CHAP. XXIII.

THE KING SUMMONS HIS PARLIAMENT FROM PARIS TO NOYON, TO TRY THE DUKE OF NEMOURS.—A FORGER EXECUTED AT PARIS.—OF THE VICTORY OF THE LORD DE CRAON OVER THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.—OF THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF GUELDRES BEFORE TOURNAY.—THE DUKE OF NEMOURS EXECUTED AT PARIS.—A PARTY OF FLEMINGS DEFEATED.—SEVERAL PERSONS HANGED AT PARIS FOR HAVING ASSASSINATED THE SON OF THE PUBLIC EXECUTIONER.

Theking sent his letters-patent to Paris, to order the presidents and councellors of his parliament, and the masters of requestsof his household, to come to Noyon, and form there a court of justice in his presence, and, in conjunction with the princes of his blood, to try the duke of Nemours, who had long been confined in the bastile of St Anthony at Paris. The parliament, in obedience to this order, set out from Paris on the 2d of June, to arrive at Noyon the ensuing day, which had been appointed for this trial.

On the 14th of June, a person who had been of the king's household was imprisoned for having forged the king's signet, and that of one of his secretaries, by which means he had sent letters to divers towns, and obtained large sums of money, which he had appropriated to his own use. He was tried before the provost, or his lieutenant, of the royal household, and sent to Paris, to have the following sentence executed upon him, namely, to be pilloried with a paper cap on his head, then burnt in the forehead, his right hand cut off, to be banished the kingdom, and all his effects and inheritances to be confiscated to the king.

In this month of June, the king gavethe command of an army to the lord de Craon[76], to march into the country of Burgundy, and make war on the prince of Orange[77]for some injuries which the lord de Craon had complained of having been done him by the prince, who was not of the same family with himself. The king, also, who had appointed the prince governor of that country, displaced him, and gave it to the lord de Craon, although he had been the means of reducing it to the king's obedience.

The prince of Orange detached into Burgundy a knight of that country called sir Claude de Vaudray, who made head against the lord de Craon for some time, until it was known that the prince had entereda town called Guy[78], when the lord de Craon advanced to besiege it. He remained before it two days,—when learning that the lord de Château Guyon[79], brother to the prince of Orange, was marching to his relief, he advanced in battle-array to meet him, and a great conflict ensued, insomuch that there were killed on both sides from fourteen to fifteen hundred combatants. To return thanks for this defeat, the king ordered a general procession to be made at Paris, to the church of St Martin des Champs.

In the course of the month of July, the duke of Gueldres had marched from fourteen to fifteen hundred Germans against the town of Tournay, thinking to burn the suburbs, and quarter himself at Pont d'Epierre, near the town. Two sallies were made from the town: in the first, the duke was mortally wounded, and his body was carried into Tournay. In the second sally, four hundred of the king'slances and some of the townsmen attacked and put to flight the Germans and Flemings,—two thousand of whom were slain, and seven or eight hundred made prisoners. Te Deum laudamus was chaunted at Paris, and bonfires were made in all the streets for this signal victory.

On Monday, the 3d day of August of this year, messire Jacques d'Armagnac, duke of Nemours and count de la Marche, having been conducted as a prisoner to the bastile of St Anthony on the 4th day of August in the preceding year, by reason of certain offences and crimes by him committed and perpetrated,—during which time of his imprisonment in the said bastile, many interrogatories were put to him concerning the said charges, to which he answered verbally and in writing, on many different days, as well before the chancellor of France, named Pierre d'Oriole, as others, the presidents and counsellors of the court of parliament, and also before certain great clerks of the kingdom, dwelling in divers cities and towns of the said kingdom, summoned and assembled for this purpose in the city of Noyon, with and in companyof the said officers of the parliament, and in presence of the lord de Beaujeu, then representing the person of the king,—the proceedings held by the court aforesaid against the said duke of Nemours were examined, and also the defence by him made, and, after mature deliberation, it was decreed, that sir John le Boulenger, first president of the parliament, accompanied by the greffier criminel of the court and sir Denis Hesselin, master of the king's household, should instantly set out for the bastile, and declare to the duke of Nemours, that the court, having fully considered the charges laid against him, and the whole of his defence and confessions, have found him guilty of high treason, and sentence him to be beheaded for the same, this day, in the market-place at Paris, and all his effects and inheritances to be confiscated to the king. The execution took place at three in the afternoon of that day, on a scaffold erected in the market-place. After he was beheaded, the corpse and head were put into a bier, and delivered to the cordelier friars, to be buried in their church. About seven or eight score Cordeliers camein procession to fetch the body, and forty torches were given to them to escort the bier to their church.

The king was this month at Therouenne, and thence detached part of his army to drive away a body of Flemings who had encamped near to Blanfossé[80]. They no sooner heard of this order than they immediately decamped, but not before the royalists arrived, and slew upwards of two thousand of them. They were also pursued far into Flanders; and the king's army passed by Mont de Cassel to Fiennes and other places, which they razed, or took possession of, and killed full two thousand more of the Flemings. Many solemn processions were made at Paris for these successes.

In the month of August, the son of Henry Cousin, the chief executioner at Paris, called Petit John, (who had already done several notable deeds in the way of his profession, and, among others, had beheaded the late constable of St Pol) was murdered in Paris at the instigation of acarpenter, named Oudin du Bust, a native of Picardy. This Oudin had conceived a mortal hatred against Petit John, because he had some time before beaten him, in consequence of a quarrel that had arisen between them. The cause of this quarrel was Oudin having demanded the amount of a deed for money he had lent Petit John which had been repaid all but the expenses of the bond. To be revenged, Oudin had formed an acquaintance with three disorderly youths of Paris; one was called l'Empereur du Houlx, sergeant at mace; the other, Jean du Foing, a plumber,—and the third, Regnault Goris, a silversmith and son to Martin Goris, broker of jewelry. All these four having determined on their plan, waylaid Petit John, and attacked him at the corner of the rue des Grenelles, near the hôtel of the Moulinet.

The first that came up to him was l'Empereur du Houlx, who, under the mask of friendship, took him firmly under the arm; telling him not to be afraid of the others, for they would do him no mischief. As he said this, Regnault Goris approached, and hit Petit John on the headwith a stone, that made him stagger. His pretended friend then let go his hold,—and John du Foing thrust a javelin through his body, so that he fell dead on the spot. When he was dead, Oudin du Bust came and cut off his legs, and then they all four separated and took sanctuary within the church of the Celestines; whence, on the following night, they were taken, by orders from sir Robert d'Estouteville, provost of Paris, and the members of the council, in consequence of the informations that had been laid before them, clearly proving the murder to have been committed by a preconcerted plan. The Celestins appealed against this, as a breach of their privileges, but the court of parliament dismissed their appeal, and declared the murderers incapable of being received in sanctuary. The bishop afterward claimed them as his clerks; but the parliament published an edict, to declare that they should not enjoy the privilege of clerks, and returned the matter to the provost, who sentenced them all to be hanged.

They appealed against this sentence to the court of parliament, who confirmed it,—and they were all four executed on thegibbet of Paris by the hands of Henry Cousin, father to the late Petit John, who was thus avenged on them for the murder of his son, the 28th day of August. They were hanged in a row: first, l'Empereur du Houlx, then John du Foing, Regnault Goris, and, last of all, Oudin du Bust. The three first were handsome youths; and for this business a young son of a shoemaker was publicly flogged and banished the realm, for having conspired the death of Petit John, although he was not actually present when he was killed.

FOOTNOTES:[76]Lord de Craon. George de la Trimouille lord of Jonvelle, baron of Craon, first chamberlain to the king, with whom he was a great favourite, and held the governments of Champagne, Brie, Burgundy and Touraine. He obtained the county of Ligny from the confiscations of the constable of St Pol and had the governments of other towns in the kingdom. The barony of Craon in Anjou fell to his lot.[77]Prince of Orange,—John de Châlon, second of the name.[78]Guy. Q. if not Gray? on the Soane, ten leagues from Besançon.[79]De Château Guyon,—Louis or Hugh de Châlons half brothers to the prince of Orange.[80]Blanfossé,—a village in Picardy, near Breteuil.

[76]Lord de Craon. George de la Trimouille lord of Jonvelle, baron of Craon, first chamberlain to the king, with whom he was a great favourite, and held the governments of Champagne, Brie, Burgundy and Touraine. He obtained the county of Ligny from the confiscations of the constable of St Pol and had the governments of other towns in the kingdom. The barony of Craon in Anjou fell to his lot.

[77]Prince of Orange,—John de Châlon, second of the name.

[78]Guy. Q. if not Gray? on the Soane, ten leagues from Besançon.

[79]De Château Guyon,—Louis or Hugh de Châlons half brothers to the prince of Orange.

[80]Blanfossé,—a village in Picardy, near Breteuil.

Back to Index Next