‘What now, O duke of Burgundy! canst thou say to these things? Who now can put any confidence in thee? for thou canst not deny the above alliance, as there are many witnesses to it now living: thou hast been publicly seen by the whole city wearing the badge of the duke of Orleans.
‘How did my late lord act? Certainly in no way hurtful to our opponent; for from that time no reproachful or angry words passed between them, that could any how be ill interpreted. It is plain, therefore, that our adversary has wickedly and treacherously put to death him who had the fullest confidence in his honour.
‘O duke! what reply canst thou make to this? Shouldst thou say, that thou didst cause him to be put to death on account of the wickedness which thou hast by thy command caused to be imputed to him,—say, then, why thou enteredst into any alliance or bonds of friendship with such an infamous traitor as thou hast had him painted. Thou knowest, that loyal men will never form a friendship with traitors. Thou sayest, that the duke of Orleans was a traitor to his king: thou therefore makest thyself a traitor by the act of forming an alliance with him.
‘Thou hast accused my lord of Orleans of having made an alliance with Henry of Lancaster: what wilt thou say to the alliances thou thyself afterward enteredst into with the duke of Orleans. If these things had happened after thy alliance with my late lord, thou wouldst have had some colour to have broken with him, although even this would have been barely sufficient; but thou knowest well that thou hast not alledged any thing against him, in thy scandalous libel, posterior to these alliances.
‘O, abominable treason! what can be offered in thy excuse? O ye knights, who consider honour as your judge! God will never suffer you to approve of such deeds.
‘O, duke of Burgundy! thou hast frequently visited the duke of Orleans, when alive: thou hast eaten and drank with him: thou hast even taken spices out of the same dish with him, in token of friendship. In short, on the Tuesday preceding his death, he most kindly invited thee to dine with him the Sunday following, which thou promisedst to do in the presence of my lord of Berry, now here. Assuredly my lord of Orleans might have quoted the words of Jesus Christ to the traitor Judas, ‘Qui mittit manum mecum in paropside, hic me tradet.’
‘O, my lords! weigh well this treason, and apply a remedy to it. Consider how strongly the faith and loyalty of chivalry should be guarded and the words of Vegetius, when speaking of chivalry, ‘Milites jurata sua omnia custodiant.’ To the observance of this, all princes are bound,—for he who shall disgrace his loyalty or honour is unworthy of being called a knight.
‘My fourth argument is founded on this consideration, that the death of my late lord, the duke of Orleans, was damnable and disloyal,—and any one who should maintain or assert the contrary would not be a good Christian. We see that the secular justice allows to malefactors time for repentance,—but thou, cruel adversary! thou hast caused my lord so suddenly to be put to death that, inasmuch as in thee lay, he died without repenting of his sins. It seems, therefore, that thou hast exerted all thy influence to procure the eternal damnation of his soul when thou destroyedst his body; and most assuredly thou wilt find great difficulty to make thy peace with God,—for insomuch as thou believest him the greater sinner, so much the more need had he, as thou mayst suppose, of a fuller and longer repentance.—It follows, then, that thou hast deprived him, to the utmost of thy power, of any possibility of repentance,—and consequently thy sin becomes the more grievous and inexcuseable, more especially as my lord was no way expecting to die when he was thus suddenly and cruelly cut off.—Nevertheless, I trust that our Lord may have granted that he died in his grace; and I the more readily believe it, inasmuch as, a short time before this sad event, he had most devoutly confessed himself.
‘I repeat, that it is the deed of a wicked Christian thus to put a man to death; and whoever may say the contrary, or maintain that it is meritorious, I tell him, that he speaks wickedly and erroneously, according to the theologians.
‘Hear, my lords, and consider the conduct of our adversary after the death of the duke of Orleans,—how on the Thursday following his murder, clothed in black, and with tears and every sign of grief, he accompanied the dead body from the church of the Guillemins to that of the Celestins! Weigh well, my lords, this treachery and dissimulation! O Lord God, what tears and groans!!! O, Earth! how couldst thou bear such wickedness? Open thy mouth, and swallow up all who commit such dreadful sins.