ON THE RETREAT OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY FROM SAINT DENIS, THE KING OF FRANCE ISSUES ORDERS THROUGHOUT HIS KINGDOM TO RAISE FORCES TO MARCH AGAINST HIM.

When it was known to the king of France, the duke of Acquitaine, the princes of the blood then in Paris, and to the members of the council, that the duke of Burgundy, on his retreat from St Denis, had left large garrisons in the towns of Compiegne, Soissons, and other places belonging to the king, or at least under his government, they were greatly surprised, thinking he had no just cause for so doing.

To obviate the consequences of this conduct, certain royal edicts were instantly dispatched throughout the bailiwicks and seneschalships in the realm, commanding them to raise forces to resist the future proceedings of the duke of Burgundy, which edicts, and particularly that addressed to the bailiff of Amiens, were as follows.

'Charles, by the grace of God, king of France, to the bailiff of Amiens, or to his lieutenant, greeting.

'To check the many great and numberless evils that have befallen our kingdom, to the prejudice of ourself and of the public welfare, from the quarrels and wars that have arisen between some of the princes of our blood, and that our subjects may live in tranquillity under our government, and that henceforward they may be ruled with justice, which cannot take place but in times of peace,—we have, after mature deliberation, effected an union between these said princes of our blood, which they have most solemnly promised and sworn in our presence to keep inviolate. Although it be not lawful for any of our subjects, whether of our blood or not, and even contrary to our express orders, to assemble any bodies of men at arms within our realm, yet it has come to our knowledge that our cousin of Burgundy has complained of certain acts done, as he says, to his prejudice, and contrary to the articles of the said peace,—and for this cause he has occupied, or caused to be occupied, several castles and fortresses belonging to us, and against our will; that he has received in his country, and admitted to his presence, several evil doers who have been guilty of treason against us. In consequence, we sent able ambassadors to our said cousin of Burgundy, to admonish him to keep the peace, to offer him every legal means of redress, and to cause such reparation to be made him for any infringement of the peace, as the case might require. At the same time we summoned him to surrender the castles to us, as he was bound to do; and we commanded him not to receive any such evil doers in future, enjoining him to send those whom he had admitted to us, that they might undergo such punishments as justice should order.

'These commands he has not obeyed, nor sent any satisfactory answer. Having learnt that after this our said cousin of Burgundy was assembling a large body of men at arms, we sent one of the sergeants at arms of the parliament with sealed letters to him, to forbid him to raise any forces whatever. Notwithstanding this, in defiance of the treaty of peace and of our positive orders, our cousin of Burgundy continued to assemble men at arms and archers from all parts; and with this army he has marched from his own country, and, by fraudulent and traitorous means, has, against our will, gained possession of our towns of Compiegne and Soissons, which he still holds, and has placed therein garrisons of men at arms. He also attempted to gain by force our town of Senlis, and has refused to surrender our castles and fortresses aforesaid, which he detains contrary to our commands: he admits to his country and to his presence every person guilty toward us, without ever sending them to us, as we had commanded him to do. He has likewise detained by force our sergeant at arms of the parliament and other messengers from our dearly beloved companion the queen, and from our very dear and well beloved son the duke of Acquitaine, bearing letters from them to forbid him to do any acts contrary to the said peace, and without sending to us or to them any answers whatever.

'Our said cousin of Burgundy, in defiance and contempt of these our orders and prohibitions, has marched a numerous, army near to Paris, accompanied by all or the greater part of those criminals who have been found guilty of treason against us, and therefore banished our realm.

'All these said things have been done, committed, and perpetrated by our said cousin of Burgundy, his adherents and allies, contrary to our royal will and pleasure, in opposition to the articles of the said peace, against the tranquillity of our subjects and the public good of our kingdom.

'Great inconveniences may therefore arise, unless a speedy remedy be applied to this disloyal conduct. Wishing to obviate these evils, and to reduce to obedience those of our subjects who may have joined our said cousin the duke of Burgundy, whose enterprises we will no longer tolerate, but are determined to repress them with the aid of those of our blood, and our other good and faithful subjects, in such wise that it shall be an example to all others.

'We therefore command and strictly enjoin, that on receiving these presents, you do, with a loud voice and with sound of trumpet, in our name, proclaim the arriere-ban[36]; and that you do repeat this proclamation throughout your bailiwick, so that no one may plead ignorance of it, enforcing obedience to the same from all nobles and others within your jurisdiction who have been used to arms, or in a state to bear arms, and from all who may hold fiefs or arriere-fiefs of the value of twenty livres tournois. You will see that prompt attention be paid to our command by all nobles, citizens and inhabitants of the towns within your bailiwick, on the faith and homage they owe to us, and under pain of confiscation of estates and goods, should they not join us in all diligence with the greatest possible number of men at arms and archers, without any excuse or denial whatever.

'You will enjoin the inhabitants of your principal towns to send instantly to our good city of Paris men at arms and archers, mounted on horseback and sufficiently accompanied,—and we command them thus to do for our service in this matter, and wherever else we may employ them, forbidding them at the same time, under the severest execution of the penalties aforesaid, to obey, in any manner whatever, the summons, orders, or requests of our said cousin of Burgundy, or under pretence of serving us, or under other pretexts, to aid or promote his designs.

'Should any persons within your jurisdiction have joined him, let them instantly return, and not give him either support or advice. You will arrest all whom you shall know to be favourable to him, or who have joined him, whenever you can lay hands on them. Should you not be able to do this, summon them, under pain of banishment; and take possession, in our name, of all their effects, moveable and immoveable, whatever, which you will administer on our behalf.

'You will also make public proclamation in our name, for all prelates, abbots, priors, chaplains and other churchmen, who are bound to supply us with carts, sumpter horses, and other services from their fiefs, instantly to perform them and send them to us. You will, in case of their neglecting the same, seize their temporalities, or use such other measures as are customary in such like cases.

'At the same time, you will strictly forbid in our name, under the aforesaid penalties, all labourers, tradespeople, or others, excepting those before mentioned, to assemble in arms, or to collect together in companies, after the manner of the pillagers in former times, but give orders that they do apply to their labour or trades. Should any be found to act contrary, you will imprison them, and inflict on them such punishment as justice may ordain, to serve as examples to others.

'We likewise command and enjoin you to suffer all men at arms and archers, whether from our kingdom or elsewhere, that may be on their march to join us, to pass freely through your bailiwick, without any let or hindrance whatever, notwithstanding any letters or orders from us to the contrary, unless of a subsequent date to these presents, and signed by ourself in council; and you will afford to such person or persons every aid, encouragement, and advice, should need be, in any of our towns, castles, bridges or passes, that may tend to obstruct them on their march. This we order to be done without refusal or contradiction, for such is our will and pleasure; and you will certify to our faithful chancellor your proceedings in this business, that your diligence may be the more apparent; and be careful, under pain of deprivation of office, and of the aforesaid punishments, that there be no neglect on your part.

'We will beside, and command you by these presents, that in regard to all quarrels, suits, debts, or prosecutions for any matters in litigation that may have been brought before you within your bailiwick against those who may have set out to join us in obedience to our summons, you do defer pronouncing any sentence or sentences thereon, until fifteen days be expired after the return home of the parties serving us, and that you do order all provosts, judges, or officers under you, to do the same; and should any sentences have been passed, or further proceedings thereon, you will stay the same, and without delay make every possible reparation.

'For the carrying our said will into execution, we, by these presents, do give you full and ample authority; and by them also we command all officers of justice, and others our subjects, diligently to attend to and obey your orders, issued for the above purposes, and to afford you aid and advice, and even the use of their prisons, should it be found necessary.

'Given at Paris, the 8th day of February, in the year of Grace 1413, and of our reign the 33d.' Signed, on the report of the grand council held by the queen, the duke of Acquitaine and others, 'Jean du Chastel.'

This edict was sent to Amiens, and there proclaimed. It caused great distress to all who had joined the party of the duke of Burgundy, as well within Paris and its neighbourhood as elsewhere, for very many were arrested and beheaded: others were imprisoned, and their fortunes confiscated.

Another edict was soon after issued, after great deliberation in council, and published throughout France, by which the duke of Burgundy was deprived of all the favours that had formerly been done him, and he and all his partisans were banished the kingdom. This was the tenour of the edict.

'Charles, by the grace of God, king of France, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.

'Whereas, after the very cruel and damnable murder lately perpetrated by the order and instigation of John our cousin of Burgundy, on the person of our very dear and well beloved only brother Louis, duke of Orleans, of good memory, whose soul may God pardon! the said duke of Burgundy came to our good town of Paris, attended by a numerous body of men at arms, against our will and in defiance of our commands to the contrary, and there endeavoured to justify himself from this atrocious murder, by means notoriously false, and by many arguments scandalous and offensive to our majesty and to the public weal.

'We, considering the very many evils that might ensue in consequence of this murder to our subjects and kingdom, and being desirous to obviate the same, did order our very dear son and beloved nephew, the present duke of Orleans, with our very dear and well beloved nephew the count de Vertus, his brother, children to our late brother, and minors, to meet us in our town of Chartres, where we formed a pacification between our said nephews and the duke of Burgundy; and although the terms of this pacification were extraordinary and harsh to our said nephews, nevertheless they subscribed to them in obedience to us, and from pity to the subjects of the realm, who must have suffered greatly from the intestine wars that would otherwise have taken place.

'Notwithstanding the duke of Burgundy swore in our hands to the observance of this treaty, and that he would thenceforward be a loyal and sincere friend to our said nephews and their adherents, he very shortly acted contrary to this oath and solemn promise, by revenging himself on some of our servants, whom he suspected to have advised us to have justice done on him for the murder of our said brother the duke of Orleans, and also to continue his wicked designs of gaining the sole government of our person and kingdom. This was the true reason for his committing so foul a murder, and for arresting many of our faithful servants,—some of whom he caused to be put to death, and, by unjust and iniquitous means, exacted from others exorbitant and immense sums of money.

'In consequence, our nephews of Orleans, seeing that the duke of Burgundy was infringing daily, and in various ways, the treaty which he had sworn to keep at Chartres, and was regardless of all that he had promised, most humbly but earnestly supplicated us at different times, that we would administer justice on the murderers of their father, as we were bounden to do; but the duke of Burgundy, who had deprived us of our most loyal servants, and in their room had placed others attached to him, prevented us from hearing their complaints, and from rendering the justice it became us to administer. And what was worse, our nephews perceiving that they could not obtain any redress from us, through the interference of the duke of Burgundy, resolved to make war personally upon him, to revenge the murder of their father, as was natural for them to do.

'The duke of Burgundy then accused them (and published falsely, contrary to all resemblance of truth, as we are fully informed and assured), that they and others of our blood, being in their company, wished to deprive us of our royal estate and dignity, and make a new king of France. And under pretence of these lies and charges, contrary to all truth, he raised our people against them, wishing to cover his wicked intentions and quarrel with lies, whence, as every one knows, so many and serious misfortunes have arisen.

'Under pretext of this warfare, the duke of Burgundy has caused to be arrested and confined in our prison of the ChÂtelet at Paris, and elsewhere, numbers of considerable gentlemen, knights and squires, because he charged them with being favourable to the wellwishers of the party of our nephews, or inclined to others of our blood and lineage in their company: many whom he thus imprisoned he made suffer the cruellest tortures, and then put them to death without a shadow of reason or justice.

'Some he starved to death in prison, denying them confessors or any of the ecclesiastical sacraments, throwing their bodies into the fields to be devoured by dogs, birds, or wild beasts, without allowing them to have Christian burial, or that their new-born children should be baptised, which is expressly against our religion. In these transactions, the most horrid and unheard-of cruelties were committed.

'Under cover of this war, which neither was nor ought to have been ours, but his own, and personal to himself, this Burgundian caused excessive and extraordinary taxes to be raised on our people, by tallies, loans, and other means; such as seizing the treasures of churches, the deposits in our courts of parliament, ChÂtelet, and elsewhere, which had been there placed for the advantage of widows, and children under age, or for the purpose of completing purchases or repayment of mortgages.

'The said Burgundian also made great depreciations in our coin, by which he gained large sums of money, but to the severe loss of us, our people, and the public welfare. By these and other equally fraudulent means has he reaped very considerable profit, and for these two or three years last past has applied to his own benefit the money of our people, amounting to ten hundred thousand golden florins at the least, as has been clearly demonstrated to us by the statement of the accounts, without any part of it being employed for our service.

'This has caused a failure and total stoppage of commerce, so necessary to us and our kingdom, for some time past; consequently the revenues of our domain and taxes have been shamefully diminished, as is notorious to all.

'But not contented with this, and in the design of totally destroying our nephews aforesaid, our very dear and well beloved uncle the duke of Berry, and several others of our blood, with the intent of gaining the sole government of our kingdom to himself, the duke of Burgundy constrained us and our dearly beloved eldest son the duke of Acquitaine to oppose with force of arms our said nephews and their adherents, under colour that the war was ours—whereas it was no such thing—and obliged us to march from Paris against them, as if they had not alway been our very loyal and affectionate relatives and subjects.

'In fact, we laid siege to the city of Bourges, wherein was our uncle aforesaid; and we were detained before it for upwards of six weeks against our will, and to our very great displeasure.

'We and our son were in great personal danger, as well from the excessive heat of the season as from the attacks made on our army, insomuch that we thought it right to remove to our town of Auxerre, where we had assembled our said uncle, nephews, and other princes of our blood. There, by the grace of God and his holy aid, and by the commands of ourself and of our eldest son, certain articles of pacification were drawn up and agreed to by our said uncle, son, and nephews, with their allies, on the one part, and the duke of Burgundy and his allies on the other,—which articles both parties solemnly promised and swore before us to keep, without any way infringing them.

'Nevertheless, not long after we were returned to our town of Paris, the said duke of Burgundy, contrary to his promise on oath, came thither, intending to annul the said peace made by us, and sworn to by him, as has been before said, and caused to be drawn up certain letters in our name, which he had attached to our edict concerning the peace, by which he made us repeal and annul the greater part of what had been granted by us and our said eldest son, thus infringing the articles of the peace, namely, the restitution of estates, inheritances, honours and offices, to such as had adhered to the party of our said uncle and nephews, and to others of our blood and lineage, their allies and partisans. He has, moreover, retained, for a long space of time, against our will, and contrary to the agreements we had entered into, and his own oath, the castles of Coucy and Pierrefons, belonging to our said nephew the duke of Orleans, with many other castles, estates, and houses of several of that party, notwithstanding letters of restitution granted by us, and verified by our court of parliament. Neither the duke of Orleans nor any of his adherents could regain the possession of their lands,—for there was scarcely any one member of our court of parliament who dared to gainsay the will and enterprises of the duke of Burgundy or his accomplices, who were solely bent on having the entire management of us, of our dear companion the queen, our well beloved eldest son the duke of Acquitaine, and the whole government of the realm.

'To keep us in the greater subjection, the said Burgundian raised persons of low rank and consideration in Paris to places of trust, who, by his authority and exhortations, and being in his full confidence, undertook the government of our royal self, that of the queen, the duke of Acquitaine and the whole kingdom. These persons frequently came to our councils, and those of our court of parliament, in a violent and disorderly manner, menacing our faithful and honest counsellors in such wise that the regular course of justice was stopped; and it was impossible to prevent whatever they should ordain or desire from being agreed to, one way or other.

'In pursuing their wicked courses and damnable designs, it is a fact, that on Friday the 28th day of April last passed, when the said Burgundian, his accomplices, adherents, and people of low degree began to perceive that several of our blood and lineage, and others our officers, and those of our well beloved son, the members of the university, wealthy merchants and loyal burgesses of the town of Paris, were discontented with their mode of government, suspecting also that they intended even to drive them from their power and authority by force, and then punish them for their malversations, caused a great assembly of the populace to be holden, the most part of whom knew not for what they were thus assembled.

'Then, without any justifiable reason, they marched with displayed banners, in a warlike manner, to the hÔtel of our said son, whence, against his commands and will, and to his great displeasure, they carried away our very dear and well beloved cousin the duke of Bar, with many others the especial counsellors and servants of our said son, according to a written list of names which the duke of Burgundy held in his hand, and who had them first conducted to his hÔtel of Artois, and thence to different prisons.

'Not long after, on another day, these same people of low degree, by the practices of the duke of Burgundy again returned to our palace of St Pol with displayed banners, and with force and violence, contrary to our will and pleasure, as well as in disobedience to the commands of our said queen and eldest son, they seized our very dear and well beloved brother Louis duke of Bavaria, with other officers of our said son, and also certain ladies and damsels attached to and in the service of our said companion the queen, whom they arrested in her chamber, she being present, and carried to different prisons, where they were long detained in great personal danger.

'This same populace, through the connivance and encouragement of the duke of Burgundy, committed a variety of crimes and excesses, such as seizing day and night, without any judicial authority, many of our officers and other inhabitants of our said town of Paris, confining them in prisons, murdering some, and throwing the bodies of others into the river, by which means they were drowned, ransoming several for large sums of money, without any one daring to check or punish such atrocious acts.

'All this was done through the practices and support of the duke of Burgundy; by which means he has detained us, our companion the queen, and our said eldest son, in such subjection and danger that we had not liberty to do any one thing as we should have pleased; for after these arrests had taken place, he appointed others to fill their places, who were firmly attached to him and his measures. Even persons of the lowest order were raised by him to offices,—and this conduct was pursued until it pleased the Lord, by means of the activity and diligence of our very dear and well beloved cousin the king of Sicily, in conjunction with our dear nephews of Orleans, our well beloved cousins the duke of Bourbon, the counts d'AlenÇon, d'Eu, and others of our royal blood, many prelates, barons, knights, esquires, and several of our court of parliament and of our dear daughter the university of Paris, and capital burgesses of that town, to restore us, our dear companion the queen and son, to that liberty which we should reasonably enjoy; and the peace that had been agreed to at Auxerre was again confirmed and sworn to by the said Burgundian, and others of our blood and lineage. Nevertheless, the duke of Burgundy, prior to the expedition which our said eldest son made, by means of the populace of Paris, on the 4th day of August last past, exerted himself to the utmost to put an end to this peace, by having it published in several hÔtels and other places in Paris, that if the people consented to such a peace, it would be the ruin of the town, which was notoriously false.

'Since the peace was thus renewed and confirmed, the duke of Burgundy has been much discontented; and when some of those disturbers of the peace, persons of low degree, quitted Paris under pretence of going to Burgundy, though in fact they went to Flanders, Artois, and other territories of the duke, he received them graciously, criminals as they were, with other traitors and murderers of our said brother the duke of Orleans, notwithstanding we had sent him especial ambassadors, who, among other things, required and commanded him in our name that those criminals whom he had received, and who had been convicted of treason against us, and consequently banished the realm for ever, should be delivered up that justice might be done on them. They also demanded restitution of several castles that he kept possession of, by himself or others, contrary to our pleasure, namely, the castles of Crotoy, Laon, and Chinon,—but to all these demands he has been disobedient.

'The worst part of his conduct is, that under colour of the most abominable falsehoods, he has raised as large a body of men at arms and archers as was possible, as well from his own countries of Burgundy and Savoy as from Flanders, Artois and elsewhere, which he has marched to the walls of our good town of Paris. To gain partisans, and an undisturbed march, he has sent sealed letters to several of our large towns to require aid and support, under colour that he was marching to Paris by the command of our said eldest son, to deliver us from the bondage in which, as he said, we were detained, and which is a notorious falsehood,—for we never enjoyed greater liberty than we do at this moment, and have done ever since his departure from Paris.

'It is also false that he has had any commands from us on this subject: on the contrary, we and our dear son have, by our letters patent, positively forbidden him, under pain of our displeasure, to dare to come before us with any assemblage of men at arms, which he has not only disregarded and paid no attention to, but has imprisoned one of the sergeants at arms of our court of parliament, whom we had sent with the above letters patent, solemnly to forbid his assembling any bodies of men at arms, and which he properly executed.

'Pursuing his evil designs, his conduct from bad becomes worse; and, contemning the orders of us, who are his sovereign, he marched like a rebel, in a hostile manner, toward our town or Paris, with the largest force he could collect, in direct opposition to our express commands, thus breaking the peace which he had so solemnly sworn to keep, and rendering himself unworthy of those graces and favours which had been shown him in former times. He has with him, and under his obedience, all those false traitors who on conviction of their treasons have been for ever banished the kingdom, that through their means he may be enabled to stir up sedition in our good town of Paris and elsewhere.

'He has gained possession of our town of Compiegne, although we had sent orders to the inhabitants not to suffer him to enter it with any body of men at arms, or in an hostile manner, which orders were shown to him; but he held them in contempt, and what is worse he now occupies that town, and has placed therein a garrison contrary to our commands. In like manner has he taken possession of the town of Soissons, although the inhabitants had received orders similar to those sent to Compiegne, of which the army of the duke of Burgundy was assured.

'This Burgundian has even advanced his army to St Denis, which he has seized and made his head-quarters, contrary to our will and pleasure, forming of it, as it were, a frontier to our good town of Paris; and by way of demonstrating his wickedness and infamous designs, he advanced his army with displayed banners, and in a warlike manner, to the very walls of Paris, and remained there a long time in battle-array. He even sent his scouts to the very gates, in the hope of raising a sedition among the populace, and then entering the town by force of arms, contrary to our will, and thus acting like an enemy, and being guilty of the crime of high treason toward us, many complaints of which have been and are daily made to us on this subject.

'Know ye, that having considered the above acts, and others connected with them, and the whole of the duke of Burgundy's conduct since the death of our said brother to this present time, inasmuch as he has been ever ready to proceed by force of arms, and has several times notoriously disobeyed our commands, more especially in this last act, when we positively enjoined him not to march any armed force to Paris, and in several others, which he has obeyed or not according to his pleasure. For these causes he is and must be esteemed ungrateful, and undeserving of all the favours that have been shown him by us in former times.

'Having therefore held a grand council on the above, to which persons of all ranks were admitted, and having duly considered the same, we declare that the duke of Burgundy, and all who shall give him any aid, support or advice, or join his company, contrary to our said edicts, issued by us to forbid the same, shall be, and are by these presents, held and reputed rebels to us, and violators of the peace, consequently enemies to us and to the public welfare of our kingdom. For these causes we have determined to call out our arriere-ban, and to muster such forces of those who have been accustomed to bear arms as may be sufficient to enable us to resist the perverse dispositions and attempts of the duke of Burgundy, his accomplices and adherents, to reduce them to that subjection and obedience which they owe to us, and to punish them for their traitorous misdeeds, so that honour may redound to us, and they may serve in future as examples to all others.

'We give it in command by these presents to our well beloved and faithful counsellors, members of our parliament, to the provost of Paris, to the bailiff of Amiens, and to all other our officers of justice, to their deputies, and to each of them to whom it may appertain, that they do proclaim these presents, or cause them to be proclaimed, in the most public places within their jurisdictions where such proclamations have usually been made, so that no one may plead ignorance of the same.

'Commanding also, at the same time, that all our officers and subjects who may have been used to arms do hasten with all possible speed to join and serve us in such things as we may command, with as many men at arms as they can collect, under pain of our highest displeasure and suffering confiscation of effects, or such other punishment as may be awarded against all who shall in any way disobey these our said commands.

'In testimony of which, we have to these presents affixed our seal.—Given at Paris, the 10th day of February, in the year of Grace 1413, and of our reign the 33d[37].' Thus signed by the king, on the report of the great council, held by the queen and my lord of Acquitaine. Countersigned, 'Derion.'

This edict was proclaimed in Amiens, and afterward in the provostships, and throughout the bailiwick by commission from the said bailiff.

[36] Arriere-ban,—'a proclamation, whereby those that hold of the king by a mesne tenure are summoned to assemble and serve him in his wars,—different from ban, whereby such are called as hold immediately of him,—also the whole troop of those mesne tenants or under vassals so assembled.'

Cotgrave's Dict.—See 'Ban' and 'Arriere-ban.'