PLATE XV.

THE DUKES OF BURGUNDY AND BERRI—IN COUNCIL.

In the year 1393, Charles VI. was seized with a frenzy, or madness, during his expedition against the Duke of Brittany; and the Dukes of Burgundy and Berri, the King’s uncles, were, in a council[7] of the principal barons and prelates of the kingdom, appointed regents of the realm during the King’s illness. The illuminator has represented them as sitting in council; the figures in front appear to be members of the commonalty of Paris, who already began to assume an important position in the government; the figure on the left, enveloped in a blue mantle, is evidently intended for a fat and comfortable citizen; a lawyer and a prelate seem to be discussing some very knotty point with many words and gestures, but the two Dukes—the stern men of the sword—take the matter very quietly, and will evidently settle the question according to their own good caprice and interest. The artist has, on this occasion, been very correct in his heraldry: above the Duke of Burgundy is suspended a shield, bearing the ancient and modern arms of Burgundy, quarterly; ancient Burgundy, one and three, bends of or and azure within a bordure gules; modern Burgundy, two and four, azure sémé of fleur-de-lis or, within a bordure compony gules and argent. The arms of Berri were, as depicted, azure, three fleur-de-lis or, within a bordure engrailed gules, as borne by the last unfortunate Duke de Berri, assassinated at the door of the French opera in 1821.

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