In August the Duke of Burgundy was hastily summoned by the King and Queen to come to Paris and bring a strong body of men-at-arms who might be wanted, as there was a serious quarrel going on with the Duc de Bretagne, husband of their second daughter Jeanne; who had not only brought over[239] a number of English and made war on the Comtesse de Penthièvre, but had quarrelled with his wife because she opposed his proceedings, and was even said to have struck her. Her father and mother were, of course, much incensed at this, so they resolved to send the Duke of Burgundy and some of the other princes to attack and subdue him. Jean Sans-peur was all the more willing as the Comte de Penthièvre had married one of his daughters, so he came at once with his troops, and preparations were going on vigorously for the invasion of Bretagne; but the Duke, hearing of the indignation of his mother-in-law, “et de ceux qui gouvernoit le roi,” became so frightened that he came to Paris and made his submission. All the princes were very angry, and the Duc d’Orléans, his brother-in-law, told him that the lion in his heart was not bigger than that of a child of a year old.[240] In fact, he seems to have been what some in these days would call “well hustled,” and it would appear that the quarrel between him and the Princess Jeanne was made up. One may imagine that at any rate he must have altered his conduct as we find years after, that the Penthièvres having taken him prisoner and threatened his life, she persuaded her brother, the Dauphin, to forbid them to do him any injury, and taking up arms herself she besieged and took their castles and forced them to set him at liberty.
{1409}
The next calamity that happened was the death, at Blois, of the Princess Isabelle, Duchesse d’Orléans, in giving birth to her first child. The young duke was overwhelmed with grief, and the only consolation he seemed to find at first was in the infant daughter who survived.[241] In her “Life of Isabelle de Valois,” Miss Strickland declares that the second marriage of Isabelle had been an extremely happy one, and remarks upon the talents and virtues of the young Charles d’Orléans, the well-known poet, of whose despairing verses on the death of Isabelle she gives a translation, also of a later poem, which she declares to have been written on the same subject.[242] The young duke gave the rich dresses belonging to her to make vestments for the abbey of St. Denis, where prayers were said for her.
But none of the misfortunes that befel the royal family or the country stopped the gaieties of the court. The King was at the Palais for Christmas and sent for the Queen, who was at Vincennes, to come and join him and bring the Duc d’Aquitaine, who had hitherto remained under her care. The princes went to meet her and various splendid entertainments took place when she arrived. She formally gave the Duc d’Aquitaine into the care of the King, who appointed the Duke of Burgundy his governor. Nothing, however, could be done in council without consent of the Queen. The Ducs de Berry and Bourbon, disapproving of the overweening power of Jean Sans-peur, left Paris and retired to their châteaux.
Jeanne, Duchesse de Bretagne, who had a son in this year, was very anxious that her brother the Duc d’Aquitaine should come and attend her “lever.” He was not allowed to do so, but a seigneur was sent instead, with splendid jewels as presents for her.[243] The monk of St. Denis in his chronicle tells us that in the early part of July there was a strange omen in Hainault. Innumerable flocks of birds of prey assembled and fought in the air, as if leagued against each other. Storks, herons, and magpies attacked rooks, crows, and jays, and a fierce battle ended in the victory of the former, the ground being strewn with the bodies of the latter, and causing people “of learning and experience” to say that bloody battles would soon be going on.[244]
{1410}
It was a tolerably safe prediction to make at that time, more especially as the death of Louis had not, as the Duke of Burgundy supposed it would, annihilated the party of his opponents. On the contrary the Orléanists married the young Duke Charles, now a widower, to Bonne, daughter of Bernard, Comte d’Armagnac, one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom. He claimed descent from Clovis and had married a daughter of the Duc de Berry. Brave, liberal, unscrupulous, a faithful friend, and a relentless foe, he was the man chosen by the princes to take the leadership of the party which none of them were capable of holding themselves. From this time the name of the party changed from Orléanist to Armagnac, and the strife became fiercer and more desperate than it had ever been under the leadership of the more gentle, easy going Louis.
The royal family and court had sustained a great loss in the death of the Duc de Bourbon, who died in August, 1410, on his way to help the Armagnacs at the head of his troops, for he had never for an instant been persuaded to condone the murder of his nephew by the Duke of Burgundy. The lofty character and noble life of Louis II., Duc de Bourbon, stand out conspicuously amidst the corruption and depravity with which he was surrounded during his later years. When the court and rule of his brother-in-law and sister had fallen to his nephews, Isabeau, and the brothers of Charles V., the Duchesse de Bourbon withdrew from court and lived almost entirely with her children on their own estates in the Bourbonnais, where he also spent a great deal of his time, although obliged to be frequently at Paris and elsewhere with his nephews, to whom he was always a good friend and who were extremely fond of him. The only letter existing in the handwriting of Charles VI. is to him. As a son, brother, husband, father, soldier, statesman, and ruler, he was idolised, and after his death his funeral train, as it travelled through the country was followed by crowds of people weeping and lamenting. He had, with the consent of the Duchess, intended after this last expedition to retire to the monastery of the Céléstins at Vichy, and after his death two knotted cords were found under his clothes, which he wore secretly. He knew he could not recover, received the last sacraments and prayed constantly, dying peacefully at the age of seventy-three, leaving a stainless name and a heroic example.[245]
Meanwhile the dissensions amongst the different members of the royal family only increased. The marriage of the Duc d’Aquitaine with Marguérite de Bourgogne had turned out as badly as possible. He slighted and neglected her and made open love to other people. One of the ladies of the Queen’s household especially was his mistress, he wore her colours and device to the great indignation of the Duke of Burgundy, who took the part of his daughter. Isabeau seems to have done the same, for it is frequently mentioned that the Duchesse d’Aquitaine was with the Queen while the Duke was elsewhere.
{1412}