Note 53 — CHAP. XXXV.

This quarrel was caused by reforms which the king wanted to make in his army, that devoured the country, and was very displeasing to the nobles, who fattened on the misery of the people. The commotion was called La Praguerie. The dukes of Alençon, Bourbon, Vendôme, and even the bastard of Orleans, the count de Dunois, entered into it. They complained that the king intrusted the government of the realm only to two or three private persons, and formed a league against the ministers. The duke of Alençon seduced the dauphin, then only sixteen years of age,—but whose turbulent disposition readily inclined him to make part of the conspiracy, in order to get rid of the count de Perdriac, his tutor.—Mezeray.