While he remained at Meaux, a man from the Bourbonnois was there beheaded, on the 27th day of June, for having revealed the king's secrets to his ancient enemies the English. Prior to this, the king had sent the prince of Piedmont, son to the duke of Savoy to Paris, to kindle a bonfire at the Greve, and to set at liberty all who were confined in the prisons of the parliament, the Châtelet, and elsewhere.
About this time, Charles de Melun, a man at arms in the company of the lord admiral, having been made governor of the castle of Usson in Auvergne, had the guard of the person of the lord du Lau intrusted to him on pain of his life. But this lord made his escape, to the great vexation of the king, who, in consequence, had Charles de Melun confined in the castle of Loches, and afterwards beheaded there for his negligence. A youth called Remmonet, the son of Melun's wife, was also beheaded at Tours for this escape,—and the king's attorney at Usson suffered a similar fate at Meaux for the same cause. The king, on leaving Meaux, went to Senlis, and thence to Creil.
The Burgundians and Bretons still kept possession of Normandy, and one day took prisoner the lord de Merville—which town of Merville is situated between St Sauveur sur Dive and Caen—and forced him to surrender the place, in which was a body of franc-archers. The instant they entered the town, they murdered all they found, hung the lord de Merville, and, having completely pillaged the houses and castle, set the whole on fire.
The king went from Creil to Compiégne, where he made some stay, and then returned to Senlis. The duke of Burgundy came from Senlis to Paris on the feast of the Assumption of our Lady but the king, before his departure, had sent the lord of Lyon and the lord constable to the duke of Burgundy, to negotiate terms of peace between them.
The king, however, did not fail to order his army into Normandy, under the command of the lord admiral. He was so diligent that in less than a month he drove away the Bretons who had possessed themselves of Bayeux.
On Saturday the 20th of August, sir Charles de Melun lord of Normanville, and lately grand master of the household, who had been imprisoned at the castle of Gaillard[22], under the guard of the count de Dammartin, was tried before the provost of the marshals, for the crimes he was accused of, and was this day taken out of prison, carried to the market-place of Andeli[23], and there publicly beheaded.
The king remained at Noyon, Compiègne, Chauny, and other places thereabout, until the 15th of September, when news was brought him that the lord Charles his brother and the duke of Brittany were become good friends and well-wishers to his person; that the lord Charles was willing to accept of the annual pension of sixty thousand francs, and such an appanage as those lords whom he would fix upon as his arbitrators should agree to. His arbitrators were the duke of Calabria and the constable of France.
The duke of Brittany offered to restore to the king the towns his men held in Normandy, if those the king had possession of in Brittany were given in exchange, which was agreed to by the king. Information of this was sent to the duke of Burgundy then with his army near to Peronne, between Eclusiers and Cappy on the river Somme; but he was unwilling to believe it, until it was confirmed by the lord Charles and the duke of Brittany. And although this reconciliation was afterward certified to him by the herald of the duke of Brittany, he would not disband his army, but marched it to a strong position on the Somme between Eclusiers and Cappy le Doz, which he made stronger by outworks.
During this time, different embassies were sent by the king to the duke of Burgundy by the lord constable, the cardinal of Angers, master Pierre d'Oriole, and others, to negotiate a pacification, which the king was greatly desirous of,—although his captains were of a different opinion, and required of the king to allow them to act, and they would deliver the duke and his whole army into his hands; but this he would never permit,—and even forbade any hostile acts, on pain of death. On the 12th of October, it was publicly known that a truce until the ensuing month of April had been concluded between them, and that the king, in consequence, had determined to go to Creil and Pontoise, whither he had sent his harbingers; but he afterwards changed his mind, and returned in haste from Compiègne to Noyon, which he had just left.
In this interval, Philip de Savoye, Poncet de Riviere, lord Dulsé, the lord du Lau, with others who had joined them, did very great mischiefs to the country they had overrun. In consequence, a proclamation was made in Paris on the 8th day of October, for all the nobles and other vassals within the provostship and viscounty of Paris, to muster in arms at Gonesse on the Monday following, and be ready to march where-ever they should be ordered. This proclamation greatly alarmed the Parisians, for fear the reports of a truce should prove unfounded.