For Charles VI. was in a much worse state of health than he had been at the time of the attack on Clisson, and though he was transported with sorrow and indignation and swore vengeance upon the murderers, he almost immediately fell into one of his fits of madness, and when he got better he was so confused and weak as to be unable to take any decided measures. The Queen had implored him to punish the assassins, but she had no power to do so when he was again mad, and, fearing for her own safety, she left Paris with the Duke of Aquitaine, his wife, her other children and her brother, and took up her abode at Melun with them.[225] The other members of the royal family were afraid of the Duke of Burgundy,[226] who besides his violent character and immense power, could easily have endangered France by throwing in his lot with the English, who were carrying on the war, notwithstanding the absurd injustice of the claim they put forward to the crown of France.
{1407}
It will be remembered that, as was explained in the former volume,[227] Edward III. of England claimed that throne through his mother, Isabella, daughter of Philippe IV., and persisted in it, although it was finally decided that the Valois, as nearest heirs male, descending from Charles, brother of that King, were the lawful possessors of the throne ascending to the loi salique or Salic law, which henceforward was adopted by the country; and notwithstanding the existence of daughters and grandsons through them, who would have come before the sister of the then last Kings, Louis Hutin, Philippe-le-Long and Charles-le-Bel, supposing the female line to have been admitted at all.
But Henry IV. had still less pretensions than Edward III., for he was not the lawful heir even of the English King. If, as has been shown, the claim of King Edward was an unjust one, of course he had no ground to stand upon. If, on the other hand, it were a just one, then it would belong, not to the descendant of his third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, but to the Mortimers, who descended by the female line from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, his second son, Richard II., son of the Black Prince, having left no children. In fact, the Mortimers were the right heirs to the crown of England.[228]
However, the English were still a very serious danger for France, and the Duke of Burgundy would have been an invaluable ally, whom, in consequence, they did not dare to drive to desperation. And as he always posed as a friend of the people when he wanted to injure Louis d’Orléans, who was supposed to be their chief oppressor, he was very popular with the credulous mob, who did not, after the first horror caused by the assassination of the King’s brother, trouble themselves much about it, but said, alluding to the knotted stick which had been the emblem of Orléans, and the plane of Burgundy, “Le bâton noueux est enfin raboté.”[229]
Louis d’Orléans had been buried with great solemnity in the Chapelle d’Orléans of the Céléstins, all the princes of the blood, including his murderer, attending in white mantles, the day before the council at which the Duke of Burgundy had owned his guilt. Valentine was still in the country when the news was brought to her, with her children. Overwhelmed with grief, she sent her daughter and her two eldest boys, the young Duc d’Orléans and the Comte de Vertus, for safety, to the strong castle of Blois, and with her youngest son and her daughter-in-law, the Princess Isabelle, she set off, in spite of the fearful cold, to Paris, where they arrived on December 10th, went to the hôtel St. Paul, threw themselves at the feet of the King, who had got better again, and implored justice on the murderer. Charles received his daughter and sister-in-law with kindness and affection, and promised all they asked, but early in January another of his attacks came on, and Valentine seeing that nothing could be done and not thinking herself safe, as the Duke of Burgundy seemed all powerful at Paris where he had returned amid the acclamations of the mob, retired to Blois, and fortified herself there with her children.[230]
{1408}
The great frost broke up and the melting of the snow and ice swelled the rivers into frightful torrents, carrying away houses, trees, and cattle. The monk of St. Denis says that he saw in the Seine masses of ice three hundred feet long dashing against each other, destroying boats and bridges. At Paris, on the second day of the thaw, the pont St. Michel was swept away, with all the houses on it, and so was a wooden bridge on the other branch of the Seine. Much it was feared that the Grand Pont also would give way, as it shook terribly with the icicles, but only fourteen shops fell. The roads were impassable by reason of the rocks and trees with which they were covered by the floods. Many mills were destroyed, and the price of bread rose. The King ordered all bakers to sell flour at the same price, but great distress prevailed, and no one alive had ever seen such a winter.[231]
About May the Princess Marie took the perpetual vows at Poissy, in presence of the King, Queen, and court.
The King went to Melun to visit the Queen, who had sent for the provost of Paris and made him tell her all that had been done there, and found that the Duke of Burgundy had been trying to throw upon her the same suspicions of magic that he had formerly done upon the Duchesse d’Orléans. He had now left Paris, and Isabeau, greatly incensed, resolved to return there in state. Charles was taken ill again the day after his visit to Melun, and Isabeau sent for several of the princes, including Berry, Bourbon, Alençon, and the young Duc de Bretagne, husband of her second daughter Jeanne, and went to Paris escorted by them, in a gilded coach, the Dauphin Louis, who was usually called Duc d’Aquitaine, riding in the procession for the first time, with a guard of three thousand men in armour. Proclamations were issued that any one misbehaving or causing any disturbance would be imprisoned in the Châtelet, which was indeed no desirable place of abode.[232]