ページの画像
PDF
ePub

Item, for the performance and accomplishment of all A.D. 1422. the things aforesaid, without infringing any of them, on pain of losing the favour of the said kings, the besieged should give their letters, sealed with their seals, or signed with their hands, to the number of a hundred of the most distinguished, and of these there should remain, as hostages to the said two kings, twenty-four persons, those whom they might choose to elect or to make remain through their negotiators and commissioners.

Item, the said conditions being finished and accomplished, all wars and acts of violence should cease between the besieged and the besiegers.

Item, after all the articles aforesaid were agreed to and performed by the two parties they should remain in this condition till the tenth day of the said month in which the dauphinists made proposals to the commissioners of the two Kings of France and England and they should deliver to them the said market-place of Meaux, in the manner that had been negotiated, and in the form embodied in the above.

These commissioners immediately sent all the prisoners under good guards to the camp, and some of the principal ones were taken by water to Rouen, and thence to England; and part were removed to Paris. and imprisoned in various places. So there might be from seven to eight hundred warlike men, the captain. general of whom, namely the Bastard of Vaurus, was beheaded by order of the King of England, and his body hung on tree outside Meaux, which tree was therefore afterwards called the Vaurus elm. On this tree the said bastard had hanged many Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Burgundians when he could catch them, for which reason the tree was thus named. Moreover his head was placed at the end of his standard, and well fastened to the top of the tree aforesaid.

A.D. 1422.

Afterwards the king had Sir Louis Gast, Denis de Vaurus, and Sir John de Rombures and the man who had played the cornet on the wall, mocking those who were in the camp, beheaded at Paris; their heads. were placed in the market halls, and the bodies hung to a gibbet by the armpits. And the goods which were very abundant in the said market-place were all distributed at the good pleasure and good will of the King of England, who gloriously and in splendour worthy of his victory entered in noble array within this market-place, where he sojourned for some days to enjoy himself a little, and rest after the labour he had undergone. And he shortly gave orders to rebuild the gates and walls of the town aud market-place of Meaux which had been demolished and rent by the great engines during the said siege.

How after the capture of Meaux, several towns, castles, and forts surrendered and submitted to the Kings of France and England.

CHAPTER XXIV.

AFTER the surrender of the market-place of Meaux many towns and fortresses submitted to the commands of the King of England, both in the county of Valois and in the surrounding country, through the Lord of Offemont to whom they were subject. Among these were the towns of Crespy in Valois, the castle of Pierepont, Merlau, Offemont, and some others. There remained, however to the said Lord of Offemont his towns and fortresses, and besides his person was set entirely free on condition that he swore to the final peace lately made between the Kings of France and England, For the keeping of this

he gave sufficient pledges, to wit, the Bishop of Noyon A.D. 1422. and the Lord of Canny, who bound their persons and property with him as security; and on the other hand they surrendered the prisoners whom they had taken before Meaux, as has been said above, with several other fortresses formerly attached to the Dauphin's party.1

After that surrender of Meaux, the dauphinist captains, especially in the districts of Beauvaisis, considering the great vigour displayed by the King of England in this matter, heard and saw these things, and how the said king their adversary took throughout the kingdom cities and towns which before his coming they held to be impregnable, and they got so much afraid that shortly afterwards by means of this terror several sent ambassadors to the said King of England to treat with him, [proposing] that they should depart in safety with their garrisons within a certain day appointed. Among these the Lord of Gamaches treated for the town of Compiegne, of which he was captain; and also for the fortresses of Renty, Gournay-sur-Aronde, Mortemer, La Neufville en Haye, Cressenfart and others in the aforesaid country, giving hostages for surrendering them on the next ensuing eighteenth day of June into the hands of the said Kings of France and England or their commissioners deputed to receive them.

Sir Louis de Thienbronne and his companions treated similarly for the town of Gamaches, on condition that they should go away where it seemed good to them, with all their property, under sure safe-conduct from the King of England; and the said town with the inhabitants should remain quiet, taking the oath of the final peace. And moreover by the solicitation of Pieron de Luppel there was surrendered to the authority of the

1 omitted to be named for the sake of brevity. H,

A.D. 1422. two kings the fortress of Montagu, which held a large extent of country in subjection by its strength, and had done much damage to the cities of Rheims and Laon and the surrounding districts. On the other hand those who held the castle of Mouy in Lannois, knowing of the surrenders of the aforesaid towns and fortresses, and fearing that Sir John of Luxembourg and the English would besiege it, kindled fire suddenly within the castle, and went away to Guise. In like manner they abandoned and burned the castles of Mourescourt and of Brissy.

How the Queen of England came to Paris, where she was very joyfully received by the King of France her father, the Queen her mother, and the King her husband. CHAPTER XXV.

ON the twenty-second day of May, 1422, Lady Catherine of France, Queen of England, who had been for sometime recovered after the birth of her son, named Henry like his father, arrived at the port of Harfleur in Normandy in very noble array, with a large fleet of ships full of men-at-arins, and archers; and with her was the Duke of Bedford, the king's brother, who was commander of the said army. After they had landed at Rouen they went to the forest of Vincennes to take the said queen of England to see the King of France her father and the queen her mother, who were then staying there. Queen Catherine rode in royal state, the said duke her brother-in-law always beside her, with a great number of men-atarms. So the King of England her lord and husband, accompanied by his princes, went from the camp at

Meaux to meet her. She was received and congratu- A.D. 1422 lated by him, God knows how joyfully; also the king her father and the queen her mother showed her all the cheer and honour that was possible, for they were greatly rejoiced at the arrival of their said daughter and their son-in-law the King of England her husband. And on the thirtieth day of the said Inonth, the eve of Whitsunday, the Kings of France and England, with the queens their wives, left the Forest of Vincennes, and went to Paris, which they entered in good order and noble state. The King of France and the queen were lodged in their Hotel of St. Pol and the King of England with the queen his consort lodged in the castle of the Louvre, in which places each of the two kings in his own house royally celebrated the solemnities of Whitsunday. And on this said day the King and Queen of England sat grandly and magnificently at table to dine, crowned with their precious diadems. There sat also at other tables in this hall the ecclesiastics, dukes, princes, barons, knights, and noble men, who were all honourably served, each one according to what belonged to his rank. So the king and So the king and queen that day held a court grand and rich beyond the French custom; and the people of Paris went in crowds to the castle of the Louvre to see the style and demeanour of the King and Queen of England holding open court and wearing crowns.

On the other hand the King and Queen of France held their Court by themselves in their Hotel of St. Pol, but by no means so grandly or plentifully as they were accustomed to do in days gone by. And thus passed that day in solemn eating and drinking, and in keeping great state as you have heard.

After these festivities were over the King of England, being in the said place of Paris, ordered that the impost of the silver marks which has been

« 前へ次へ »