Deeds of Daring Done by Girls

by N. Hudson Moore

Little Jacqueline was no exception to the rule, and before she was quite five years old was formally betrothed to John, Duke of Tourraine, second son of Charles the Sixth of France, called the “Well-beloved.”

The betrothal of Jacqueline to her bridegroom of nine years old took place in the old French town of Compiègne, where both the French and Dutch courts were present. The fine old palace with its great number of rooms was elegantly furnished for the occasion, and the little Jacqueline had in her company Staes, Jan, and Hans, her drummer, piper, and trumpeter! Now these were very important personages in those times,—they amused the company when there was nothing else to be done, they had their duties among the soldiers; and in some of the old papers which are still preserved, and which show the expenses of this betrothal down to the last groot, it is duly set down that Staes, Jan, and Hans are each to have six French crowns to cover their travelling expenses. This would be equal to about nine dollars of our money.

Neither of the fathers of the two children was present at the betrothal, for King Charles had one of his attacks of insanity, and Count William had been bitten by a dog, and was not able to be there, either.

But the mothers had seen to it that nothing was lacking to make the ceremony a handsome one. The Dutch expense account tells of new clothes for everybody connected with Jacqueline, even those who had to stay at home having wedding garments and fine new hat-bands.

When the betrothal ceremonies were over, the young bridegroom was handed over to Jacqueline’s mother, and the two children were taken home to Holland to be brought up together.

From time to time they had presents sent to them from their subjects, which seem more like taxes than free gifts, and which were duly set down in the archives. For instance, there were fish and wine for John, and there were many ells of “very fine cloth of silk” for Madam Jake. They had a special dispensation sent them, too, so that they could eat meat on fast-days; and this dispensation was extended also to the napkin-bearer, the cook, and ten other servants who had to taste the dishes beforehand.

You see, our Jacqueline lived in the days when people were sometimes poisoned by their enemies, so that royalty had “tasters,” who ate of every dish before it was placed on the table for their Majesties to eat, and if the tasters did not suffer, why then it was deemed safe for their masters to eat.

Notwithstanding all these things, the children passed many happy years studying French, English, and Latin, and in hunting, hawking, riding on horseback, playing tennis and ball, and, best of all, in skating on the long winding canals. Perhaps they skated the “Dutch Roll,” and Hans, Staes, and Jan went along too, to make things merry with the fife, trumpet, and drum. These were their pleasures. It was a more solemn matter when they had to learn how to rule their kingdoms and subjects, for the little bridegroom stood next but one to the great throne of France, and Jacqueline was heir to her father’s kingdom.

They were married in 1415, when Jacqueline was fourteen years old.

Two years later, her young husband, who, by the death of his elder brother, had become Dauphin and heir to the throne of France, died. The poor lad breathed his last at Compiègne, in the very palace where he had been betrothed, whether by poison or from getting overheated at tennis, none can say, but at any rate while he was away from his wife and from his family.