CHAP. XLVI.
AFTER THE SURRENDER OF MELUN, THE TWO KINGS OF FRANCE AND OF ENGLAND, WITH THEIR QUEENS, AND SEVERAL PRINCES AND GREAT LORDS, GO TO PARIS IN GRAND POMP.
AFTER THE SURRENDER OF MELUN, THE TWO KINGS OF FRANCE AND OF ENGLAND, WITH THEIR QUEENS, AND SEVERAL PRINCES AND GREAT LORDS, GO TO PARIS IN GRAND POMP.
Whenthe treaty for the surrender of Melun had been concluded, the king of England and the duke of Burgundy disbanded the greater part of their men, and marched the remainder of their armies to Corbeil, where the king of France and the two queens of France and of England resided. Thence the kings went to Paris, attended by the dukes of Clarence, Burgundy, Bedford and Exeter, the earls of Warwick, Salisbury, and other great lords.
A numerous band of the citizens of Paris came out to meet them in handsome array, and the streets were covered and ornamented with many rich cloths. On their entrance, carols were sung in all the squares through which they passed; and the two kings rode together side by side, the kingof England on the right hand. After them came the dukes of Clarence and Bedford, brothers to king Henry; and on the opposite side of the street, on the left hand, rode the duke of Burgundy, dressed in deep mourning, followed by the knights and esquires of his household.
The other princes and knights rode after the kings in due order, and they met different processions of the clergy on foot, who halted in the squares, and then presented the holy relics borne by them to be kissed by the two kings. On their being first offered to the king of France, he turned toward the king of England, and made him a sign to kiss them first; but king Henry, putting his hand to his hood, bowed to king Charles, and said he would kiss them after him, which was done, and thus practised all the way to the church of Nôtre Dame, where the kings and princes dismounted, and entered the church.
When they had finished their prayers and thanksgivings before the grand altar, they remounted their horses and went to their lodgings,—the king of France to his hôtel of St Pol, attended by the duke ofBurgundy, who having escorted the king thither, returned to his hôtel of Artois. The king of England and his two brothers were lodged in the Louvre, their attendants in different parts of the town, and the men at arms in the adjacent villages.
The two queens made their entry into Paris on the ensuing day, when the duke of Burgundy, with many english lords, and the citizens in the same array as on the day before, went out to meet them. Great joy was again displayed on the arrival of the queens; but it would take up too much time were I to relate all the grand presents that were offered by the city of Paris to the two kings, especially to the king and queen of England. The whole of that day and night wine was constantly running through brass cocks in conduits in all the squares, and conducted with great ingenuity, so that all persons might have wine in abundance; and more rejoicings were made throughout Paris than tongue can tell, for the peace that had been made between the two kings.
When their majesties had been a few days in Paris, great complaints and clamourswere made to them by duke Philip of Burgundy, and by the procurator of the duchess his mother, for the cruel murder that had been committed on the late duke John of Burgundy. To hear these complaints, the king of France sat in judgment in the lower hall of the hôtel of St Pol, and on the same bench with him was the king of England: near the king of France sat master John le Clerc, chancellor of France, and further on master Philip de Morvillers, first president of the parliament, and some other nobles of the king's council.
On the opposite side, and about the middle of the hall, was seated the duke of Burgundy, supported by the dukes of Clarence and Bedford, the bishops of Terouenne, of Beauvais, and of Amiens, sir John de Luxembourg, and many knights and esquires of his council.
When the assembly had been seated, master Nicolas Rolin, on the part of the duke of Burgundy and the lady-duchess his mother, demanded, in the usual manner, permission to address the two kings in their behalf. This having been obtainedhe charged as guilty of murdering the late duke John of Burgundy, Charles, calling himself dauphin of Vienne, the viscount de Narbonne, the lord de Barbasan, Tanneguy du Châtel, Guillaume Boutiller, Jean Louvet, president of Provence, sir Robert de Loire, Olivier Layet, and all those who had been concerned therein. Against each and all of them the advocate prayed judgment, and that they might be sentenced to be placed in tumbrils, and carried through all the squares of Paris for three Saturdays, or on festivals, bare-headed, and holding lighted wax tapers in their hands; and that in every square they should publicly confess, with a loud voice, that they had cruelly, wickedly and damnably put the duke of Burgundy to death through hatred and jealousy, without any other cause whatever. They were then to be carried to Montereau, where they had perpetrated this murder, to undergo the same ceremonies, and to repeat the same words.
They were, besides, to cause a church to be erected, and endowed on the spot where the murder had been committed, fortwelve canons, six chaplains and six clerks, to perform for ever divine service therein.
This church was to be completely furnished with chalices, tables, ornaments, books, napkins, and every other necessary; and the canons were to have each a yearly salary of two hundred livres parisis, the chaplain's salaries of one hundred, and the clerks of fifty, of the same coin, at the expense of the said dauphin and his accomplices. The cause of this church being erected was to be inscribed in large letters, cut in stone, over the principal entrance; and the same inscription was to be placed in the towns of Rome, Paris, Ghent, Dijon, St Jago de Compostella and at Jerusalem, where our Saviour suffered death.
When this sentence had been required, it was again demanded by master Pierre de Marigny, the king's advocate in parliament, confirming the accusations of murder against the persons aforesaid. Afterward, master John l'Archer, doctor of divinity, in the name of the university for whom he spoke, addressed the two kings with great eloquence, urging the extreme guilt of the criminals, and exhorting them to do strictjustice on them, and to pay attention to the prayers of the duke and duchess of Burgundy that the judgment required might be carried into effect without delay.
The king of France, through his chancellor, replied to what had been said, 'that in regard to the death of the duke of Burgundy, and those who had so cruelly murdered him, he would by the grace of God, and with the assistance of his son and heir, Henry king of England, and regent of France, do speedy and effectual justice on all who had been concerned therein.' On this, the assembly broke up, and the two kings returned to their hôtels.