CHAP. VII.

A Digression concerning Salaries, Offices, and Ambition, illustrated by the Example of the English.-1465.

I MENTION these offices and authorities, because they lead men to desire changes and revolutions, and are thus the occasion of them; which evidently appears, not only by what we have seen in our own days, but also in the time of King Charles VI. *, in whose reign the wars, which lasted till the peace of Arras, began; during which wars, the English had conquered so great a part of France, that at the time of that treaty (which lasted two months) the Duke of Bedford †, brother to Henry V., King of England, and husband to the Duke of Burgundy's sister, was Regent of France for the English there, and resided at Paris, and had 20,000 crowns a month at least, to support the grandeur and dignity of his office. At this treaty of Arras, the King of France sent four or five dukes and counts, five or six prelates, and ten or twelve councillors of parliament to take care of his interests. On the Duke of Burgundy's side there were more, and those very great persons; and no fewer from the King of England +: besides two cardinals from the Pope, to act as mediators. The Duke of Burgundy being desirous to acquit himself handsomely towards the English before they parted, on account of the old leagues and alliances which had been between them, offered the

Charles VI., King of France, born on the 3rd of December, 1368, was the son of Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon; he married Isabel of Bavaria on the 17th of July, 1385; and died on the 22nd of October, 1422.

† John of Lancaster, Count of Kendal and Duke of Bedford, was the third son of King Henry IV. and Mary, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun. He married 1. Anne, sister of Philip, Duke of Burgundy; and 2. Jacqueline, daughter of Pierre de Luxembourg, Count of Saint Paul. He was appointed Regent of the Kingdom of France on the death of his brother Henry V.; and he died at Rouen, on the 14th of Sept., 1435.

The commissioners for England were Henry Beaufort, Cardinal and Bishop of Winchester; John Kemp, Archbishop of York; William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk; John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon; the Bishops of Norwich, St. David's, and Lisieux, with divers knights and gentlemen.

§ Eugenius IV. (Gabriel Condolinieri), elected in 1431; he died on the 23rd of February, 1447.

duchies of Normandy and Guienne to the King of England, for himself and his lords, upon condition that he would do homage for them to the King of France, as his predecessors had done before him; and that he would restore whatever else he held in that kingdom except the said duchies. But the English absolutely refused to do any homage, and they suffered extremely by it afterwards; for, being forsaken by the house of Burgundy, they soon lost their time, and their influence in that kingdom daily declined, and dwindled at last to nothing. Soon afterwards they lost Paris, and by little and little all they were possessed of in France. Upon their return into England not one of the English lords thought of lessening his estate; and the whole revenue of the kingdom was not sufficient to satisfy them all. arose among them for command and authority, which lasted a long time, and in which Henry VI. (who had been crowned King of England and France at Paris) was declared a traitor and imprisoned in the Tower of London*, where he continued the greatest part of his life, and was at last put to death. The Duke of Yorkt, father of Edward IV., lately dead, proclaimed himself king, but in a few days he was beaten and slain; and the heads of all that were killed in the battle were cut off; and, among the slain, was the father § of the late Earl of Warwick, who was so famous in England. This last Earl of Warwick || conveyed the Earl of March (since called King Edward) to Calais by sea, with some few

Wars

* In August, 1465; he was liberated again in October, 1470, and reimprisoned in the following year.

Richard of Coningsburgh, Duke of York, was the son of Richard, Earl of Cambridge, and Anne, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. He married Cicely, daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, and was killed on the 24th of December, 1460, at the battle of Wakefield. The Duke of York never assumed the title of king, which was retained by Henry VI. until his death, though the parliament had declared the Duke of York his successor on the throne.

§ The Earl of Salisbury, father of the great Earl of Warwick, was not slain in the battle of Wakefield, but taken prisoner to Pontefract Castle, and soon after beheaded.

|| Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, was the son of Richard Neville, Earl of Westmoreland and Salisbury, and Alice, daughter of Thomas Montague, Earl of Salisbury. He married Anne, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick; and he was killed in the battle of Barnet, on Easter Day, the 14th of April, 1471.

forces which remained of that battle*: the Earl of Warwick espoused the interest of the House of York, and the Duke of Somerset that of Lancaster; but the civil wars lasted so long, that all those of the houses of Warwick and Somerset were either slain in battle or lost their heads. King Edward caused his brother the Duke of Clarence, to be drowned in a pipe of malmsey, charging him with a design of endea vouring to dethrone him; but after King Edward's death, his second brother, the Duke of Gloucester §, caused his two sons to be murdered, declared his daughters to be illegitimate, and had himself crowned king.

Immediately after this, the Earl of Richmond,the present king (who had been many years a prisoner in Bretagne) returned into England, and in a set battle defeated and slew this bloody King Richard, who had so barbarously murdered his two nephews. Thus have there been slain in these civil wars of England, within my remembrance, near fourscore persons of the blood royal, some of whom I was acquainted with myself, and the rest I have heard of, by the report of several English gentlemen that resided at the Duke of Bur

It was after the defeat at Ludlow, in October, 1459, that the Earl of Warwick retired to Calais with the Earl of March, and not, as Commines' narrative would lead us to suppose, after the battle of Wakefield.

† Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, was the son of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Eleanor, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. He was slain in the battle of Tewkesbury on the 4th of May, 1471.

George of York, Duke of Clarence, brother of King Edward IV., died on the 18th of February, 1478. He married Isabel, the eldest daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, by whom he had two children Edward, Earl of Warwick, who was three years old when his father died; and Margaret, who afterwards married Richard de la Pole. § Richard of York, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King of England, Ender the name of Richard III. He was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field on the 22nd of August, 1485.

|_ Henry, Earl of Richmond, was the son of Edmund of Hadham, Earl of Richmond, and Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. He was proclaimed King of England under the name of Henry VII., on the 22nd of August, 1485. He married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Edward IV.; and he died on the 21st of April, 1509. When escaping from England in 1471, he fell into the hands of the Duke of Bretagne, who detained him prisoner for thirteen years, after which he escaped, hearing that the duke was negotiating to deliver Lim up to King Richard IIL

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gundy's court, during the time of my being in his service. So that it is not at Paris only, nor in France alone, that the riches and honours of this world occasion quarrels and disputes. Yet all monarchs and great princes ought to be very careful and circumspect, and not permit any faction or party to spring up in their courts, for from thence the fire spreads, and runs over the whole kingdom. However, I am of opinion that all these revolutions happen by the divine permission and appointment; for when kings and kingdoms have enjoyed a long series of riches and prosperity, and forgotten the fountain from whence those blessings and advantages proceed, God raises up enemies against them, of whom they never had the least suspicion, which appears evidently by the history of the kings mentioned in the Bible, and by the surprising events that have happened of late years, and do daily happen, both in England, Burgundy, and other places.

CHAP. VIII.

How King Louis entered Paris, whilst the Lords of France were tampering with the Citizens.-1465.

I HAVE dwelt too long upon this subject, and therefore it is now time to return to my history.

As soon as the princes were arrived before Paris, they all began to tamper with the citizens, promising them great places and rewards, and everything that might any ways contribute towards advancing their design. By that time we had lain three days before the town, there was held a grand assembly in the Hotel de Ville of Paris, in which, after many and long harangues, upon hearing the princes' summons and propositions, which (as was pretended) were for no other end than the good of the public; it was unanimously resolved to send commissioners to them to treat of a peace. Whereupon a great number of substantial citizens went to wait on the princes at St. Maur; and Maître Guillaume Chartier (a person of great parts and eloquence, and at that time Bishop of Paris) was their speaker; and the lords appointed the Count of Dunois to be theirs. The

*

* Born &t Bayeux; he was Bishop of Paris from 1447 until May 1, 1472, when he died: he was a brother of the celebrated Alain Chartig.

Duke of Berry, the king's brother, was president of the council, and sat in a chair of state, and all the rest of the princes stood round him: on one hand the Dukes of Bretagne and Calabria, and on the other the Count of Charolois, completely armed (all but his head-piece and gauntlets), with a very rich mantle thrown over his cuirass; for he had come from Conflans, and the Bois-de-Vincennes had in it a strong garrison for the king, so that it was necessary for him to come with a strong guard. The request and object of the princes were to be admitted into Paris, to hold friendly consultation with the citizens about reformation of the government, of which they sadly complained, and charged the king with numerous acts of injustice and mal-administration. The answer of the citizens was full of respect and modesty, yet not without some hesitation and demur. However, notwithstanding that, the king was afterwards displeased with the bishop, and with all that went with him. In this manner the commissioners returned, and great practices and intrigues were still carried on; for every one of the princes had a private conference with the citizens; and I believe it was secretly agreed by some of them, that the lords in their own persons might enter the town, and their army pass through it in small bodies at a time, if they desired it. This admission of the princes would not only have been the means of gaining the town, but of finishing the whole enterprise; for the whole people would, for several reasons, have easily gone over, in imitation of their example, to their side, and by consequence the whole kingdom would have revolted. But God gave the king wise counsel, and he executed it vigorously: being informed of all their secret practices and cabals, before the commissioners, who had been to wait on the princes, had made their report, the king arrived in Paris*, in the condition of a prince that came to relieve and animate his subjects; for he came with a very great company, and brought above 2000 men-atarms into the city, all the nobility of Normandy, a great number of volunteers, his household retainers, his pensioners, and other persons of quality that were accustomed to attend so great a king upon such occasions. Thus was

* August 28, 1465.