[424] ] See the engraving on p. [16].
[425] ] Read before the Academy of Reims in February 1845, printed by them in their Transactions, and subsequently republished in volume form.
[426] ] It is generally supposed that the gate took its name from a hospital standing a short distance without the walls, and destined for the reception either of lepers or of pilgrims arriving after nightfall. The prevalent opinion is that it bore the inscription Dei merito, translated as Dieu le mérite, which became corrupted into Dieu-Lumière. Under Louis XI. it certainly figures as Di Merito.
[427] ] A curious old engraving copied from an ancient tapestry represents the entry of the royal procession into Reims through the Porte Dieu-Lumière. Joan of Arc, beside the king and in company with the Dukes of Bourbon and Alençon, bears the banner of France; whilst her father and mother are seen arriving with the king’s baggage by another road.
[428] ] A.D. 499.
[429] ] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay.
[430] ] M. A. Nicaise’s Epernay et l’Abbaye de St. Martin.
[431] ] Ibid.
[432] ] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay. In December 1540, when the eschevins fixed the ‘vinage,’ the queue of wine was valued at eight to nine livres.
[433] ] The partiality of Charles V. for the wine of Ay has been elsewhere spoken of. The vendangeoir mentioned was in existence in 1726.