The king then arranged the army that was to invade Guienne and besiege Bergerac[111], situated in the county of Perigord, on the river Dordogne. He appointed the count de Penthievre and de Perigord, viscount de Limoges, his lieutenant-general in those parts, who accepted the command of this siege, and departed thither, accompanied by sir Charles de Culant lord de Jalognes, marshal of France, Poton de Saintrailles, bailiff of Berry and master of the horse to the king, with many other knights, esquires, and others, to the amount of five hundred lances, and archers in proportion.
They commenced the siege with great vigour, insomuch that, on the arrival of master John Bureau with his train of artillery, the garrison, alarmed at their numbers and activity, surrendered Bergerac to the king of France. The English marched away with their horses, arms and baggage,—and the inhabitants that chose to remain were, on taking the oaths of allegiance, to remain unmolested in their different occupations as before.
The count de Penthievre then marched his army into the winter quarters that had been allotted him,—and sir Philip de Culant remained governor of Bergerac, with a garrison of one hundred lances and a body of archers. On their march, they came before a castle called Jansac[112], situated on the Dordogne, with the intent of besieging it; but they won it by storm, with the loss of seven or eight of their men killed and wounded: about thirty-five of the English were slain, and the rest made prisoners: the castle remained under the obedience of the king of France. The army advanced thence without delay to the town of St Foy, on the same river, which surrendered without hesitation. Pursuing their good fortune, they came before the town of Chalais[113], and besieged it for some time; but the english garrison, amounting to fifty lances, alarmed at seeing so large an army before it, delivered up the place, on condition that they should march away in safety, with arms and baggage. On their departure, Pierre de Louvain was made governor of it.
On the 26th day of October, in this year, master John de Xancoins, receiver-general of the royal finances, was arrested, and confined prisoner in the castle of Tours, for having, as it was currently reported, wickedly employed for his own use the king's finances; so that his majesty was greatly distressed to pay the troops in Guienne,—and had he not found extraordinary means of raising money for this purpose, his plans against that country would have failed. During his imprisonment, he was examined by some of the great council and others skilled in matters of finance, and convicted, on his own confession, of high treason. He owned having taken very large sums of money from the king's treasury, and that he had made many erasures in his accounts which convicted him guilty of forgery,—a capital offence! and he would have suffered the penalty, had not the king's mercy converted the matter into a civil suit,—following in this the example of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who declared, that 'he wished not for the death of a sinner, but would rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.' The capital part of the offence being thus done away, he was sentenced, by the mouth of the chancellor, to be imprisoned for a certain time, and his property confiscated to the king; from which, the king gave to the count de Dunois a handsome house that he had built at Tours.
Xancoins was also condemned to pay to the king the sum of sixty thousand gold crowns, which seemed but a trifling fine for the immense sums he owned to have pillaged from the treasury for his own pleasures.
James Carrier, his clerk, was confined at the same time with him, but in a separate prison, for having been an accomplice in the crimes of his master,—and for having erased numerous articles in the account of receipts, through the instigation of the enemy of mankind, and converted many sums from the king's profit to his own; for all of which, he would have suffered the sentence due to such capital crimes, had not the king's mercy been extended also to him.
FOOTNOTES:
[106] Salades,—light helmets or head-pieces.
[107] Brigandine,—armour consisting of many-jointed and scale-like plates, very pliant and easy for the body.
[108] Haubergeon,—a little coat of mail, or only sleeves and gorget of mail.