Thus in a few days was a total change made in the public affairs of France and England, and just contrary to what had before been.
IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE PEACE OF ARRAS, THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY SENDS SOME OF HIS COUNCIL, AND HERALDS, TO THE KING OF ENGLAND, TO REMONSTRATE AND EXPLAIN THE CAUSES OF THE PEACE HE HAD CONCLUDED WITH THE KING OF FRANCE.
On the conclusion of the peace at Arras, the duke of Burgundy sent his king at arms of the order of the Golden Fleece, with another of his heralds called Franche-comté, to England with letters from the duke to king Henry. These letters contained strong remonstrances to induce the king and his council to conclude a peace with the king of France,—and were also explanatory of the causes which had induced the duke, by the exhortations of the legates from the holy see and from the council of Basil, in conjunction with the three estates of his dominions, to make a peace with king Charles his sovereign lord, and to renounce the alliance he had formerly concluded with the late king Henry of England.
They were accompanied by a mendicant friar, a doctor of divinity, who had been charged by the two cardinal-legates to remonstrate publicly with the king of England and his council on the infinite cruelty of prolonging so bloody a war, which laid waste Christendom, and to harangue on the blessings that would ensue if a lasting peace could be concluded between the two kings.
They all three travelled together as far as Calais, and crossed the sea to Dover; but there they received orders from king Henry, forbidding them to proceed further. Their letters were demanded, given up, and carried to the king at London,—and soon after they were conducted thither. They were met on the road by a herald and a secretary to the lord treasurer, who escorted them to their lodgings in London, at the house of a shoemaker, where they remained, and only went to hear mass, under the care of some heralds and pursuivants at arms, who visited them often; for they were forbidden to stir out of their lodgings without a licence or permission. They were therefore very much alarmed lest they might personally suffer for the disagreeable news they had brought.
Notwithstanding the mendicant friar and the two heralds had made many requests to those who attended on them, that they might be permitted to address the king and council on the subjects they had been charged with by the two cardinals and their lord, they never could obtain an audience.
The lord treasurer of England, however, to whom the letters from the duke of Burgundy had been given, assembled, in the presence of the king, the cardinal of Winchester, the duke of Glocester, with many other princes and prelates, members of the council, so that the meeting was numerously attended, and laid before them the letters which the duke of Burgundy had written to the king and his council,—but their address and superscription were not in the style he was wont to use. In this, he simply styled him king of England—high and mighty prince—his very dear lord and cousin; but forbore to acknowledge him as his sovereign lord, as he heretofore always had done in the numerous letters he had sent him.
All present were very much surprised on hearing them read; and even the young king Henry was so much hurt at their contents that his eyes were filled with tears, which ran down his cheeks. He said to some of the privy counsellors nearest to him, that he plainly perceived since the duke of Burgundy had acted thus disloyally toward him, and was reconciled to his enemy king Charles, that his dominions in France would fare the worse for it. The cardinal of Winchester and the duke of Glocester abruptly left the council much confused and vexed, as did several others, without coming to any determination. They collected in small knots and abused each other as well as the duke of Burgundy and the leading members of his council.