ページの画像
PDF
ePub

affected you. Innocent VII. our immediate predecessor, of enviable remembrance to this age, was taken from us on a Saturday, the 6th of November. Our venerable brethren the cardinals of the holy Roman church, of whom I was one, being, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, summoned to a conclave, to elect a Roman pontiff,-after many things had been discussed, all eyes were directed to me, a cardinal priest of the title of St. Mark; and with unanimous consent, they elected me bishop of Rome, which honour we greatly feared, from a sense of weakness: however, we trusted in Him who does marvellous works, that he would enable us to bear this burden,—and we trusted not in ourself, but in the virtue of God, by whom we were convinced the thing had been done. This pastoral office has not fallen to us for our profit, but for the glory of God and the public benefit,-to both of which we turn our thoughts and courage, in order that this poisonous schism, in which the Christian people have been so long bewildered, may be destroyed. If, as we hope, so great a grace may be shown to us to bring this about, we trust it may be shortly accomplished.

"In order, therefore, to obviate, as much as in us lies, all obstruction on our part to the much-desired union of the church, we offer to resign our claim to the papacy, provided our adversary, or his successor, whoever he be, shall engage solemnly to make a similar renunciation; that is to say, that he renounce, fully and clearly, all claim to the papacy, and that all those whom he may have created cardinals do unite with those of our college, so that a canonical election of a Roman pontiff may ensue. We offer, beside, any other reasonable concessions, so that this schism may be put an end to; and that what we say may be depended on, we have sworn and promised the above at the time of our election to the popedom, in conjunction with our venerable brethren the cardinals of the same church.

"In case that either of us be re-chosen pope, we have engaged instantly to send properly instructed commissioners to Constance, who shall both privately and publicly labour to bring about this desired union of the church. Do you, therefore, my beloved children, have the goodness to exert all your strength to aid us in the accomplishment of this business, that the church may not longer labour under this disorder; and let affection aid solicitude.—Given at St. Peter's, at Rome, the 11th day of December, in the year 1406."

When the ambassadors had fully remonstrated on the matter of their coming, and made the same offers contained in the bull of the renunciation of the popedom by Gregory, and had been well entertained at Paris, having received promises of messengers being sent to pope Benedict, they returned to their lord and master.

About the ensuing Candlemas, the king of France and the university of Paris, in consequence of the deliberations of the prelates, clergy and council, sent certain ambassadors to pope Benedict,-namely, the patriarch of Alexandria, who was then at Paris, the bishops of Cambray and Beauvais, the abbots of St. Denis and of Mont St. Michel, the lord de Courrouille, master John Toussaint, secretary to the king, and other doctors of the university, with many very respectable persons. They took the road to Marseilles, where Benedict, and some of the cardinals of his party, then resided. These ambassadors were charged to remonstrate with him, in an amicable manner, on the offer which his rival had made to renounce the papacy, in order to effectuate a union of the church. In case he should not be willing to make a similar offer, they were to intimate to him, that if he refused, the whole realm of France and Dauphiny, in conjunction with many other countries of Christendom, would withdraw themselves from him, and no longer obey his bulls or apostolical mandates. In like manner would they act toward his adversary, were he to refuse compliance with the offers made by his ambassadors to the king of France and the university of Paris.

The ambassadors were graciously received by pope Benedict, on their arrival at Marseilles ; but when they opened the matter of their embassy, and explained the subject at length, the pope replied in person, that in a short time they should have his answer, and in the mean while, he was not forgetful that they had threatened to withdraw themselves from his obedience. To provide a remedy against the effects of this menace, and that no cardinal might publish a constitution against such as might withdraw themselves from his obedience, or even that of his successors, he sent an envoy to the king and the university of Paris, to their great astonishment.

The pope having given an answer to the ambassadors from France, very different indeed from what they expected, they set out on their return to Paris much displeased with him. On their arrival, they related all that had passed. The patriarch, however, had remained at Marseilles, with the hope of inclining pope Benedict to a union of the church.

CHAPTER XXXIV. THE DUKE OF ORLEANS RECEIVES THE DUCHY OF AQUITAINE, AS A PRESENT, FROM THE KING OF FRANCE.-A TRUCE CONCLUDED BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

[A. D. 1407.]

Ar the beginning of this year, the duke of Orleans, by means which he had long practised, prevailed on his brother, the king of France, to give him the duchy of Aquitaine, which he had long been wishing for. Truces were at this time concluded between the kings of France and England, for one year only, and were proclaimed at the accustomed places.

[graphic]

PROCLAMATION OF A PEACE.-From a MS. illumination of the Fifteenth Century.

The Flemings were much rejoiced thereat, for they thought that their commerce would now be more securely carried on. Ambassadors from England arrived at Paris from king Henry, the principal of whom was sir Thomas Erpingham, having with him an archdeacon, and several noblemen. He was presented to the king by Tassin de Servillers, and required in marriage one of the princesses, a nun at Poissy, for the prince of Wales, eldest son to king Henry. But as they demanded too great concessions with the princess, they returned without success. The lord de Hangest, whom the king had lately for his merit made master of the cross-bows, escorted them as far as Boulogne-sur-mer*.

See the Fœdera. The ambassadors were, sir Thomas Erpingham, John Cateryk, clerk, and Hugh Mortimer, treasurer to the prince of Wales.

Other credentials are given in December of this year, wherein the bishop of Durham is added to the above ambassadors.

[ocr errors]

CHAPTER XXXV.-THE PRINCE OF WALES ACCOMPANIED BY HIS TWO UNCLES, MARCHES A CONSIDERABLE FORCE TO WAGE WAR AGAINST THE SCOTS.

THE prince of Wales, son to king Henry, assembled, about the feast of All-Saints, one thousand men at arms and six thousand archers, to make an incursion into Scotland. His uncles, the dukes of York and Somerset, and the lords Mortimer, Rôs, Cornwall, and many other nobles attended him. Their object was to retaliate on the Scots, who had lately broken the truce, and done much mischief with fire and sword in the duchy of Lancaster. They entered Scotland, and committed great carnage wherever they passed; for the Scots were quite unprepared to receive them, nor had they any intelligence of their coming until they were in the midst of their country.

When news of this invasion was brought to the king of Scotland, he was at his town of St. Jangont, in the centre of his realm. He assembled in haste his nobles, and as large a force as could be collected on so short notice, which he sent under the command of the earls of Douglas and Buchan, with his constable, to meet the English and combat them, should they think it advisable. When they were within six leagues of the enemy, they were informed, that the English were far superior in numbers, and they adopted other measures. They sent ambassadors to the prince of Wales to treat of peace, and they managed so well that the truce was renewed for one year. The prince of Wales, having done great mischief to Scotland, returned to England; and the Scots disbanded their army.

CHAPTER XXXVI.—THE DUKE OF ORLEANS, ONLY BROTHER TO CHARLES VI. THE WELLBELOVED, KING OF FRANCE, IS INHUMANLY ASSASSINATED IN THE TOWN OF PARIS.

THIS year there happened the most melancholy event in the town of Paris that had ever befallen the Christian kingdom of France by the death of a single man. It occasioned the utmost grief to the king and the princes of the blood, as well as to the kingdom in general, and was the cause of most disastrous quarrels between them, which lasted a very long time, insomuch that the kingdom was nearly ruined and overturned, as will more plainly be shown in the continuation of this history. This event was nothing less than the murder of the duke of Orleans, only brother to Charles the well-beloved, king of France.

The duke was, on a Wednesday, the feast-day of pope St. Clement, assassinated in Paris, about seven o'clock in the evening, on his return from dinner. This murder was committed by about eighteen men, who had lodged at an hôtel having for sign the image of our Lady, near the Porte Barbette, and who, it was afterward discovered, had for several days intended this assassination. On the Wednesday before-mentioned, they sent one named Scas de Courteheuze, valet-de-chambre to the king, and one of their accomplices, to the duke of Orleans, who had gone to visit the queen of France at an hôtel which she had lately purchased from Montagu, grand master of the king's household, situated very near the Porte Barbette. She had lain in there of a child, which had died shortly after its birth, and had not then accomplished the days of her purification.

Scas, on his seeing the duke, said, by way of deceiving him, " My lord, the king sends for you, and you must instantly hasten to him, for he has business of great importance to you and him, which he must communicate to you." The duke, on hearing this message, was eager to obey the king's orders, although the monarch knew nothing of the matter, and immediately mounted his mule, attended by two esquires on one horse, and four or five valets on foot, who followed behind bearing torches; but his other attendants made no haste to follow him. He had made this visit in a private manner, notwithstanding at this time he had within the city of Paris six hundred knights and esquires of his retinue, and at his Monstrelet? I have looked at Hollingshed, Stowe, and Henry.

*It is not very easy to say to what this chapter can refer. There appears to have been no expedition into Scotland at this period, nor at any other, to which the facts here related bear the least resemblance. Is it entirely a fabrication of

St. Jangon-Perth, being probably a French corruption of St. John's Town.

expense. On his arrival at the Porte Barbette, the eighteen men, all well and secretly armed, were waiting for him, and were lying in ambush, under shelter of a pent-house. The night was pretty dark; and as they sallied out against him, one cried out, "Put him to death!" and gave him such a blow on the wrist with his battle-axe as severed it from his arm. The duke, astonished at this attack, cried out, "I am the duke of Orleans!" when the assassins, continuing their blows, answered, "You are the person we were looking for." So many rushed on him that he was struck off his mule, and his skull was split that his brains were dashed on the pavement. They turned him over and over, and massacred him that he was very soon completely dead. A young esquire, a German by birth, who had been his page, was murdered with him seeing his master struck to the ground, he threw himself on his body to protect him, but in vain, and he suffered for his generous courage. The horse which carried the two esquires that preceded the duke, seeing so many armed men advance, began to snort, and when he had passed them set out on a gallop, so that it was some time before he could be checked.

When the esquires had stopped their horse, they saw their lord's mule following them full gallop having caught him, they fancied the duke must have fallen, and were bringing it back by the bridle; but on their arrival where their lord lay, they were menaced by the assassins, that if they did not instantly depart they should share his fate. Seeing their lord had been thus basely murdered, they hastened to the hotel of the queen, crying out, " Murder!" Those who had killed the duke, in their turn bawled out, "Fire!" and they had arranged their plan, that while some were assassinating the duke, others were to set fire to their lodgings. Some mounted on horseback, and the rest on foot, made off as fast as they could, throwing behind them broken glass and sharp points of iron to prevent their being pursued. Report said, that many of them went the back way to the hotel d'Artois to their master the duke of Burgundy, who had commanded them to do this deed, as he afterward publicly confessed, to inform him of the success of their murder, when instantly afterward they withdrew to places of safety.

The chief of these assassins, and the conductor of the business, was one called Rollet d'Auctonville*, a Norman, whom the duke of Orleans had, a little before, deprived of his office of commissioner of taxes, which the king had given to him, at the request of the late duke of Burgundy. From that time the said Rollet had been considering how he could revenge himself on the duke of Orleans. His other accomplices were William Courteheuze and Scas Courteheuze, before mentioned, from the county of Guines, John de la Motte and others, to the amount of eighteen. Within half an hour, the household of the duke of Orleans, hearing of this horrid murder, made loud complaints; and, with great crowds of nobles and others, hastened to the fatal spot, where they found him lying dead in the street. His knights and esquires, and in general all his dependants, made grievous lamentations, seeing him thus wounded and disfigured.

With many groans, they raised the body and carried it to the hotel of the lord de Rieux, marshal of France, which was hard by; and shortly afterward the body was covered with a white pall, and conveyed most honourably to the church of the Guillemins +, where it lay, as being the nearest church to where the murder had been committed. Soon afterward, the king of Sicily, and many other princes, knights, and esquires, having heard of this foul murder of the only brother of the king of France, came with many tears to visit the body. It was put into a leaden coffin, and the monks of the church, with all the late duke's household, watched it all night, saying prayers, and singing psalms over it. On the morrow, his servants found the hand which had been cut off, and collected much of the brains that had been scattered over the street, all of which were inclosed in a leaden case and placed by the coffin.

The whole of the princes who were in Paris, except the king and his children, namely, the king of Sicily, the dukes of Berry, Burgundy, and Bourbon, the marquis du Pont, the counts de Nevers, de Clermont, de Vendôme, de St. Pol, de Dammartin, the constable of

Raoul d'Oquetonville, a knight of Normandy. The Guillemins were an order of hermits, instituted by Guillaume, duke of Guienne, and count of Poitou. They

succeeded to the church-convent of the Blanc-Manteaus, instituted by St. Louis.

France, and several others, having assembled, with a large body of the clergy and nobles, and a multitude of the citizens of Paris, went in a body to the church of the Guillemins. Then the principal officers of the late duke's household took the body and bore it out of the church, with a great number of lighted torches carried by the esquires of the defunct. On each side of the body were, in due order, uttering groans and shedding tears, the king of Sicily, the dukes of Berry, Burgundy, and Bourbon, each holding a corner of the pall. After the body followed the other princes, the clergy and barons, according to their rank, recommending his soul to his Creator, and thus they proceeded with it to the church of the Celestins. When a most solemn service had been performed, the body was interred in a beautiful chapel he himself had founded and built. After the service, all the princes, and others who had attended it, returned to their homes.

Many suspicions were formed as to the authors of this assassination of the duke of Orleans; and at first it was thought to have been perpetrated by sir Aubert de Canny, from the great hatred he bore the duke, for having carried off his wife*, by whom he had a son, of whom, and his education, I shall say more hereafter. The truth was soon known who were the guilty persons, and that sir Aubert was perfectly innocent of the crime. The queen Isabella was so much alarmed the day she heard of this murder being committed thus near her hotel, that, although she was not recovered from her lying-in, she had herself carried, by her brother Louis of Bavaria, and others, to a litter, and thence conveyed to the hotel de St. Pol, where she was lodged in the adjoining chamber to that of the king for her greater security. The night this murder was committed the count de St. Pol and many others of the nobility armed themselves, and went to the hotel de St. Pol, where the king resided, not knowing how far these matters might be carried.

When the body of the duke of Orleans had been interred, as has been related, the princes of the blood assembled at the hotel of the king of Sicily, with the council of state, whither the provost of Paris and others of the king's lawyers were summoned, and ordered by the princes to make the most diligent inquiries, by every possible means, after the perpetrators and accomplices of this base act. All the gates of Paris were commanded to be closed, except two, and those to be well guarded, that all who might pass them should be known. Having given these orders, the lords and the council retired to their hotels in much sorrow and grief. On the morrow the council was again assembled at the king's palace of St. Pol, in the presence of the king of Sicily, the dukes of Berry, Burgundy, and Bourbon, and other great lords. On the entrance of the provost of Paris, he was asked by the duke of Berry what measures he had taken to discover the murderers of so great a prince as the king's brother. The provost replied, that he had used all diligence in his researches, but in vain; adding, that if the king and the great lords present would permit him to search their hotels, and those of other great lords in Paris, he made no doubt but that he should discover the murderers and their accomplices. The king of Sicily, and the dukes of Berry and Bourbon, gave him instant orders to search wherever he pleased.

The duke of Burgundy, hearing such positive orders given, began to be alarmed, and, drawing king Louis and his uncle, the duke of Berry, aside, briefly† confessed to them what he had done, saying, that by the temptation of the devil he had committed the murder by means of Auctonville and his accomplices. The two princes were so much astonished and grieved at this confession that they were scarcely enabled to make him any reply, but what they did say was reproving him bitterly for having committed so base an act against his cousin-germaný. After this confession of the duke of Burgundy, they returned to the council

*The name of the adulteress was Marietta d'Enguien, and the son he had by her the famous John, count of Dunois and of Longueville. Sir Aubert de Canny was a knight of Picardy.

† Præsenti animo, says Heuterus.'

Consult Bayle and Brantome for a singular anecdote respecting the private reasons which urged the duke to commit this murder.

The monk of St. Denis, author of the History of Charles VI. adds the following damning clause to his account of this foul transaction:-" But what raised to

the highest pitch the horror of the princes at the blackness of soul displayed by the duke was, that very shortly before, he not only was reconciled but entered into an alliance of brotherly love with the duke of Orleans. They had yet more recently confirmed it, both by letters and oaths, insomuch that they called God to witness it, and received the communion together. They had every appearance of an entire union in the conduct of the war which was committed to their charge: they had defended one another's honour from the bad success which attended them: it seemed as if they had only one interest; and, for a yet

« 前へ次へ »