well-beloved son, the members of the university, wealthy merchants, and loyal burgesses of the town of Paris, were discontented with their mode of government, suspecting also that they intended even to drive them from their power and authority by force, and then punish them for their malversations, caused a great assembly of the populace to be holden, the most part of whom knew not for what they were thus assembled. Then, without any justifiable reason, they marched with displayed banners, in a warlike manner, to the hôtel of our said son, whence, against his commands and will, and to his great displeasure, they carried away our very dear and well-beloved cousin the duke of Bar, with many others the especial counsellors and servants of our said son, according to a written list of names which the duke of Burgundy held in his hand, and who had them first conducted to his hôtel of Artois, and thence to different prisons.

"Not long after, on another day, these same people of low degree, by the practices of the duke of Burgundy, again returned to our palace of St. Pol with displayed banners, and with force and violence, contrary to our will and pleasure, as well as in disobedience to the commands of our said queen and eldest son, they seized our very dear and well-beloved brother Louis duke of Bavaria, with other officers of our said son, and also certain ladies and damsels attached to and in the service of our said companion the queen, whom they arrested in her chamber, she being present, and carried to different prisons, where they were long detained in great personal danger. This same populace, through the connivance and encouragement of the duke of Burgundy, committed a variety of crimes and excesses, such as seizing day and night, without any judicial authority, many of our officers and other inhabitants of our said town of Paris, confining them in prisons, murdering some, and throwing the bodies of others into the river, by which means they were drowned, ransoming several for large sums of money, without any one daring to check or punish such atrocious

acts.

"All this was done through the practices and support of the duke of Burgundy; by which means he has detained us, our companion the queen, and our said eldest son, in such subjection and danger that we had not liberty to do any one thing as we should have pleased; for after these arrests had taken place, he appointed others to fill their places, who were

firmly attached to him and his measures. Even persons of the lowest order were raised by him to offices, and this conduct was pursued until it pleased the Lord, by means of the activity and diligence of our very dear and well-beloved cousin the king of Sicily, in con junction with our dear nephews of Orleans, our well-beloved cousins the duke of Bourbon, the counts d'Alençon, d'Eu, and others of our royal blood, many prelates, barons, knights, esquires, and several of our court of parliament, and of our dear daughter the university of Paris, and capital burgesses of that town, to restore us, our dear companion the queen, and son, to that liberty which we should reasonably enjoy; and the peace that had been agreed to at Auxerre was again confirmed and sworn to by the said Burgundian, and others of our blood, and lineage. Nevertheless, the duke of Burgundy, prior to the expedition which our said eldest son made, by means of the populace of Paris on the 4th day of August last past, exerted himself to the utmost to put an end to this peace, by having it published in several hôtels and other places in Paris, that if the people consented to such a peace, it would be the ruin of the town: which was notoriously false.

"Since the peace was thus renewed and confirmed, the duke of Burgundy has been much discontented; and when some of those disturbers of the peace, persons of low degree, quitted Paris under pretence of going to Burgundy, though in fact they went to Flanders, Artois, and other territories of the duke, he received them graciously, criminals as they were, with other traitors and murderers of our said brother the duke of Orleans, notwithstanding we had sent him especial ambassadors, who, among other things, required and commanded him in our name that those criminals whom he had received, and who had been convicted of treason against us, and consequently banished the realm for ever, should be delivered up that justice might be done on them. They also demanded restitution of several castles that he kept possession of, by himself or others, contrary to our pleasure, namely, the castles of Crotoy, Laon, and Chinon,-but to all these demands he has been disobedient. The worst part of his conduct is, that under colour of the most abominable falsehoods, he has raised as large a body of men-at-arms and archers as was possible, as well from his own countries of Burgundy and Savoy as from Flanders, Artois and elsewhere, which he has marched to the walls of our good town of Paris. To gain partisans, and an undisturbed march, he has sent sealed letters to several of our large towns to require aid and support, under colour that he was marching to Paris by the command of our said eldest son, to deliver us from the bondage in which, as he said, we were detained, and which is a notorious falsehood,—for we never enjoyed greater liberty than we do at this moment, and have done ever since his departure from Paris. It is also false that he has had any commands from us on this subject: on the contrary, we and our dear son have, by our letters patent, positively forbidden him, under pain of our displeasure, to dare to come before us with any assemblage of men-at-arms, which he has not only disregarded and paid no attention to, but has imprisoned one of the sergeants-at-arms of our court of parliament, whom we had sent with the above letters patent, solemnly to forbid his assembling any bodies of men-at-arms, and which he properly executed.

66

Pursuing his evil designs, his conduct from bad becomes worse; and, contemning the orders of us, who are his sovereign, he marched like a rebel, in a hostile manner, toward our town of Paris, with the largest force he could collect, in direct opposition to our express commands, thus breaking the peace which he had so solemnly sworn to keep, and rendering himself unworthy of those graces and favours which had been shown him in former times. He has with him, and under his obedience, all those false traitors who on conviction of their treasons have been for ever banished the kingdom, that through their means he may be enabled to stir up sedition in our good town of Paris and elsewhere. He has gained possession of our town of Compiegne, although we had sent orders to the inhabitants not to suffer him to enter it with any body of men-at-arms, or in a hostile manner, which orders were shown to him; but he held them in contempt, and what is worse, he now occupies that town, and has placed therein a garrison contrary to our commands. In like manner has he taken possession of the town of Soissons, although the inhabitants had received orders similar to those sent to Compiegne, of which the army of the duke of Burgundy was assured. "This Burgundian has even advanced his army to St. Denis, which he has seized and

made his head-quarters, contrary to our will and pleasure, forming of it, as it were, a frontier to our good town of Paris; and by way of demonstrating his wickedness and infamous designs, he advanced his army with displayed banners, and in a warlike manner, to the very walls of Paris, and remained there a long time in battle-array. He even sent his scouts to the very gates, in the hope of raising a sedition among the populace, and then entering the town by force of arms, contrary to our will, and thus acting like an enemy, and being guilty of the crime of high treason toward us, many complaints of which have been and are daily made to us on this subject.

"Know ye, that having considered the above acts, and others connected with them, and the whole of the duke of Burgundy's conduct since the death of our said brother to this present time, inasmuch as he has been ever ready to proceed by force of arms, and has several times notoriously disobeyed our commands, more especially in this last act, when we positively enjoined him not to march any armed force to Paris, and in several others, which he has obeyed or not according to his pleasure. For these causes he is and must be esteemed ungrateful, and undeserving of all the favours that have been shown him by us in former times. Having therefore held a grand council on the above, to which persons of all ranks were admitted, and having duly considered the same, we declare that the duke of Burgundy, and all who shall give him any aid, support or advice, or join his company, contrary to our said edicts, issued by us to forbid the same, shall be, and are by these presents, held and _'. reputed rebels to us, and violators of the peace, consequently enemies to us and to the public welfare of our kingdom. For these causes we have determined to call out our arriere-ban, and to muster such forces of those who have been accustomed to bear arms as may be sufficient to enable us to resist the perverse dispositions and attempts of the duke of Burgundy, his accomplices and adherents, to reduce them to that subjection and obedience which they owe to us, and to punish them for their traitorous misdeeds, so that honour may redound to us, and they may serve in future as examples to all others.

"We give it in command by these presents to our well beloved and faithful counsellors, members of our parliament, to the provost of Paris, to the bailiff of Amiens, and to all other our officers of justice, to their deputies, and to each of them to whom it may appertain, that they do proclaim these presents, or cause them to be proclaimed, in the most public places within their jurisdictions where such proclamations have usually been made, so that no one may plead ignorance of the same. Commanding also, at the same time, that all our officers and subjects who may have been used to arms do hasten with all possible speed to join and serve us in such things as we may command, with as many men-at-arms as they can collect, under pain of our highest displeasure and suffering confiscation of effects, or such other punishment as may be awarded against all who shall in any way disobey these our said commands.

"In testimony of which, we have to these presents affixed our seal.-Given at Paris, the 10th day of February, in the year of Grace 1413, and of our reign the 33d." Thus signed by the king, on the report of the great council, held by the queen and my lord of Aquitaine. Countersigned, "DERION."

This edict was proclaimed in Amiens, and afterward in the provostships, and throughout the bailiwick, by commission from the said bailiff.

CHAPTER CXVI.-THE CHAINS ARE TAKEN AWAY FROM THE STREETS OF PARIS.-THE PARISIANS ARE KEPT IN GREAT SUBJECTION.-OTHER ROYAL EDICTS ARE PROCLAIMED.

WHEN the duke of Burgundy, as has been said, was returned to his own country, Tanneguy du Châtel *, who had lately been appointed provost of Paris, and Remonnet de la Guerre, were commissioned by the dukes of Berry and of Orleans to take down all the chains that had been affixed to the different streets and squares in Paris, and carry them to

* Hervé, lord of Châtel, a powerful baron of Bretagne, was the father of Wilham lord of Châtel, who was killed on an expedition to the English coast, and is mentioned

above; Oliver (who succeeded him as lord of Chatel), and Tanneguy, chamberlain to the king and provost of Paris,

the bastille of St. Antoine and to the castle of the Louvre. They also seized the arms of the burghers and inhabitants, and carried them to the said fortresses, riding daily through the streets attended by a strong force, and followed by cars and carts, which conveyed the arms and chains to the places appointed for receiving them. There was not, at that period, any burgher who dared even to carry a quarter-staff. The same men-at-arms kept a very strict watch day and night at the gates and on the walls, at the expense of the inhabitants, without attention being paid to their complaints, or placing the smallest confidence in them. They were consequently very much discontented, and sore at heart, when they saw how they were treated; and many now repented that they had put themselves under the government of the enemies of the duke of Burgundy, but dared not show it openly.

In regard to the duke, various edicts were issued against him, charging him with attempting to seduce the king's subjects from their obedience. One, addressed to the bailiff of Amiens, was as follows:

"Charles, by the grace of God, king of France, to the bailiff of Amiens, or to his lieutenant, health and greeting. Whereas it has come to our knowledge, that John, our cousin of Burgundy, our rebellious and disobedient enemy, has written, and sent at different times, sealed letters, as well to our good town of Paris as to many others within our realm, with the intent to seduce and deceive our subjects, and enable him to accomplish the damnable enterprise which he lately formed of marching a large army into Paris. We have, by our letters, expressly commanded, that no one, whatever may be his rank, should receive any of these letters from the duke of Burgundy; and should any have been received, that no answer whatever should be made to them, but that they should be sent to us, or to our chancellor, to do by them as we shall think expedient.

"This said duke of Burgundy, continuing his damnable projects, has lately sent certain letters-patent, sealed with his privy seal, to our town of Paris, which he has caused to be fixed secretly in the night-time to the gates of several churches, and in other public places of the said town, as well as to several others within our realm, as we have heard, by which he declares that he had marched to Paris solely with the intention of delivering us and our very dear and well-beloved son, the duke of Aquitaine, from the bondage in which he said we were held. The said duke further declared, that he would never abandon his attempt until he should have restored us and our dear son to the full enjoyment of our free-will and government These assertions, and others made by the said duke of Burgundy, are, thanks to God! groundless and notoriously false; for neither ourself nor our dear son have been or are under any subjection whatever; nor are our honour, our justice, or the state of our government, any way wounded or diminished,—but ever since the departure of the duke of Burgundy from Paris, we have governed peaceably, freely, without any hindrance or contradiction. This, however, we were but little able to do, after the horrible murder committed by this said duke on the person of our well-beloved brother Louis, duke of Orleans, whose sins may God pardon! We do now govern, and have governed, our kingdom, since the departure of the aforesaid duke, according to our pleasure and the right that belongs to us, and have been constantly obeyed in all things, humbly and diligently, by all those of our blood and lineage, like as good relations, vassals and loyal subjects should do to their king and sovereign lord, excepting always the duke of Burgundy, who, contrary to our orders and positive commands, has assembled great numbers of men-at-arms and archers, and like an enemy, has marched them to the walls of Paris, having in his company many traitors and murderers, and other criminals against our royal majesty. With such persons, and others who have been banished our realm for similar crimes, the said duke, persevering in his wickedness, attempted to enter Paris, to seize on and usurp (all that he has written to the contrary in his letters notwithstanding) the government of us, of our eldest son, and of the whole kingdom, and to appropriate to himself the finances, as he long did to our very great displeasure, and to the loss of the kingdom, after the said murder by him committed; for the said Burgundian and his adherents are known to have had and received sixty hundred thousand francs and upwards, for which, and various other causes, more fully explained in our ordinances, we have declared him a rebel, a violator of the peace, and, consequently, an enemy to us and to our whole kingdom.

"Whereas several of our subjects and vassals may perchance be ignorant of these said things, and therefore not believe them; and because the said Burgundian, by his written letters, may publish false and wicked lies as may deceive our said vassals, and prove of the utmost detriment to us, our kingdom, and to our faithful and loyal subjects: we being therefore desirous that every person may be fully ascertained of the truth, and in order to counteract such false and damnable lies, do thus publicly signify and make known, that the matters which the said Burgundian has written and published, either by himself or his adherents, are detestable lies, spread abroad to seduce and deceive our people, and to enable him to succeed in his damnable design. It is therefore our determination, with the aid of God, to oppose this duke by every means in our power, and to reduce him, his abettors, accomplices and adherents, under such subjection as befits vassals who are disobedient to their lord and sovereign. Such is our will, and we shall never depart from it. We therefore command and strictly enjoin, under pain of our displeasure, that you instantly do proclaim, in the most public manner, these presents in every place within your bailiwick where such proclamations are usually made, so that no one may plead ignorance thereof. You will likewise forbid, in our name, all our vassals within your jurisdiction, on the faith, loyalty and obedience they owe us, and under pain of being reputed rebels, and suffering the punishments due to such, henceforward to receive any letters from the said duke of Burgundy, his adherents or allies. Should any letters be sent them, we order that they do not open them, nor make any communications thereof,-but that they do bring them sealed up to our trusty and well-beloved chancellor, for him to do therewith as he may judge proper. And we, by these presents, do absolutely forbid them, under pain of the aforesaid penalties, in any way to advise, comfort or support, or show favour to the said duke of Burgundy, his partisans or allies, that they may prove themselves faithful and obedient subjects to us, as they are so bounden; otherwise, they shall be punished like rebels, to serve for examples to all others.

“Given at Paris, the 17th day of February, in the year of Grace 1413, and of our reign the 33d." Thus signed by the king, on the report of his grand council, and countersigned "E. MAUREGARD."

"

Shortly after, another edict was issued against the duke of Burgundy, and proclaimed throughout the kingdom at the usual places, the tenor of which was as follows:

"Charles, by the grace of God king of France, to the bailiff of Amiens, or to his lieutenant, greeting. Whereas it is so notorious to all our subjects, that none can pretend ignorance thereof, that John, our cousin of Burgundy, has lately advanced to the walls of our good town of Paris, with a large body of men-at-arms and archers, contrary to our positive orders, and in defiance of our will and pleasure, solemnly made known to him, as well by ambassadors as by sealed letters from us: that he captured the town of St. Denis, and made of it a bulwark against our city of Paris, marching thence to the walls of our said city with displayed banners, and sending his scouts to the gates thereof: that he has seized and retains the possession of many of our towns by occupying them with a force of men-atarms, more particularly Compiegne and Soissons: that he has now under his orders a very numerous army within our kingdom, to our great prejudice and to the oppression of the realm: that he has published certain declarations, as a colour for this disobedient and rebellious conduct, which are all of them perfectly false and malicious, his intention being to attempt gaining admittance, by fair or foul means, into our good city of Paris, to do his pleasure on us, our very dear companion the queen, our well-beloved son the duke of Aquitaine, and on others of our blood and lineage within the said city, and consequently to regain the whole government of the kingdom, in like manner as it is notorious he did formerly usurp it, and by his tyrannical domination caused irreparable injuries to those connected with us by blood, the inhabitants of the town of Paris, and in general to the whole kingdom. For these causes, we have branded him, all his adherents, partisans and allies, as rebels to us and enemies to our kingdom. He is now departed from our town of St. Denis, and we know not what road he has taken; but we have sent you letters to enjoin you to proclaim throughout your bailiwick, that none be so daring, under pain of corporal punishment and confiscation of effects, as to serve or join him in the army which he has

« 前へ次へ »