CHAP. LVIII.
JUDGMENT GIVEN AGAINST JACQUES COEUR AND THE DAMSEL OF MORTAIGNE.—MASTER WILLIAM EDELIN, DOCTOR OF DIVINITY, IS PUBLICLY REPRIMANDED AT EVREUX.
On the 29th of May, in the year 1453, judgment was pronounced by the chancellor of France, in the presence of the king, against Jacques Coeur, for the crimes he had been charged with, and for which he had been imprisoned.
In consequence of the charges made out against him, he was condemned to death and confiscation of effects; but as the king inclined to mercy, and would rather sinners should repent than die, out of his especial grace, he remitted the first part of the sentence, on condition that he redeemed, at any price, the Christian whom he had restored to the Saracens,—or if that could not be done, then he was to redeem some other Christian slave from their power.
In regard to the money which he had unjustly wrung from the king's subjects, to the amount of incalculable sums, he was adjudged to repay one hundred thousand crowns; and for the many and various offences that he had committed against the king, he was sentenced to pay a fine of four hundred thousand crowns, and the overplus of his effects, wheresoever they might be placed, was confiscated to the crown. He was also deprived of his offices, both public and private, and declared incapable of ever again holding them, and was likewise banished France.
He was also adjudged to make amende honorable[182] to the king, in the person of his attorney, bareheaded and ungirdled, having a lighted link of ten pounds weight in his hands; and he was to declare, that he had falsely and disloyally restored the Christian to the Saracens, and supplied them with arms and ammunition, requesting pardon from God, from the king, and from Justice.
It was also declared, that the bonds of the lords de la Fayette and de Cadillac were void, and of none effect; and that neither Jacques Coeur nor any of his heirs should receive any advantage from them, as they were now annulled.
When the chancellor had passed this sentence, he added, by command of the king, that his majesty reserved to himself the ultimate decision of the banishment and other graces.
In regard to the damsel of Mortaigne, although her body and effects had been condemned, yet in consideration of the great services which her ancestors and husband had rendered the king, his majesty remits the capital part of the sentence, and restores to her the effects that had been confiscated; but she is strictly forbidden, on pain of suffering the above penalties, to approach, within two leagues, the persons of the king or queen,—and is likewise condemned to make amende honorable to the king, by proxy in her attorney, who is to declare that she had falsely and wickedly accused Jacques Coeur, Jacques Colone, and Martin Prendoux, and to ask pardon for the same of God, the king, and Justice. She was condemned to pay to the said Martin the sum of four hundred livres of the current coin; and to the wife and two daughters of Jacques Colone, one hundred livres each, amounting to three hundred livres more.
On the Sunday preceding Christmas-day in this year, master Guillaume Edelin, doctor of divinity, prior of St Germain en Laye, formerly a monk of the order of St Augustin, and of other orders, was publicly reprimanded on a scaffold in the city of Evreux, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment in the prisons of the bishoprick, for having given himself up to the temptations and power of the enemy of mankind, that he might accomplish his carnal desires. He was particularly charged with cohabiting with a lady of birth, and, to accomplish this, had bound himself in such servitude to Satan that he was obliged to attend him whenever called upon by him. When such meetings were appointed he had only to bestride a broom, and was instantly transported to their consistorial meeting.
Master Guillaume frankly confessed that he had done homage to the enemy, under the form of a sheep, by kissing his posteriors,—and that he had persevered for many years in this damnable debasement, and had been aided by the enemy whenever he required it of him, until the time of his arrest; when, having been duly convicted by the law, he was detained prisoner, and the power of the enemy was without effect. He therefore remained, according to his sentence, closely confined in a dungeon, fed on bread and water. The inquisitor of the faith frequently remonstrated with him on the degeneracy of his conduct from what it was formerly, when he went about preaching so well to the people the faith of Jesus Christ.
During the reprimands of the inquisitor, the prisoner was placed on a scaffold, in the presence of great crowds of people.
At the end of these remonstrances, master Guillaume, knowing how infamously he had relinquished our Creator and Redeemer, began to groan and repent aloud of his sins, asking mercy of God, the bishop, and Justice, and recommending himself to the prayers of the audience. He was then chained, and conducted to his dungeon to do penance for the horrible sins he had committed.