The 20th of May, being Whitsunday, Anthony bastard of Burgundy, with other knights and esquires of the duke of Burgundy's household, put on the cross previous to their expedition against the infidels; and on the morrow they embarked at Sluys, in the presence of the duke. They were, in the whole, two thousand combatants; and the duke gave sir Anthony, this day, to defray the expenses of his voyage, one hundred thousand golden crowns, besides the county of la Roche and other lands.
On occasion of this croisade, numbers of young persons in different parts of Christendom had put on the cross, to march against the Turks, and had taken their road to Rome. But as they went without any order or leader, some ten, some twenty at a time, their intentions failed, and they returned home, although they would have made a respectable figure from their numbers, had they been in one body,—but God would not, for this time, permit it.
In this same month of May, another battle[33] was fought in England, between the army of king Edward, under the command of the earl of Warwick, and that of king Henry, commanded by the duke of Somerset, in the hopes of recovering the kingdom forking Henry, although in breach of his treaty with king Edward, who had pardoned him, and restored his lands and honours; but ill fortune attended him,—for he lost the battle, and his men were either killed or taken: he himself was made prisoner, and brought to Edward, who instantly ordered him to be beheaded.
On the 2d day of June, the count de Charolois came to Lille, grandly attended by the nobles of the country, to wait on the duke his father, who was then displeased with him; but the lord de Saveuses interfered with the duke, so that he spoke to his son, and forgave him. It was said, that the count addressed himself to the lord de Croy, and said, that when he should behave to him in the manner he ought, he would be a good lord to him. He could not, however, at this moment, regain the pension he was wont to receive from his father.
The 20th day of June, Pierre Louvain, one of the king's captains, and under his protection, was murdered by sir Raoul de Flavy, lord of Rubencourt, in revenge for the death of his brother William de Flavy, who had been put to death by his wife, with the knowledge, as was said, of Pierre Louvain: but no harm whatever was done to those that were in company with the said Pierre Louvain at the time of his death.
The wife of William de Flavy, who was of a noble family, caused her husband's throat to be cut by his barber while he was shaving him; but as he did not cut the throat quite through, she seized the same razor, and completed it,—which was an extraordinary circumstance, as she had had a fine son by him. In excuse for this her strange conduct, it must be said, that he was harsh and rough in his behaviour to her, and kept women of bad fame in the house, with whom he lay, to the neglect of his wife, who was young and handsome: he had also imprisoned her father, and kept him so long in confinement that he died in prison.
On the 15th of June, in this year, an extraordinary event happened at the palace at Paris, during the pleading of a cause between the bishop of Angers and a rich burgher of that town. The bishop had accused him of heresy and usury, and maintained that he had said, in the presence of many persons of honour, that he did not believe there was a God, a devil, a paradise, or a hell. It happened, that while the bishop's advocate was repeating the above words, as having been said by the burgher, the hall they were pleading in shook very much, and a large stone fell down in the midst, but without hurting any one. However, all the persons present were exceedingly frightened, and left the hall, as the cause had been deferred to the next day: but when the pleading recommenced, the room shook as before,—and one of the beams slipt out of the mortise, and sunk two feet, without falling entirely down, which caused so great an alarm, lest the whole roof should fall and crush them, that they ran out in such haste that some left behind them their caps, others their hoods and shoes; and there were no more pleadings held in this chamber until it had been completely repaired and strengthened!
FOOTNOTES:
[33] The battle of Hexham.