‘Most redoubted lord, we humbly supplicate that you will deign to hear us, and consider of what we have written,—for the sole object we aim at personally affects yourself and your government; and we earnestly beg that you will speedily adopt the most effectual measures for the enjoyment of your own freedom of action, and that your government may be carried on to the praise of God first, and your own glory, and to the advantage of all your good subjects who are anxious for your welfare.
‘We have written this, that you may know our intentions, and the cause of our assembling, which is solely for the preservation of the personal liberty of our lord and king, and the affranchisement of his government from any hands but his own. For this object we have sought the advice of the most prudent men, and shall follow their counsels, with all the means God has put in our power, to obtain so desirable an end, for the general welfare of the realm; and we intend so to act toward our lord the king that God and the world shall be satisfied with us.
‘And we most earnestly entreat that for so praiseworthy an object you will join us, and exert yourselves in the same cause; for it is not properly us but the king your lord that you will serve, whom by your oaths you are bounden to assist,—and know that for so doing you will be commended by all men of understanding and prudence. Given at Chartres the 2d day of December, 1410.’
This letter, when received by the council of the town of Amiens, produced very little sensation,—for all, or the greater part of the inhabitants, were inclined to the duke of Burgundy. When a similar one was read in the council of state, it did not make any impression on the king, nor did it seem advisable that the dukes should have an audience; but, on the contrary, orders were sent to them to disband their forces without delay, on pain of incurring the royal indignation.——They refused to obey this order, and bade the messenger tell the king, that they would not cease assembling until he should grant them an audience, and hear their complaints. At this period, the dukes of Acquitaine and Burgundy paid a visit to the queen of France at her residence in the castle of Melun, and left there a garrison, having brought back with them the queen and her children to the castle of Vincennes.
The duke of Brabant at this time left Paris, to go to his country, and assemble his Brabanters to serve the king. Many able ambassadors were sent, in the king’s name, to the lords assembled at Chartres; and among them was the grand master of Rhodes, to signify to them that they must disband their army, and that, if they pleased to wait on the king in their private capacity, he would see them.
This they refused; and as they continued disobedient, the king took possession of the counties of Boulogne[64], Estampes, Valois, Beaumont, Clermont, and other lands belonging to the said dukes, counts, and their adherents, of whatever rank they might be. The king’s officers appointed governors to the castles and fortresses within these countries, whom they ordered to govern them at the expense of the aforesaid lords.
So very numerous were the forces that assembled near Paris, in obedience to the summons from the king and the duke of Burgundy, that the oldest persons had not for a long time seen so many men at arms together.
Among the number was the duke of Brabant, with a great force. He was quartered in the town of St Denis, where he lived at the expense of the greater part of the inhabitants, as if he had been in the open country. The count de Penthievre, son-in-law to the duke of Burgundy, was there with him, accompanied by a large body of Bretons.
Two thousand men belonging to the count Waleran de St Pol were quartered at Menil-Aubry, and the adjacent villages.—Because the count himself resided in Paris, he one day ordered his troops to be assembled under the lord de Chin, for him to march them to Paris to be mustered and enrolled for pay; but it happened, as they were marching through St Denis to obey the order, that a dispute arose between them and the Brabanters, on account of some enterprise which the last had made against the lord de Carlian, a native of the Boulonois, so that the two parties armed and drew up in battle-array to decide matters by combat. The duke of Brabant was soon informed of this tumult, and hastened from Paris to check his own men, and acted so prudently with both parties that an end was put to it; but he was very wroth with the first promoters of it, for he was married to the daughter and heiress of the count de St Pol.
When they had marched through Saint Denis, they came before their lord, the count de St Pol, in Paris, who having reviewed them, and paid many compliments to their captains, dismissed them to the quarters whence they had come. In order to pay these troops which had been levied, as has been said, by orders from the king and the duke of Burgundy, and which amounted, by the muster-rolls, to fifteen thousand men with helmets, seventeen thousand cross-bows and archers, very heavy taxes were levied throughout the realm, and particularly on the city of Paris. It will be impossible to relate one half of the mischiefs the armies of both parties committed: suffice it to say, that churches, churchmen, and the poor people were very great sufferers.