CHAP. XLIV. (continued 2)

‘As to the alliances which our opponent says the duke of Orleans entered into with Henry of Lancaster, at present calling himself king of England, to the prejudice of the king and realm, and colouring his assertion by adding, that Richard, late king of England, had assured the king of France, that his infirmities were solely owing to the machinations of the dukes of Milan and Orleans,—I answer, that they are wicked falsehoods; for when Henry of Lancaster came to France, he was most honourably received by the princes of the royal family as their relation, and frequented the company of the duke of Orleans and others of the blood royal as of their kindred, when, as a friend to the king, he formed an alliance with the duke of Orleans publicly, and in the presence of the king and princes of the blood, which at the time was considered as perfectly lawful, and for the good of the kingdom. This plainly shows, that my lord of Orleans had made no alliance against king Richard; but what is more, at the treaty of marriage of the king’s daughter, now duchess of Orleans, with king Richard, the duke of Orleans and king Richard formed an alliance similar to that which the latter had formed with the king of France.

‘After this, my lord of Orleans went to Calais, where he was most amicably received by king Richard as a very dear brother. In addition, when king Richard died, the duke of Orleans showed great grief for it, and made an enemy of king Henry of Lancaster, by the challenges he sent him, accusing him of being guilty of the crime of high treason against his sovereign lord king Richard, offering to fight the said king Henry, in revenge for the death of Richard, either in single combat, or with any number of persons he might choose.

‘These and many more circumstances can be brought forward to prove that my lord of Orleans had a strong affection for king Richard, from his alliance by marriage with the king of France, and that he hated king Henry for having laid hands on his sovereign.

‘There is not more truth in what our adversary has advanced, that my lord of Orleans, when with Pietro della Luna, exerted himself to obtain bulls to the prejudice of the king and his family, and on this account always favoured the said Pietro; for at that time my lord of Orleans had procured with this Pietro, then called Benedict, a very advantageous alliance for the king of France, by which he engaged to support the king and his family by every means in his power, as may be seen in the bulls issued to this effect. It is therefore very extraordinary, that any man endowed with common sense should have asserted publicly things that are evidently false.

‘As to what our adversary says, that my lord of Orleans supported Pietro della Luna, I have before answered it; and my lord proposed himself, that if the two rival popes did not speedily agree to send commissioners to the council, France should withdraw itself from their obedience.

‘This was more displeasing to Pietro della Luna than any thing that had been done in this kingdom relative to church-affairs, and is not a sign that my lord of Orleans was desirous of retarding an union of the church in favour of Pietro della Luna. It is therefore evident, that the duke of Orleans is innocent of the charges that have been brought against him.

‘O, lord king! may it please thee to guard his innocence by means of thy justice, according as it is written in the 13th chapter of Job, ‘Justitia custodit innocentis viam.’

‘The fourth accusation of our adversary is, That for the space of three whole years my lord of Orleans, by his artful and deceitful tales, and advice to the queen, attempted to prevail on her to quit the kingdom, with her children, and reside in the county of Luxembourg, that he might enjoy greater power in the government of the realm. So far is this charge from being true, that my lord of Orleans did every thing in his power to honour and support the queen during the melancholy illness of the king, of which it does not become me to say more, for, thanks to God, she is now present, and knows full well the truth of this, and which she may more fully declare whenever it may be her good pleasure so to do. I do not, however, know that she made any complaints on this subject to our adversary, or to any other persons. I believe the contrary, to this charge of our opponent, will be found to be the truth; and that it has been purposely brought forward to defame the reputation of the deceased.

‘The fifth accusation is, That my lord of Orleans committed the crime of high treason in the third degree, on the person of my lord the dauphin, whose soul may God pardon! by compassing his death by means of a poisoned apple given to a child, from whom one of the nurses of the children of the duke of Orleans took it by force, and gave it to one of the children of the duke of Orleans, and caused its death, as well as that of the dauphin, who also ate of it.

‘This is an absolute falsehood. True it is, that one of the duke of Orleans’ children died about the time when this fact was supposed to have taken place, of a bowel complaint, which was then very prevalent, and carried off many others. Let the physicians, master William le Boucher and master John de Beaumont, be examined, who visited this child, and they will declare the truth, that it did not die of poison.

‘Consider, my lords, the improbability of a nurse of the children of the duke of Orleans daring to give an apple or pear to any of them without the express orders of the duchess of Orleans; and that when the nurse went to these gardens with the child she was accompanied by several women of character, who would not have suffered her to give it an apple, or any suchlike thing.

‘O most noble and well-beloved duke of Acquitaine! while young, learn to love justice, and act like Solomon. Consider the evils that may happen unless justice be observed; and if thou neglectest it, thou wilt not love thy brothers, for they will be in danger of death if the doctrines of our adversary be not checked. The prophet says, ‘Justitiæ Domini rectæ lætificantes corda.’

‘The sixth crime alledged against the duke of Orleans is, That he committed high treason in the fourth degree, by ruining the king in his finances, and by oppressing the people with intolerable taxes, and quartering large bodies of men at arms in various parts of the country. My lords, it is very astonishing that our adversary should have made this charge; for it is notorious to every one, that these taxes were not levied in this kingdom for its own concerns, nor were they for the profit of the duke of Orleans: they were proposed with great deliberation of the king, the princes of his blood, and his council, for the benefit of our adversary himself, in his expedition to Hungary, and for the payment of the ransom of himself and his army. This was the cause of such heavy taxes being raised throughout the kingdom, and of immense sums of money being sent to Turkey, and other distant places, to the irreparable loss of the country.

‘When our adversary charges the duke of Orleans with having taken four thousand francs from the tower of the palace, and one hundred thousand from the castle of Melun,—I reply, that it is false: if any sums of money were in the tower of the palace, they were distributed according to orders from the king. In regard to the hundred thousand francs in the castle of Melun, it is well known that the queen and the duke of Orleans went thither to amuse themselves,—during which time, our adversary very improperly came to Paris with a large body of men at arms, and forced the duke of Acquitaine to return thither, instead of going, as he intended, to join his mother the queen. He had collected this force of men at arms with the design of attacking the queen and the duke of Orleans in Melun, which, of course, made it necessary for her majesty to raise an army for her own defence, and for the security of the king and kingdom.

‘She was therefore advised to make use of the money in the castle of Melun for the pay of the men at arms, but my lord of Orleans never touched one penny of it; and when it came to the knowledge of the king, he was well satisfied that it had been so applied.

‘It therefore appears, that this sum of money was expended to oppose the damnable act of our adversary, and for no other cause. In regard to the men at arms said to have been kept on foot by my lord of Orleans, certainly some bodies of them, being quartered over the country, declared they were sent thither by command of the duke of Orleans, in order that no one might dare to molest them,—but they had no letters or commissions from him. On the contrary, he was greatly displeased at the evil acts they at times committed.

‘When their conduct was laid before the king and council, the duke of Orleans caused letters to be sent in the king’s name to all bailiffs and other officers throughout the realm, ordering them to assemble the nobles and gentlemen of the country to force those who committed such disgraceful acts to quit the kingdom, having first punished them for their wicked conduct.

‘O, duke of Burgundy! recollect the irreparable damages that have been done to many parts of this realm by the bodies of men at arms which thou hast introduced within it, many of whom were foreigners, who wasted the countries they passed through, and every one should feel compassion for events of so pitiable a nature: they can never be enough bewailed.

‘O, thou king of France! most excellent prince, deplore the death of thy only brother; for thou hast lost the most precious jewel in thy crown, which thy justice ought to avenge, if no other way be found.

‘O, thou most noble queen! weep for a prince who so greatly honoured thee, and whom thou hast seen so infamously murdered.

‘O thou, my most redoubted lord, duke of Acquitaine! lament that thou hast lost the most precious member of thy blood, council and state, which has caused thee to fall from peace into great tribulation.

‘O, thou duke of Berry! grieve that thou hast seen the brother of the king thy nephew thus disgracefully end his days, solely because he was brother to the king, and for no other reason.

‘O, duke of Brittany! thou hast lost the brother to thy duchess, who greatly loved thee.

‘O, thou duke of Bourbon! weep that thy friend is now buried under ground; and ye other princes! join in lamentations, for the way is now opened to put ye all to death most traitorously and unexpectedly.

‘Mourn, men and women, old and young, rich and poor! for the sweetness of peace and tranquillity is now torn from ye, by this assertion of the doctrine of assassinating princes, whence wars and destruction must fall upon you.

‘O, ye churchmen! deplore the loss of a prince who was much attached to you, and who greatly respected all who performed the divine service, from his love to God.

‘Ye clerks, and nobles of all degrees! consider how ye will henceforward act; for our opponent has deceived you by his false arguments, and caused you to favour his wickedness. But as ye are now aware of the murder committed on the person of the duke of Orleans, of the falsity and lies published in our adversary’s defamatory libel, and consequently of the innocence of my lord of Orleans,—should ye, from this time forth, in any way support the party of our adversary, know that it will be treason against the king, and you will then incur the danger of losing your lives and fortunes, as usual in such cases.

‘Understand then, princes and men of all degrees, that ye are bounden to assist in maintaining the laws against the duke of Burgundy, who, by this murderous act, has usurped the power and authority of the king and his sons, and has deprived them of great aid and consolation; for he has brought the commonweal into grievous tribulation by shamelessly violating the wholesome statutes in vindicating his offence against nobility, kindred, oaths, alliances and assurances,—against God and all his saints. This mischief cannot be amended except by the laws. To obtain this reparation, my lady of Orleans and her children are now come before thee, O lord king! and the princes of thy royal blood, supplicating you all to weigh well the injury that has been done to them, and to make them amends in the manner required by her council, or in any other way, so that it may be publicly known that her lord was cruelly murdered, and unjustly and falsely accused and defamed. By doing this, you will perform your duty as you are bounden to do, and acquire eternal life, as it is written in the 21st chapter of Proverbs, ‘Qui sequitur justitiam inveniet vitam et gloriam,’—which may God, who reigns and lives for ever and ever, grant. Amen.’

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

AT THE HAFOD PRESS,

BY JA. HENDERSON.

Footnotes:

Transcriber’s note:

Variations in spelling and diacritics have been retained. Outliers have been changed to conform to common spelling.

Format of chapter headings has been regularised.

Page vii, ‘Frelun’ changed to ‘Fretun,’ “Gilbert de Fretun makes”

Page viii, ‘Tke’ changed to ‘The,’ “The duke of Burgundy”

Page xiv, opening single quote inserted before ‘According,’ “‘According to the historian”

Page xx, opening single quote inserted before ‘Monstrelet,’ “‘Monstrelet was married to”

Pages xxx-xxxi, ‘pursuivants’ changed to ‘poursuivants,’ “heralds, poursuivants, and kings at”

Page xxxii, opening single quote removed before ‘Essais,’ “Essais de Montaigne”

Page xxxv, closing single quote inserted after ‘moutarde.,’ “plus baveux qu’un pot à moutarde.’”

Page xxxvii, colon changed to semicolon following ‘them,’ “none of them; secondly”

Page xlvi, ‘Monstrelent’ changed to ‘Monstrelet,’ “of which Monstrelet, who”

Page 23, second ‘the’ struck, “contained at the commencement”

Page 49, ‘Luxemburg’ changed to ‘Luxembourg,’ “with the house of Luxembourg”

Page 56, ‘wth’ changed to ‘with,’ “with one hundred knights”

Page 58, ‘LETTERS’ changed to ‘LETTER,’ “TO THE LETTER OF”

Page 64, full stop inserted after ‘marq,’ “Procopius, marq. of Brand.”

Page 85, ‘appear’ changed to ‘appears,’ “against this prince appears to be”

Page 89, ‘FRELUN’ changed to ‘FRETUN,’ “GILBERT DE FRETUN MAKES WAR”

Page 94, second ‘long’ struck, “Not long after this event”

Page 94, ‘Morery’ changed to ‘Moreri.’ in footnote, “Moreri.”

Page 115, ‘imbarked’ changed to ‘embarked,’ “in consequence, re-embarked with his men”

Page 118, ‘cross bows’ changed to ‘cross-bows,’ “of cross-bows and archers”

Page 120, ‘duk’ changed to ‘duke,’ “Albert IV. duke of Austria”

Page 130, ‘Ginenchy’ changed to ‘Givenchy,’ “lord de Givenchy, with”

Page 155, ‘confidental’ changed to ‘confidential,’ “most confidential advisers”

Page 187, full stop inserted after ‘passed,’ “all that had passed. The”

Page 198, ‘perpretrated’ changed to ‘perpetrated,’ “been perpetrated by sir”

Page 198, ‘wa’ changed to ‘was,’ “Sir Aubert de Canny was”

Page 250, closing single quote inserted after ‘slain!’,’ “from being slain!’’”

Page 251, ‘satisfiac’ changed to ‘satisfac,’ “et alloquens satisfac servis”

Page 254, ‘that’ changed to ‘That,’ “That the two knights”

Page 261, ‘Policratiri’ changed to ‘Policratici,’ “in libro suo Policratici”

Page 262, passage beginning ‘Ricardi de media villa’ left as in original French language edition

Page 275, opening single quote inserted before ‘‘Ex,’ “‘‘Ex illo arguitur sic”

Page 277, closing single quote deleted after ‘tyrant,’ “blood of a tyrant.”

Page 287, ‘wordly’ changed to ‘worldly,’ “honours and worldly riches”

Page 310, comma changed to full stop following ‘punishment,’ “by fear of punishment.”

Page 340, opening single quote inserted before ‘‘Justitia,’ “‘‘Justitia inquit regnantis”

Page 341, opening single quote inserted before ‘‘Justitia,’ “‘‘Justitia est constans”

Page 345, ‘Duobis’ changed to ‘Duobus,’ “Duobus existentibus amicis”

Page 353, comma inserted after ‘dilexit,’ “dilexit, æquitatem vidit”

Page 374, ‘Zambre’ changed to ‘Zambry,’ “who slew Zambry without”