comfort myself with the words of the prophet,― Perdes omnes qui loquuntur mendacium,'— and in the 20th chapter of Proverbs, Qui profert mendacia peribit.'

“As to the alliances which our opponent says the duke of Orleans entered into with Henry of Lancaster, at present calling himself king of England, to the prejudice of the king and realm, and colouring his assertion by adding, that Richard, late king of England, had assured the king of France, that his infirmities were solely owing to the machinations of the dukes of Milan and Orleans,-I answer, that they are wicked falsehoods; for when Henry of Lancaster came to France, he was most honourably received by the princes of the royal family as their relation, and frequented the company of the duke of Orleans and others of the blood royal as of their kindred, when, as a friend to the king, he formed an alliance with the duke of Orleans publicly, and in the presence of the king and princes of the blood, which at the time was considered as perfectly lawful, and for the good of the kingdom. This plainly shows, that my lord of Orleans had made no alliance against king Richard; but what is more, at the treaty of marriage of the king's daughter, now duchess of Orleans, with king Richard, the duke of Orleans and king Richard formed an alliance similar to that which the latter had formed with the king of France. After this, my lord of Orleans went to Calais, where he was most amicably received by king Richard as a very dear brother. In addition, when king Richard died, the duke of Orleans showed great grief for it, and made an enemy of king Henry of Lancaster, by the challenges he sent him, accusing him of being guilty of the crime of high treason against his sovereign lord king Richard, offering to fight the said king Henry, in revenge for the death of Richard, either in single combat, or with any number of persons he might choose. These and many more circumstances can be brought forward to prove that my lord of Orleans had a strong affection for king Richard, from his alliance by marriage with the king of France, and that he hated king Henry for having laid hands on his sovereign.

"There is not more truth in what our adversary has advanced, that my lord of Orleans, when with Pietro della Luna, exerted himself to obtain bulls to the prejudice of the king and his family, and on this account always favoured the said Pietro; for at that time my lord of Orleans had procured with this Pietro, then called Benedict, a very advantageous alliance for the king of France, by which he engaged to support the king and his family by every means in his power, as may be seen in the bulls issued to this effect. It is therefore very extraordinary, that any man, endowed with common sense, should have asserted publicly things that are evidently false. As to what our adversary says, that my lord of Orleans supported Pietro della Luna, I have before answered it; and my lord proposed himself, that if the two rival popes did not speedily agree to send commissioners to the council, France should withdraw itself from their obedience. This was more displeasing to Pietro della Luna than anything that had been done in this kingdom relative to church-affairs, and is not a sign that my lord of Orleans was desirous of retarding a union of the church in favour of Pietro della Luna. It is therefore evident, that the duke of Orleans is innocent of the charges that have been brought against him.

"O lord king! may it please thee to guard his innocence by means of thy justice, according as it is written in the thirteenth chapter of Job, Justitia custodit innocentis viam.' "The fourth accusation of our adversary is, That for the space of three whole years my lord of Orleans, by his artful and deceitful tales, and advice to the queen, attempted to prevail on her to quit the kingdom, with her children, and reside in the county of Luxembourg, that he might enjoy greater power in the government of the realm. So far is this charge from being true, that my lord of Orleans did everything in his power to honour and support the queen during the melancholy illness of the king, of which it does not become me to say more, for, thanks to God, she is now present, and knows full well the truth of this, and which she may more fully declare whenever it may be her good pleasure so to do. I do not, however, know that she made any complaints on this subject to our adversary, or to any other persons. I believe the contrary, to this charge of our opponent, will be found to be the truth; and that it has been purposely brought forward to defame the reputation of the deceased.

"The fifth accusation is, That my lord of Orleans committed the crime of high treason in

the third degree, on the person of my lord the dauphin, whose soul may God pardon! by compassing his death by means of a poisoned apple given to a child, from whom one of the nurses of the children of the duke of Orleans took it by force, and gave it to one of the children of the duke of Orleans, and caused its death, as well as that of the dauphin, who also ate of it. This is an absolute falsehood. True it is, that one of the duke of Orleans' children died about the time when this fact was supposed to have taken place, of a bowel complaint, which was then very prevalent, and carried off many others. Let the physicians, master William le Boucher and master John de Beaumont, be examined, who visited this child, and they will declare the truth, that it did not die of poison. Consider, my lords, the improbability of a nurse of the children of the duke of Orleans daring to give an apple or pear to any of them without the express orders of the duchess of Orleans; and that when the nurse went to these gardens with the child, she was accompanied by several women of character, who would not have suffered her to give it an apple, or any suchlike thing.

"O most noble and well-beloved duke of Aquitaine! while young, learn to love justice, and act like Solomon. Consider the evils that may happen, unless justice be observed; and if thou neglectest it, thou wilt not love thy brothers, for they will be in danger of death if the doctrines of our adversary be not checked. The prophet says, 'Justitiæ Domini recta lætificantes corda.'

"The sixth crime alleged against the duke of Orleans is, That he committed high treason in the fourth degree, by ruining the king in his finances, and by oppressing the people with intolerable taxes, and quartering large bodies of men-at-arms in various parts of the country. My lords, it is very astonishing that our adversary should have made this charge; for it is notorious to every one, that these taxes were not levied in this kingdom for its own concerns, nor were they for the profit of the duke of Orleans: thy were proposed with great deliberation of the king, the princes of his blood, and his council, for the benefit of our adversary himself, in his expedition to Hungary, and for the payment of the ransom of himself and his army. This was the cause of such heavy taxes being raised throughout the kingdom, and of immense sums of money being sent to Turkey, and other distant places, to the irreparable loss of the country. When our adversary charges the duke of Orleans with having taken four thousand francs from the tower of the palace, and one hundred thousand from the castle of Melun,I reply, that it is false: if any sums of money were in the tower of the palace, they were distributed according to orders from the king. In regard to the hundred thousand francs in the castle of Melun, it is well known that the queen and the duke of Orleans went thither to amuse themselves,-during which time our adversary very improperly came to Paris with a large body of men-at-arms, and forced the duke of Aquitaine to return thither, instead of going, as he intended, to join his mother the queen. He had collected this force of menat-arms with the design of attacking the queen and the duke of Orleans in Melun, which, of course, made it necessary for her majesty to raise an army for her own defence, and for the security of the king and kingdom. She was therefore advised to make use of the money in the castle of Melun for the pay of the men-at-arms, but my lord of Orleans never touched one penny of it; and when it came to the knowledge of the king, he was well satisfied that it had been so applied.

"It therefore appears, that this sum of money was expended to oppose the damnable act of our adversary, and for no other cause. In regard to the men-at-arms said to have been kept on foot by my lord of Orleans, certainly some bodies of them, being quartered over the country, declared they were sent thither by command of the duke of Orleans, in order that no one might dare to molest them,--but they had no letters or commissions from him. On the contrary, he was greatly displeased at the evil acts they at times committed. When their conduct was laid before the king and council, the duke of Orleans caused letters to be sent in the king's name to all bailiffs and other officers throughout the realm, ordering them to assemble the nobles and gentlemen of the country to force those who committed such disgraceful acts to quit the kingdom, having first punished them for their wicked conduct. "O duke of Burgundy! recollect the irreparable damages that have been done to many parts of this realm by the bodies of men-at-arms which thou hast introduced within it, many of whom were foreigners, who wasted the countries they passed through, and every one

should feel compassion for events of so pitiable a nature: they can never be enough bewailed. O thou king of France! most excellent prince, deplore the death of thy only brother; for thou hast lost the most precious jewel in thy crown, which thy justice ought to avenge, if no other way be found.—O thou most noble queen! weep for a prince who so greatly honoured thee, and whom thou hast seen so infamously murdered.-O thou my most redoubted lord, duke of Aquitaine ! lament that thou hast lost the most precious member of thy blood, council and state, which has caused thee to fall from peace into great tribulation.-O thou duke of Berry! grieve that thou hast seen the brother of the king thy nephew, thus disgracefully end his days, solely because he was brother to the king, and for no other reason.-O duke of Brittany! thou hast lost the brother to thy duchess, who greatly loved thee.-O thou duke of Bourbon! weep that thy friend is now buried under ground; and ye other princes! join in lamentations, for the way is now opened to put ye all to death most traitorously and unexpectedly.

"Mourn, men and women, old and young, rich and poor! for the sweetness of peace and tranquillity is now torn from ye, by this assertion of the doctrine of assassinating princes, whence wars and destruction must fall upon you.-O ye churchmen! deplore the loss of a prince who was much attached to you, and who greatly respected all who performed the divine service, from his love to God.-Ye clerks and nobles, of all degrees! consider how ye will henceforward act; for our opponent has deceived you by his false arguments, and caused you to favour his wickedness. But as ye are now aware of the murder committed on the person of the duke of Orleans, of the falsity and lies published in our adversary's defamatory libel, and consequently of the innocence of my lord of Orleans,-should ye, from this time forth, in any way support the party of our adversary, know that it will be treason against the king, and you will then incur the danger of losing your lives and fortunes, as usual in such cases.

"Understand then, princes and men of all degrees, that ye are bounden to assist in maintaining the laws against the duke of Burgundy, who, by this murderous act, has usurped the power and authority of the king and his sons, and has deprived them of great aid and consolation; for he has brought the commonweal into grievous tribulation by shamelessly violating the wholesome statutes in vindicating his offence against nobility, kindred, oaths, alliances and assurances,—against God and all his saints. This mischief cannot be amended except by the laws. To obtain this reparation, my lady of Orleans and her children are now come before thee, O lord king! and the princes of thy royal blood, supplicating you all to weigh well the injury that has been done to them, and to make them amends in the manner required by her council, or in any other way, so that it may be publicly known that her lord was cruelly murdered, and unjustly and falsely accused and defamed. By doing this, you will perform your duty as you are bounden to do, and acquire eternal life, as it is written in the 21st chapter of Proverbs, 'Qui sequitur justitiam inveniet vitam et gloriam,'which may God, who reigns and lives for ever and ever, grant. Amen."

CHAPTER XLV. THE CONCLUSION OF THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS' ADVOCATE AGAINST THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AND THE REPLY FROM THE CHANCELLOR.

THE chancellor of France, in the king's name, ordered the duchess's advocate, master William Cousinot, to draw up such conclusions as should be satisfactory to the duchess and her son, the duke of Orleans. The advocate, after many excuses, began by showing how pitiable their state was, and took for his theme part of the 7th chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, "Hæc vidua erat quam cum vidisset Dominus misericordia motus est super eam." "Most noble prince, when our Lord entered a city called Nain, he met the corpse of a young man, which his friends were carrying to the grave; and when he noticed that the mother of the young man was a widow, he was on this account moved with compassion toward her, and restored her son to life. I may most truly apply these words to my lady of Orleans, for she is a widow who bewails the death of her lord and husband, and our lord will have compassion on her; for the king is our lord, in respect of terrestrial jurisdiction;

and not only the king, but thou, lord of Aquitaine, and all other princes of this world having territorial powers, seeing my lady of Orleans thus disconsolate, ought to feel compassion for her, and give her aid and support in procuring strict justice to be done for the cruel death of her husband.

"In every case, and at all times, full justice should be administered to all; for, according to the words of the Psalmist, it is a good and meritorious act,-'Beati qui custodiunt judicium et faciunt justitiam in omni tempore.' Psalm cv. But justice should always be more rigorously observed in regard to widows and orphans, who have been deprived of their fathers or husbands, than in any other case; for the divine, canon and civil laws urge the necessity of succouring the widow and orphan. We have the first instance of this in the 22d chapter of Jeremiah,Facite judicium et justitiam, et liberate vi oppressum de manu calumniatoris, pupillum et viduam,' &c. In regard to the canon law, the decrees declare, that it is very proper for kings to do justice and execute judgment, and deliver from the hands of the oppressors, widows and orphans who are injuriously used by them. As for the civil law, it is very clear, that widows and orphans are particularly privileged in many cases, as may be seen in different law writings.

My lady of Orleans has lost her husband: her children have lost their father, certainly one of the handsomest and most accomplished princes in Christendom. But let us see how they have lost him had he been taken from them by a natural death, their case would not have been so much to be pitied; but he is cut off violently in the flower of his youth. In truth, this is such an outrage that every law and customary proceeding should bend in their favour against the malignant author of the deed.

"In the first place, our king and sovereign lord is bounden particularly by the commands of God, to whom he cannot be disobedient without sinning, to execute judgment, according to the words of Jeremiah in the chapter before mentioned,-In memetipso juravi, dicit Dominus, quia in solitudine erit domus vestra.' And this is conformable to the reply made by St. Remy to king Clovis when he baptised him. The king asked him how long the kingdom of France would endure. The saint answered, that it would last so long as justice should reign there. The converse of which is, that when justice shall cease to be administered, the kingdom will fall. To the king therefore may be applied what is written in the canon law, Quod justitia est illud quod suum firmat imperium.'

"O duke of Aquitaine! thou art he who, after the king, art bound to do justice according to the words of the Psalmist, 'Deus judicium tuum regi da et justitiam tuam filio regis.' Thou art the eldest son to the king, to whom, by the grace of God, thou wilt succeed, and be our lord: attend to our case for the love of God, for to thee more particularly does it belong; and if thou dost not lay thy hand on it, when thou shalt come to reign, thou mayest find thy kingdom desolate and destroyed, for each will in his turn seize parts of it, and be the master, should this atrocious crime remain unpunished. Ye also, my lords, princes, dukes and counts of the royal blood, relations of the late duke, and ye other nobles, who have an affection for the king's crown and honour, what ought to be your conduct on this occasion? Why, certainly, if the king will not interfere in this matter, ye ought to take up the business and execute judgment; for ye are bound by oath to guard and defend the king's honour against all who may infringe upon it. This ye have done in former times, through God's grace, and for which this kingdom has gained greater glory than any other realm in Christendom: insomuch that the English, the Germans, and other foreigners, have come hither to seek for justice.

"My lords, for the love of God, let your loyalty burst forth, according to your oaths, in behalf of my lady of Orleans, as she has the fullest confidence it will; for, after God and the king, you are her only refuge. Let no one fear to do justice, from the scandal or persecution that may ensue; for it is a maxim of law, Utilius est scandalum nasci ac permitti, quam ut veritas relinquatur,'-although it were certain the doing justice in this case would cause much grievous persecution to ensue. Yet for all this justice should not be neglected; for in that case you would be indeed reproachable, if, through fear of the offender, you shall not dare to decree justice. On no occasion should justice be neglected: therefore, my lords, act according to what the prophet says, 'Viriliter agite, et confortetur cor vestrum et sustinete

Dominum.' In truth, if ye do not act with courage, for one inconvenience that may happen, by executing judgment, one hundred would ensue from default of justice. Therefore, my lords, do not hesitate to do justice to my lady of Orleans and her children from any dread of inconveniences that may happen, but follow the dictates of our Lord,- Judicare pupillo et humili ut non apponat magnificare se homo super terram.' Let the punishment be so exemplary that none other may henceforth commit so great or so disgraceful a crime, and that it may be held in perpetual memory and abhorrence. This is the object of my lady of Orleans and her children, namely, that the crime may be atoned for as heavily as possible in this world. In order that this atonement may be made, my lady of Orleans and her children would willingly take the legal steps for the infliction of capital punishment, if this could regularly be done; but as these steps, according to the customary usage of France, belong to the king's attorney-general alone, they propose that the offender shall be punished in manner following,-that is to say, by sentence of the king and of the court, be it ordered that our adversary, the duke of Burgundy, be brought to the castle of the Louvre, or elsewhere, according to the king's pleasure and that of my clients, and there, in the presence of the king, of my lord of Aquitaine, and the other princes of the blood, as well as of the council and people, the duke of Burgundy, without hood or girdle, shall, on his knees, publicly confess, with a loud voice, before my lady of Orleans, her children, and as many other persons as she may please, that maliciously and treacherously he has had my lord of Orleans assassinated, through hatred, envy and ambition, and for no other cause, notwithstanding all the charges made against him, and other imputations thrown on his character, to justify and exculpate himself from so base a deed; and shall demand pardon from my lady of Orleans and her children, most humbly supplicating them to forgive his offences, declaring that he knows of nothing prejudicial to the honour and reputation of the said duke of Orleans deceased, and recals all he may have said or published to the contrary. In this state he shall be carried to the court of the palace, and to the hotel de Saint Pol, the residence of the king, and to the spot where the murder was committed, and there, on high stages erected for the purpose, he shall repeat the above words before such commissioners as my lady of Orleans and her son may please to appoint. He shall remain on his knees, at the last place, until priests nominated for the purpose shall have recited the seven penitential psalms, said the litany, and the other parts of the burial service, for the soul of the deceased, after which he shall kiss the earth, and ask pardon of God, of my lady of Orleans, and of her children, for the offences he has committed against them.

“The manner and form of this recantation, and begging pardon, shall be written out, and copies sent to all the different towns in the kingdom, with orders for the magistrates to have them proclaimed by sound of trumpet, that it may be notorious to all within and without the realm. And as additional reparations for such offences, and that they may remain in perpetual remembrance, all the houses belonging to the duke of Burgundy in Paris shall be razed to the ground, and remain in ruins for ever. On the places where any of his houses shall have stood, there shall be erected handsome crosses of stone, having large and strong tablets, on which shall be written a full account of the murder of my late lord, the duke of Orleans, and the cause of these houses being destroyed. On the spot where my late lord was murdered shall be erected a similar cross; and the house wherein the murderers hid themselves shall be pulled down. This spot, and the adjoining houses, the duke of Burgundy shall be forced to purchase, and to build thereon a handsome college for six canons, six vicars, and six chaplains, whose nominations shall remain with my lady of Orleans and her heirs. In this college six masses shall be said every day for the soul of the deceased duke of Orleans, and high mass at the usual time of canonical hours. For the support of this college there shall be a mortmain rent of one thousand livres parisis; and the whole shall be well furnished with dresses, books, chalices, ornaments, and all other necessaries, at the sole expense of the duke of Burgundy; and over the entrance shall be written in large letters the cause of its foundation.

"The duke of Burgundy shall, beside, be constrained to found a college for the salvation of the soul of the deceased, in the town of Orleans, consisting of twelve canons, twelve vicars, and twelve clerks, which college shall bear the name of the defunct; and the nominations

VOL. I.

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