Sunday the 11th, there was a prodigious storm of thunder and lightning, about eight o'clock at night, and before and after it the most extraordinary heat that had been ever felt at that season, which seemed to all persons very unnatural. The following day, the king went from his hôtel at the Tournelles, to hear vespers at Nôtre Dame,—after which, a procession was made by the bishop and canons of that church, when the king retired to repose himself some time at the hôtel of his first president of the parliament, John Dauvet.
The king did not leave the president's house until dark night, when, looking up, he perceived a bright star over the hôtel, which followed the king until he had entered the hôtel of the Tournelles, when it disappeared, and was not seen again.
News came to the king, on Thursday the 15th of October, that a large body of Bretons, having gained possession of the town and castle of Caen, had thence marched to Bayeux, and held them both against the king, which vexed him much,—and he sent thither instantly the marshal le Lohéac, then with him, to take proper measures respecting these towns as he had under his charge one hundred lances from Brittany.
The duke of Alençon, who had been convicted of high treason during the reign of the late king, at a court of justice held at Vendôme, and of having practised with the English, the ancient enemies of France, had been condemned, in consequence of his confessions, to death, saving the good pleasure of the king. His life had been spared, but he remained a close prisoner in the castle of Loches until the present king's accession, when he was fully pardoned, and all proceedings against him were annulled. It happened, that a lame man had been one of the principal evidences against this duke, and was much afraid of his revenge when set at liberty,—to avoid which, he presented himself before the king, and solicited to be taken under his protection. This the king promised, and personally commanded the duke no way to injure this man, his family or his fortune, as he was under his especial protection. The duke engaged to perform all the king wished; but he soon forgot his promises,—and, having had the lame man seized and brought before him, caused him instantly to be put to death. The wife of the murdered man appeared before the king, to make her loss known, and have redress for her injury; in consequence, the king seized on all the towns and lands of the duke,—but it was not long before they were restored, and he was again pardoned. The duke, to show his gratitude for these repeated marks of favour, offered to give up his towns to the Bretons, and to the duke of Berry, in opposition to the interests of the king.
At this time, sir Anthony de Château-neuf, lord du Lau, grand butler of France, and seneschal of Guienne, who had been chamberlain to the king, and more beloved by him than any other courtier, who had amended his fortune by the king's service, to the amount of three or four hundred thousand golden crowns, had fallen into disgrace, and was confined in the castle of Sully sur Loire[16]; but in the month of October, the king sent sir Tristan de l'Hermite, and master Guillaume Cerisay, lately appointed griffier civil to the parliament, to take the lord du Lau from the prisons at Sully, and to carry him to the castle of Usson[17] in Auvergne. While they were thus transporting him, a report was spread, and long continued, that the lord du Lau was drowned[18].
Tuesday, the 22d of October, the king left Paris to go into Normandy, and this night lay at Villepreux[19], and on the morrow at Mantes. Prior to his departure, he sent off such of his captains as were then near his person to collect the men under their command, and to follow him with them into Normandy or wherever else he might be. He also published an edict, to declare, that henceforth his pleasure was that all officers should remain in peaceable possession of their places, and that there should be no vacation, but by death, resignation, or confiscation; that should he, through importunities, grant any office contrary to this his declaration, he willed, that it should not be valid, but that strict and equal justice should be done to all.
From Mantes, he went to Vernon sur Seine, where he staid some time; during which the constable there joined him, and found means to obtain from the king a truce for six months with the count de Charolois, without including the Liegeois, who had already made war against the count, in the expectation of being supported by the king, according to the promises he had made them, and they now found themselves quite abandoned by him. The constable returned to the duke of Burgundy with the intelligence of the truce being signed.
Soon after this, the cardinal of Evreux, and the others who had been sent by the king to Flanders, came to him at Vernon; and he thence went to Chartres, whither he sent for the greater part of his artillery from Orleans, that it might be transported to Alençon, and the other towns of which he wanted to gain the possession. The king again sent master John Prevost to Flanders, with a copy of the aforesaid truce to the duke of Burgundy.
On the 16th of November, the cardinal, the treasurer Ladriesche, master John Berart, and master Geoffry Alnequin, came to Paris to review their banners, and to execute other commissions given them by the king.
The king left Chartres and went to Orleans, Clery, and other towns thereabouts, and thence to Vendôme and Mont St Michel, having a large train of artillery with him, and a great number of men at arms. During this time, the Bretons issued out in arms from their country, and gained Avranches and other towns in Normandy. They spread over the whole of that part of the country, as far as Caen, Bayeux and Coutances.