against him, to offer him battle, and to recover the town of Perpignan, which he had taken from the king of France. On Saturday morning, the 14th of March, the king, who then resided at Plessis du Parc, formerly called Montils les Tours, set off very early, and with few attendants, for Bordeaux and Bayonne. That no person living might follow him, he ordered the gates of Tours to be closed until ten o'clock had struck, and had a bridge broken down near to Tours, to prevent any one crossing the river. For further security, he commanded the lord de Gaucourt, the captain of the gentlemen in his household, to remain in Tours for the same purpose. On the 7th of April, just before Easter, the younger son of the count d'Albret,* who had betrayed the lord de Beaujeu into the hands of the count d'Armagnac, and who, on the capture of Lectoure, had been made prisoner, was brought to Poitiers, where he was tried and condemned for this offence to be beheaded, and was then executed; after which, his body was put into a coffin, covered with a pall emblazoned with his arms, and carried by the four orders of mendicant friars in Poitiers for interment, when a handsome service was performed. In this month of April, the truce between the king and the duke of Burgundy was prolonged to the end of the ensuing year. CHAPTER CLXVII.-THE SIEGE OF PERPIGNAN.—THE DUKE OF ALENÇON DETAINED PRISONER IN THE LOUVRE.-THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF CALABRIA.-THE EXECUTION OF JOHN HARDY FOR INTENDING TO POISON THE KING.-EDICTS FROM THE KING RESPECTING THE GENS D'ARMES AND THE COIN.--AN EMBASSY FROM THE KING OF ARRAGON.-OTHER EVENTS IN THIS YEAR. [A. D. 1473.] ABOUT the end of April, in the year 1473, the king of Arragon made an attack on the town of Perpignan, and gained it from the lord du Lau, who had the guard of it; but the castle remained unconquered,—and the garrison held it for the king of France a long time after the capture of the town. When Lectoure had been destroyed, the king ordered the army to Perpignan, in which were besieged the king of Arragon and his son. With the nobles and captains of this army was the cardinal of Alby, who behaved himself most prudently and courageously. This siege lasted long, even until the month of June,-when the king, to hasten it, sent thither a reinforcement of four hundred lances from Amiens and the adjacent towns, together with a large train of artillery and cannoneers. The duke of Alençon, who had been confined in the castle of Loches, was brought to Paris, and arrived at the castle of the Louvre between nine and ten at night, the 16th day of June. He disembarked from the boats that had brought him from Corbeil, under the guard of the lord de Gaucourt and the lord de la Chaloterie, master of the household to the king, having with them fifty archers of the guards, and twenty-four gentlemen of the household. When they had left him in the castle of the Louvre, they all returned to the king, except the lord de la Chaloterie, who had the care of him,—and he was guarded by the archers of the town of Paris. The first night, he was lodged at the Silver Lion, in the street of St. Honoré: and the following day, which was Corpus-Christi-day, he was brought back to the Louvre at the same hour, between nine and ten in the evening. During this long siege of Perpignan, the king's troops had suffered greatly from the excessive heats, and from want of provisions,-which made them agree to a truce, for a short time, with the besieged, when each party was supplied as to their greatest wants. In this interval the king sent another reinforcement of men-at-arms, artillery and provisions, under the command of the lord de Gaucourt. He also ordered master John Bouvré and the banker of the treasury to buy up all the provisions they could lay hands on, and send them to Perpignan. About this time, in the month of July, died the last born child of the * Charles d'Albret lord of St. Basile, commonly called le cadet d'Albret. It seems there was sufficient proof of his guilt; but James de Lomagne lord of Montignac, the governor of Lectoure, though the principal person concerned in the same transactions, was pardoned in consideration of the testimony he could produce against others. king, called the lord Francis duke of Berry. The king was so much grieved that for six hours no one dared to speak to him. In this same month, the duke of Calabria died of the plague, in his duchy of Lorraine.' Immediately after his decease, news was brought that a German, the commander of the late duke's forces, had taken prisoner the count de Vaudemont heir to the duchy of Lorraine, with the avowal and by the instigation of the duke of Burgundy. In order to obtain the count de Vaudemont's liberty, a youth, nephew to the emperor of Germany, and then a student at Paris, was arrested by way of reprisal, and as an hostage for the count's safety. A conference was appointed to be holden this month at Senlis, between commissioners from the king and the duke of Burgundy, to settle their differences. The king sent thither the count de Dammartin, who went in great pomp, the lord chancellor, the lord de Craon, the first president of the parliament of Paris, master Guillaume de Cerisay, and master Nicholas Bataille, who after remaining there until the middle of August, returned without having done any thing. At this period, the duke of Burgundy marched an army into Guelderland, to subdue and take possession of it.t On the 8th of August, as the king was coming out of the castle of Alençon, by accident a very large stone fell from the battlements on his sleeve: he narrowly escaped being killed by it, but was saved by his confidence in God, and the blessed Virgin Mary, in whom he put his whole trust. The commissioners from the king and the dukes of Burgundy and Brittany now left Senlis without having accomplished any of the points they had met on. In regard to the weather of this year, it was exceedingly hot from the month of June to December, more so than had been felt in the memory of any man living,-which caused the wines to be of such bad qualities that quantities were thrown away,-and there was not any frost until after Candlemas-day. As there were now reports, that the Burgundians were marching for Lorraine and the Barrois, the king sent thither five hundred lances, under the command of the lord de Craon, whom he made his lieutenant-general. He also ordered the nobles from the Isle of France and Normandy, with the franc-archers cantoned in divers parts of Champagne, to advance towards Lorraine, where they remained for more than two months, and then returned without having seen the enemy. The duke of Burgundy brought the emperor of Germany to Luxembourg, whence he went to the town of Metz, to exhort the inhabitants to admit the duke of Burgundy and his forces: but as they refused to comply, he returned to Luxembourg and thence into Germany. At this time the duke of Burgundy sent to Venice to negotiate a loan, that he might subsidise for three months six hundred lances from that country. These troops passed through the duchy of Milan, and proceeded to the upper parts of Burgundy, to form a junction with the subjects of the said duke, whose army was not sufficiently strong to meet Nicholas, only son of John duke of Calabria (who died, greatly regretted for his princely virtues, three years before) and grandson of René king of Sicily. For some time before his death, this young prince had been in treaty with the duke of Burgundy, for a marriage with Mary his only daughter and presumptive heir to his vast dominions. This negotiation was most obnoxious to Louis; and the interruption of it by the young man's death just then when there appeared to be no farther obstacle to its accomplishment gave occasion to the suspicion of another poisoning, which on some accounts seems to be attended with greater probability than that to which the death of the king's brother was attributed. By the death of this duke of Calabria, the male line of René became extinct, and the inheritance of Lorraine passed to Iolante the daughter of René, who by her marriage with Frederic count of Vaudemont (dead in 1470) had issue René count of Vaudemont, and afterwards duke of Lorraine; whom the duke of Burgundy (probably enraged at the failure of his hope of uniting the duchies of Burgundy and Lorraine by the marriage of his daughter) imprudently as well as unjustly contrived to make prisoner as related in the text; but he was very shortly obliged to set him at liberty. The cause of this expedition was briefly as follows:Some years before, Adolphus the son of Arnold duke of Gueldres rebelled against his father, deposed and imprisoned him and took possession of his estates. Complaint of this outrage being made at the papal and imperial courts, the duke of Burgundy was appointed umpire, and awarded to the old duke a portion only of the hereditary state for his maintenance, with which he seemed to be well satisfied. His son, on the contrary, swore “ that he would rather throw the old man into a well and himself afterwards than acquiesce in such a sentence." Justly indignant at this monstrous ingratitude, the duke upon this deprived the unnatural villain of his estates, which he thereupon purchased of the father at the price of 92,000 florins. Arnold died five years afterwards, having by his last will disinherited his son, and confirmed his sale to the duke of Burgundy. The duke of Juliers, however, had some claims to the succession which it was more difficult to compromise; and these, together with the opposition made by some of the towns of Guelderland and Zutphen to the duke's possession, involved him in an expensive and sanguinary warfare.-DU CLOS. that of the king which lay upon his frontiers. The king now married his eldest daughter*, whom he had promised to the late duke of Calabria, to the lord de Beaujeu, brother to the duke of Bourbon. The Burgundians, by treason and otherwise, suddenly invaded the country of the Nivernois, and took several towns belonging to the count de Nevers, such as La Roche, Châtillon, and others. The king's commissioners, who had before been at Senlis, now went to Compiègne, in expectation of meeting those from Burgundy, who had promised to come thither; but after waiting for some time in vain, they returned to Paris, and went thither again on the 15th of January. It was now currently reported that the duke of Burgundy, seeing he could not by open force destroy the kingdom of France, notwithstanding all the pains he had taken to accomplish it, had formed a conspiracy to poison the king; in which business he employed a person called master Ythier Marchant, who had been a servant to the late duke of Guienne, and another called John Hardy, servant to this Ythier, who, after the death of the duke of Guienne, had sought protection from the duke of Burgundy. John Hardy undertook to manage this affair, and consequently the poisons were delivered to him, with promises of great wealth on his success: at the same time fifty thousand crowns were paid him down, for him to distribute among such as he should judge able to assist him. He had also money given him for his expenses; and this madman, Hardy, not having the fear of God before his eyes, nor foreseeing, that had his plot succeeded (which, thanks to God, it did not), the whole of the noble realm of France would have been destroyed, set out on his journey to the place of the king's residence. On his arrival at Amboise, forgetting that the king had formerly kindly received him and given him great sums of money, in order to execute his damnable enterprise, he addressed himself to a person who had the charge of making sauces in the royal kitchen, with whom Hardy was acquainted during the time they were both in the service of the duke of Guienne. Hardy communicated to him his plan, and offered him twenty thousand crowns if he would assist him to accomplish it. The saucemaker listened to him, but said he could not engage in the business without the consent of Colinet, the king's head cook, who had likewise been in the same service with themselves. He promised to mention the matter to Colinet, and urge him to join them, but desired Hardy to give him the poisons to show the head cook. Soon after, the saucemaker and head cook having discussed the business together, went and informed the king of the plot, who was very much alarmed, but most honourably and handsomely rewarded them for having discovered it. John Hardy had set out for Paris, but was instantly followed and overtaken near Estampes, where he was arrested and brought back to the king, who interrogated him, and had him examined by others, as to the charges made against him, all of which he confessed to be true. To make the matter public, and that his trial might have the greater notoriety, the king set out from Amboise for Chartres, Meulan, Creil, and other places in the Beauvoisis, followed by Hardy, chained with heavy irons, in a low cart, under the guard of John Blosset, esquire, captain of one hundred archers of the dauphin's guard, fifty of whom always surrounded the cart. Thus guarded, he was sent to Paris to be delivered up to the provost and sheriffs, where he arrived on Thursday, the 20th day of January, about three o'clock in the afternoon; when sir Denis Hesselin, the provost, and others, went out to receive him in the suburbs, beyond the gate of St. Denis. With sir Denis were the four sheriffs, their officers, and great crowds of people, and the archers of the town in handsome array. Hardy was placed on a high chair in the middle of the cart that he might be seen by the populace, who were strictly forbidden to abuse him by words or deeds. Thus was he conducted along the great street of St. Denis to the town-house, when he was delivered up by John Blosset to the provost and sheriffs, under whose guard the king had ordered him to be placed, that they might have the honour of trying and executing him. While the king was at Creil he issued an edict respecting the gens-d'armes of his realm, by which he declared that each lanceman should not have more than six horses, namely— three horses for himself, his page and his armour-bearer; the two archers have two horses, and one for the varlet; but they were no longer to have panniers to carry their arms. They * 64 Eldest daughter." Anne of France, a most accomplished woman. She made a great figure in the succceding reign. were not to remain longer than one day in any village when on their march. And proclamation was made to forbid all merchants from selling or affording to any of the gens-d'armes cloths of silk or camlets, on pain of forfeiting the money these gens-d'armes might give or owe for them; and no woollen cloths were to be sold them of a higher price than thirty-two sols parisis the ell. At the same time he issued another edict touching the coin, and ordered the grands blancs to be exchanged for eleven deniers, although before they had only been worth ten deniers-the targes, eleven deniers tournois, that had been worth twelve-the crown, thirty sols three deniers tournois; and so cn with the rest, for the whole value of the coin was changed. On the 20th of January a reconciliation took effect between the king and the constable. He had possessed himself of the town of St. Quentin, and driven out the lord de Creton, whọ there commanded one hundred lances for the king. By this reconciliation the constable remained not only master, as before, of St. Quentin, but the town of Meaux and other places were given up to him, of which he had before been deprived. Commissioners were also appointed to inquire after those who had spoken disrespectfully of the constable relative to his taking St. Quentin, that they might be brought to punishment. Money was likewise given him for the pay of his troops, which was the means of preventing his town of St. Quentin from being taken. The king about this time left Amboise for Senlis, where he remained while his commissioners and those from Burgundy were labouring to bring about a peace. At length the truce was prolonged to the middle of the ensuing May, in the expectation of a more lasting agreement being concluded before then. The king went from Senlis to Ermenonville in Santerre, belonging to master Pierre L'Orfevre, counsellor in the chamber of accounts, where he staid a month, during which time the duke of Bourbon, whom the king had repeatedly sent for, came at last, but did not remain more than ten or twelve days, and returned, with the king's leave, to his own country, to celebrate Easter, promising to come back the Sunday after Easter, which he did. On the 30th of March John Hardy, before mentioned, was condemned by the court of parliament to be taken to the gate of the prisons of the Conciergerie, and there put into a tumbrel and drawn before the town-house, where a scaffold had been erected for the quartering of his body, according to the sentence, which was executed. His head, placed on the point of a lance, was to remain in front of the town-house, and his four quarters were sent to four of the principal towns, at the extremities of the kingdom-on each of which an inscription was to be put, declaring the cause why they were thus placed-and the body was ordered to be burned and reduced to cinders at the place of execution. All the houses of the said John Hardy, particularly that in which he had been born, were to be razed to the ground, and no buildings were to be thereon erected in future; an inscription was also to be placed on the spot declaratory of the enormity of the offence, and why these buildings had been destroyed. Hardy was executed in the presence of the lord de Gaucourt, king's lieutenant, the first president of the parliament Boulenger, the two provosts, and sheriffs, and other principal persons of the town; and he had a celebrated doctor in divinity, called doctor Hue, assigned to him for the care of his soul. On the Saturday following the head of Hardy, which had been placed on a lance before the town-house, was taken down, nobody knew how, and thrown into a cellar hard by. This day a handsome embassy came to Paris from the king of Arragon, and was honourably received there by the count de Penthievre, the lord de Gaucourt and others, who feasted them well in divers parts of Paris until Palm Sunday, when their festivities ceased on account of the approaching Passion-week. The king arrived at Paris after Easter, the 16th day of April, in the year 1474. "Count de Penthievre." Jean de Brosse had, by his wife Louisa de Laval, René, who married Jeanne, only daughter to the historian Philip de Comines. CHAPTER CLXVIII.-THE PARISIANS ARE REVIEWED BY THE KING.-OF THE ARRAGONIAN [A. D. 1474.] THE king ordered a review of the Parisians on Saturday, the 20th of April. They were drawn up from the bastile of St. Anthony, along the ditches, to the tower of Billy; and thence, in battle-array, to the Grange aux Merciers: there was another division formed on the opposite side of the town. They made a brilliant and formidable appearance, for the whole number was estimated at one hundred and four thousand men, all in uniforms, with red hoods and white crosses. A large train of artillery was also drawn out of Paris, which added much to the beauty of the spectacle. The king was accompanied at this review by the Arragonian ambassadors, who were astonished at the numbers of men under arms that Paris alone had sent forth. The king was attended by his guards, the gentlemen of his household, the count de Dammartin in great pomp, Philip of Savoy count of Bresse, the lord du Perche, Salazart, and several other captains and gentlemen of renown. After the review the king went to Vincennes to supper, taking with him the Arragonian embassy; and shortly after he gave to the two principal ambassadors two cups of fine gold, embossed with figures, which weighed forty marcs, and had cost three thousand two hundred crowns of gold. The king left Paris for Senlis, where he made some stay; and during that time two embassies came to him, one from Brittany and another from Germany-the chief of which last was the duke of Bavaria. With the embassy from Brittany came Philip des Essars, lord of Thieux, master of the household to the duke of Brittany, who had been very active against the king. He was, however, kindly received by him, presented with ten thousand crowns, and appointed general inquisitor and inspector of waters and forests in Champagne and Brie, -which office the lord de Châtillon had held, but it was taken from him to be given to Philip des Essars. While the king was at Senlis, Ermenonville, and other places in that district, an embassy arrived from the duke of Burgundy, which remained long, but concluded nothing. The king then departed for Compiègne, Noyon, and divers places thereabout, when a meeting was appointed between him and the constable to settle some differences between them near a village†, where a bridge was thrown over a river, and each had a large party of guards for his personal security. Their mutual accusations were discussed, and particularly the capture the constable had made, by force, of St. Quentin, by driving thence the lord de Creton and his garrison, which had greatly angered the king, who for this reason had stopped the payments due to the constable's troop of four hundred lances, for the months of April, May, and June. After a long conversation, the king ordered the arrears of pay to be made good, and continued as before, and they parted good friends. Peace was likewise made between the constable and the count de Dammartin, and the king on his going away freely pardoned the constable, who promised and swore never to commit any more faults, but to serve him henceforward faithfully against all, without any exception whatever. During this period the king passed some time at Senlis, Ermenonville, Pont St. Maixence, and other places near. He went almost daily to the abbey de la Victoire to adore the statue of the Virgin, which was there in great request, and in honour to her made the prior very rich gifts, in money, to the amount of ten thousand golden crowns. This year, from his singular love to his people, and his wish to avoid the shedding of human blood, he agreed to a truce with his adversary the duke of Burgundy for one year, to expire the first of April in the year 1475; although several embassies had come from the emperor of Germany, humbly to desire that he would not conclude any truce, for that he would reduce the duke by force Nuys, a town in the department of the Roer, in the present division of France. The place of meeting was on a barricaded bridge, near to La Fere, three leagues from Noyon. |