Note 132 — Chapter I · —How the King of France cajoled the English after the Duke of Burgundy’s Death, for fear they should have interrupted him in the Conquest of the Territories belonging to the said Duke.—1477. (continued 2)

The supposition of Commines is correct: the King did not dare to ask, in the first instance, to be entrusted with the phial itself. “Dear and well-beloved,” he wrote to the Abbot of St. Rémy at Rheims, on the 17th of April, 1483, “we should much wish, if it were possible, to have a little drop from the Holy Ampulla; wherefore we pray you to consult and inquire whether a little could be taken from the phial in which it is contained, without sin or danger.” This humble and modest request having been refused, Louis XI. had recourse to the authority of the Pope, from whom he obtained the desired permission. Three commissioners, the Bishop of Seez, the Governor of Auvergne, and the Lord de la Heuze, were sent to fetch the Holy Ampulla from Rheims. It was escorted into Paris, on the 31st of July, 1483, with great pomp; and on the following day it was taken to the King.