At length, however, the king agreed to his ransom, for forty thousand crowns,—but only two months were allowed him for the payment; and he was assured, that on his failure he would be put to death.
The trial of the constable now proceeded rapidly before the chancellor, presidents, and councellors of the court of parliament, the lord de St Pierre, and others nominated for the purpose. It was ordered that on Tuesday the 19th of December, the constable should appear before the parliament, to hear his sentence read. On Tuesday morning, the lord de St Pierre, who had the care of him, came into his chamber, in the prison of the bastile, and said, 'My lord, what are you about? are you asleep?' The constable replied, 'Oh no! It is long since I have slept; but I am amusing myself with thinking, and other fancies.' St Pierre then said, that he must rise to appear before the court of parliament to answer some questions which the members wanted to put to him, and which could not be well done out of court. In saying this, St Pierre added, that it had been ordered that he should accompany him, as well as sir Robert d'Estouteville, the provost of Paris. This somewhat alarmed the constable for two reasons, which he then declared.
First, because he thought it was intended by this measure to take him from under the guard of Philip L'Huillier, governor of the bastile, by whom he had been attentively treated, and place him in the hands of d'Estouteville, whom he reputed his enemy, and who, he thought, would use him harshly; and, secondly, he was afraid of being insulted, should he pass through the populace of Paris.
These alarms were removed by the lord de St Pierre, who assured him, that it was not intended to carry him to another prison,—and he engaged to convey him, without insult, to the court of parliament. On this he mounted his horse, and set out from the bastile, and went to the palace of justice riding between the lords de St Pierre and d'Estouteville, who made him dismount at the steps, opposite the Porte aux Merciers in the court.
As he mounted the steps, he met the lord de Gaucourt and Hesselin, who saluted him, and bade him welcome. The constable returned their salutes, and, when at the top, was led to the 'tour criminelle' of the court of parliament, where he found the lord chancellor, who addressed him nearly as follows:—'My lord of St Pol, you have hitherto been reputed a knight of the utmost courage and fortitude: since that has been your character, you will now have greater need to display it than ever.' He then added, 'My lord, you must take from your neck the collar of the king's order, which you now wear.' The count replied, that he would willingly do so, and applied his hand to take it off his neck; but as it was fastened by a pin behind, he desired St Pierre to aid him, which he did. He then kissed it, and delivered it to the chancellor. He was then asked by the chancellor for the sword which had been given him when he was created constable: he replied, that he had it not,—for when he was arrested, and carried to the bastile, every thing was taken from him but what he now appeared in. The chancellor held him excused for not producing the sword, and departed.
Immediately after came master John de Poupaincourt, one of the presidents of the court of parliament, and spoke as follows:—'My lord, you know, that, by the king's orders, you have been confined in the bastile for certain crimes that have been laid to your charge. These crimes have been inquired into, and you have been heard, and you have put in your answers and justification. But after long and mature deliberations on the evidence on both sides, I am to declare to you, that in the judgement of the court, you have been guilty of high treason, and, in consequence, are sentenced to death by the said court, without delay,—that is to say, you are to be beheaded in the course of the day, in front of the town-house of this city,—and all your effects, personal and real, are confiscated to the king's use, together with all your lordships, and every sort of inheritance, hereditary or acquired.'
This sentence greatly astonished him, for he did not imagine that either the king or the parliament would have adjudged him to death; and he said, 'Ah, God be praised! this is a very harsh sentence,—and I supplicate and entreat that he would give me the grace to acknowledge all his bounties this day.' Then, turning to the lord de St Pierre, he said, 'This is contrary to all you have before told me would happen.' He was then transferred to four doctors in divinity, one of whom was a cordelier friar, called master John de Sordun,—another an augustin monk,—the third, the grand penitentiary of Paris,—and the fourth, master John Hugh, rector of St André des Arts, and dean of the faculty of theology in Paris. He requested of them and of the chancellor, that he might have the sacrament administered to him, which was not granted; but he had a mass chaunted, with which he was forced to content himself. They gave him holy water and holy bread, of which he ate some, but never drank of any thing from that time.
He remained with these his confessors until one or two o'clock after midday, when he descended from the palace, and mounted his horse, to go to the town-house, where the scaffolds were erected for his execution. He was attended by the greffier and ushers of the court of parliament,—and on his arrival at the town-house, he dismounted, and was conducted into the office, against which a large scaffold had been placed, from whence a gallery of wood led to a smaller scaffold, which was to be the place of his execution. He made, during his stay in the office, many pitiful lamentations to his confessors, and dictated his last will, under the good pleasure of the king, to sir Denis Hesselin, who wrote down his dispositions[61]. Having staid in the office until three o'clock, he advanced on the scaffold,—and throwing himself on his knees, with his face to the church of Nôtre Dame, he was long at his prayers with much devotion and contrition; during which, master John Sordun held a crucifix before him, which he often kissed with the utmost reverence, and crying bitterly. When his prayers were ended, he rose up, and one called Petit Jean, son to Harry Cousin, the chief executioner at Paris, came to him, and, with a small cord, tied his hands, which he most patiently suffered; after which, he led him further on to the small scaffold, where he stopped and looked at the chancellor, the lord de Gaucourt, the provost of Paris, the lord de St Pierre, the greffier civil of the parliament, sir Denis Hesselin, and others the king's officers in great numbers, praying for the king, and entreating them to pray for his soul,—'not,' as he said, 'if it should cost them any thing, and be any way injurious to their interests.' He then turned to the populace, and besought them to pray for his salvation. Having done this, he placed his two knees on a small woolen cushion, having on it the arms of the town, and moved it with one of his feet more conveniently. His eyes were now bandaged by Little John, while he was praying to God, talking to his confessors, and earnestly kissing the cross. Little John now took the sword, which was given to him by his father, and instantly made his head fly from his shoulders so expeditiously that the body fell at the same time on the scaffold with the head.
Little John took up the head, and, having washed it in a pail of water placed there for the purpose, fixed it on the rails of the scaffold for the view of the spectators, who amounted, as was thought, to more than two hundred thousand persons. After some little time, the body was stripped, and, with the head, wrapped in a fine linen cloth, and put in a wooden coffin which sir Denis Hesselin had caused to be prepared. A body of cordelier friars now approached, to carry away the corpse, to inter it in their church at Paris,—to whom sir Denis Hesselin ordered forty torches to be given, to convoy the body to their church, where, on the morrow, a handsome funeral service was performed. Another was also celebrated in the church of Saint John en Grève, where a grave had been dug, on the supposition that his body would have been there buried. Indeed, this would have been the case, had not master John Sordun told the constable, that a countess de St Pol, had been buried in their church which made it desirable that he should be there interred likewise. This the count assented to, and prayed his judges that his body might be carried to the church of the Cordeliers.
After the execution, the whole of the crimes of the said constable, and the sentence passed on him, were publicly read in the court of parliament, with open doors, when divers enormous treasons by him committed, were now divulged. Among others, it was declared, that the duke of Burgundy in conjunction with the count de St Pol had sent ambassadors, namely, sir Philip Bouton and sir Philip Pot, knights, on the part of the duke, with Hector de l'Ecluse, on the part of the constable to the duke of Bourbon, to prevail on him to join them in arms against the king, and abjure his allegiance to him; and although the lord de Fleurac had told them, that their attempt was vain, for that the duke would rather die than forfeit his loyalty, the said L'Ecluse had again returned thither with information from the constable, that the English were about invading France, and, with the assistance of the duke of Burgundy and the constable, would doubtless conquer the kingdom. He strongly advised the duke of Bourbon, that, to avoid the ruin that must ensue to his towns and country, he should join them as he would find it most profitable so to do,—for should any misfortunes befal him after this notice, he would have himself solely to blame for them. The duke of Bourbon replied to L'Ecluse, that he should not follow his advice,—for that he would rather die, with the loss of all he possessed, and be reduced to the poverty of Job, than consent, in art or part, to any thing that should be to the prejudice of the king or his kingdom. Hector, therefore, went back again as unsuccessful as before.