While the king was at Senlis, Ermenonville, and other places in that district, an embassy arrived from the duke of Burgundy, which remained long, but concluded nothing. The king then departed for Compiégne, Noyon, and divers places thereabout,—when a meeting was appointed between him and the constable, to settle some differences between them, near a village[49], where a bridge was thrown over a river, and each had a large party of guards for his personal security. Their mutual accusations were discussed, and particularly the capture the constable had made, by force, of St Quentin, by driving thence the lord de Creton and his garrison,—which had greatly angered the king, who, for this reason, had stopped the payments due to the constable's troop of four hundred lances, for the months of April, May, and June.
After a long conversation, the king ordered the arrears of pay to be made good, and continued as before, and they parted good friends. Peace was likewise made between the constable and the count de Dammartin,—and the king, on his going away, freely pardoned the constable, who promised and swore never to commit any more faults, but to serve him henceforward faithfully against all, without any exception whatever.
During this period, the king passed some time at Senlis, Ermenonville, Pont St Maixence, and other places near. He went almost daily to the abbey de la Victoire, to adore the statue of the Virgin, which was there in great request,—and in honour to her, made the prior very rich gifts, in money, to the amount of ten thousand golden crowns. This year, from his singular love to his people, and his wish to avoid the shedding of human blood, he agreed to a truce with his adversary the duke of Burgundy for one year, to expire the first of April in the year 1475; although several embassies had come from the emperor of Germany, humbly to desire that he would not conclude any truce, for that he would reduce the duke by force of arms to sue for his mercy,—and that whatever conquests the emperor should make, he would give to the king, without his putting himself to the smallest cost. Notwithstanding these flattering proposals, the king assented to a truce with the duke of Burgundy, to the great displeasure of all his good and loyal subjects.
The Burgundians, nevertheless, and in contempt of the truce, at first committed many outrages on the king's territories and subjects, without making any reparation; and it was scandalous thus to see a vassal of the king injure, with impunity, the country and subjects of his sovereign lord.
In the beginning of July, the king returned to Paris, but only lay there one night. On the morrow, he went to the church of Nôtre Dame, and thence to the holy chapel in the palace. He dined in the apartments of master John de Ladriesche, president of the chamber of accounts, in the conciergerie of the palace; and about four in the afternoon he embarked in a boat at the point of the palace, and went to the tower of Nesle, where he mounted his horse and rode to Chartres, Amboise,—and thence to Nôtre Dame de Behuart, in Poitou.
In this year, the king sent a very large army, with franc-archers and others, and a considerable train of artillery to conquer the kingdom of Arragon. Prayers were offered up that God would give them grace to behave well, and return in health; for it was commonly said, that Arragon was the churchyard of Frenchmen.
Monday, the 18th day of July, the duke d'Alençon was brought before the court of Parliament,—when the chancellor, master Pierre d'Oriole, recapitulated his former crimes, and the sentence that had been passed upon him by the court held at Vendôme, under the late king Charles, (whose soul may God pardon!) and the grace the present king had shown him, not only by granting him his life, but his liberty and estates, for which favours he had shown the blackest ingratitude. The present accusations were then brought forward, when he was found guilty of high treason, and condemned by the chancellor to be beheaded at Paris, saving the good pleasure of the king to order otherwise; and all his effects, hereditary and acquired, were confiscated to the king's use.
The duke, having heard his sentence, was led back to his prison in the Louvre, under the guard of sir Denis Hesselin, sir James Hesselin his brother, sir John de Harclay, commander of the night-guard in Paris, and others appointed by the king for this purpose.
When this affair was finished, the king went toward Angers, and took possession of that town and all other places and lordships in Anjou belonging to the king of Sicily, for certain reasons moving him thereto; and the government and administration of them was given to master Guillaume de Cerisay, greffier civil in the court of parliament. The king then returned through Beauce to Chartres, and to Bois-de-Malesherbes, where he staid a long time, hunting stags, wild boars, and other beasts, of which he found such plenty that he was very fond of this part of his kingdom; although otherwise, it is but a poor country.
On the king's departure, he went to Pont de Chamois, the residence of the lord de Beaujeu, were he remained until the 6th of October, and thence went to Montereau-faut-Yonne. During his absence, the members of his grand council went daily to Pont de Chamois.