During the Hundred Years' War (see military section) the Town Council of Rheims, which the Treaty of Troyes in 1420 had placed under the domination of the English, declared in favour of Charles VII., in spite of the Duke of Burgundy, who was residing at Laon, and notwithstanding the intrigues of the Bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon, who, profiting by the absence of the archbishop, went so far as to have a Corpus Christi procession in the city, to call down the blessing of Heaven upon the English. On July 17th, 1429, Joan-of-Arc handed over the keys of the city to the king, and was present at the consecration, standing near the altar with her standard which, "after having been through much tribulation, was accounted worthy of a place of honour." Since the return of Charles VII. to Rheims, the city had never ceased to be French. After the departure of the king and Joan-of-Arc, a friend of Pierre Cauchon plotted to deliver the town into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, to whom the English promised it, provided he could take it. The plot was discovered and failed.
Under Louis XI. a serious revolt, known as the Micquemaque, broke out in the town. Louis, well received at the time of his consecration, had promised the people of Rheims (or so they believed) the abolition of the tax known as the "taille." When, therefore, in the following year, the collectors demanded payment, the people rose in revolt and drove them out.
THE OLD CASTLE OF THE ARCHBISHOPS OF RHEIMS, RAZED TO THE GROUND BY HENRI IV.
The Archbishops of Rheims were formerly powerful temporal lords (see page [4]).
As usual, the king had recourse to treachery. Disguised as peasants, his soldiers entered the city unperceived. Once inside, they arrested those who were most deeply compromised, and carried out violent reprisals. Houses were plundered, many of the inhabitants banished, and nine put to death.
During the War of Religion, Rheims sided with the Catholics.
Under the influence of the Guises, five of whom were archbishops of Rheims (notably Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, the protector of Rabelais and Ronsard, and founder of the University of Rheims in 1547), the town espoused the cause of the League and opened its gates to the Duc de Mayenne in 1585. It submitted to Henri IV. only after the battle of Ivry, when the Castle of Mars Gate (stronghold of the archbishops) was razed to the ground. Henceforth the archbishops played no political part, and Richelieu put an end to strife by turning the Guises out of the archi-episcopal see.
In the 17th and 18th centuries the town lived in peace, with alternations of misery and suffering (caused by plague or famine) and commercial and industrial prosperity. It was at Rheims that the first French newspaper, the "Gazette de France," printed by Godard in 1694, appeared.
During the Revolution, Rheims received the new ideas with enthusiasm. It furnished a great number of volunteers to withstand the invasion, and on August 14th, 1792, the Legislative Assembly proclaimed that the city "had deserved well of the country."
Under the Restoration its industry developed. In August, 1830, the people, who were favourably to the Revolution of July, overturned the cross of the "Calvaire de la Mission," erected in 1821 by the ultra-Catholic party, and in its place set up a funeral urn with the inscription, "To the brave men who died for liberty on the 27th, 28th and 29th days of July, 1830." The population accepted the monarchy of July, but without enthusiasm.