Chapter XVII: Book THE EIGHTH (6)

Upon the last day of this month of August, the king set out from an hotel named Les Porcherons, which was in the suburbs near the gate of St. Honoré, belonging to M. John Bureau, who was knighted at his coronation at Rheims, in order to make his public entry into Paris; upon which the whole body of the nobility, clergy, and gentry came out to pay their homage to him, and welcome him to their city; amongst whom were the Bishop of Paris named William Chartier, the whole University, the Court of Parliament, the Mayor of Paris, all the officers of the Exchequer, and the provost of the merchants, with the aldermen in their damask robes lined with sables. And the mayor and aldermen, after they had saluted and paid their respects to the king, presented him with the keys of the city gates, through which he was to make his entry, which he very graciously returned; and then the way was ordered to be cleared, to make room for others to approach his majesty, and make their compliment to him, of which number he made a great many knights on the spot. As the king passed through the gate of St. Denis, he found near the Church of St. Ladre a herald mounted on horseback, and clothed in the city livery, who presented to him five ladies on the part of the city, richly dressed, and mounted on five fine horses sumptuously accoutred with rich furniture, on which were embroidered the city arms; and these five ladies were habited after a sort of manner representing the five letters of Paris, and every one of them made a speech to the king, which was prepared for them beforehand.

There was a very great appearance at the king’s public entry into Paris, both of his own nobility, and of foreign princes and noblemen, amongst whom were the Dukes of Orleans, Burgundy, Bourbon, and Cleves, the Count de Charolois, the Duke of Burgundy’s eldest son, the Counts d’Angouleme, St. Paul, and Dunois, besides several other earls, barons, knights, captains, and a great number of persons of note and distinction, who, in honour of the day, and to augment the splendour and magnificence of the triumphal entry, had bestowed vast sums in rich and costly furniture, with which their horses were caparisoned: some of their housings were of the richest cloth of gold, made after different fashions, and lined with sables; others were of crimson velvet, lined with ermine or rich damask, embroidered with gold and silver, and hung round with great silver bells, which were of a considerable value; and upon the horses rode fine young pages, the very flower of youth and beauty, richly dressed, and wearing embroidered scarfs over their shoulders, that hung down to the crupper, which made a very noble and gallant show.

The Parisians on this occasion caused a very fine ship to be cast in silver, which was borne aloft upon men’s shoulders, and just as the king made his entry through the gate of St. Denis, it was placed upon the drawbridge near the said gate, to represent the city arms. In it were placed three persons representing the three estates of the kingdom; and in the stern and the poop sat two more personating justice and equity; and out of the scuttle, which was formed in the shape of a fleur-de-lis, issued a king dressed in royal robes, and attended by two angels. A little farther, at the fountain du Ponceau, there were wild men that played the parts of gladiators, and near them were placed three handsome wenches, representing mermaids, sporting and singing gay enlivening airs, which were humoured and accompanied with the melodious harmony of soft music. And to comfort and refresh the people, there were several pipes in the said fountain that ran milk, wine, and hippocras, of which every one drank what he pleased; and a little below the fountain, the passion of our Saviour was represented as he was crucified between two thieves. At a little distance from this crucifix there were posted a band of men richly dressed, representing hunters that had just run down a stag, whose death was accompanied with the melodious noise of dogs and horns; and in the Rue de la Boucherie there were large scaffolds erected in the form of the Bastile at Dieppe. And when the king had passed by them, the English who were within the Bastile were furiously attacked by the king’s soldiers, taken prisoners, and had all their throats cut. Opposite to the gate of the Chastellet there was a fine appearance of persons of quality; all the windows were hung with rich tapestry, and the streets through which the king passed were crowded with a prodigious number of people. In this pompous manner he proceeded to the Church of Notre-Dame; and having performed his devotions to the blessed Virgin, he returned to his royal palace, where he had a splendid and magnificent entertainment, and lay there that night. The next morning, which was the first of September in the year 1461, he removed from thence into his Hotel des Tournelles, near the Bastile de St. Antoine, where he staid some time, during which he made several acts and ordinances, and turned several of the officers of his kingdom out of their posts and employments, amongst the rest the Chancellor Juvenal des Ursins, the marshal, the admiral, the first president of the Court of Parliament, and the provost of Paris, and put new ones in their places.

He also made a new regulation in all his courts of justice and offices belonging to the crown, especially in the Exchequer, Treasury, and the Mint, turning out abundance of counsellors, secretaries, receivers-general, clerks, and other officers of an inferior nature, and putting others in their room.

The 3rd of September, 1461, the king, attended by some of the lords and gentlemen of his court, was entertained at supper in the house of one M. William de Corbie, a counsellor of the court of Parliament, whom he made President of Dauphiny that very night. There were abundance of fine ladies and honest citizens’ wives to see the king at supper; and during his stay at Paris he ordered several feasts and entertainments to be made in divers places of the city on purpose to treat and divert them.

About this time it happened, that a beautiful young woman named Joan du Bois, wife to a certain officer belonging to the Chastellet of Paris, made an elopement from her husband, but afterwards, by the counsel and advice of his intimate friends, he took her home again. She became a very good woman, and lived a sober and virtuous life with her husband afterwards.

1462-3.

In the years 1462 and 1463 nothing material or worth recording happened, and therefore I have passed them over in silence. And as for the year 1463, as I have already observed, there was nothing happened in it worth taking notice of, unless it was the shortness of the winter and the length of the summer, which was extremely pleasant, and very favourable to the vines, so that we had plenty of good wine that year, but a great scarcity of all other fruits of the earth.

1464.

In the year 1464, upon Tuesday the 15th of May, the king came from Nogent le Roy, where the queen was brought to bed of a young princess; and on the same day in the evening supped at the house of M. Charles d’Orgemont Lord of Mery, and from thence he set out for the frontiers of Picardy, where he expected to have found the ambassadors whom Edward King of England had promised to send thither to him, but they never came; whereupon the king left Picardy and made a progress to Rouen, and several other places in Normandy. About that time it happened that a small vessel of Dieppe was seized upon the coast of Holland by some of the Duke of Burgundy’s ships, in which there was a person named the Bastard of Rubempré, who, with the rest of the ship’s crew, was immediately clapped into prison, upon pretence that their design of hovering about those parts was purely to seize upon the person of the Count de Charolois: and this report the Flemings spread abroad everywhere, but there was nothing in it.

About that time the king set out from Normandy in his return to Nogent, from whence he went to visit Tours, Chinon, and Poitiers, at which place arrived the deputies that were sent by the city of Paris to desire his majesty to grant them farther privileges; but all they were able to obtain of him was, only to be exempted from a small tax called the Foreign Impost, which was no great matter; and even that small gift they did not enjoy, for the clerks of the Exchequer, to whom their letters patent were directed, were negligent, and would not despatch their business in time. The ambassadors of the Duke of Bretagne were likewise to wait on him there, whom he heard upon several articles that were brought him in relation to the affair between the duke and him; which articles, or at least the greatest part of them, were granted and allowed by his majesty; and by those articles of agreement the said ambassadors did promise and engage that their master the Duke of Bretagne should wait on his majesty, either at Poitiers or elsewhere, to confirm and ratify the said articles. After which, the ambassadors took their leave of the king, pretending to return into Bretagne; but they did quite the contrary, as you will find hereafter. The day they set out from Poitiers, which was Saturday, they went but four leagues, where they stayed till the Monday following; and upon Sunday the Duke of Berry, the king’s own brother, departed from Poitiers also, and lay that night with the ambassadors, who received him with abundance of kindness and civility, and the next morning early in great haste they all set out together for Bretagne, fearing lest the king should be informed of his brother’s going with them, and upon that account follow them: besides the Count de Dunois was already arrived at the Duke of Bretagne’s court, which would be apt to give the king a suspicion of some secret designs on foot against him.

Soon after the departure of these ambassadors, the Duke of Bourbon declares war against the king, and invades his dominions, seizing upon whatever belonged to the king, in his territories, and putting the Lord de Croussol, a great favourite of the king’s, under an arrest. This Lord de Croussol was only passing through his country with his lady and the rest of his family; however, they were all of them arrested and confined in the city of Cosne in Bourbonnois.

After this, William Juvenal des Ursins Lord of Traynel, formerly chancellor of France, and M. Peter Doriolle the late treasurer, were also arrested in the city of Moulins, where they endured a long imprisonment; but at last the Duke of Bourbon released them, and gave them liberty to go back to the king.

On Sunday the 12th of March, in the year 1464, after the Duke of Berry’s departure from Poitiers, Anthony Chabannes Count de Dammartin, who was a prisoner in the Bastile de St. Antoine, made his escape and fled into Berry and Bourbonnois, where he was kindly received. But several who were suspected to have been accessary to his escape, were immediately committed to prison.

On Wednesday the 15th of March, M. Charles de Melun the king’s lieutenant, M. John Balue Bishop of Evreux, and M. John le Prevost, with the king’s secretary, met together in the Hotel de Ville, where they caused several articles, that the king had given them in charge, to be read; and after the reading was over, they made several acts and ordinances for the better defence and security of the city. Amongst the rest, there was a particular order to appoint a strong watch to guard the city gates by night, to shut them at a fixed hour, to have iron chains fastened at the end of every street, to bar them up upon any occasion; and several others, which being too long to be inserted here, I shall for brevity’s sake omit them.

But after the escape of the Count de Dammartin, the king found out a stratagem to surprise the two strong places of Fourgeau and Morue, which were defended by Jeffery Cœur, son of the late Jacques Cœur, whom he made prisoner, and seized upon all the riches he found in them.

As soon as this business was over, the king, attended by the King of Sicily and the Lord du Maine, marched towards Angers and Pont de Ce, to demand of those who had so basely deserted him what reasons induced them to retire and withdraw themselves into Bretagne. He ordered his army, which was chiefly composed of the standing forces of the kingdom, and amounted to twenty or thirty thousand men, immediately to follow him; but after he had been there for some time, and found he could not possibly finish the war on that side so soon as he expected, he marched with a strong detachment and some cannon into the duchy of Berry, towards Yssoudun, Viarzon, Dreux, and other neighbouring towns, leaving the King of Sicily and the Count du Maine with a good body of troops to defend and guard the passes, and to hinder the Bretons from penetrating either into Normandy, or into any other part of his kingdom.

The king made but a short stay in the Duchy of Berry, and from thence he marched into Bourbonnois, leaving the city of Bourges behind him, in which there was a strong garrison commanded by Monsieur the Duke of Bourbon’s bastard, who held it for the Duke of Berry. He marched into Bourbonnois, where the town and castle of St. Amant Lalier were taken by storm on the day of our Lord’s ascension, and a little after the town and castle of Molucon surrendered upon articles of capitulation, in which were James de Bourbon with about thirty-five lances, who took an oath never to bear arms against the king again, upon which they were suffered to march out without being plundered, and had the liberty of going where they pleased.

Upon Ascension-eve the Chancellor Traynel, M. Estienne Chevalier, Nicholas de Louviers, and M. John de Molins arrived at Paris, by whom the king wrote to his good people and citizens of that place, thanking them for their good inclinations and loyalty to him, exhorting them to continue firm and steadfast in their allegiance, and commanding them to conduct the queen safe to Paris, where he would have her lie in, as he loved that city above any in his kingdom.

1465.

On Thursday the 30th of May, in 1465, it happened that one John de Hure, merchant of the city of Sens, came with his nephew and some other company to lodge in a mill, which was called the Little Mill, on the other side of Moret in Gastinois; and about midnight thirty or forty horse, well armed, came and beat up their quarters, plundered them of all they had, and carried away the merchant and his whole company prisoners. At the same time the king ordered the bridges of Chamois and Beaumont on the Oise, with several others, to be broken down.

About that time the Bastard of Burgundy and the Marshal of Burgundy, with a considerable body of the Count de Charolois’s forces, invaded the king’s dominions, and took from him the towns of Roye and Montdidier. Upon which the Count de Neversand Joachim Rouault Marshal of France, who were in Peronne with a garrison of about four thousand men, retired with part of them to Noyon and Compiegne, leaving some of the nobility with about five hundred Frank archers in Peronne for its defence.

At the same time the king, who was then in Bourbonnois, left that country and retired to St. Poursain, whither his sister the Duchess of Bourbon and Auvergne came also to wait on him, being extremely concerned at the difference that there was between the king her brother and her husband the Duke of Bourbon, and she hoped by that means to have accommodated matters between them; but it was not in her power to do it. In the mean time, however, the Duke of Bourbon evacuated Moulins, and retired to Riom.

About this time came orders for the besieging of St. Maurice, which the Count de Dammartin obstinately held against the king. M. Charles de Melun, Bailiff of Sens, with several others of the same corporation, had the direction of that siege, but finding the body of men that were under their command too weak for such an undertaking, M. Anthony Bailiff of Melun was ordered thither with a strong reinforcement of archers and cross-bow-men from Paris, and upon the arrival of these forces, the count beat a retreat, and surrendered the town upon articles of capitulation.

On the 25th of June, it was ordered by the magistrates of Paris assembled in the Hotel de Ville, that the streets should be unchained, but that the iron chains should still remain hanging at the corner of every street to which they belonged, in order to have them in a readiness upon any occasion; that persons should be deputed to examine what condition they were in, and if they wanted mending to get them instantly repaired, and keep them always fit for service; which was accordingly done. There was also another order issued out, by which every citizen was obliged to take arms, and to lay in a stock of provision and ammunition for the defence of the city in case of need; and this order was sent in writing to every particular housekeeper in Paris.

It was much about this time that a great body of Burgundians, Picardians, and of other nations subject to the Count de Charolois, marched into France as far as Pont St. Maxence, which one Madre, who was the governor of it, delivered up to the Count de Charolois for a certain sum of money: upon which he advanced with his army into the Isle of France, where he committed great ravages and devastations, notwithstanding he pretended this war was undertaken purely for the public good, and to free the subjects of France from the tyranny of their king.

Soon after this business of Pont St. Maxence, the Burgundians took Beaulieu, which a party of the Marshal Joachim’s own regiment had a long time defended, and held out against them; who at last surrendered upon articles, and marched out with bag and baggage, and the usual marks of honour.

And as soon as the Burgundians had entered the Isle of France, they dispersed themselves in small bodies all over the county, and took Dammartin, Nantouillet, Villemonble, and several other inconsiderable places, and afterwards at Laigny they committed great disorders and outrages, tearing and burning all the papers relating to the public accounts of the province, ordering that all commodities should be free from taxes in the town, and commanding the salt which was stored up in the public granaries for the king’s use, to be given to whomsoever had occasion for it, upon paying custom for it.

About this time the king, who was in Bourbonnois, laid siege to Riom, in Auvergne, in which were the Duke of Bourbon and Nemours, the Count d’Armagnac, the Lord Albret, and several other persons of note. The king had, at that time when he invested the town, the finest army that ever was seen; having, in all, including the nobility and persons of note and distinction, above 24,000 effective men of regular troops.

And, on Wednesday, the 4th of July, in the same year, the king, who was still before Riom, wrote letters to M. Charles Melun, his lieutenant in Paris, the Marshal Joachim, and the citizens of Paris, which he sent by M. Charles de Charlay, the captain of the watch; and in these letters he heartily thanked his good citizens of Paris for their steadfastness and loyalty to his person, desiring and exhorting them to continue in their duty and allegiance, and assuring them that within fifteen days he would be at Paris, with his whole army. He also ordered the said Charles de Charlay to acquaint them by word of mouth of certain terms and articles of agreement that he had made with the Dukes of Bourbon and Nemours, and the Lords d’Armagnac and Albret, and how by the compact all and every of them had solemnly and sincerely promised henceforth never to bear arms against him, but to live and die in his service; and that the said dukes and lords above-mentioned had faithfully promised to do their duty, in endeavouring to persuade the other lords that were engaged in the confederacy to accept of the same terms of accommodation; and that the four above-mentioned lords had agreed to send, before the feast of August, their ambassadors to the king at Paris, in order to treat of peace; and that if they could not induce the other lords engaged in the same confederacy to hearken to a peace, they had solemnly vowed and sworn to keep the promise they had made of never bearing arms against the king, but to live and die in defence of him and his kingdom. And, that, as a farther confirmation of this promise, the above-mentioned lords had caused it to be registered by two public notaries at Mossiat, near Riom, agreeing and consenting to be excommunicated, provided they, or either of them, should act to the contrary.

On the Friday following, a large body of the Count de Charolois’s forces, the greatest part of them Burgundians, arrived at St. Denis, from whence they sent a detachment to Point St. Cloud, in hopes of making themselves masters of it, but not being able to effect their project, they marched back to St. Denis.

On Sunday, the 12th of July, 1465, the Burgundians appeared before Paris, but finding they could not carry their point, they retired to St. Denis with the loss of a few men, who were endeavouring to scale the walls.

On Monday, the 8th of August, the Burgundians came a second time before Paris, with all their artillery and heavy cannon; but before their army appeared in sight of the town, they sent four heralds to the Gate of St. Denis, at which M. Peter l’Orfevre, Lord of Ermenonville, and M. John de Pompaincourt, Lord of Cercelles, commanded as captains of the guards that day. Their pretended message was to demand provision for their army, and a free admittance into Paris in a peaceful and friendly manner; and to let the citizens know, that if they refused to grant their demands, they would enter the town by force, and give it up to be plundered by their soldiers.

Scarce had the four heralds delivered their message, when the Burgundians (who thought to have surprised the town, and cut in pieces the guard that defended the gate of St. Denis, without giving the citizens time to return an answer) appeared with a considerable body of forces, and penetrating as far as St. Ladre, were in hopes of getting within the barriers that led to that gate, which they designed to have forced with their cannon and other warlike engines: but the citizens made a vigorous resistance, and the Marshal Joachim with his own regiment gave them a very warm reception; so that the Burgundians finding that they could not succeed in their design, retired to their camp, with the loss of abundance of men killed and wounded. Immediately their whole army invested the town, in which they did great execution with their cannon, culverins, and other warlike engines, and killed and wounded a great many men. During this bombardment, there was a cowardly rascal of a bailiff named Casin Chollet, that ran up and down the streets, like one frightened out of his wits, crying out, “Get you into your houses, O Parisians, and shut the doors, for the Burgundians are entered the town;” which put the inhabitants into so dreadful a consternation, that several women with child miscarried, and others died of the fright.

No action happened before Paris on the Tuesday following, only the Count de St. Paul, who was at St. Denis, with the Count de Charolois, marched from thence with a detachment of Picardians and Burgundians, in order to possess himself of Point St. Cloud; but the project failed at that time. And on the Wednesday following, there arrived in his camp a fine train of artillery, consisting of about fifty or sixty pieces of cannon, which the Count de Charolois had ordered to be sent him; and on the same day, a brigade of M. Peter de Brézé’s regiment marched out of Paris, to intercept the Burgundians in their march to St. Cloud, two of whom they killed, and took five prisoners; one of whom received so terrible a blow as clove his head asunder, and the fore part of it hung down by a bit of skin upon his breast. The Burgundians also took an archer, servant to M. John Noyer, of the same regiment; and in the evening they made a vigorous attack upon St. Cloud, and storming the outworks, put the garrison, who held it for the king, into such a consternation, that they agreed to capitulate, and surrendered the town immediately upon condition to be safely conducted to Paris, and to deliver up the five Burgundians they had taken that day; and for performance of these articles, hostages were exchanged on both sides.

On the Friday following, the magistrates of Paris held a great council in the Hotel de Ville, to advise and consider what answer they should return to the Burgundians, who required of them to send some commissioners to treat with the Count de Charolois, who would privately inform them, by word of mouth, of the reasons that had induced him to take up arms against the king. At last, after some debate, they resolved to acquaint the Count de Charolois with their resolution of sending some commissioners (provided he would send them a passport to Paris), to treat with him, and to hear what propositions he had to make; letting him know, at the same time, that they would communicate whatever he had to offer, either to the king, who was at Orleans, or to his privy council at Paris; who might return what answer they thought most proper in the present posture of affairs. The same day, about six in the evening, two heralds from the Count de Charolois came to the gate of St. Honoré for the answer you have already heard; who were told, that if the Count de Charolois would be pleased to come anywhere near Paris, and send a passport, commissioners should be sent to wait on him, but nothing farther could be granted. After this, they desired leave to buy some paper and parchment, which was granted them, but were denied sugar and other things that they wanted in their camp for their sick and wounded; so that they were forced to return without these commodities, which they took very ill of the Parisians.

On Sunday, the 14th of July, 1465, early in the morning, arrived at Paris the Count de la Borde and M. Cousinot, who brought letters from the king to his good citizens of Paris; in which the king, as he had done before, thanked them for their zeal and affection to his person, and for their brave resistance and defence of his capital against the Burgundians, desiring them withal to depend upon whatever the said De la Borde and Cousinot should tell them in his name; the substance of which was, that the king thanked them heartily for their loyalty and good affection towards him, desired them to continue firm and steadfast in it, and that they might depend on his being at Paris (as a place he desired the most to be in) on the Tuesday following; and that he had rather lose half his kingdom than any misfortune or inconveniency, that was in his power to prevent, should happen to his good citizens of Paris; whom he desired by the said Cousinot to provide lodgings and quarters for his men at arms, and the retinue that he should bring with him, and to set a reasonable price on all manner of provision; to which M. Henry de Livre, the mayor of Paris, immediately consented, and took all the care imaginable to see it done.

On the Monday following, the Burgundians broke up from St. Cloud, and marched with all their artillery and heavy cannon to Mont l’Hery, where they encamped, in order to join the Dukes of Berry and Bretagne, the Count de Dunois, and several others that were coming in to the Count de Charolois. The news of this movement was immediately despatched to the king, who was on this side Orleans on his march towards Paris, and who in all haste, by long and tedious marches, on Tuesday morning, the 6th of July, arrived at Chartres, near Mont l’Hery; from whence, without staying so much as to refresh himself, or to wait for the coming up of his whole army, which was composed of the finest horse (considering their number) that ever were seen, he marched directly towards the Burgundians, whom he attacked with so much vigour and intrepidity (though but with a handful of men), that at the first charge he broke and entirely defeated their vanguard, of which a great number were killed and taken prisoners. As soon as the news of this defeat had reached Paris, above thirty thousand sallied out of the gates, some of whom being horse, scoured the country round, defeating and taking several small bodies of the flying Burgundians, as did also the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns round Paris. The Burgundians lost in this action great part of their bag and baggage; and the whole damage they sustained, reckoning everything, was computed to amount to two hundred thousand crowns of gold. The king, not being content with defeating the enemy’s vanguard, and hoping to gain a complete victory over them, without refreshing either himself or his troops, once more attacked, with only his own guards and four hundred lances, a strong party of Burgundians, who had rallied under the command of the Count de St. Paul, who did the Count de Charolois good service that day. The Burgundians gave the king’s troops a warm reception, and being drawn up in order of battle, with their cannon playing upon them, sorely galled them, and killed abundance of them, among whom were several officers of the king’s own guard, who behaved themselves handsomely during the whole action, and stood firmly by the king, who was hard put to it that day, and several times in danger of his own person; for he had but a handful of men, and no cannon. The king was pressed so hard by the Burgundians, that he knew not which way to turn himself, and was forced to charge at the head of his troops during this engagement; and though he had but a small body with him, yet he still maintained his ground; and if he had had a reinforcement but of five hundred Frank archers to have pushed the Burgundians when they began to give way, he would have gained the completest victory over them that ever was known in the memory of man. The Count de Charolois lost all his guards, and the king a great part of his; the Count de Charolois was twice taken prisoner by Jeffery de St. Belin and Gilbert de Grassay, but was afterwards rescued. Abundance of men and horses were killed that day, the greatest part of which were killed by the rascally Burgundian foot, with their pikes and other weapons tipped with iron, and not a few men of note fell on both sides. And after the battle was over, the number of the slain was computed at three thousand six hundred men; and towards night, the Scotch guards, considering the danger the king was in, and the great loss they had sustained, and finding that the Burgundians were still pursuing those squadrons they had already broken, took his majesty, who had been in arms all day without eating and drinking, and was much fatigued and dispirited, and conducted him safe to the castle of Mont l’Hery; which was the reason that several in the army, who knew nothing of the king’s removing thither, and not knowing where to find him, reported he was either killed or taken prisoner. Upon the news of which the greatest part of his army ran away, and among the rest the Count du Maine, the Admiral de Montauban, the Lord de la Borde, and several other officers, with about eight hundred lances, without ever being engaged at all that day; by which means the Burgundians remained masters of the field of battle, on which were found amongst the slain several persons of quality and distinction on the king’s side, to wit, M. Peter de Brézé, knight and seneschal of Normandy; Jeffery de St. Belin, bailiff of Chaumont; Floquet, bailiff of Evreux, besides several other knights and esquires. The Burgundians also lost abundance of men, and had more taken prisoners than they took of the king’s army. After the king had refreshed himself a little at the castle of Mont l’Hery, he marched with a strong detachment of his forces to Corbeil, where he stayed till the Thursday following, on which he arrived very late in the evening at Paris, and supped that night at M. Charles de Melun’s, his lieutenant-general, with several lords and ladies of his court, besides several of the chief citizens and their wives, to whom his majesty related the particulars of the action at Mont l’Hery in such moving and pathetic terms, as drew tears from the eyes of the whole company; adding withal, that he designed by the blessing of God to attack the enemy once more on the Monday following, and either die on the spot, or drive them out of his dominions; but he was advised not to hazard another battle, considering the cowardice and desertion of his troops, that would not stand by him in the late engagement. However, it was to no purpose, for he was a prince of an undaunted courage and resolution.

On Friday, the 19th of July, 1465, M. William Chartier Bishop of Paris, with several counsellors and clergymen, went to wait on the king at his Hotel des Tournelles, and humbly besought his majesty that he would be pleased to make choice of some wise and prudent council to aid and assist him in the administration of public affairs for the future, to which he graciously consented; and immediately it was ordered that six city counsellors, six counsellors of the court of parliament, and six doctors of the University of Paris, should be added to the king’s ordinary council. And because the king found he had many enemies in his kingdom, they went upon ways and means to raise more forces, and recruit those regiments that had suffered most in the late action of Mont l’Hery. In order to try how many men they could raise in Paris, it was proposed that the number of the inhabitants of every ward should be taken in writing, and that each ward should furnish ten men; but there was nothing done in it.

Upon the king’s arrival at Paris, abundance of his troops were forced to be quartered in the villages round that city, Brie, and other neighbouring places, where they committed great disorders, not being content with eating and drinking on free cost, but also plundering the inhabitants of all they had, and seizing upon whatever they could find, though belonging to some of the citizens of Paris. Nay, the king himself was under some difficulties of raising a sufficient sum of money to pay those forces he had in Paris, for some of the princes that had taken up arms against him were in possession of those very towns on which the taxes assigned for that use were to be levied, and they refusing to let any be raised in their dominions, he was forced to borrow money of his officers and wealthy citizens of Paris, some of whom, upon their refusal to lend him as much as he proposed, were immediately put out of all their posts and employments, both military and civil: among the rest, M. John Cheneteau, clerk in parliament, M. Martin Picard, counsellor of the exchequer, and several others.

On Wednesday, the 24th of July, 1465, the king ordered the bridge of St. Maxence to be broken down, upon intelligence that the Lord de Saveuses was marching with a great body of forces in order to beat out the king’s troops, and put a garrison of his own into it. On the same day his majesty gave the command of it to John l’Orfevre, who was the governor of it, and charged him to defend it to the last extremity, which he did with so much bravery and resolution, that there was no occasion to break down the said bridge; and on the Friday following the king ordered that two hundred lances, under the command of the Bastard d’Armagnac, Count de Comminges, the Sieur Giles de Symon, bailiff of Senlis, the Sieur de la Barde, and Charles des Mares, should stay at Paris; and on the same day, at the desire and request of the Mayor of Paris and some churchmen, his majesty continued M. Charles de Melun in his former post of lieutenant of the city.

After the battle of Mont l’Hery, the lords and princes that were engaged in the confederacy against the king retired to Etampes, where they stayed for the space of fifteen days, and upon their breaking up from thence, they marched towards St. Mathurin de l’Archant, Moret in Gastinois, Provins, and the neighbourhood of those countries; upon which the king, having intelligence of their motions, throws small bodies of forces with some cannon into Melun, Montereau, Sens, and other neighbouring towns, to reinforce the garrisons, and make frequent sallies whenever they had an opportunity of falling upon the enemy.

On Saturday, the 3rd of August, 1465, the king, being willing to oblige his good city of Paris by some singular act of grace and favour, changed the tax of the fourth penny on retailed wines to that of the eighth, and granted to all the inhabitants the same privileges they enjoyed in the reign of his father Charles VII. He also took off all the taxes that had formerly been levied in the city, except those on wood, cattle, and cloth, sold by wholesale, which were let out to the farmers of the revenue; and on the same day it was proclaimed by sound of trumpet in all the public streets of Paris, by Denis Hesselin, chief collector of the subsidies; upon the news of which the common people were so overjoyed, that they flocked together from all parts of the city, and filled the streets with bonfires and acclamations of joy.

About this time the Bretons and Burgundians passed the Seine and the Yonne upon a bridge of boats, which were brought from Moret in Gastinois and other places. M. Sallazart, with a brigade of Marshal Joachim’s regiment, had posted himself on the other side to dispute the passage with them; but finding himself too weak, and having no cannon (of which the enemy had great store), he thought fit to retire upon their approach. The Burgundians, to favour the passage of their troops, cannonaded the enemy all the while, and killed abundance of the king’s men; at last a random shot took off a page’s arm, struck a gentleman named Pamabel, a relation of Marshal Joachim’s, in the belly, and killed three soldiers afterwards.

On Thursday, the 8th of August, the Lord de Pretigny, one of the king’s counsellors, and president of the exchequer, and Chrisstofle Paillart, a counsellor, also of the same court, arrived at Paris with an answer to some letters that the king had sent by them to the Duke of Calabria, who was then in Auxerrois; and on Saturday the 10th of the same month, the king set out from Paris in order to visit Rouen, Evreux, and several other places in Normandy, and lay that night at Pontoise; but before he left Paris, he ordered several companies of Frank archers that were newly arrived from Normandy, and about four hundred lances drawn out of the regiments of the late Floquet, of the Boulonnois, of the late Jeffery de St. Belin, of the Lord de Craon, and the Lord de la Barde, to remain in garrison for the defence of the city.

About this time M. John Berard, counsellor of the court of Parliament, went over to the Duke of Berry, who was then in Bretagne, being highly disgusted at his wife’s being committed to prison, and afterwards banished the city for holding correspondence with the said duke and the rest of the princes, who were the king’s open and professed enemies.

About this time M. Charles de Melun, who had hitherto been the king’s lieutenant in Paris, resigned his place, which was immediately given to the Count d’Eu; but the king, in consideration of the many services M. Charles de Melun had done, made him steward of his household, and gave him the government of the bailiwick and towns of Evreux and Honfleur.

About this time also a party of Burgundians and Bretons, who had been refreshing themselves in the town of Provins, returned to Laigny upon the Marne, and the Friday following they came and took up their quarters at Creteil, a house upon the Seine, Sheelle, Saincte, Bapteur, and several other places in that neighbourhood. And because the Parisians were fearful that the Burgundians would once more invest Paris, there being a report that M. Gerauld, their chief engineer, had given out that he designed to erect a battery in the lay-stall before the gates of St. Denis and St. Anthony, in order to bombard the town, and at the same time to make a breach in the walls, they caused an order to be immediately published, by which every one was obliged to repair the next morning to the lay-stall with a pick-axe and shovel, to break it up, and render it unfit to erect a battery on, and accordingly the order was put in execution; but what they did signified little or nothing, so that they were forced to build a great many sheds, erect bulwarks, and throw up trenches to cover and defend the city, as also the soldiers employed in its defence.

On the Monday following, the same party of Burgundians and Bretons that were quartered at Creteil and thereabouts, being joined by some more forces of their own country, came to Pont de Charenton, where they erected a battery; and began to play upon the tower that defended it, upon which the garrison, without making the least opposition, retired to Paris, and the Burgundians and Bretons took possession of it, and in the evening of the same day they appeared before Paris, in which several of them were taken prisoners, and two of the Frank archers of Caen killed. And that night a body of Burgundians and Bretons, amounting to about four thousand men, came and encamped in a park belonging to the Bois de Vincennes. The Tuesday following, the Count d’Eu sent one M. de Rambures to the princes to know their intentions, and the next day he returned to Paris, but the answer they made him was kept very secret; and the same day the Burgundians came before Paris, upon which the Parisians made a sally, but scarce any action happened between them, only one of the Frank archers of Alençon happened to be killed by a random shot.

On Thursday, the 22d of August, the Duke of Berry, who had taken up his head quarters at Beaulcé, with several other princes near allied to him, sent his heralds with four letters to Paris, one to the citizens, one to the university, and one to the ecclesiastics, and one to the court of parliament. The contents of which were, in short, that he and the rest of the princes engaged in the same confederacy had taken up arms for the public good of the kingdom, and that if they would make choice of five or six able men in the character of commissioners to treat and confer with them, he would let them know the reasons that had induced him and the rest of the princes to appear in this open and hostile manner. Accordingly, in pursuance of these letters, the following commissioners were deputed to wait on the princes to hear what they had to propose. On the part of the city were chosen M. John Choart, the civil lieutenant of the Chastellet of Paris, M. Francis Hasle, advocate in parliament, and Arnold Lullier, banker at Paris. The church of Paris made choice of M. Thomas de Courcelles, Dean of Paris, M. John de Lolive, doctor of divinity, and M. Eustace Lullier, advocate in parliament. For the court of parliament were chosen M. John de Boulenger, M. John de Sellier, Archdeacon of Brie, and M. James Fournier. And by the university for the sciences in general were chosen M. James Minglisant, for divinity, M. John Lullier, for the law, M. John Montigny, and for physic, M. Auerant de Parenti; and all these commissioners were introduced and presented to the princes by William Chartier, Bishop of Paris.

On Saturday following, all the above-mentioned commissioners sat in the Hotel de Ville, where several persons of quality and distinction were assembled on purpose to hear what proposals the princes had made them, but they came to no manner of conclusion that morning; however, it was agreed that in the afternoon the whole body of the university, church, court of parliament, and the chief magistrates, should meet together, to take into consideration what the princes had proposed to the commissioners. At this meeting, after some debate, they unanimously agreed, that the calling an assembly of the three estates of the kingdom, which was the chief thing the princes insisted on, was highly just and reasonable; that they would consent to supply their army with provisions for money, and that they should have free admittance into Paris, provided they could give them security that neither they nor their soldiers would commit any act of hostility within the town to the prejudice of the inhabitants; and the king consented to it. After which the commissioners went a second time to wait on the princes, and acquaint them with their final resolution. During the whole time that this assembly were sitting in council, all the cross-bow men and archers were drawn up before the Hotel de Ville, to hinder the mob from crowding and disturbing them, as they would certainly have done, had they not been prevented by this means.

On the same day there was a review made of all the king’s forces in Paris, which made a very fine appearance. First of all marched the archers of Normandy on foot; these were followed by the archers on horseback; and last of all came the men-at-arms belonging to the companies of the Count d’Eu, the Lord de Craon, the Lord de la Barde, and the Bastard of Maine, which might make in all about five hundred men, well armed and mounted, without reckoning the foot, which were about one thousand five hundred, or more. And on the same day the king wrote letters to Paris, by which he acquainted the inhabitants of his being at Chartres with his uncle the Duke du Maine, and abundance of soldiers with him, and of his resolution of coming to Paris on the Tuesday following. In the afternoon the Admiral de Montauban arrived at Paris with a good body of troops, and towards the evening the Duke of Berry broke up from Beaulcé, and marched towards St. Denis; but being told by some of his officers that were with him that Beaulcé was a much safer place for him to be in than St. Denis, which lay too near the enemy, and upon hearing the news of the king’s coming to Paris, he marched back to his old quarters.

On the Wednesday following the king came to Paris, attended by his uncle the Duke du Maine, the Lord de Pantheure, and several other officers of note; he also brought back the fine train of artillery he carried with him, and a great number of pioneers from Normandy, who were all quartered in his Hotel de St. Paul. And when the king made his entry into Paris, he was received with the universal shouts and acclamations of the people; and the next day, very early in the morning, the Burgundians and the Bretons, planting themselves over against the tower of Billy, saluted him with a triple discharge of their cannon, accompanied with drums, trumpets, clarions, and other warlike instruments of music. The same thing they did also over against the bastille St. Anthoine, shouting and huzzaing, and crying out, “To arms, to arms!” which put the whole city into a dreadful consternation, and immediately they mounted the walls, and prepared all things for a vigorous defence. In the afternoon the Burgundians and Bretons appeared again before Paris, upon which a considerable body of the king’s regular forces, with some cannon and field-pieces, were immediately ordered to march out of Paris to beat off the enemy, who, falling in with a party of them, killed and took several prisoners that day.

On Saturday, the last of August, the king went with a strong guard as far as the tower of Billy, to take a view of the enemy, and commanded the four hundred pioneers that came from Normandy to cross the Seine, and throw up a trench over against the English port, and before the Hotel de Conflans, which was directly opposite to the place where the Burgundians were posted, quite down to the river Seine. And because the Burgundians had given out that they designed to pass that river, the king ordered a good body of troops to be posted there, to hinder them from laying a bridge over it, and to dispute the passage with them; and as soon as the pioneers had passed the river, the king passed it also in a ferry-boat without alighting from his horse.

On Sunday, the first of September, the Burgundians laid a bridge over the Seine at the English port; and just as they were preparing to pass it, a great number of Frank archers, and other soldiers of the king’s party, arrived there, who, immediately planting some cannon and field-pieces at the end of the bridge, fired briskly on the Burgundians, and obliged them to retire, with the loss of several men killed and wounded; and a certain Norman swam across the river, and cutting the ropes with which the bridge was fastened, it went cleverly down the stream. Abundance of cannon was fired that day from several batteries that the Burgundians had erected, but from one especially, which played so briskly on the king’s troops that were posted at the English port, that they were forced to retire.

And on the Tuesday following, ambassadors were chosen by the king and the Burgundians, in order to adjust the difference between them. On the king’s side were chosen the Duke du Maine, M. de Pretigny, president of the exchequer, and M. John Dauvet, president of the parliament of Toulouse; and the Burgundians chose the Duke of Calabria, the Count de St. Paul, and the Count de Dunois. And as soon as they were nominated, and had received their instructions, they went immediately upon the business of accommodation; and there was a truce granted till the Thursday following, during which no acts of hostility were committed on either side; but both parties took care, in the mean time, to fortify themselves, and make what preparations they could, not knowing how matters might happen.

On Monday, the ninth of September, the Bretons and Burgundians marched into the territories of Clignancourt, Montmartre, La Courtille, and other vineyards about Paris, where they spoiled and destroyed the whole vintage, cutting down all the grapes, green as they were, to make wine for present drinking; upon which the Parisians were forced to do the same with all their vineyards round Paris that had escaped their fury, though the grapes were scarce half ripe, and it was not the usual season for their vintage; besides, it was the worst year for vines that had been known in France for many years; so that they called the wine of this year’s growth by the name of Burgundy.