CHAP. II.
THE KING OF FRANCE RECOVERS THE DUCHY OF NORMANDY FROM HIS BROTHER, CHARLES DUKE OF BERRY.—THE LORD D'ESTERNAY IS DROWNED, AND SEVERAL OFFICERS IN NORMANDY ARE EXECUTED OR BANISHED.—THE DUKE OF BERRY LEAVES NORMANDY.—AND SIR JOHN DE LORRAINE, THINKING TO FOLLOW HIM, IS MADE PRISONER AND CARRIED TO THE KING.
THE KING OF FRANCE RECOVERS THE DUCHY OF NORMANDY FROM HIS BROTHER, CHARLES DUKE OF BERRY.—THE LORD D'ESTERNAY IS DROWNED, AND SEVERAL OFFICERS IN NORMANDY ARE EXECUTED OR BANISHED.—THE DUKE OF BERRY LEAVES NORMANDY.—AND SIR JOHN DE LORRAINE, THINKING TO FOLLOW HIM, IS MADE PRISONER AND CARRIED TO THE KING.
OnMonday, the last day but one of December, the king of France, returning from lower Normandy, came to Pont Audemer, and thence to la Champagne du Neufbourg, near Conches. He sent the duke of Bourbon to Louviers,—and on the first of January, that town submitted to the duke of Bourbon for the king. This same day the king entered it, in the afternoon when the lord d'Esternay was brought him by the men of the grand master,—and he was immediately after drowned in the river Eure, and the augustin monk with him, by the officer ofthe provost-marshal. The body of the lord d'Esternay was afterwards taken out of the river, and buried in the church of our Lady at Louviers, where his obsequies were performed.
At this period, very many officers of Normandy, were executed or drowned by the provost-marshal, on account of their having interfered in the dissensions between the king and his brother. On the king's departure from Louviers, he laid siege to the town of Pont de l'Arche, four leagues distant from Rouen; and on the 6th of January it was proclaimed in Paris, that all purveyors, who had been accustomed to supply the army with provisions, should repair thither instantly with forage,—and, also, that the pioneers should make themselves ready to march from Pont de l'Arche on the morrow, under the command of sir Denis Giber, one of the four sheriffs of Paris who had been appointed to conduct them.
On the Wednesday, a detachment of the king's army, that had gone on a foraging party, took four men at arms belongingto the duke of Berry, but who had formerly belonged to the king. One was called le Petit Bailiff, and had been in the company of Joachim Rohault marshal of France, and an accomplice in the betraying Pontoise to the Bretons. When brought before the king, they were ordered to be beheaded instantly; but they offered, on their lives being spared, to cause Pont de l'Arche to be surrendered,—and as the duke of Bourbon and other lords seconded their offer, the king pardoned them.
This same day, the king entered Pont de l'Arche with his army, the garrison having retreated from the town into the castle: among them was master John Hebert, superintendant of the french finances. Three days after, the castle likewise surrendered to the king.
In consequence of these surrenders to the king, the town of Rouen sent a deputation to request a conference,—which deputation laid every thing that had been done amiss to the charge of the dukes of Brittany and Bourbon. Their commissioners at the conference made severalrequests and remonstrances, insisting, among other things, that the king should declare himself satisfied with them, notwithstanding any acts to the contrary, and that he would not only grant them his full pardon, but similar franchises to those he had lately granted to Paris. They made many other demands, to all of which the king said he would consider on them. While this was going on, several of the king's army passed and repassed into the town without interruption.
The duke of Berry, in the mean time, quitted Rouen, in company with several of his friends, and went to Honnefleur and Caen, where he remained some time. John lord of Lorraine thought also to escape into Flanders; but he was met by a party of the king's army, who made him prisoner, and brought him to the king.
On the departure of the duke of Berry, the town of Rouen surrendered to the king, who, having displaced the greater part of the officers in Normandy, appointed others in their places. He disbanded his franc archers, giving themleave of absence until the first day of the ensuing month of March, and sent back his artillery to Paris: he himself took the road toward lower Normandy, and to St Michael's Mount.
At this time, Anthony de Chabannes, count de Dammartin, (of whom mention has been often made) accompanied the king, and had the command of one hundred lances of the gens d'armes, which sir Charles de Melun had before had. The king also deprived sir Charles of his office of grand master of the household, and gave it to the lord de Craon, although many persons were of opinion that sir Charles had well served the king, and done him many considerable services,—more especially by his great prudence and activity in the guard of Paris, while the king was absent in the Bourbonnois; for it was observed, that had he not been as diligent as he was, the king and kingdom would have suffered much more. While the king was thus employed, he made an exchange with the count de Dammartin for a castle he had in Gascony called Blancaffort; for whichhe gave him, in sovereignty, all the rights and royalties in the towns of Gonesse, Gournay sur Marne, and Crecy in Brie,—and gave orders for his parliament to annex them, in perpetuity, to his said county of Dammartin.
At this same time, the king commanded that the fortress of Chaumont sur Loire, which belonged to sir Pierre d'Amboise, lord of Chaumont, should be set on fire, and razed to the ground, which was done.
Monday, the 4th of February, Gauvain Manniel, who had been lieutenant-general of the bailiff of Rouen, was arrested in that town, and carried prisoner to Pont de l'Arche,—where, by orders of the marshals, a scaffold had been erected, on which the said Gauvain was beheaded for certain crimes laid to his charge. His head was placed on a lance on the said bridge, and his body thrown into the river Seine. At the same time, the dean of the cathedral of Rouen and six of the canons were expelled the town, and banished out of the duchy of Normandy.