Shortly after his death was made public, the lords of his council, the members of his parliament, the chamber of accounts, the university of Paris, many of the colleges, the sheriffs, burghers, and multitudes of the common people, went to see him as he lay on his bed.
His attendants placed the body in a leaden coffin, when it was very reverently borne by knights and esquires to the chapel within his hôtel, where it remained for twenty whole days, until the duke of Bedford were returned to Paris from Normandy in the following month of November. During these twenty days, masses were daily celebrated in the king's chapel, in the same manner as in his lifetime by the priests attached to it,—after which, the service for the dead was celebrated. The four orders of mendicant friars, and the canons from the different colleges, daily performed alternate services. The university caused one grand one to be celebrated, as did the college of the Quatre Nations, and in general this was done by all the parishes in Paris.
On the 10th of November, the king's body was carried from his hôtel of St Pol to the cathedral of Nôtre Dame, in grand procession, preceded by the members of the different churches dressed in their robes, each according to his rank. The prelates were on the right hand, namely, the bishops of Paris, of Chartres, of Terouenne,—the abbots of St Magloire, of St Germain des Pres, of St Maur, and of St Genevieve. On the left hand were the heads of the universities and doctors, equally near as the prelates to the body, which was borne by the king's foresters and by those of his stable. Then followed the maitres d'hôtel and the esquires of the stable.
On the left of the body were the provosts of Paris and of the merchants, having sergeants at arms between them; and near to the body was the king's first valet de chambre. The members of the court of parliament bore the pall, at the head of which was the king's first chamberlain, and the others in succession. After them came the king's pages, and then at a little distance, the duke of Bedford, as regent of the Kingdom. None of the princes of the royal blood of France attended the funeral, which was a melancholy consideration, when it was remembered what great power and prosperity the king had enjoyed during the early part of his reign.
Then came, after the duke of Bedford, the chancellor of France, the masters of requests, the members of the chamber of accounts, secretaries, notaries, burghers, and a great multitude of the commonalty of Paris.
The body was placed on a handsome litter, over which was a canopy of cloth of gold on a ground of vermilion and azure, besprinkled with flowers de luce. Over the coffin was an image of the late king, bearing a rich crown of gold and diamonds, and holding two shields,—one of gold, the other of silver: the hands had white gloves on, and the fingers were adorned with very precious rings. This image was dressed with cloth of gold on a vermilion ground, with close sleeves, and a mantle of the same lined with ermine: the stockings were black, and the shoes of blue velvet besprinkled with flowers de luce.
In this state was he solemnly carried to the church of Nôtre Dame, where a mass for the defunct was chaunted by the patriarch of Constantinople. When the service was finished, the procession moved to St Denis. The body was borne by the attendants of his stable as far as a cross, half way between Paris and St Denis, when the measurers and carriers of salt in Paris took it from them, having each a flower de luce on his breast. They carried the body to a cross near St Denis, where the abbot, attended by his monks and all the clergy of the town, with great multitudes of people bearing lighted torches, received it. Thence with chaunting and singing, recommending his soul to God, was it carried to the church of St Denis.
During this whole time, neither the duke of Bedford nor any of those before mentioned quitted the body. On the body being placed in the church, another service was celebrated by the patriarch of Constantinople; but a night intervened between the two services. No one but the duke of Bedford went to the offering.
There were full twenty thousand pounds of wax expended at these two services; and sixteen thousand persons attended the almsgiving, when three blancs of royal money were given to each.