On the 2d of July, the lord de Rubempré, arrived at Paris from Beauvais, with letters from the captains in that town to the lord de Gaucourt, lieutenant for the king in Paris, and to the provosts and sheriffs, to inform them, that there was such scarcity in the burgundian camp that a loaf of bread, worth two farthings in Beauvais, was of the value of three sols parisis to the enemy; and that the duke of Burgundy was in such despair that he had determined to gain the town or lose the greater part of his army. They therefore desired that there might be sent them, without delay, small artillery, cross-bows, and provision,—all of which was done, under the conduct of the bastard de Rochechouart, lord of Meru, who carried thither sixty cross-bowmen, cross-bows, artillery and provisions, from Paris.
About seven in the morning of the 9th of July, after the duke of Burgundy had kept up a brisk fire, from his artillery, against the walls of Beauvais, at the gate of the general hospital, a large detachment entered the ditches with faggots, and other materials, to fill them, and erected their ladders against the wall near the hospital-gate, which they vigorously attacked. The guard of this gate was intrusted to the care of sir Robert d'Estouteville lord of Beine, and provost of Paris, who with his company behaved themselves most gallantly. This attack lasted from seven in the morning until near eleven in the forenoon; and the Burgundians were so roughly treated that, including those thrown down from the walls, killed and wounded, their loss amounted from fifteen to sixteen hundred men: it would have been much more considerable, if the besieged could have made a sally; but all the gates on the side of the enemy's camp were walled up.
This was a great vexation to those nobles, and valiant captains, in the town,—such as the count de Dammartin, Joachim Rohault, marshal of France, Salazart, Guillaume de la Valleé, Mery de Coué, Guerin le Groing, the lord de Beine, the brothers de Torcy, and several more, who had under their command from fourteen to fifteen thousand combatants.
During this attack, through the mercy of God, only three or four of the royalists were slain, and it was said that this was owing to their own rashness. And although the burgundian artillery kept up a continued fire until the 9th of July, not more than four persons were killed by it. On the day succeeding this attack, sir Denis Hesselin sent from Paris to Beauvais, by daybreak, a fresh supply of arrows, cross-bows, gunpowder, and surgeons to attend the wounded.
Saturday the 21st day of July, a messenger of the king's household was confined in the prison of the Châtelet for having published in several parts of Paris, that the constable had drawn out of Beauvais the principal captains, under pretence of holding a council to consider on the means of defending that town, during which the burgundian army had been well victualled, which would not have happened if these captains had been left in Beauvais. This charge was highly offensive to the constable; and on his complaining thereof, the messenger was, by the king's orders, delivered into the hands of master Miles, usher of the household to the constable, and conducted to him, to make good his accusations against him.
The besieged in Beauvais made a deep trench, on the day after the late attack, to enable them to sally out undiscovered,—by which means, Salazart and others of his company, one morning at daybreak, entered the enemy's camp, and killed all they met. They burnt three tents, and all within them. In one were slain two persons of rank, although they offered a large sum for their ransoms. The alarm being now spread, and the shouting of 'Salazart for ever!' having roused the Burgundians, it was necessary for him to retreat toward Beauvais; but in doing so, he carried off some handsome artillery, particularly some mortars that had done much mischief to the town,—and as they were heavy, they threw them into the ditch. They brought into the town two fine serpentines and a large brass cannon, called One of the Twelve Peers, which the king had lost at the battle of Montlehery.
Salazart was very closely pursued, and much beaten and wounded; and though his horse had suffered greatly from the pikes of the Flemings it carried him into Beauvais, when it dropped down dead. From this sally to the 21st, nothing material occurred,—when the inhabitants of Orleans sent, by way of Paris, to Beauvais one hundred tuns of wine from their vineyards, as a present to the lords and the garrison, to invigorate them against the Burgundians. They sent thither, at the same time, large supplies of arrows, cross-bows, and gunpowder, under the escort of some of the burghers of Orleans.
FOOTNOTES:
[38] Nesle,—three leagues from Roye.
[39] Seignelay,—a town in Burgundy, three leagues from Joigny.