About this time, in the month of July, died the last born child of the king, called the lord Francis duke of Berry. The king was so much grieved that for six hours no one dared to speak to him.
In this same month, the duke of Calabria died of the plague, in his duchy of Lorraine. Immediately after his decease, news was brought, that a german, the commander of the late duke's forces, had taken prisoner the count de Vaudemont heir to the duchy of Lorraine, with the avowal and by the instigation of the duke of Burgundy. In order to obtain the count de Vaudemont's liberty, a youth, nephew to the emperor of Germany, and then a student at Paris, was arrested by way of reprisal, and as an hostage for the count's safety. A conference was appointed to be holden this month at Senlis, between commissioners from the king and the duke of Burgundy, to settle their differences.
The king sent thither the count de Dammartin, who went in great pomp, the lord chancellor, the lord de Craon, the first president of the parliament of Paris, master Guillaume de Cerisay, and master Nicholas Bataille, who after remaining there until the middle of August, returned without having done any thing.
At this period, the duke of Burgundy marched an army into Guelderland, to subdue and take possession of it.
On the 8th of August, as the king was coming out of the castle of Alençon, by accident a very large stone fell from the battlements on his sleeve: he narrowly escaped being killed by it, but was saved by his confidence in God, and the blessed Virgin Mary, in whom he put his whole trust.
The commissioners from the king and the dukes of Burgundy and Brittany now left Senlis without having accomplished any of the points they had met on.
In regard to the weather of this year, it was exceedingly hot from the month of June to December, more so than had been felt in the memory of any man living,—which caused the wines to be of such bad qualities that quantities were thrown away,—and there was not any frost until after Candlemas-day.
As there were now reports, that the Burgundians were marching for Lorraine and the Barrois, the king sent thither five hundred lances, under the command of the lord de Craon, whom he made his lieutenant-general. He also ordered the nobles from the Isle of France and Normandy, with the franc-archers cantoned in divers parts of Champagne, to advance toward Lorraine, where they remained for more than two months, and then returned without having seen the enemy.
The duke of Burgundy brought the emperor of Germany to Luxembourg, whence he went to the town of Metz, to exhort the inhabitants to admit the duke of Burgundy and his forces: but as they refused to comply, he returned to Luxembourg and thence into Germany.
At this time, the duke of Burgundy sent to Venice to negotiate a loan, that he might subsidize, for three months, six hundred lances from that country. These troops passed through the duchy of Milan, and proceeded to the upper parts of Burgundy, to form a junction with the subjects of the said duke, whose army was not sufficiently strong to meet that of the king which lay upon his frontiers. The king now married his eldest daughter[46], whom he had promised to the late duke of Calabria, to the lord de Beaujeu, brother to the duke of Bourbon. The Burgundians, by treason and otherwise, suddenly invaded the country of the Nivernois, and took several towns belonging to the count de Nevers, such as La Roche, Châtillon, and others.