The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pictures of the old French court, by Catherine Mary Bearne This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Pictures of the old French court Jeanne de Bourbon, Isabeau de Bavière, Anne de Bretagne Author: Catherine Mary Bearne Illustrator: Edward H. Bearne Release Date: September 25, 2015 [EBook #50052] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT *** Produced by Clarity, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT AMBOISE. Pictures of the Old French Court Jeanne de Bourbon Isabeau de Bavière Anne de Bretagne By Catherine Bearne Author of “Lives and Times of the Early Valois Queens” I ILLUSTRATED BY EDWARD H. BEARNE FROM ANCIENT PRINTS, ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, &c. NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 1900 PREFACE N a former book I endeavoured, from information gathered out of the records of the first half of the fourteenth century, to give some idea of the court and social conditions of France at that time, and also of the first three Valois Queens, whose very existence appears unknown to the average English reader. This was no easy matter owing to the scarcity of details, which had to be carefully gleaned from amongst masses of histories and chronicles of battles, sieges, conspiracies, general councils, and other public events. The present volume treats of the years between the latter part of the fourteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, about which so much more information exists that I have found it necessary to abandon, for want of space, my intention of giving a short account of the courts of Marie d’Anjou and Charlotte de Savoie, wives of Charles VII. and Louis XI., who took very little part in public affairs; and to give a much shorter account of the reign of Anne de Bretagne. Very little has been written about Isabeau de Bavière, and much less still concerning Jeanne de Bourbon, whereas a great deal is known of Anne de Bretagne, the history of whose life has more than once been related. To an interesting biography of her by Louisa Stuart Costello, and an invaluable one by Le Roux de Lincy I am much indebted. I have, as before, consulted many early chronicles, histories, and letters, French, English, German, Italian, and Spanish, besides the works of various excellent modern writers, whose names I quote. Accuracy being of the greatest importance in books like these, I give, in reply to the observation of a critic, that the lines I quoted referring to the siege of Cassel are incorrect, the original of De Nangis:— “In dicto vero castro, in regis et totius Francorum exercitus derisum et subsannationem, in quodam eminenti loco posuerant Flammingi quemdam gallum permaximum de tela tincta, dicentes: ‘Quando gallus iste cantabit, rex Cassellum capiet vi armorum.’ Unde et gallice in gallo scriptum erat: ‘Quand ce coq chanté aura, Le Roy Cassel conquestera.’”1 I quoted these lines from the “Grandes Chroniques.”2 To another critic who says he has never heard of the “Grand dictionnaire de Morèry,” and suggests that no such book exists, I can only reply that I have it upon my shelves. It is in several folio volumes, was published at Paris 1699, and is quoted by various historians. It is sometimes spelt “Morèri.” CONTENTS REIGN OF CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON. CHAPTER I. PAGE The House of Bourbon—Marriage of Pierre de Bourbon and Isabelle de Valois—Birth of their children—Betrothal of Jeanne to the Comte de Savoie—To the Dauphin Humbert—Her marriage with the heir of France—Character of Charles—Death of Philippe VI.—Coronation of King and Queen—Charles invested with Duchy of Normandy— Marriage of the Queen of Spain—Pedro el Cruel—Marriage of the Comtesse de Savoie—Death of the Duc de Bourbon at Poitiers 1 viii ix xi CHAPTER II. France after the Battle of Poitiers—The Jacquerie—The Marché de Meaux—The Comte de Foix and the Captal de Buch —Rescue of the Dauphine—Vengeance of the nobles 16 CHAPTER III. Return of Charles and Jeanne to Paris—Marriage of Catherine de Bourbon to the Comte de Harcourt—The Céléstins— The Treaty of Bretigny—Marriage of Isabelle de France to Giovanni Visconti—Return of the King—Death of the children of the Dauphine—The plague—The Duchy of Burgundy 33 CHAPTER IV. King Jean returns to England—His death—Coronation of Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon—Murder of Blanche, Queen of Spain—The Céléstine Church—The Abbey of Chelles—The King’s library—Magnificence of the Court—Birth and death of the second Princess Jeanne 49 CHAPTER V. Comet—Meeting of Parliament—Marriage of the Queen’s sister—The Louvre and its gardens—Christine de Pisan—The Dauphin—His christening—War—French victories—Prosperity of France—Hôtel St. Paul—Birth of Marie de France —Capture and liberation of the Queen’s mother—Bonne, Comtesse de Savoie—Birth of Louis and Isabelle de France —Louis, Duc de Bourbon 68 CHAPTER VI. Illness of the Queen—Her recovery—Floods in Paris—Death of several princesses of the royal family—Bertrand du Guesclin—Court of Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon—The peers of France—The King’s will—Betrothal of his daughters—Visit of the Emperor—The Emperor Charles and the Duchess-dowager de Bourbon—Birth of the Princess Catherine—Death of the Queen—Of the Princess Isabelle—Grief of the King—His death 89 REIGN OF CHARLES VI. and ISABEAU DE BAVIERE. CHAPTER I. The House of Wittelsbach—Stephan von Wittelsbach and Taddea Visconti—Birth of Isabeau—Negotiations for her marriage—Her journey to Brussels—The fair of Amiens—Her interview with the King—Her wedding—Charles and Louis de France 107 CHAPTER II. Royal Family and Court of France—Birth and death of Charles and Jeanne de France—Dress and amusements—The Abbey of St. Denis—Knighthood of the King of Sicily—The ball—Duchesse de Berry—Valentine Visconti 124 CHAPTER III. State entry of Isabeau into Paris—Magnificent fêtes—Southern tour of Charles and Louis—Bad health of Charles—Bonne d’Artois and Jean de Clermont—Dreadful storm—Birth of Dauphin—Death of Blanche, Duchesse d’Orléans—Pierre de Craon and the Constable de Clisson—Madness of the King 147 CHAPTER IV. Tyranny of the Duchess of Burgundy—Birth of Marie de France—The Duchesse de Berry saves La Rivière—Doctor Hassely—The King recovers—The Masquerade—Dreadful fire—King ill—The sorcerers—King recovers—Dr. Fréron—King ill again—Accusations against Louis and Valentine d’Orléans—Birth of Louis de France—Betrothal of Isabelle de France to Richard II. of England—Their marriage—Disastrous crusade—Marriage of Jeanne de France to Duc de Bretagne—Marie de France takes the veil 166 CHAPTER V. Illness of the King—Execution of the sorcerers—Birth of Jean de France—Death of Queen Blanche de Navarre— Household of Isabeau—Ludwig of Bavaria—Ancient Paris—The Queen’s châteaux—Burgundy and Orléans—Henry of Lancaster—The plague—Revolution in England—The Dauphin Charles 192 xii xiii CHAPTER VI. Courage of the young Queen of England—Death of the Dauphin—Birth of Catherine de France—Intrigues of Louis d’Orléans, and quarrels at Court—Return of the Queen of England—Burgundians and Orléanists—Birth of Charles de France—Dreadful storms—Death of Duke of Burgundy—Illness of Duc de Berry—Conduct of Savoisy—Frère Jacques Legrand—The Princess Marie’s choice—Accident in the forest—The King and the Dauphin—Jean Sans-peur —The King ill—Eclipse—Royal weddings—The great winter—Murder of Louis d’Orléans 212 CHAPTER VII. Departure of Royal Family—Hundred Years’ War—Valentine d’Orléans—Queen’s return to Louvre—Death of Valentine —Forced reconciliation—Philippe de Bourgogne and Michelle de France—Misconduct of the Duc de Bretagne— Death of Isabelle de France—Of the Duc de Bourbon—Quarrels of the Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine—Of the princes 242 CHAPTER VIII. Riots led by Burgundy—The Duc d’Aquitaine’s ball—His quarrels with Burgundy—The Comte de Charolais—The Battle of Azincourt—Death of Louis d’Aquitaine—The Dauphin Jean—His court—His death—Imprisonment of the Queen— Jean Sans-peur rescues her—Enters Paris by night—Massacre of Armagnacs—The Dauphin Charles—Murder of Jean Sans-peur—Marriage of Catherine de France to Henry V.—Departure for England—Birth of a son—Return to Paris —Festivities—Death of Henry V.—Death of Charles VI.—Retirement of the Queen—Henry VI. enters Paris—Treaty of Arras—Death of Isabeau 260 Marie D’Anjou, wife of Charles VII.; Charlotte de Savoie, wife of Louis XI. 299 REIGN OF ANNE DE BRETAGNE, WIFE OF CHARLES VIII. and LOUIS XII. CHAPTER I. Birth of Anne and Isabelle—Their childhood—Louis d’Orléans—Alain d’Albret—Death of François II.—First council— French war—Marriage ceremony—Siege of Rennes 303 CHAPTER II. Joustes before Rennes—Death of Isabelle—Betrothal of Anne—Marguérite of Austria—Marriage of Anne to Charles VIII.—Birth of the Dauphin—Italian war—Return of Charles—Death of Dauphin—Birth and death of other children— Death of Charles VIII. 316 CHAPTER III. Despair of the Queen—Resumes duchy—Friendship with Louis XII.—Returns to Bretagne—King’s divorce—Charlotte d’Aragon—Marriage of Anne to Louis XII.—Italian war—Birth of Claude de France—Splendour of the Court—Hôtel des Tournelles—The Maids of Honour—Disasters in Italy 328 CHAPTER IV. Ludovico Sforza—Shipbuilding—Queen’s gardens—Library—Treasures—Dress—Betrothal of Claude de France— Archduke’s visit—Illness of King—Maréchal de Gié—Second illness of King—Queen in Bretagne—Second betrothal of Princess Claude 341 CHAPTER V. Story of Anne de Graville—Illness of Claude—Court of Anne de Bretagne—Italian war—Marriage of Marguérite d’Angoulême—Dress and customs at Court—Birth of Renée de France—The Prince de Chalais—The Queen ill— Birth and death of a son—League of Cambrai—Sea-fight—Death of the Queen 353 xiv xv xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Amboise Frontispiece PAGE Jeanne de Bourbon 6 Meaux 25 French Noble, Fourteenth Century 56 Lady of French Court, Fourteenth Century 67 The Bastille 80 Meeting of the Queen and her Mother 86 Shield of Jeanne de Bourbon 105 Isabeau de Bavière 117 Nevers 186 The Prioress of Poissy 190 Bedroom of the Fifteenth Century 197 Old Paris 202 The Louvre, from the Hôtel de Nesle 207 Hôtel Barbette 237 Bourges 257 Man in Armour, Fifteenth Century 273 Map of English Possessions in France, 1380–1422 287 Shield of Isabeau de Bavière 298 Marie d’Anjou 299 Shield of Marie d’Anjou 300 Charlotte de Savoie 301 Shield of Charlotte de Savoie 302 Anne de Bretagne 310 Trumpeter 316 Tour d’Amboise 323 Louis XII. 330 Bourges 333 Lady of Fifteenth Century 339 Blois 342 Loches 349 Shield of Anne de Bretagne 364 PICTURES OF THE OLD FRENCH COURT REIGN OF CHARLES V. AND JEANNE DE BOURBON CHAPTER I 1332–1356 The House of Bourbon—Marriage of Pierre de Bourbon and Isabelle de Valois—Birth of their children—Betrothal of Jeanne to the Comte de Savoie—To the Dauphin Humbert—Her marriage with the heir of France—Character of Charles—Death of Philippe VI.—Coronation of King and Queen—Charles invested with Duchy of 1 The {1335} {1346} Normandy—Marriage of the Queen of Spain—Pedro el Cruel—Marriage of the Comtesse de Savoie—Death of the Duc de Bourbon at Poitiers. royal house of Bourbon descends from Saint Louis through his sixth son, Robert, Comte de Clermont and Sire de Bourbon. The pedigree is as follows:— Genealogy Chart: House of Bourbon Saint Louis. | Robert de France, Comte de Clermont et Sire de Bourbon. | Louis I., Duc de Bourbon et Comte de Clermont. | +-----------------------+------------------------+ | | | Pierre I., Duc de Bourbon. Jeanne, Jacques, Comte | m. Charles V. de la Marche. | | Louis II., Duc de Bourbon. Louis, Comte | de Vendôme. | | +------+-----------+------------------+ Jean II., Comte | | | de Vendôme. | | | | Jean, Louis, Other François, Comte Duc de Bourbon. Comte de Montpensier. daughters. de Vendôme. | | | | | Charles, Duc | | de Vendôme. | +------------------------+ | +---------------------------+ | Antoine, Duc | | | de Vendôme et Charles I., Duc de Bourbon. Pierre II., | Roi de Navarre. | Duc de Bourbon | | Jean II., Duc de Bourbon. et | Henri IV. | Sire de Beaujeu. | LOUIS, COMTE DE CLERMONT. | | | | | | | | SUSANNE, DUCHESSE DE BOURBON, | m. | her cousin, Charles, Constable de Bourbon, descended from LOUIS, COUNT DE MONTPENSIER. Jeanne de Bourbon was the great-granddaughter of Saint Louis. Her father was Pierre, Duc de Bourbon, and her mother Isabelle, one of the younger daughters of Charles, Comte de Valois.3 Their eldest daughter, Jeanne, was born February 3, 1335, and within a year or so of each other their second daughter, Blanche, and their son Louis.4 The other daughters were Bonne, Catherine, Marguérite, Isabelle (?), and Marie.5 The Duchesse de Bourbon being a half-sister of Philippe, and her husband one of his favourite companions, they spent most of their time and money also, at Paris, Vincennes, and the other royal palaces in the gay, brilliant days when first the Valois came to the throne. Jeanne was born at Vincennes, and passed her childhood at that magnificent court over which she was so early chosen to reign. She was betrothed at six years old to Amadeo VI. (afterwards called the Green Count) of Savoy.6 With the state and splendour that surrounded her earliest years were mingled those national calamities which had already begun to cast their shadow over the kingdom of France. The Hundred Years’ War had broken out soon after her birth. The disastrous sea-fight ending in the total destruction of the French navy, took place in 1338. Taxes were high; there had been bad harvests, bringing famine and pestilence. France was already less prosperous than she had been under the Capétiens kings. The terrors and troubles of the English war must have left a deep impression on the imagination of the gentle child, who seems to have been remarkable for her beauty and sweetness of disposition. She was between nine and ten years old at the time when the English host lay encamped near Paris, when gates and walls were strictly guarded and men were arming in haste, while fugitives poured into Paris all day, and the nights were illumined with flames of burning castles and villages. Her father was in the battle of Crécy, but returned in safety, and not long afterwards her little sister Bonne was married to the younger son of the Duc de Brabant. The Princess Joan, eldest daughter of the Duc de Normandie, was married on the same day to the elder son of the Duc de Brabant, by the desire of the King, who wrote orders that his granddaughter and niece should be ready on a certain day to meet the two boys 2 3 4 5 {1348} Jeanne de Bourbon {1350} {1352} who were to be their husbands. The ceremony took place, but both the boys died a little later of the plague. Joan afterwards became Queen of Navarre, and Bonne Countess of Savoy. The Duchesse de Bourbon and her children must have left Paris and returned to their home in the Bourbonnais, for the Duke wrote there from Paris on July 22, 1348, to announce to his eldest daughter, whose engagement to the Comte de Savoie had been broken off, that her uncle, Gui, Comte de Forez, had brought proposals of marriage for her from Humbert, Dauphin du Viennois, which he had accepted. But the plague was then raging all over the Lyonnais, so that it was out of the question to run the risk of travelling at that time. The Duke therefore induced the Dauphin to consent to the marriage being deferred for the present. Humbert was scarcely a suitable husband for Jeanne, who was then eleven years old, while he was a widower, whose only son had lost his life by falling from his arms out of a balcony, as he was playing with him. The shock of this accident and the loss of his heir had cast a gloom over the life of the Dauphin, and when a second time the Duc de Bourbon sought to delay the arrangements for the marriage, he replied that in that case he considered himself free from all engagements. The Duc de Bourbon, on hearing this, went to meet the Dauphin, and after an interview between the two princes the negotiations were resumed, in January, 1349, and the middle of February following was fixed upon for their fulfilment. But whether the desire to quit the world and seek the consolations of religion in the retirement of the cloister had already taken strong hold upon his mind, or whether the secret ambition and intrigues of the French court had any influence on the matter, it was suddenly given out that the Dauphin had decided to renounce the world and enter the order of St. Dominic, and had arranged for the immediate cession of his estates to the King’s grandson, Charles, eldest son of the Duke of Normandy. Humbert, the last prince of the house of La Tour du Pin, had already, by treaties passed in 1343 and 1344, promised the Viennois, afterwards known as Dauphiné, to Philippe, younger son of Philippe VI. Then the young Philippe had been made Duc d’Orléans instead, and the province was to go to Jean, but at last it was given to the heir of the Duke of Normandy, and from this time forth that province, with the title of Dauphin, was the inheritance of the eldest sons of France. To the Duc de Bourbon the King offered, instead of Humbert de la Tour du Pin, his own grandson, for a son-in-law; an exchange with which it is needless to say the Duke was well content. The treaty was signed at Lyon in July, 1349. So Jeanne was, after all, to be Dauphine, but her husband, instead of a widower old enough to be her father, was to be a young prince of her own age and the future King of France. They were married at Vincennes in the following year, on the 8th of April, 1350, both of them being about thirteen or fourteen years old. Of course they were not strangers to each other, for they were cousins, and had both been brought up at the court of their grandfather and uncle in Paris, and at that ancient castle in the deep shade of the forest, where generations of the children of France7 had been born, had played in childhood, grown to manhood or womanhood, ruled, loved, suffered and died. The love of the forest and of all beauty in nature and art lay deep in the heart of the young Dauphin, who in no way resembled his father or grandfather. That Philippe and Jean de Valois, the chivalrous King of Bohemia or the warlike Princes of Burgundy should have had such a descendant would surely have seemed impossible at that time and with those surroundings. Charles had neither inherited the striking beauty nor the martial tastes of the Valois. He was a quiet, delicate lad, tall, pale, dark-eyed and rather timid. He cared very little for riding, and not at all for war and warlike pastimes, but delighted in study and literary pursuits. And he adored the Dauphine, whose bright beauty and charming character made her the idol of the court and country. The children had been attached to one another from the first, and as they grew older Charles, both as Dauphin and King, ever turned for sympathy, counsel, or consolation to Jeanne, whom he called “the light of his eyes and the sunshine of the kingdom.” The plague had now abated, and people were beginning to recover from the fear and depression in which they had lately been living. The royal family had suffered severely. The Dauphin had lost his mother and grandmother; the two little princesses, sisters of himself and the Dauphine, were widows; the Queen of Navarre, whose daughter Blanche the King had just married, was also among the victims of the pestilence. However, for the present the plague was over, and those who had escaped now breathed freely and tried to console themselves in different ways for the calamities of the last two years. The Duke of Normandy was married just after his father to the widowed Comtesse d’Auvergne; there were fêtes again at court, and things seemed to be returning to their usual state. The death of Philippe VI. came as a sudden shock in the midst of the general rejoicing; but then followed the coronation of the new King and Queen, which was celebrated with great magnificence. On the same day the King knighted his two eldest sons, the Dauphin, and Louis, afterwards Duc d’Anjou, his brother Philippe, Duc d’Orléans, his stepson Philippe, Duc de Bourgogne, his cousins the Comtes d’Alençon and d’Etampes, and other young nobles. The King and Queen left Reims on Monday evening and journeyed by Laon, Soissons, and Senlis to Paris, which they entered in state on Sunday, the 17th October, after vespers. The town was encourtinée, or hung with costly stuffs, the artisans were dressed each in the costume of their own trade, the citizens of the town in costumes like each other, the Lombards who lived in the city all wore long parti-coloured silk robes, and on their heads tall, pointed hats, parti-coloured like their dresses. “And they followed after each other as was ordered, some on horseback and some on foot, and before them went those playing music, to meet the King, who entered Paris with great joy.”8 The court remained at Paris till the feast of St. Martin in the winter, the time being spent partly in festivities and partly in business connected with parliament. On the accession of a new King all the judicial officers had to be re-invested9 or they were désappointés; a word which became obsolete in French, was adopted by the English, and from them has been re-adopted by the French, but with a different signification. “In 1352, on Monday the vigil of the Conception,” says the Monk of Saint Denis, “the King gave the duchy of Normandy to Monseigneur Charles, his eldest son, Dauphin de Vienne et Comte de Poitiers, and on the next day, Tuesday, the day of the feast of the Conception beforesaid, Monseigneur Charles did him homage for it, at the hostel of Maistre Martin de Mello, canon of Paris, of the cloister of Notre Dame.” After which the Prince always called himself Duc de Normandie, greatly preferring the title to that of Dauphin. 5 6 7 8 9 10 {1355} {1356} The Dauphin and Dauphine lived chiefly at Vivier-en-Brie, a castle in the midst of the woods not far from Vincennes. This château had been given to the father of the Dauphin, now King, when he married his mother, Bonne de Luxembourg, by his grandfather, Philippe VI. Here the Dauphin afterwards founded a chantry or chapel with fourteen ecclesiastics to chant the offices and give opportunity to the officers who followed the court to perform their devotions. Jean, who had been at war with the Spaniards, considering the constant strife which, with short intervals of imperfectly observed truce, was always going on between France and England, was naturally anxious to conclude a peace with the King of Spain, whose subjects were extremely desirous that he should marry a French princess. In 1352 a treaty was arranged between the two countries, in which this was one of the clauses; and it was decided that one of the daughters of the Duc de Bourbon should be selected. Nieces of the late King of France and sisters of the future Queen of that country, one of them would be a suitable wife for their young King. With some difficulty they induced him to consent, and a Spanish embassy was despatched to France to conclude the alliance. The character of Pedro the Cruel was notorious, even for the lawless times in which he lived. His early friend the King of Navarre, though by no means scrupulous, afterwards abandoned his alliance in disgust; and although at this time he was not more than twenty years old, his crimes had already given him a reputation of which the Duc de Bourbon must have known quite well. But the King of France had set his heart upon this alliance, and had promised to give a dowry of three hundred thousand florins. Pedro was to settle various castles, towns, and estates upon the Princess, and the Duke, whose eldest daughter was to be Queen of France, was well contented to see the second Queen of Spain. For it was upon the Princess Blanche that the choice had fallen. As long as one of his girls wore the crown of Spain, the Duke did not care which it might be. He introduced the ambassador into the room where they all were, so that he might choose.10 And as Blanche, the eldest next to the Dauphine of France, seemed to him the most beautiful, he fixed upon her; and the marriage took place during the summer of that year. Various entries appear among the accounts of the royal expenses for splendid presents and rich dresses purchased “for the marriage of her Majesty the Queen of Spain.” Blanche, then about fourteen or fifteen years old, went to Valladolid to meet her husband. She is said by contemporary historians to have been beautiful, gentle, and attractive, notwithstanding which her fate was one of the most tragic that ever befel a woman sacrificed to political expediency. The destinies of the French princesses who have married Kings of Spain have always seemed tinged with melancholy and gloom. The intolerable rigour of that etiquette which reduced the lives of the Spanish queens to a dignified slavery, the cruelty of the national amusements, the jealous tyranny and bigotry of many of the kings, must surely have made these young girls look back with regret and longing to the gay court and “plaisant pays de France.” Even when, as in other cases, the King, however bigoted, morose, or relentless in general, was really fond of his wife, the life of a Queen of Spain can scarcely have been a very cheerful one. But Blanche de Bourbon was more than usually unfortunate. Pedro, who came to the throne before he was sixteen, began by putting to death various Spanish nobles and gentlemen, and also Eleanor de Guzman, his late father’s mistress, by whom that King had had several sons, and for whom the Queen and her son, the present King, had been slighted and neglected. He also murdered two or three of his natural brothers, and it was by the hand of one of those who escaped from his power that he met the due reward of his crimes. The Queen-mother had urged Pedro to revenge her wrongs and his own upon Eleanor de Guzman; but when he began not only to imitate but far to surpass the faults of his father, by taking a Jewess named Maria de Padilla for his mistress, deserting his young wife three days after their marriage and keeping her a prisoner, his mother offered the most strenuous opposition to his conduct and warmly espoused the cause of the young Queen, her daughter-in-law. It was of no avail, however. Blanche was doomed to wear out her youth in captivity, in one Spanish castle after another, while Pedro carried on intrigues with various women, but remained chiefly under the influence of Maria de Padilla. The cause of this iniquity has never been certainly known. Whether Pedro, having allowed himself to be persuaded into this marriage against his will, afterwards regretted it and took this way of revenging himself; whether he was, as it has been said actuated by an insane and perfectly groundless jealousy of his younger brother Don Federico, one of the sons of Eleanor de Guzman, whom he had sent to meet Blanche, and whom in a furious rage he stabbed to the heart; or whether it was simply owing to the baneful influence of his Jewish mistress, must remain doubtful. But the story of Blanche de Bourbon will always be considered one of the most pathetic tragedies which history records. Her sisters were more fortunate. Bonne, the third daughter of the Duc de Bourbon, who had been married when almost a baby to the younger son of the Duc de Brabant and had shortly afterwards become a widow, was married in 1355 to Amadeo VI., Comte de Savoie, then about twenty-two years old. He had been betrothed to Jeanne de Bourgogne sister of the last Capétien Duke, Philippe de Navarre and then to Jeanne de Bourbon, now Dauphine elder sister of Bonne. At ten years old he had succeeded his father, Aimon,11 brother of that Comte de Savoie who married Blanche de Bourgogne and left no heirs male. Amadeo VI. was one of the greatest princes of his day, both as warrior and statesman. Bonne de Bourbon, Comtesse de Savoie, was, says an ancient writer, “an ornament to her century, and her goodness caused her to be admired on all occasions.” The wedding was celebrated at Paris in August, and the young Countess set off for Savoy, where she reigned for many years in prosperity and honour. Her life was chequered with many sorrows and also beset by many difficulties, which she surmounted with courage and capacity. As Regent of Savoy during the latter part of her life, she was held in high esteem. She died in the Château de Mâcon in 1402. In September, 1356, came the disastrous battle of Poitiers. To Jeanne, as to everybody else in France, that must have been a time of fearful anxiety and suspense. Those nearest and dearest to her were with the army; and although the sight of the gallant host that followed the King in such splendid array to meet the enemy might well have filled the hearts of those they left behind with pride and confidence, there was still the remembrance of the time when Paris had waited in breathless expectation for news of Philippe de Valois and his chivalrous army while those who were not prisoners or scattered over the land lay dead on the field of Crécy. 11 12 13 14 T {1357} And when tidings came of a defeat more terrible than the former—of the fall of the oriflamme, of the capture of the King and his youngest son by an enemy so inferior in numbers, Jeanne also heard of her father’s death on the field of battle. Pierre, Duc de Bourbon, had died like a brave soldier by the side of the King, whom he shielded from the blows aimed at him. But he had disregarded the commands of the Church, issued at the persuasion of his creditors, that he should pay his debts, and was therefore considered as an excommunicated person, to whom no one dared give Christian burial without permission. His son and successor, Louis II., undertook to satisfy all claims, and his body was then removed from the convent of the Jacobins at Poitiers, where it had been carried after the battle, to that of the same religious order at Paris. There the Duc de Bourbon was buried near his father, and his lands and honours passed to his son, known to history as “the good Duke, Louis de Bourbon.” CHAPTER II 1356–1358 France after the battle of Poitiers—The Jacquerie—The Marché de Meaux—The Comte de Foix and the Captal de Buch —Rescue of the Dauphine—Vengeance of the nobles. HE captivity of the King and the flight of the Queen, who took refuge with her two children in her son’s duchy of Burgundy, placed Charles and Jeanne at the head of the court and kingdom. The Dauphin, or, as he preferred to call himself, the Duc de Normandie, assumed the government, and, in consideration of his youth, a council was appointed to assist him. Confusion and dismay had taken possession of the country. The three estates were convoked to deliberate on the means to be adopted to provide the ransom of the King. They sat for a fortnight in the hôtel of the Frères Mineurs,12 but Etienne Marcel, at the head of a strong party, demanded the redress of various grievances, and amongst others the immediate release of the King of Navarre, then imprisoned at Arleux. No conclusion, however, was arrived at; the estates were dissolved and Charles summoned the three estates of the Languedoc, or southern part of France, but without much more success.13 In December he went to Metz to see his uncle, the son of the King of Bohemia, now the Emperor Charles IV., to take counsel with him; leaving his brother Louis lieutenant at Paris in his place. Charles IV. had been brought up in the court of Philippe de Valois; his sister, Bonne, had been the first wife of Jean, and he regarded the Valois family with strong affection. But he was too much like them to be of any use as an adviser, although he is said to have reproached his nephew with having, at this time of general distress, ordered for himself a new and splendid crown of gold. He, and probably the Duchesse de Normandie, spent Christmas with their uncle amidst a succession of fêtes, and returned to Paris towards the end of January to find the discontent of the people increased; which was not surprising, for there had been a still further depreciation of the coin of the realm; the seigneurs and knights who had been taken prisoners at Poitiers were returning in crowds to collect their ransoms, which were enormously heavy, and as the Jews and Lombards had been banished they could not borrow money on usury from them, as they might otherwise have done, so that there was no way of getting it but to wring it out of the peasants. As there was scarcely a family that had not at least one member a prisoner, a system of universal extortion was going on. They seized the property of their vassals and in many cases endeavoured, by imprisonment and other cruelty, to force them to give up any money they supposed them to have concealed,14 in order that it might be sent to the English to buy back those, many of whom they did not at all wish to see. And they were profoundly irritated by this new misfortune. At Crécy, at any rate, they grumbled, every one had fought bravely and done their best; no shadow of dishonour had rested on the lilies of France. The nobles might have been proud and extortionate, but in the hour of danger they did not flinch. They lay in heaps on the field of battle, and a life of extravagance and dissipation was redeemed by a hero’s death. But now there were suspicions of panic; there had been confusion and mismanagement, and there appeared to be an extraordinary number of prisoners. The early flight of four out of the five young princes also displeased the people, who now began to despise the nobles whom hitherto they had only feared and hated. And whereas it had formerly been the custom for them to serve the King in time of war at their own cost and without pay, they had, in the reign of Philippe de Valois, begun to demand money while in the field, and the sums granted by Philippe had to be increased by Jean just at the time when they seemed to be least deserved. The Hundred Years’ War between France and England in the fourteenth century was destructive to the prosperity and civilisation which, in spite of many drawbacks, had characterised the thirteenth. There could be no liberty while the country was full of armed bands led by powerful barons; agriculture was not likely to flourish in such a state of things as has been described; the nobles had no leisure to encourage or interest themselves in literary pursuits while their whole lives were spent in warfare. It was in the monasteries that learning was chiefly cultivated and protected, but many of those great religious establishments in the country, though always possessing some sort of fortification, had been sacked and burned by brigands, and others deserted by their inhabitants, who no longer found that security which the cloister had formerly afforded. The towns had become less free, and many 15 16 17 18 19 {1358} of them had lost the liberties and privileges accorded them by the Capétiens Kings. For the Valois and their followers held the traders and unwarlike citizens in the deepest contempt, and so, as time went on, grew and strengthened a bitter hatred of the lower classes for those of gentle blood, making men the deadly enemies of their own countrymen and causing national calamities far more dreadful and disgraceful than any brought about by foreign invaders. In other countries nobles and people, united in their sentiments and aspirations, developed in peaceful and harmonious progress to the accomplishment of their destinies;15 whilst in France the deplorable separation that began in the fourteenth century caused the frightful excesses of the Jacquerie, and having produced the Reign of Terror in the days of our great-grandfathers and the Commune in our own, is still so fatal an injury to the power, stability, and prestige of the French nation. The first child of the Duke and Duchess of Normandy was born in September of this year (1357), a daughter, named Jeanne. It was on the 28th of May, 1358,16 that the Jacquerie, or rising of the peasants, broke out at the little town of Saint-Leu, where a number of labourers, joined by small tradesmen, artisans, and other persons of the lower classes, assembled in revolt; and having murdered nine gentlemen who happened to be in the town, spread themselves over the surrounding country, putting to death every man, woman, and child of good blood who came in their way, and plundering and burning the châteaux. They attacked the villages at each end of the forest of Ermenonville, and went to the castle of Beaumont-sur-Oise, where the Duchesse d’Orléans then was. Warned just in time of the approach of the murderers, she fled for her life, was out of the castle before they arrived and set it on fire, and escaped to Meaux, a town on the Marne, where the Duchess of Normandy, the Princess Isabelle de France and more than three hundred ladies had taken refuge, some having escaped in their nightdresses without having had time to dress themselves. The rebellion spread rapidly over Picardy, Champagne, and the Ile-de-France, and the horrors of it have never been equalled in any Christian country. It was like a revolt of savages. Hordes of bloodthirsty miscreants went about burning castles, murdering and torturing men, women, and children. None who fell into their power might escape dishonour and death; any village refusing to join them was exposed to their vengeance. A band of three thousand Jacques having just destroyed the Château de Poix, were marching on Aumale when they met a hundred and twenty Norman and Picards men-at-arms, led by Guillaume de Picquigny. The latter came forward to parley with them but was treacherously slain by one Jean Petit Cardaine. His followers fell upon the Jacques, killed two thousand of them, and put the remainder to flight. The Jacques had cause to repent of this murder, for Guillaume de Picquigny was a relation of that Jean de Picquigny who delivered the King of Navarre from Arleux. And Charles of Navarre, who was always ready to protect his friends and punish his enemies, took ample vengeance for his death. The Château d’Ermenonville belonged to Robert de Lorris, who had risen from humble life in the village from which he took his name. It is a mistaken notion that in the middle ages people could not and did not rise from the ranks to the highest social position. It was, of course, less frequent than in our own days, but in the fourteenth century there were hundreds of cases of the kind, both ecclesiastic and secular.17 Robert de Lorris was one of them. He was a great authority on French law, and a favourite both of Philippe de Valois and Jean, by whom he had been ennobled, made Chamberlain, Vicomte de Montreuil, and Seigneur d’Ermenonville. The Jacques besieged, took, and plundered the Château d’Ermenonville, and the chamberlain only saved his own life and those of his wife and children by renouncing his nobility and declaring himself one of the people. The atrocities of the Jacquerie did not, fortunately, extend over the whole of France. An attempt was made to produce an insurrection at Caen by one Pierre de Montfort, who paraded the streets with the model of a plough in his hat, proclaiming himself a Jacque, and calling on the people to follow him. This, luckily for themselves, they had too much sense to do, and Pierre de Montfort was soon afterwards slain by three burghers whom he had insulted.18 The rebellion was worst about Amiens, Compiègne, Senlis, Beauvais, and Soissons. The Jacques made an attack upon Compiègne, but were repulsed by the inhabitants and some nobles who had taken refuge in the town. The atrocities committed all over that part of the country which was the scene of the revolt were too frightful to relate. Hundreds of castles were burnt, an immense amount of property destroyed, and numbers of men, women, and children tortured, dishonoured, and slain. The leader of the Jacques, Guillaume Cale, is said to have disapproved of the most horrible of the excesses of his followers, but to have been unable to restrain them. And Etienne Marcel, with many of the bourgeois of his party, encouraged and gave assistance to these miscreants, though forbidding the murder of women and children, which of course he was powerless to prevent. But a letter of remission given subsequently to one Jaquin de Chennevières expressly declares that he had orders from the Prévôt to burn and destroy the châteaux of Beaumont-sur-Oise, Bethemont, Javerny, Montmorency, Enghien, Chaton, and all the houses and fortresses of the nobles between the Seine and the Oise, from Chaton to Beaumont.19 And whatever may be our opinion of the policy of the celebrated Prévôt des Marchands, the murder of the Marshals of Normandy and Champagne (which had already taken place in the presence of the Dauphin) and the assistance he rendered to these wretches are stains which neither good intentions nor expediency can excuse. Jeanne meanwhile, and her companions, were in the most awful peril. The smaller bourgeoisie, as a rule, hated the gentlemen and sympathised with the Jacques. The Mayor of Meaux, Jean Soulas, was on their side. The gentlemen with them were few in number, the Jacques were coming, and the Duc de Normandie had, a short time before, taken sudden possession of the Marché de Meaux, to the great discontent of the inhabitants of that town. The Mayor had even had the insolence to say to the Comte de Joigny, whom the Duke had sent to perform this duty, that if he had known what he came for he should never have set foot in the place. Informed of this insubordination the Regent had reprimanded and fined the Mayor, which only increased his hostility. However, he and the principal officials and burghers had sworn to be faithful to the Regent, and not to allow anything to be done to injure him, and Charles had left Meaux some time in May, leaving his wife and the rest of the ladies in the Marché with a much smaller garrison to protect them than he would have done had he realised the treachery and disloyalty of Soulas and his friends. The Duc d’Orléans was there, the Bègue de Vilaine, the Sires de Trocy and Revel, Héron de Mail, Philippe d’Aulnoy, Regnaud d’Arcy, 20 21 22 23 24 and Louis de Chambly called Le Borgne. Scarcely had the Regent quitted Meaux when discord and strife broke out between the inhabitants, led by the Mayor, and the nobles shut up in the Marché. The exasperated bourgeois laid siege to the fortress and sent to Paris to ask for assistance, at the same time summoning all the peasants in the neighbourhood to join them in attacking the Marché.20 They were not slow in answering to the invitation. From all parts of the country round they came swarming to Meaux. The Prévôt des Marchands had responded to their appeal by sending Pierre Gilles, a grocer of Paris and one of the leaders of the insurrection, with a body of armed men from Paris to Meaux. He knew the Regent was absent and the garrison weak, and thought the Marché would fall into their hands by assault. Pierre Gilles and his troop burned all the châteaux on their way, and forced the inhabitants of the villages through which they passed to join them. MEAUX. The Mayor and burghers threw open the gates, and about nine thousand furious ruffians, armed with scythes, pitchforks, and knives, rushed into the town. The towns people received them with open arms, supplied them with abundance of food and wine, which excited them to still greater ferocity, and joined in the tumult of fearful shouts and cries as the bloodthirsty savages swarmed through the streets looking up with murderous eyes to the towers and walls of the Marché. Now the Marché de Meaux was on an island formed by the Marne, which flowed on one side of it, and a canal that went round it, coming out of the river on one side of the Marché and going back into it on the other. On the side of Meaux there was a bridge over the Marne from the Marché to the town, and on the opposite side of the Marché another bridge, across the canal to the other shore. Most fortunately, the Dauphin had recently caused the island to be strongly fortified, and his having done so now saved his wife and sister from a horrible death. All round the Marché were high strong walls and towers. Trees could be seen above the parapet inside, and the ground rose high in the middle. It was a strong place, but they were so few to defend it against the furious hordes outside. In it were the young Dauphine, the Princess Isabelle de France, daughter of the King, then about ten or eleven years old; Blanche de France, Duchesse d’Orléans, who had just escaped from Beaumont-sur-Oise; and, as was before said, at least three hundred women, girls, and children of the noblest families in France. The gates were closed, the walls guarded as well as could be done with their few defenders, but the position grew every moment more alarming. The streets were crowded to overflowing with these bloodthirsty wretches, and all down them were spread tables with bread, meat and wine for their refreshment. All over the town they were thronging and feasting, while their horrible cries and brutal threats rose to the ears of the besieged women and children who waited in terror and despair, all hope of deliverance seeming to be at an end. The fortress was always attacked from the town side, and from this direction, when the Jacques had finished feasting, the assault would certainly come. But the Marché was fortunately not surrounded by the town. On the other side, across the canal, lay the open country of Brie. And suddenly a troop of men in armour was seen approaching at full speed. It was Gaston, Comte de Foix, and Jean de Grailly, Captal de Buch, two of the most famous soldiers in France, with about sixty lances, who rode under the gateway into the beleaguered fortress, and were received with acclamations by those within its walls. The troop was a small one, but a few tried soldiers under such leaders counted for more than hundreds of the rabble outside, and the Dauphine and her companions must have felt that they were saved. Having no particular fighting to do just then, the two knights had employed their leisure in an expedition against some heathen tribes still to be found in Prussia; and on their way back, passing through Châlons, had heard of what was going on at Meaux and of the perilous position of the ladies shut up in the Marché. The Comte de Foix was brother-in-law of the King of Navarre; and the Captal de Buch, a Gascon gentleman, was a subject and follower of King Edward of England. Etienne Marcel, on the other hand, was a strong partisan of Charles of Navarre. But the project of the bourgeois prévôt to throw the wives and children of French gentlemen into the power of a mob of brutal savages was not likely to recommend itself to the two knights, who at once turned their horses’ heads towards Meaux, and pushed on with desperate haste to save the Marché before it fell. The white banner still floated from its walls,21 but they were only just in time. The Jacques, having done feasting, now ranged themselves in order of battle, and in immense numbers, with frightful yells, pressed towards the Marché and began the attack. The shrieks of the terrified women and children mingled with the tumult outside,22 but Jean de Grailly and Gaston de Foix ordered the gate on the side of the town to be thrown open. Then, raising the pennon of the Captal and the banners of Orléans and Foix, they rushed out and fell upon the enemy. Down to the bridge they rode, over which was thronging a multitude like ferocious wild beasts. But before the charge of the knights the Jacques went down in heaps; those behind them hesitated, then drew back and fled before the cavaliers,...