CHAPTER LXXXIX.
The Battle of Meaux in Brie, where the Villains are discomfited by the Earl of Foix and the Captal of Buch.
AT the time these wicked men were overrunning the country, the Earl of Foix, and his cousin the Captal of Buch, were returning from a croisade in Prussia. They were informed, on their entering France, of the distress the nobles were in; and they learnt at the city of Chalons, that the Duchess of Orleans, and three hundred other ladies, under the protection of the Duke of Orleans, were fled to Meaux on account of these disturbances. The two knights resolved to go to the assistance of these ladies, and to re-enforce them with all their might, notwithstanding the Captal was attached to the English; but at that time there was a truce between the two kings. They might have in their company about sixty lances. They were most cheerfully received, on their arrival at Meaux, by the ladies and damsels; for these Jacks and peasants of Brie had heard what number of ladies, married and unmarried, and young children of quality, were in Meaux: they had united themselves with those of Valois, and were on their road thither. On the other hand, those of Paris had also been informed of the treasures Meaux contained, and had set out from that place in crowds. Having met the others, they amounted together to nine thousand men: their forces were augmenting every step they advanced.
They came to the gates of the town, which the inhabitants opened to them, and allowed them to enter: they did so in such numbers that all the streets were quite filled as far as the market-place, which is tolerably strong, but it required to be guarded, though the river Marne nearly surrounds it. The noble dames who were lodged there, seeing such multitudes rushing toward them, were exceedingly frightened. On this the two lords and their company advanced to the gate of the market-place, which they had opened, and marching under the banners of the Earl of Foix and Duke of Orleans, and the pennon of the Captal of Buch, posted themselves in front of this peasantry, who were badly armed. When these banditti perceived such a troop of gentlemen, so well equipped, sally forth to guard the market-place, the foremost of them began to fall back. The gentlemen then followed them, using their lances and swords. When they felt the weight of their blows, they, through fear, turned about so fast, they fell one over the other. All manner of armed persons then rushed out of the barriers, drove them before them, striking them down like beasts, and clearing the town of them; for they kept neither regularity nor order, slaying so many that they were tired. They flung them in great heaps into the river. In short, they killed upward of seven thousand. Not one would have escaped, if they had chosen to pursue them further.
On the return of the men at arms, they set fire to the town of Meaux, and burnt it, and all the peasants they could find were shut up in it, because they had been of the party of the Jacks. Since this discomfiture which happened to them at Meaux, they never collected again in any great bodies; for the young Enguerrand de Coucy had plenty of gentlemen under his orders, who destroyed them, wherever they could be met with, without mercy.
BOOK II.[29]
CHAPTER I.
Coronation of King Charles of France.
AS you may well imagine, nothing was spared by the nobility and great lords to add to the magnificence of the coronation of the young King Charles[30] of France, who was crowned at Rheims on a Sunday, in the twelfth year of his age, in the year 1380. At this solemnity there were many high and mighty lords.
The young king made his entry into the city of Rheims on the Saturday, handsomely attended by the great lords, nobility, and minstrels, at vespers. In particular, there were upward of thirty trumpets, which preceded him, and sounded so clear it was quite marvellous to hear them. There were also a great many other young squires, children of the great barons of France, whom the king on the morrow, being the day of his coronation, created knights. This Saturday the king heard vespers in the church of Our Lady, and performed his vigils in that church, according to the custom of those times, the greater part of the night. All the youths desirous of knighthood attended him, and did the same.
On the Sunday, which was All Saints’ Day, the church of Our Lady was very richly decorated for the coronation; so much so, that it could not possibly have been better ordered. The Archbishop of Rheims, after having said mass with great solemnity, consecrated the king with the holy ampulla with which St. Remy had anointed Clovis, the first Christian king of the French.
Before the consecration, the king created, in front of the altar, all those young squires, knights. The office of mass was afterwards chanted by the archbishop, the king being clothed in his royal robes, and seated on an elevated throne, adorned with cloth of gold; and all the young knights were placed on low benches, covered also with the same, at his feet. In this state did they remain the whole day. The new constable, Sir Oliver de Clisson, was present: he had been named constable a few days prior to this ceremony, and performed well his charge, and every thing belonging to it. The principal barons of France were also there, so richly dressed it would be tedious to relate. The king was seated in royal majesty, with a crown on his head rich and precious beyond measure. The church of Our Lady at Rheims was so much crowded during this ceremony that one could not turn one’s foot. I have heard also, that at this accession of the young king to the throne, in order to please the people of France, all impositions, aids, taxes, subsidies, and other levies, which had displeased and had much oppressed them, were abolished, greatly to the joy of the subjects.