On Friday, the last day of May, the King invested his youngest brother, the Duc de Touraine, with the duchy of Burgundy. It had been promised to him by his father in remembrance of the day when, as a mere child, he stood alone by his side in the battle of Poitiers. He afterwards married the heiress of Flanders and Hainault.
The Duchess-dowager, mother of Jeanne, lived a good deal at court, and her brother Louis, Duc de Bourbon, was a great favourite with the King, who extended his affection for Jeanne to every one belonging to her. Louis de Bourbon was one of the best and noblest characters of his century. When a hostage in England, he made himself so beloved that he was allowed to go about wherever he chose, and even to return to France on parole. His estates were managed during his absence by his mother.
The youngest sister of the Queen, Marie de Bourbon, was a nun at Poissy, and for her also both Jeanne and Charles had much affection.
But a constant source of anxiety and grief to them all had been the unfortunate marriage of their sister Blanche, Queen of Spain, who lingered in captivity in one castle after another in spite of the indignation and remonstrances of the Spanish people, the French King, and the royal family her relations. At last came the news that she had been poisoned by Pedro el Cruel, and her death excited the horror and execration of France and Spain against her murderer. Blanche seems to have passed these years in saintly resignation to the will of God. Her brother the Duc de Bourbon and her brother-in-law the King of France did not suffer her death to remain unavenged.
Charles V. declared war upon Pedro, and sent French troops to Spain commanded by Bertrand du Guesclin, the Bègue de Vilaine, and other officers, and after a short time he paid for his crimes with the loss of his throne and his life.
One cannot help being struck by the extraordinary discrepancy in the accounts given of the Kings of France by ancient and modern writers. According to the former, they all appear to have been models of every virtue and talent under the sun; while if one reads the descriptions of some of the latter, especially of those who are republican in principles, one finds that, with the exception perhaps of Saint Louis, no King of France ever had any good qualities at all but courage, and that, while all the misfortunes that happened were entirely his fault, any success he might have in the management of his affairs and the government of his kingdom was either the result of accident or was due to somebody else.
Charles V., however, may be said to have done considerably more to deserve his name “le Sage” than Jean did to earn that of “le Bon.” In all respects different from his father and grandfather, he set himself to try to repair the ruin and distress in which the kingdom was plunged. He was, as Sismondi remarks, the first modern King of France. His effigy on the seals is seated in a chair, not mounted on horseback. It is characteristic of his life and habits. His government was the personal government of an intelligent, prudent, and honest King, occupied with the internal and external affairs of the State.[42] He found himself surrounded with dangers and difficulties. The country was so depopulated by plague and famine that in many parts the inhabitants were reduced to two-thirds and even one-third of their numbers in the beginning of the reign of his grandfather. The neighbouring countries were involved in civil wars and disturbances, into which it was difficult for France to escape being drawn. Italy was full of discord. Spain was divided between the factions of Pedro el Cruel and his brother, Enrique de Trastamare, who had risen against that tyrant to avenge the murders of his mother and brothers.
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Charles found no help in his own family. His eldest sister was married to his enemy the King of Navarre, to whom she was devoted. The Duc de Bar, who had just married Marie, the second sister, was likely to be more trouble than assistance; the Visconti had paid his father a large sum of money for the marriage of Isabelle, but were too far off to have anything to do with affairs in France. Of his brothers, the two elder ones had all the faults and scarcely any of the good qualities of the Valois. They were arrogant, rapacious, violent and cruel. The Duke of Burgundy was the best of them.
Charles had always been delicate, and people said he had been poisoned when he was young by the King of Navarre. It was one of those absurd accusations heaped upon Charles of Navarre by his enemies. He could have had no object in poisoning the Dauphin, for if he had died the crown would have passed, not to him, but to the Duc d’Anjou, and there were plenty of other princes of the house of Valois whose claims would have come before his. The Dukes of Berry and Orléans, the Alençon princes, and even the Duc de Bourbon, all stood before him in the line of succession.[43] But it is probable that the King firmly believed that he had been poisoned by his brother-in-law, and therefore was not likely to regard him with very friendly feelings.