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From Chronicles of England, France and Spain and the Surrounding Countries, by Sir John Froissart, Translated from the French Editions with Variations and Additions from Many Celebrated MSS, by Thomas Johnes, Esq; London: William Smith, 1848. pp. 240-250.
WHEN the king of Navarre had been some time in Paris, he collected an assembly of all sorts of people; prelates, knights, and the students at the university. He made to them a very long and studied harangue in Latin. The duke of Normandy was likewise present. He complained of the grievances and ills he had unjustly suffered, and said, that no one could possibly entertain a doubt but that his sole wish must be to live and die defending the realm and crown of France. It was his duty so to do; for he was descended from it, in a direct line, both by father and mother; and by his words he gave them to understand, that if he chose to challenge the realm and crown of France for himself, he could show that his right to them was incontestably stronger than that of the king of England.
It must be observed, that he was heard with great attention, and much commended. Thus, by little and little, he won the hearts of the Parisians, who loved and respected him more than they did the regent, duke of Normandy. Many other cities and towns in France followed this example; but, notwithstanding all the love and affection which the provost of merchants and the Parisians showed to the king of Navarre, the lord Philip de Navarre would not be seduced by it, or consent to come to Paris. He said, that in commonalties there was neither dependance nor union, except in the destruction of everything good.
SOON after the deliverance of the king of Navarre out of prison, a marvellous and great tribulation befel the kingdom of France, in Beauvoisis, Brie, upon the river Marne, in the Laonnois, and in the neighbourhood of Soissons. Some of the inhabitants of the country towns assembled together in Beauvoisis, without any leader: they were not at first more than one hundred men. They said, that the nobles of the kingdom of France, knights, and squires, were a disgrace to it, and that it would be a very meritorious act to destroy them all: to which proposition every one assented, as a truth, and added, shame befal him that should be the means of preventing the gentlemen from being wholly destroyed. They then, without further council, collected themselves in a body, and with no other arms than the staves shod with iron, which some had, and others with knives, marched to the house of a knight who lived near, and breaking it open, murdered the knight, his lady, and all the children, both great and small; they then burnt the house.
After this, their second expedition was to the strong castle of another knight, which they took, and, having tied him to a stake, many of them violated his wife and daughter before his eyes: they then murdered the lady, her daughter, and the other children, and last of all the knight himself, with much cruelty. They destroyed and burnt his castle. They did the like to many castles and handsome houses; and their numbers increased so much, that they were in a short time upwards of six thousand: wherever they went, they received additions, for all of their rank in life followed them, whilst every one else fled, carrying off with them their ladies, damsels, and children, ten or twenty leagues distant, where they thought they could place them in security, leaving their houses, with all their riches in them.
These wicked people, without leader and without arms, plundered and burnt all the houses they came to, murdered every gentleman, and violated every lady and damsel they could find. He who committed the most atrocious actions, and such as no human creature would have imagined, was the most applauded, and considered as the greatest man among them. I dare not write the horrible and inconceivable atrocities they committed on the persons of the ladies.
Among other infamous acts, they murdered a knight; and having fastened him to a spit, roasted him before the eyes of his wife and his children, and, after ten or twelve had violated her, they forced her to eat some of her husband’s flesh, and then knocked her brains out. 241 They had chosen a king among them, who came from Clermont in Beauvoisis: he was elected as the worst of the bad, and they denominated him James Goodman*. These wretches burnt and destroyed in the country of Beauvoisis, and at Corbie, Amiens, and Montdidier, upwards of sixty good houses and strong castles. By the acts of such traitors in the country of Brie and thereabout, it behoved every lady, knight, and squire, having the means of escape, to fly to Meaux, if they wished to preserve themselves from being insulted, and afterwards murdered. The duchess of Normandy, the duchess of Orleans, and many other ladies, had adopted this course to save themselves from violation. These cursed people thus supported themselves in the countries between Paris, Noyon, and Soissons, and in all the territory of Coucy in the county of Valois. In the bishoprics of Noyon, Laon, and Soissons, there were upwards of one hundred castles and good houses of knights and squires destroyed.
* Jacques Bon Homme.
WHEN the gentlemen of Beauvoisis, Corbie, Vermandois, and of the lands where these wretches were associated, saw to what lengths their madness had extended, they sent for succour to their friends in Flanders, Hainault, and Bohemia: from which places numbers soon came, and united themselves with the gentlemen of the country. They began therefore to kill and destroy these wretches wherever they met them, and hung them up by troops on the nearest trees. The king of Navarre even destroyed in one day, near Clermont in Beauvoisis, upwards of three thousand: but they were by this time so much increased in number, that had they been altogether, they would have amounted to more than one hundred thousand. When they were asked for what reason they acted so wickedly; they replied, they knew not, but they did so because they saw others do it; and they thought that by this means they should destroy all the nobles and gentlemen in the world.
At this period, the duke of Normandy, suspecting the king of Navarre, the provost of merchants and those of his faction, for they were always unanimous in their sentiments, set out from Paris, and went to the bridge at Charenton-upon-Marne, where he issued a special summons for the attendance of the crown vassals, and sent a defiance to the provost of merchants, and to all those who should support him. The provost, being fearful he would return in the night-time to Paris (which was then uninclosed), collected as many workmen as possible from all parts, and employed them to make ditches quite round Paris. He also surrounded it by a wall with strong gates. For the space of one year, there were three hundred workmen daily employed; the expense of which was equal to maintaining an army. I must say, that to surround, with a sufficient defence, such a city as Paris, was an act of greater utility than any provost of merchants had ever done before; for otherwise it would have been plundered and destroyed several times by the different factions.
AT the time these wicked men were overrunning the country, the earl of Foix and his cousin the captal of Buch were returning from a croisade in Prussia*. They were informed, on their entering France of the distress the nobles were in; and they learnt at the city of Chalons, that the duchess of Normandy, the duchess of Orleans, and three hundred other ladies, under the protection of the duke of Orleans, were fled to Meaux on account of these disturbances. The two knights resolved to go to the assistance of these ladies, and to reinforce them with all their might, notwithstanding the captal was attached to the English; 242 but at that time there was a truce between the two kings. They might have in their company about sixty lances. They were most cheerfully received, on their arrival at Meaux, by the ladies and damsels; for these Jacks and peasants of Brie had heard what number of ladies, married and unmarried, and young children of quality, were in Meaux: they had united themselves with those of Valois, and were on their road thither. On the other hand, those of Paris had also been informed of the treasures Meaux contained, and had set out from that place in crowds: having met the others, they amounted together to nine thousand men: their forces were augmenting every step they advanced.
They came to the gates of the town, which the inhabitants opened to them, and allowed them to enter: they did so in such numbers that all the streets were quite filled, as far as the market-place, which is tolerably strong, but it required to be guarded, though the river Marne nearly surrounds it. The noble dames who were lodged there, seeing such multitudes rushing towards them, were exceedingly frightened. On this, the two lords and their company advanced to the gate of the market-place, which they had opened, and marching under the banners of the earl of Foix and duke of Orleans, and the pennon of the captal of Buch, posted themselves in front of this peasantry, who were badly armed. When these banditti perceived such a troop of gentlemen, so well equipped, sally forth to guard the market-place, the foremost of them began to fall back. The gentlemen then followed them, using their lances and swords. When they felt the weight of their blows, they, through fear, turned about so fast, they fell one over the other. All manner of armed persons then rushed out of the barrier, drove them before them, striking them down like beasts, and clearing the town of them; for they kept neither regularity nor order, slaying so many that 243 they were tired. They flung them in great heaps into the river. In short, they killed upwards of seven thousand. Not one would have escaped, if they had chosen to pursue them further.
On the return of the men at arms, they set fire to the town of Meaux, burnt it; and all the peasants they could find were shut up in it, because they had been of the party of the Jacks. Since this discomfiture which happened to them at Meaux, they never collected again in any great bodies; for the young Enguerrand de Coucy† had plenty of gentlemen under his orders, who destroyed them, wherever they could be met with, without mercy‡.
* Barnes says that the lord Fauconbridge was with them, and quotes Dugdale, vol. ii. p. 4; but I do not see that he mentions any thing relative to this matter, except that he made a voyage to the Holy Land.
† Enguerrand de Coucy was one of the hostages given by France to England, at the treaty for the liberty of king John.
Edward, to attach him to his interest, married him to Isabella his second daughter, and gave him very large possessions in England. He erected the barony of Bedford into an earldom in is favour.
For further particulars relating to Enguerrand de Coucy, see M. de Zurlauben’s memoir, in the xxvth vol. of the Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, p. 168.
‡ Barnes says, that “their captain, James the Goodman, being here taken alive, was sent to the dauphin, who, understanding that he had assumed the name of a king, caused him to be crowned with a trivet, or the three-legged frame of an iron-skillet, red hot, and so to be hanged, in requital for his barbarous cruelties.”
NOT long after this event, the duke of Normandy assembled many noblemen and gentlemen, as well those of his own kingdom as from the empire, by means of subsidies. They might amount, in the whole, to more than three thousand lances. With this force he marched to lay siege to Paris, towards the suburbs of St. Antoine, along the river Seine. He took up his quarters at St. Maur*, and encamped his army in that neighbourhood; whence he made excursions with it every day towards Paris. Sometimes the duke resided at Charenton, at others at St. Maur.
Nothing could enter Paris, by land or water, on that side; for the duke had possission of the two rivers, Marne and Seine: his people had burnt all the villages round Paris, which were not inclosed, in order to chastise mores severely the Parisians. Paris itself would have been destroyed if it had not been fortified, as before related; and no one dared to enter or go out of it, for fear of the duke’s army, who scoured both sides of the Seine as they pleased, for none ventured to oppose them. The provost of merchants still continued his attachment to the king of Navarre as strong as ever; as did the council and commonalty of Paris; and, as before said, he employed people night and day the more strongly to fortify the city. He had also a large body of men at arms, Navarre soldiers and English archers, and other companions with him. There were among the inhabitants some very determined and able men, such as John Maillart, his brother Symon, and many of their relations, by whom he was very much disliked on account of his hatred to the duke of Normandy; but the provost had attached to himself such a strong party, that no one dared to contradict him, unless he wished to be murdered without mercy.
The king of Navarre, who was acquainted with all this variance between the duke of Normandy and the Parisian’s justly imagined, that things could not long continue in their present state; nor had he any very great confidence in the commonalty of Paris: he therefore quitted Paris as handsomely as he could, and went to St. Denis, where there was a large body of men at arms in the pay of the Parisians. In this position, the king remained for six weeks, and the duke at Charenton. The two armies pillaged and ruined the country on all sides. The archbishop of Sens, the bishop of Auxerre, the bishop of Beauvais, the lord of Montmorency, the lord of Fiennes and the lord de St. Venant, undertook to mediate between them. They managed so wisely with both parties, that the king of Navarre, of his own free will and accord, went to the duke, his brother-in-law, at Charenton, and made excuses for having given him cause of suspicion. First, for the death of the two marshals and master Simon de Buci; also for the insult which the provost of the merchants had offered to him in his own palace at Paris, which he swore had been done without his knowledge. He promised the duke to remain with him at all events, during this expedition. 244 Upon this peace was made between them. The king of Navarre added, that he would have the Parisians corrected for the evil deeds they had committed. The commonalty were to be included in this peace; but the duke was to have the provost of the merchants delivered up to him, and twelve of the citizens, according to his choice, to punish in what manner he should think best.
These things being settled, the king of Navarre returned to St. Denis, and the duke went to Meaux in Brie, where he dismissed his army. Some of the citizens of Paris, to whom the treaty had given more freedom to speak their minds, intreated the duke to return to Paris in all security, and that they would pay him every honour in their power. The duke answered, “that he should consider the peace as good, having sworn to it; that it should never, with God’s permission, be infringed by him; but that he would never again enter Paris, unless he had satisfaction from those who had insulted him.” The provost of the merchants, and those of his faction, frequently visited the king of Navarre at St. Denis: they remonstrated with him on the indignation of the duke, which they had incurred on his account (for they had delivered him out of prison and brought him to Paris), and that in the name of God, they would not place any confidence in the duke, nor in his council.
The king replied: “Be assured, gentlemen and friends, that you shall not suffer any ills without my partaking of them; and, as you have at present the government of Paris, I would advise you to provide yourselves with gold and silver, so that, if there should be any necessity, you may know where to find it, and sent it confidentially here to me at St. Denis, trusting to my faith: I will take good care of it, and will keep secretly a body of men at arms, and other companions, with whom, in case of need, you may make war upon your enemies.” The provost of the merchants followed this advice; and thrice† every week afterwards, he conducted two horses laden with florins to the king of Navarre at St. Denis, who most cheerfully received them.
* Probably St. Maur des-Fossez, in the Isle of France.
† Lord Berners and D. Sauvage say twice. — ED.
THERE had remained in Paris a great number of the English and Navarre soldiers, whom the provost and commonalty of Paris had in their pay, to assist them against the duke of Normandy, and very loyally and well had they served them during the time the war lasted. When the treaty was concluded between the duke and the Parisians, some of these soldiers left Paris, others remained. Those that quitted it went to the king of Navarre, who retained them all, but there were left behind in Paris about three hundred, who enjoyed themselves and spent their money cheerfully. There happened, however, a quarrel between them and the inhabitants, when upwards of sixty English were slain. The provost was exceedingly angry at this, and blamed the Parisians highly; but, to appease the commonalty, he seized one hundred and fifty of the English, whom he confined over three gates, and told the Parisians, who were so much incensed that they wanted to murder them, that he would have them punished, according to their deserts, which satisfied them. When night came, the provost set them at liberty to go where they pleased; they went to St. Denis to the king of Navarre, who accepted their services.
In the morning, when the Parisians found that the English were let out of prison, they were much enraged against the provost; but he, who was a prudent and wise man, knew well how to dissemble what part he had in it, and to turn it off, so that it was soon forgotten. When these soldiers, English and Navarrois, were all collected together at St. Denis, they were upwards of three hundred. They resolved to be revenged for the murder of their companions and the insults they themselves had sustained. They first sent a challenge to the Parisians, and then made war upon them, cutting off and slaying all those who issued out of the town, so that no one dared to venture beyond the gates. The provost of the merchants was, upon this, required to arm a part of the commonalty, and take the field, for they were desirous of fighting these English. He complied with their request, 245 and said he would accompany them. He armed, therefore, a body of the Parisians, and marched out, to the number of twelve hundred, who, when they were in the plains, were informed that the English they were in search of were in the neighbourhood of St. Cloud. Upon this intelligence, they divided themselves in two bodies, and took separate roads. These two parties were on their march all that day round Montmartre, but did not meet their enemies.
It chanced that the provost had the smallest division, and, after searching all about, entered Paris by St. Martin’s gate, without having done any thing. The other division, who were ignorant of the return of the provost, kept the field until vespers, when they began their retreat, but without any regular order, like those who did not look for or expect any hindrance. They came back in crowds quite fatigued; some carried their helmets in their hands, others slung them round their necks; some dragged their swords after them on the ground, while others hung theirs on their shoulders. They had taken their road so as to enter Paris by the gate of St. Honoré*, when suddenly they came upon the English, to the amount of four hundred, in a hollow road, who, upon seeing them, began to shout, “Here are the Frenchmen!” and fell upon them, which made them fly in every direction. At the first onset, there were upwards of two hundred overthrown. The French, who had not kept any order in their march, were so much astonished that they never thought of rallying, but made the best of their way to escape, and were killed in their flight like so many sheep. There were upwards of six hundred slain in this pursuit; they were followed even beyond the barriers of Paris. The commonalty of Paris threw all the blame of this accident on the provost of the merchants, and said that he had betrayed them. On the next morning, the near relations and friends of those that had been slain issued out of Paris with cars and carts, to seek for the bodies of the dead to bury them: but the English had placed an ambuscade near the field of battle, when they killed and wounded more than six score of them.
The Parisians were thrown into great trouble and dismay, for they did not know whom to trust. They were night and day under much alarm, for the king of Navarre was grown cold in his proffered assistance to support them, on account of the peace which he had sworn to the duke of Normandy, and also for the outrage which the Parisians had committed on the English soldiers: he connived, therefore, at the chastisement they had received. On the other hand, the duke of Normandy was much enraged, that the provost of the merchants should still keep the government of Paris. The provost and his faction were not quite at their ease; for the Parisians, as they were well informed, despised them exceedingly.
* At that period, the gate of St. Honoré was near the Quinze-Vingts. — Mémoires de l’Académie, tom. xvii. p. 696.
THE provost and those of his party held many secret councils among themselves, to consider in what manner they could best keep their authority. They knew they should not find mercy from the duke of Normandy, whose general answer to the Parisians was, that he would never make peace with them, until twelve persons from Paris should be given up to him, according to his choice, for him to deal with as he pleased. This declaration had very much alarmed the provost and his friends; they thought it preferable to remain alive in good prosperity than to be destroyed, and that it was much better to slay than to be slain. They entered, therefore, into a secret treaty with the English, to continue on the war against Paris. It was agreed upon between them, that the provost and his friends should be posted over the gates of St. Honoré and St. Anthony, so that the English and Navarrois might together enter Paris at midnight, properly prepared to ruin and destroy the town, except such parts where signals should be placed at the doors or windows: wherever this signal was not found, they were to put men and women to the sword.
The night on which this enterprise was to take place, God shewed his mercy to some of the citizens who had always been attached to the duke, that is to say, John Maillart, 246 his brother Symon, and many others, who by divine inspiration (as one may well suppose it) gained information that Paris was to be sacked and destroyed. They therefore armed themselves secretly, made all their party do the same, and whispered their suspicions abroad, in order to acquire more help. They all came properly armed, a little before midnight, to the gate of St. Anthony, where they found the provost of the merchants with the keys of the gate in his hand. Upon this, John Maillart said to him, calling him by his name; “Stephen, what do you here at this time of night?” The provost replied; “John, why do you ask it? I am here to take care of, and to guard the city, of which I have the government.” “By God,” answered John, “things shall not go on so: you are not here at this hour for any good, which I will now shew you,” addressing himself to those near him. “for see how he has got the keys of the gate in his hand, to betray the city.” The provost said, “John, you lie.” John replied, “It is you, Stephen, who lie;” and rushing on him, cried to his people, “Kill them, kill them: now strike home, for they are all traitors.” There was a very great bustle; and the provost would gladly have escaped, but John struck him such a blow with his axe on the head, that he felled him to the ground, although he was his comrade, and never left him until he had killed him. Six others, who were present, were also killed: the remainder were carried to prison. They then put themselves in motion, and awakened every one in the different streets of Paris.
John Maillart and his party went to the gate of St. Honoré, where they found those of the provost’s faction, whom they accused of treason, and whose excuses were of no avail. Many of them were taken, and sent to different prisons: those who would not suffer themselves to be made prisoners, were slain without mercy. This same night, all those who were inculpated in the treason, for which the provost had been slain, were taken in their beds; for those who had been sent to prison had confessed the fact. On the morrow morning, John Maillart assembled the greater part of the commonalty of Paris in the market-place; where, having mounted a scaffold, he explained, in general terms, his reasons for having killed the provost of the merchants. All those who had been of the faction of the provost were then condemned to die by the elders of the commonalty, and were accordingly executed with various tortures.
These things done, John Maillart, who was much in the Parisians’ favour, and some of the elders attached to him, sent Symon Maillart and two masters in Parliament, sir John Alphonso, and master John Pastorel, to the duke of Normandy, who resided at Charenton. They related to the duke the event that had happened in Paris, and besought him to return thither to direct and counsel the city henceforwards, as all his adversaries were slain. The duke replied, that he would willingly comply with their request. He accordingly came to Paris, attended by sir Arnold d’Andreghen, the lord of Roye, with many other knights, and took up his lodging in the Louvre*.
* All this chapter I have translated from my copy printed on vellum, which is conformable to Denys Sauvage’s edition, and to lord Berners’ translation: but, on comparing it with two of my manuscripts, there is a very great difference; they are perfectly similar in the text to the three manuscripts mentioned by M. Dacier in his memoir, “To whom ought to be attributed the glory of the revolution which saved Paris during the captivity of king John?” — Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, &c., vol. xliii. p. 563.
M. Dacier proves very clearly, that John Maillart, so far from being the hero who saved his country, was a rebel, and connected with the provost; that the regent, on that account, confiscated the property which John Maillart had in the county of Dampmartin, and gave to John de Chastilson, earl of Porcien, and his heirs for ever, on account of the services he had rendered, and was still rendering to the king, a rent charge of five hundred livres of this confiscated property in Dampmartin and elsewhere. — Extracted from the Trésor des Chartres — Registro 86, piece 142.
M. Dacier continues: “If this piece should leave any doubts upon the want of exactness in the narration of Froissart, I hope to be able to show, that the commonly-received narration is not the true text. I believe I have found this text in three manuscripts in the king’s library, two of which are perhaps the most ancient and authentic that exist in any library. One, numbered 8318, has a date, which marks its age; upon one of the leaves of vellum, as the beginning, is written:
“ ‘This is a part of the chronicles done by master John Froissart, a Hainaulter, from the time of king Charles IV., of the wars between France and England; which chronicles master William Boisratier, master of requests of the king’s palace, one of his counsellors, and counsellor also to the duke of Berry his lord, gave to the aforesaid duke his lord, in his hotel de Neelle, the 8th day of November in the year 1407.’ — Signed FLAMEL.
“The manuscript cannot be later than this date: and one may see by the signature of W. Boisratier, which is on a leaf of parchment pasted on the inside of the cover, that he had been owner of it some time before he presented it to the duke of Berry; so that it may, without difficulty, be estimated as having been written the latter end of the 14th century. The second manuscript is so perfectly conformable to the first in the quality of the vellum, the colour of the ink, and the form of the letters, that it clearly belongs to the same period.”
M. Dacier does not believe these manuscripts copied from the same original, nor from each other. He then goes on to the
“Third manuscript, numbered 6760, which is less ancient. It appears to have been written towards the middle of the 15th century. In comparing it with the two preceding, I have found some differences that prove it is not a copy from them. This forms a third testimony in favour of the new text of Froissart. As this text has never been published, I shall transcribe the whole chapter, except the first twenty lines, in which the historian lays down the plan of the conspiracy of Marcel similar to what is in the printed editions.
“That very night which was to disclose all this mischief, (that is to say, the destruction of Paris,) God inspired and alarmed some of the citizens of Paris, who were and ever had been attached to the duke of Normandy, of whom sir Pepin des Essarts, and sir John de Charny were the leaders; and these were, as we may suppose, informed by divine inspiration that Paris was to be overrun and destroyed. They soon armed themselves, made all those of their party do the same, and secretly spread abroad their intelligence in different quarters, that they might have more assistance. This sir Pepin then set out, with many other determined companions, well armed. Sir Pepin displayed the banner of France, crying out Au Roi and Au Duc, followed by crowds of people, until they came to the gate of St. Anthony, where they found the provost of the merchants, holding the keys in his hands.
“Sir John Maillart was likewise there, who, having had that day a dispute with the provost and with Josseran de Mascon, had joined the party of the duke of Normandy. The provost was severely taunted by words and arguments; and there was such a noise made by the crowd, that scarcely anything could be heard: they kept crying out, ‘Kill them, kill them! kill the provost of the merchants and his allies, for they are all traitors.’ There was a great tumult; and the provost, who was standing on the steps of the fort of St. Anthony, would willingly have escaped, but he was so beset that he could not. Sir John de Charny struck him to the ground by a blow of his battle-axe on the head. He was then attacked by master Peter Fouace and others, who never quitted him until he was dead, as well as six of his party; among whom were Philip Guiffart, John de Lille, John Poiret, Simon le Paonnier, and Giles Marcel. Many more were taken out and sent to prison. They then made search in all the streets of Paris, put the town in a state of security, and kept a strong guard all that night.
“You must know, that as soon as the provost of the merchants and the others had been slain or made prisoners, which happened on Tuesday, the last day of July, 1358, in the afternoon, messengers were sent in haste to carry this news to the duke of Normandy, at that time at Meaux, which gave him, and not without reason, great pleasure. He made preparations for his journey to Paris; but, before his arrival, Josseran de Mascon, who was treasurer to the king of Navarre, and Charles Toussac, sheriff of Paris, who had been made prisoner, were executed in the square of the Grève, by having their heads cut off, because they had been traitors, and were of the provost’s party. The body of the provost and of those that had been slain with him, were dragged into the court of the church of St. Catherine du Val des Ecoliers, and, naked as they were, extended before the cross in that court, and left there a considerable time for the view of all those that chose it: they were afterward thrown into the river Seine.
“The duke of Normandy, who had sent a sufficiency of men at arms to Paris, to defend and reinforce it against the English and Navarrois, who were in the neighbourhood continually harassing it, set out from Meaux, where he then resided, and came with speed to Paris, attended by a noble and numerous escort of men at arms. He was received by the good town of Paris, and by all persons with great joy, when he dismounted at the Louvre. John Maillart was at that time near his person, and much in his grace and favour; and, to say the truth, he was then very deserving of it, as you have heard related above, notwithstanding he had been formerly, as it was said, one of the allies of the provost of the merchants. Shortly afterward, the duke sent for the duchess of Normandy his wife, and all the ladies who had for some time taken refuge at Meaux in Brie. When they came to Paris, the duchess alighted at the hotel of the duke, which had been the hotel de St. Pol, whither he had retired, and where he had remained for a considerable time.”
M. Dacier then adds:
“This is the new reading I announced, and which appears to me far preferable to the common one, because it unites the double advantage of coming from the most authentic manuscripts we know, and of agreeing much better than the printed copies, as well with the contemporary historians, as with the other monuments of the times, to which it may serve both as a commentary and supplement.” I shall refer the reader, for further proofs that John Maillart was not the hero who saved Paris, to the memoir of M. Dacier, in the xliiid vol. of the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, &c.
WHEN the king of Navarre was informed of the death of his great friend the provost of the merchants, and of those who were attached to him, he was sorely vexed; for the provost had always been very favourable to his designs. And because he had the reputation of being the chief cause of the provost’s treasons, the lord Philip de Navarre, who at that time was at St. Denis with him, advised him, as he could not see any means of getting clear of this suspicion, to declare war against the kingdom of France. He sent his challenge to the duke of Normandy, to the Parisians, and to the whole realm of France. He quitted St. Denis, and his people overran the whole country, plundering it as far as Melun-sur-Seine*, where 248 the queen Blanche his sister, the widow of king Philip, resided. That lady received him cheerfully, and gave up to him everything she possessed.
The king of Navarre made this town and castle his principal garrison. He collected men at arms from all parts, and soldiers from Brabant, Germany, Hainault, and Bohemia. People everywhere came willingly to serve under him; for he paid them largely out of the treasures he had amassed, through the means of the provost of merchants, from the city of Paris, as well as from the neighbouring towns. The lord Philip de Navarre withdrew his forces to Mantes†, and Meulan‡, upon the river Seine, where he posted garrisons. Every day their forces were increased by those who were desirous of getting money. In this manner did the king of Navarre begin his war upon the kingdom of France, which was especially directed against the city of Paris, for he was master of the three rivers, the Seine, Marne, and Oise.
The Navarrois multiplied so fast, that they took the strong town of Creil§: they were besides the masters of the river Oise, and the strong castle of Herielle¶ three leagues distant from Amiens, and afterwards of Mauconseil¥. The capture of these three fortresses was the cause of innumerable ills to the realm of France. There were at least fifteen hundred combatants who were overrunning the country, without any attempt made to oppose them. They soon spread farther, and took, shortly afterward, the castle of St. Valery**, of which they made a very strong garrison. Sir William de Bonnemare and John de Segures†† were governors of it. They had under them full five hundred fighting men, with whom they scoured the country as far as Dieppe and Abbeville, along the sea-coast, to the gates of Crotoy, Roye, and Montreuil-sur-mer. These Navarrois, whenever they had determined to take a castle, whatever its strength might be, never failed of succeeding. They frequently made excursions of thirty leagues in a night, and fell upon a country that never suspected they could come to them. Thus did they ruin and destroy the fortresses and castles in the kingdom of France. They took pleasure to summon knights, ladies, and damsels, before they were out of bed, for their ransoms. Sometimes they seized all they had, and then turned them out of doors.
The lord Fondrigais of Navarre, was chief governor of Creil-upon-Oise. He gave passports to those who wished to go from Paris to Noyon, or from Noyon to Compiegne, or from Compiegne to Soissons, or Laon, as well as to other parts in the neighbourhood. These passports were worth to him, during the time he remained at Creil one hundred thousand livres. Sir John de Piquigny, who, though of Picardy, was strongly attached to the cause of Navarre, resided in the castle of Herielle. His troops grievously oppressed the inhabitants of Montdidier, Arras, Peronne, Amiens and all that part of Picardy on the river Somme. In the castle of Mauconseil were three hundred men, under the command of Rabigeois de Dury‡‡, Charles Frangnelin, and Hannequin François; they plundered the country all round Noyon, and all the large towns and monasteries which were not fortified, if their inhabitants did not ransom themselves from these captains, by paying them a certain number of florins weekly. On any other conditions they would have been burnt and destroyed, for these ruffians were very cruel to their enemies. From such causes as these, the lands were uncultivated; for no one dared to till them; so that very great scarcity soon added to the disasters under which the kingdom already laboured.
* Melun, — an ancient town in the Isle of France, ten leagues and a half from Paris.
† Mantes, — in the Isle of France, capital of the Mantois, fourteen leagues from Paris.
‡ Meulan, or Meullent, — in the Isle of France, four leagues from Mantes, ten from Paris.
§ Creil, — a town in the Isle of France, on the Oise, twenty leagues and a half from Amiens, ten leagues and a half from Paris.
¶ La Herielle, — a village of Picardy, in the election of Montdidier, near Breteuil.
¥ Q. If not Maucourt, which is a village of Picardy near Noyon.
** A town in Picardy, at the mouth of the Somme, four leagues and a half from Abbeville.
†† Sir John Segar, an Englishman. — Barnes.
‡‡ Barnes says, that “in Mauconseil were three hundred men at arms, under these captains, Rabigois of Derry, an Irishman, — Franklin and Hawkins, two squires of England, sir Robert Knolles his companions.” — Page 544.
WHEN the duke of Normandy, who resided at Paris, heard that these men at arms were destroying the country, under the name of the king of Navarre, and that their numbers were daily increasing, he sent to all the principal towns in Picardy and Vermandois, to require that each should, according to his proportion, send a certain number of men at arms, on foot and on horseback, to oppose the Navarrois, who were ruining the kingdom of which he had the government. The cities and chief towns willingly complied with his request: they taxed themselves, according to their fortunes, with men at arms, both horse and foot, archers and cross-bowmen. These advanced first toward the good city of Noyon, making straight for the garrison of Mauconseil, because they thought this the weakest of the fortresses of the Navarrois, and that which had most harassed the inhabitants of Noyon and the country of Vermandois.
The bishop of Noyon, the lord Raoul de Coucy, the lord de Ravenal, the lord de Chauny, the lord de Roye, and sir Matthew de Roye, his brother, were the captains and leaders of these men at arms and the other troops. These lords had with them many other knights and squires from Picardy and Vermandois, who, laying siege to Mauconseil, made many assaults on it, and hardly pressed the garrison; who, when they could not hold out much longer, sent to inform sir John de Piquigny of their distressed situation. He then resided in the castle of la Herielle. All these garrisons and places were under his command. He made haste, therefore, to succour his good friends in Mauconseil, and sent orders privately to the garrison of Creil, to arm themselves directly, and to march to a certain spot which he pointed out to them; for he meant to make an excursion through the country with all the men at arms under his command. When they were all assembled, they amounted to one thousand lances at least. They rode on, under the direction of guides, all that night, without halting, and came before the castle of Mauconseil at day-break. There was so thick a fog that morning, that they could not see the length of an acre of ground. Immediately on their arrival, they fell suddenly on the French army, who, not expecting them, nor having a sufficient guard, were sleeping as if in perfect safety. The Navarrois set up their cry, and began to kill and cut down both men, tents, and pavilions. The skirmish was very sharp, insomuch that the French had not time to arm themselves or collect together, but ran off, as fast as they could, to Noyon, which was hard by, and the Navarrois after them. Many were slain and unhorsed between Noyon and Orcamp*, and between Noyon and Pont l’Evêque†, and in that neighbourhood. The dead and wounded lay in heaps on the ground, on the highways, and between the hedges.
The pursuit lasted as far as the gates of Noyon, which put that town in great danger of being ruined; for some of both parties who were there, have declared, that if the Navarrois had chosen, they might for a certainty have entered the town, as those who belonged to it were so much frightened, when they returned, that they forgot, or had not time to shut the gate leading to Compiegne. The bishop of Noyon was taken prisoner, near the barriers, and gave his word to surrender himself, or he would have been killed. On the morrow, the lord Raoul de Coucy was taken, as were the lord Raoul de Ravenal, the lord de Chauny, and his two sons, le borgne‡ de Rouvroy, the lord de Turte, the lord de Vendueil, the lord Anthony de Coudun, and full one hundred knights and squires.
There were upwards of fifteen hundred men slain: the greatest loss fell upon those who came from the city of Tournay: they suffered much, as many had come from that part. Some said, that of the seven hundred which they at first were, scarcely any returned back, but all were either killed or taken prisoners. The garrison of Mauconseil made a sally, to complete this defeat, which happened in the year 1358, on the Tuesday following the feast of our Lady, the middle of August. The Navarrois conducted the greater part of their prisoners to Creil, because it was a good and strong town. They acquired by this 250 expedition much wealth, as well in jewels as by the ransoms of their prisoners. From this time they became rich, and ransomed the citizens of Tournay and those of the other towns whom they had captured cheerfully, for such sort of ware as swords, axes, spear-heads, jackets, doublets, housings, and for all the different sorts of tools they were in want of. The knights and squires took their payments in ready money, in coursers or other horses; and one poor gentleman, that had not wherewithal to pay, they made serve for a quarter of a year: two or three were treated in this manner§. With regard to wines and provision, they had plenty: for all the flat countries supplied them handsomely by way of ransom. The towns got nothing but in an underhand manner, or by means of their passports, which they sold at a high price. By this method they could obtain all they wanted, except hats of beaver, ostrich feathers, and spear-heads; which things they never would insert in their passports. The garrison of Mauconseil destroyed the greater part of the fine abbey of Orchamps, at which the governor was much enraged when informed of it.
These Navarrois spread themselves over many places, along the banks of the Somme and the Oise; and two of their men at arms, called Rabigeois de Dury and Robin l’Escot¶ took by escalade, the good town of Berly¥, in which they placed a garrison, and strongly fortified it. These two companions had in pay, under their command, about four hundred men, to whom they gave fixed wages, and paid them every month. The garrisons of Beaulieu, Creil, Mauconseil, and la Herielle, scoured all parts of the country, as no one opposed them; the knights having sufficient employment in guarding their houses and castles. These English and Navarrois went armed or unarmed, and rode over the country at their pleasure, to amuse themselves, from one garrison to another, as if all had been at peace. The young lord de Coucy had his towns and castles extremely well guarded; he was also lord paramount of that part of the country. The canon de Robesart watched the Navarrois better than any other, and harassed them much; for infrequently he had overthrown many of them.
* [and] † Villages near Noyon.
‡ Q. Borgne, — whether one-eyed; or some title, as captal or souldich?
§ “And of a poor gentylman that had nothyng to pay, they took their seruyce for a quarter of a yere or a halfe or thre quarters, as they could agree.” — Lord Berners — who in this agrees with D. Sauvage. — ED.
¶ Q. The first, see note ‡‡, p. 248; — the second Robin Scott.
¥ Q. If not Beaulieu, which is a town in Picardy in the diocese and election of Noyon.
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