Last Sunday evening I went to St. Oren's parish church, to assist at the month of Mary. On each side of the pulpit is a large statue. One is of Moses, the Hebrew lawgiver, with two horns. He is often represented so by the old masters, because the same word which expresses the brightness of his face when he descended from the mount, may also be rendered horns. They give him a comical look, any thing but saint-like. Such a statue would seem more suitable, to my unaccustomed eyes, for some rural spot. Then it would look like some link between man and the lower animals, and so have some claims to our sympathy.
I went into the sacristy to see the ivory horn said to have been used by St. Oren, in the fifth century, to call the people to the holy mysteries. It was still used, last century, during Holy Week. It is curiously carved in the Byzantine style, with leaves, birds, beasts, etc., upon it. It is popularly believed to have the power of restoring hearing to the deaf. In the sacristy was an old statue of St. Jago in a pilgrim's garb. In former times there was a hospice in this city for the reception of pilgrims to his shrine at Compostella.
In making some excavations in our grounds, where once were the cloisters of the monks, the workmen have found many old graves, and also some curiosities. The other day a marble slab was found, on which is a Latin inscription in quaint old characters, stating that it was erected by Amaneus II., an archbishop of this diocese in the thirteenth century. Beneath the inscription was carved a cross, on one side of which was a crosier, and on the other a leopard lion, the cognizance of the house of Armagnac. It bore the date of 1288. The said Amaneus was of the celebrated house of Armagnac, the head of which founded this priory. I should not be a true daughter of the house did I not, with pious memory, love to recall our benefactors, for, replacing the old monks, we take upon ourselves their sweet debt of gratitude. I will give you, then, an outline of this once proud family, that you may share all our glorious memories.
The counts of Armagnac descended from the Merovingian race of kings. They were connected by marriage with the proudest families of Europe, and at one time they gave their name to a faction of France against the Burgundians. Their proud name and royal blood were fit to merge again into a race of kings. The first Count d'Armagnac was Bernard le Louche, who, through Charibert, sovereign of Toulouse and Aquitaine, descended from Clotaire II. Count Bernard was distinguished for his piety and his benefactions to the church. The third count of Armagnac divested himself of his worldly goods, and became a monk of the order of St. Benedict.
The famous contest of the Armagnacs with the house of Foix began in the time of Bernard VI., the twelfth count. The pope in vain endeavored to reconcile them. Philippe of Navarre finally decided their differences, and peace was declared in 1329. The war was renewed some years after, in the time of Count John, who was taken prisoner, and had to pay a ransom of one thousand livres.
Count Bernard VII. is the most famous of the Armagnacs. He was the fifteenth count. His daughter Bonne married Charles, Duke of Orleans, then only nineteen years of age, and the son of the Duc d'Orléans who was killed by Jean-sans-peur, Duke of Burgundy. Count Bernard became, by the youth of his son-in-law, the head of the Orleans faction against the Burgundians. He was made constable of France in 1415. To the dignity of supreme commander of the army was added in a short time that of prime minister. Descended from the old French monarchs, he had great sway in the south of France, and was one of the greatest warriors of his age. He displayed remarkable talents in remedying the frightful evils which broke out throughout the kingdom. His efforts would doubtless have been successful, had he not had to struggle against the Burgundian party. By his experience and firmness he established discipline among his troops, and kept them constantly ready for action. Active, intrepid, gifted with a bold and elevated character, he became a fearful rival for Jean-sans-peur.
The numerous partisans of the latter, having succeeded in deceiving the vigilance of the constable, introduced the Burgundian troops into Paris in the middle of the night. The massacre of the principal royalists was the consequence, and the Count of Armagnac himself was slaughtered in the most frightful manner, on the 12th of June, 1418, in the fiftieth year of his age. He was concealed in the house of a mason. The Burgundians threatening the partisans of the Armagnacs with death and confiscation, the mason treacherously denounced his guest, who was immediately imprisoned in the conciergerie, amid the imprecations of a multitude of his enemies. Forcing themselves into the prison, they slew the count. In their fury they cut off a piece of his skin, two inches wide, from the right shoulder to the left side, in ridicule of the scarf which was the distinguishing badge of the Armagnacs. He was buried at St. Martin des Champs.
His successor, Count John IV., greatly aided Charles VII. against the English, but finally offended him by desiring to marry the daughter of the King of England, and by styling himself, "by the grace of God, Count of Armagnac," though his ancestors had used the expression for six centuries.
The haughty pretensions of the counts of Armagnac were the cause of their final ruin. King Louis XI., ever jealous of the claims of the nobility, decreed the downfall of their house. Count John V. was besieged at Lectoure, and obliged to capitulate. The soldiers entered the palace, ascended to the count's chamber, and slew him on the first Saturday in Lent, 1473. At the third blow he died, invoking the Virgin. All the people of Lectoure were massacred, and for two months wolves were the only inhabitants of the place. The lands of Count John were united to the crown of France. His brother Charles, who had been kept prisoner for fifteen years, was finally restored to liberty, and to the possession of the Comté d'Armagnac in 1483. He married Jane of Foix, who had no children; but he left a natural son, the Baron de Caussade, whose only son, George d'Armagnac, embraced the ecclesiastical state, and became a cardinal. He was the last of the male line of the Armagnacs.
The Comté d'Armagnac was afterward given by Louis XII. as the dowry of his niece, Margaret of Valois, when she married Charles d'Alençon, the grandson of Marie d'Armagnac, daughter of Count John IV. Charles dying without children, Margaret married Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, who descended from a daughter of Count Bernard VII. of Armagnac. Henri Quatre, King of France, was their grandson, and from his time the Comté d'Armagnac has been permanently united to the crown.