THE
FIRST VOLUME
OF THE
CHRONICLES
OF
ENGUERRAND DE MONSTRELET.
CHAP. I.
HOW CHARLES THE WELL-BELOVED REIGNED IN FRANCE, AFTER HE HAD BEEN CROWNED AT RHEIMS, IN THE YEAR THIRTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
In conformity to what I said in my prologue, that I would speak of the state and government of king Charles VI. of France, surnamed the well-beloved, in order to explain the causes of the divisions and quarrels of the princes of the blood royal during his reign and afterward, I shall devote this first chapter to that purpose.
True it is, that the above-mentioned king Charles the well-beloved, son to king Charles V. began to reign and was crowned at Rheims the Sunday before All-saints-day, in the year of Grace one thousand three hundred and eighty, as is fully described in the Chronicles of sir John Froissart. He was then but fourteen years old, and thenceforward for some time governed his kingdom right well. By following prudent advice at the commencement of his reign, he undertook several expeditions, in which, considering his youth, he conducted himself soberly and valiantly, as well in Flanders, where he gained the battle of Rosebeque and reduced the Flemings to his obedience, as afterward in the valley of Cassel and on that frontier against the duke of Gueldres. He then made preparations at Sluys for an invasion of England. All which enterprises made him redoubted in every part of the world that heard of him.