On the 1st of July, the king was crowned in the church of St Denis, after the manner of his predecessors, kings of France. On the morrow he made a triumphant entry into Paris, and supped at the palace. When all these solemnities were ended, each person withdrew to different places, as ordered by the king. The first who made any opposition to him was the lord de Vergy,—but the war was soon ended in Burgundy.
The duke de Valentinois, said to be the son of pope Alexander VII.[12] arrived at Lyon on the 18th of October, and made his public entry into that city. The king had given him the county of Valentinois[13],—and he was now come to France to conclude his marriage with the daughter of the lord d'Albret. This duke was also a cardinal; but he had left that dignity behind him, and appeared in secular clothes with the utmost pomp and grandeur.
The 2d and 3d of December, the wind was so high at Lyon that the greatest alarm was caused by it; and the custodium, in which the hosts were kept, on the high altar, in the church of the Cordeliers, was burst open, owing to a broken pane in the window, and the sacred wafers blown all about the church, to the great scandal of devout persons. It happened somewhat before eight o'clock in the morning.
This year, the king gave the princess Jane of France the duchy of Berry; and, for the benefit of the realm, he espoused, by a dispensation from pope Alexander VII. the widowed queen of France, Anne of Brittany,[14] which was of the greatest public utility.
In the course of this year 1499, the head of St Bonaventure was deposited, in a very rich shrine of silver, in the church of the Cordeliers at Lyon,—and a most solemn procession was made on the occasion by the friars of the convent. On the 10th of June, in this year, the king made his public entry into Lyon, which was very magnificent. The streets were hung with tapestries,—and many fine mysteries were represented in the squares. He was very anxious to recover possession of the Milanese, and had sent thither a large army, which, within fifteen days, reconquered Milan, on the 4th of September. Duke Ludovico was in the town, and narrowly escaped being taken, by quitting the place in disguise. The town of Alexandria della Paglia[15], having shown much hatred to the French, was plundered, and the greater part of it destroyed.
When the king heard of the capture of Milan, he left Lyon, giving orders to the lord de Bersac to destroy all the benches and awnings before the doors in that city. He made his public entry into Milan, and regulated its government.
On the Friday before All-souls-day, in this year, the bridge of Nôtre Dame, at Paris, fell down, which was a heavy loss; and the king sent thither John de Doyac to superintend the immediate construction of another.
The year 1500 was a grand year of jubilee at Rome, celebrated by pope Alexander VII. and attended by great numbers. There would have been more, if, on the 3d of January, duke Ludovico Sforza had not, in person, regained Milan, by the aid of a considerable body of Germans. He won the town through the treason of the inhabitants, who surrendered themselves to him; but the French fought valiantly, and kept possession of the castle, whence they battered the town.
Several Frenchmen, going to the jubilee at Rome, were murdered at the inns on the road,—which being discovered, justice was done on the perpetrators by burning their houses, with their inhabitants, to serve for examples to all others. The duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, gave a ducat to every one who brought him the head of a Frenchman. The count Gayache and his wife now came to France; he was brother to the late Galeas Visconti.
On the 19th of March in this year, the queen of France made a second public entry into Lyon, the streets being hung with tapestry, and several beautiful mysteries represented. About eight days after, a number of prisoners of war were brought before the king, at Lyon, for having broken their oaths, at which the public greatly murmured.