You have been informed how the forces that the king had entrenched along the River Seine abandoned their post, and retreated to Paris, the very hour we had designed to attack them. The truces never lasted above one day, or two at the most; at other times the war was pushed on with all possible vigour, the skirmishes continuing from morning to night; and though they often beat our scouts home to our guards, yet they never sallied out of Paris in any considerable body. I do not remember to have seen one day pass without some small action or other; and I believe the king would have been contented they should have been greater, but he was suspicious of many persons, though without any cause: he told me once, that he found the gate of the Bastille of St. Antoine, towards the fields, open one night, which made him entertain a great suspicion of Charles de Melun, whose father * was then governor of that place. I shall say no more than I have done of the said Charles; but certainly never prince had a better servant than he showed himself all that year. It was one day resolved in Paris that they would sally out and venture a battle with us (I believe it was only a design of the great officers, and that the king was not privy to it). The project they had concerted, was to attack us in three several places at once; in one with a considerable body of forces that were to sally out of Paris; the other by the bridge of Charenton (but that party could have done us no great mischief): and the third, by a brigade of 200 menat-arms from the wood of Vincennes. About midnight we were informed of this design by a page, who called to us over the river, by directions from some friends of the princes who were in the town, whose names he told us, and immediately returned. Just at break of day, the Lord Poncet de Rivière appeared before the bridge of Charenton; and the Lord du Lau† on the other side, towards the wood * Philip de Melun held the office of Captain of the Bastille Saint Antoine from 1462, until his death, which occurred in 1466. See p. 14. note §. † Antoine de Castelnau or Chasteauneuf, Lord and Baron of Lau, in Armagnac, Grand Chamberlain and Grand Butler of France, and Seneachal of Guienne. Having incurred the king's displeasure, he was arrested and taken to the castle of Usson, in Auvergne, whence he escaped in of Vincennes, charged up as far as our artillery, and killed one of our cannoneers: the alarm was very great, and everybody concluded it was the same design of which the page had given us notice in the night. The Count of Charolois was immediately in arms, but not so soon as Duke John of Calabria, who, in all alarms, was always the first mounted, his horse barbed, and himself completely armed: he wore such a dress as the condottieri usually do in Italy, and indeed he had the air of a prince and a great general. Whenever he came forth upon any alarm, his first course was to ride up to the barriers of our camp, to keep our men from sallying out; and they obeyed his orders as readily as if the Count of Charolois had been there himself, and, to speak truth, he deserved it. In a moment our whole army was in arms, and drawn up within our waggons, all except 200 horse, who were abroad upon the guard: and, unless it were that day, I never knew any great likelihood of a battle, but then everybody expected it. By this time the Dukes of Berry and Bretagne were come in, whom before that time I never saw in arms: the Duke of Berry was armed at all points, but neither of them had any great body of troops with them, only they passed through the camp, and went to the Count of Charolois and the Duke of Calabria, with whom they had a conference. Our scouts, being reinforced, marched up as near Paris as they could, and were able to discover several of the king's party, who were sent out to learn what was the matter in our army. When the Lord du Lau approached us, our cannon played briskly upon him; and the king, having a large train of artillery mounted on the walls of Paris, fired as briskly into our camp, notwithstanding it was two good leagues off; but I suppose they mounted their muzzles very high, and shot amongst us at random. This prodigious cannonading made both sides believe some great design was in agitation: and, to be sure, we sent out our scouts, and the weather being cloudy and duskish, those who got nearest the town discovered a party of horse upon 1468, and sought refuge with the Duke of Burgundy, under whom he fought at the siege of Liege. He afterwards regained the favour of Louis XI., who appointed him Lieutenant-General and Governor of the county of Roussillon, of Cerdagne, and of the town of Perpignan. He was still living in 1483. 66 the patrol, and beyond them (as they fancied) they perceived a great number of lances standing upright, which they imagined to be the king's battalions drawn up in the field, and all the people of Paris with them: which fancy proceeded merely from the darkness of the day; upon which they retired immediately to the princes (who were then riding before our camp), acquainted them with what they had seen, and assured them of a battle. The Parisian scouts seeing ours retreat, advanced continually upon them, which made their relation seem more probable. The Duke of Calabria came then where the standard of the Count of Charolois was pitched, and most of the officers of his household stood ready to accompany it: his banner was ready to be displayed likewise, and the guidon, with his arms, which was the custom of that family; and being come up to us, Duke John said, Well, gentlemen, we are now where we desired to be; the king and all his army (as our scouts inform us) are drawn out of Paris, and marching to engage us; so let each behave with courage and good will, and as they march out, we will march in, and measure out their commodities for them by the pike." And after this manner he rode from rank to rank, encouraging and animating the soldiers. By this time our scouts, perceiving the enemy were weak, began to assume a little more courage, ventured something nearer the town, but still found the battalions in the same place and posture in which they had left them, which put them into a new quandary however, they stole up to them as near as they could, but could make nothing of them; till at length the day cleared, and they discovered them to be tall thistles. From thence they marched up to the very gates, but found no troops posted there, of which word was despatched to the princes, and they went immediately to mass, and from thence to dinner. Those who brought the first news were much out of countenance; but the page's intelligence in the night, and the duskishness of the day, did in some measure excuze them. CHAP. XII. How the King visited the Count of Charolois, and talked with him concerning their Quarrel; and of the Importance of wise Councillors to a Prince.-1465. surren HOWEVER, the treaty of peace between the king and the Count of Charolois still went on, and with greater vigour than ever; because the principal strength of both parties. consisted in those two. The princes' demands ran very high: the Duke of Berry demanded all Normandy for his share, which the king positively refused. The Count of Charolois would have all the towns restored to him which were situated on the River Somme, and had been delivered up by Duke Philip to the king, about three months before*, for 400,000 crowns; which towns had been dered to him upon the treaty of Arras, in the time of Charles VII. These towns were Amiens, Abbeville, St. Quentin, Peronne, and others. The Count of Charolois pretended, that during his life they ought not to have been ransomed, and put the king in mind of the great favours and obligations he had received from their family; how he had been entertained and protected by them for six years together, when he was in rebellion against his father King Charles VII., supplied with money for his subsistence, attended to Rheims to be inaugurated, and to Paris for his coronation; wherefore the Count of Charolois took it very ill that he should offer to redeem the said towns. However, the negotiation went on so prosperously, that the king came one morningt, by water, right over against our camp, having drawn up a good body of horse upon the bank of the river, but, in the boat with him there were not above four or five persons besides the boatmen. Among those in the boat, were the Lord du Lau, the Lord of Montauban (at that time Admiral of France), the Lord of Nantouillet, and others. The Count of Charolois and the Count of St. Paul were at the same time upon the bank of the river on our side, awaiting his majesty. The king saluted the Count of Charolois in these words, "Brother [for his first wife * This is a mistake: two years had elapsed since their repurchase, See p. 5., note §. On Monday, September 9. 1465. 1 was the king's sister*], do you assure me?" The count replied, "Yes, my lord, as a brother." I heard him, and so did many others. Then the king came on shore, and the lords with him. The Count of Charolois and the Count of St. Paul received him with great honour (as reason was they should), and he being not sparing, began in this manner: "Brother, I know now you are a gentleman, and of the family of France." "Why so, my lord?" replied the Count of Charolois. "Because (said the king) when I sent my ambassadors lately to Lisle, to wait on my uncle your father, and yourself, and that fool Morvillier talked so saucily to you, you sent me word, by the Archbishop of Narbonne (who is a gentleman, and, indeed, he has shown himself so, for every one is pleased with him) that before the year was at an end, I should repent of what Morvillier had said to you. You have been as good as your word, and much before your time was expired." The king spoke these words smilingly, and in a very pleasant manner, as knowing the humour of the person to whom he spoke to be such, that he would be delighted with an expression of that nature; and, indeed, he was wonderfully pleased with it. Then the king proceeded, "It is with such persons that I would deal, who are punctual to their promise;" and, afterwards, his majesty disavowed whatever Morvillier had said, and denied that he had ever given him any such commission. In short, the king walked a long time between the two counts, the Count of Charolois's guards standing by in great numbers, under arms, and observing their motions. At this interview the Count of Charolois demanded the duchy of Normandy, the towns situated upon the Somme, and several other favours for his friends. Some proposals were made likewise for the good of the commonwealth, but those were least insisted upon, for the common was now turned into the private wealth. The king would not consent to part with Normandy upon any terms; but, as for the towns upon the Somme, his majesty was willing to gratify the Count of Charolois with them, and, for his sake, to make the Count of St. Paul Constable of France. After which they took their leave of each other very kindly. The king went into * Catherine of France, who was married in June, 1439, and died in |