Although it was now four years since her marriage with Charles VI., Isabeau had never been crowned; and although she had of course often been in Paris, she had not made any ceremonial entry into that city.
But she had no idea of giving up the honours usually conferred on the Queens of France; and the King, always delighted at the idea of any new festival, made inquiries as to how these state entries had been arranged in the times of his predecessors, so that nothing might be wanting in magnificence on the present occasion.
There was one member of the royal family who was considered a great authority on these and many other matters. The famous Blanche de Navarre, although she had been Queen-dowager for forty-one years and was the widow of the King’s great-grandfather, Philippe de Valois, was only about fifty-nine years old, had been in her youth the brightest star of the Valois court, and all her life one of the most brilliant, powerful, and popular women of her century.[121] To her Charles applied for advice, and into her hands he gave authority to regulate every detail of the whole ceremony. She consulted the records kept at St. Denis, and from those and her own recollections she arranged one of the most splendid pageants known to history.
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The Queen went from Melun to St. Denis, where she stayed two days until the royal family and court were assembled. On Sunday, August 17th, at midday, the procession started for Paris. Isabeau, dressed in a silk robe covered with golden fleur-de-lis, was in a gorgeous open litter, followed by Queen Blanche, the Duchesses of Burgundy, Berry, and Bar, the Comtesse de Nevers, and the Dame de Coucy, all in their litters. The royal dukes on horseback surrounded the Queen’s litter, and among them rode Valentine, Duchesse de Touraine, on a horse covered with trappings embroidered with gold. Each litter was escorted by a troop of cavaliers, and burghers dressed in red and green, and mounted on horses with trappings of the same colours, lined the road from St. Denis to Paris, from the gates of which issued a brilliant crowd, shouting, “Vive le roi! Vive la reine! Noël! Noël!”
The cortège entered Paris by the Porte aux Peintres into the rue St. Denis, which was draped from top to bottom with crimson and green covered with gold stars. At every turn was some new spectacle. As Isabeau entered Paris she passed under an artificial sky, with clouds, stars, the three Persons of the Trinity, and a troop of children dressed like angels, two of whom descended singing a verse in her honour, and placed a crown of gold and jewels on her head; and as she passed over one of the bridges which had been covered with silken curtains, they were suddenly divided, and a man with another crown flew down a cord from the tower of Notre Dame, and flew up again with a lighted torch in each hand, which, as it was already getting dark, could be seen by all Paris. Wine was flowing all day and night from fountains and taps in the streets and carrefours; in open-air theatres plays and “mysteries” were acted, the houses were hung with rich stuffs and costly tapestries. The procession had stopped at St. Lazare, where the Queen put on her crown and the princesses and duchesses their coronets, the princes of the blood and nobles dismounting and ranging themselves by the litters of the Queen and ladies; then proceeding to Notre Dame they entered the church, made a short prayer, and went on to the Palais de la Cité, where they supped.[122]
Next day the King in his royal robes, scarlet mantle glittering with jewels, and crown on his head, entered the chapel of the Palais. The Queen, also covered with scarlet and jewels, and with her hair flowing on her shoulders, knelt before the altar, saluted the King, mounted on to a high dais covered with cloth of gold, and was anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Rouen.[123]
Then there was a splendid fête in the great hall of the Palais de la Cité, the most ancient of all the palaces of the Kings of France. This hall was considered one of the largest and finest in the world. It was paved with black and white marble and panelled and vaulted with wood, rows of columns went down it, decorated with gold and blue and adorned with the statues of the Kings of France; those who were distinguished and fortunate having their hands raised, while the hands of those who were bad rulers, weak, or unlucky hung down. At one end, going right down it, was an enormous table, so long, so wide, and so thick that it was said that never were there such huge blocks of marble as those of which it was composed. It stood there for hundreds of years, and was used for great banquets. At it dined only Emperors, Kings, and other Princes and Princesses of the blood royal, peers of France and their wives; the rest of the nobles and courtiers sat at other tables. This huge table was also used as a stage for the clercs de la Basoche for their plays and mummeries during two or three hundred years.[124]
It was very hot, and there was a great crowd at the joustes and banquet, the Queen and several of the ladies nearly fainted. The King ordered a barrier to be broken down to let in air, and the tables withdrawn (“levées”) to let them go out “without wine or spices” (dessert).
The King, who took no part in the entry, which was in honour of the Queen alone, had nevertheless managed to amuse himself very well, and had seen the whole spectacle in disguise. “Savoisy,” he said to his chamberlain, “I want you to get on a good horse, and I will get up behind you; we will disguise ourselves so that no one will know us, and go and see my wife’s entry.”[125]