[Illustration: Charles VI. and Odette----71]
For thirty years, from 1392 to 1422, the crown remained on the head of
this poor madman, whilst France was a victim to the bloody quarrels of
the royal house, to national dismemberment, to licentiousness in morals,
to civil anarchy, and to foreign conquest.
When, for the first time, in the forest of Le Mans, the Dukes of Berry
and Burgundy saw their nephew in this condition, their first feeling was
one of sorrow and disquietude. The Duke of Burgundy especially, who was
accessible to generous and sympathetic emotions, cried out with tears, as
he embraced the king, "My lord and nephew, comfort me with just one
word!" But the desires and the hopes of selfish ambition reappeared
before long more prominently than these honest effusions of feeling.
"All!" said the Duke of Berry, "De Clisson, La Mviere, Noviant, and
Vilaine have been haughty and harsh towards me; the time has come when
I shall pay them out in the same coin from the same mint." The
guardianship of the king was withdrawn from his councillors, and
transferred to four chamberlains chosen by his uncles. The two dukes,
however, did not immediately lay hands on the government of the kingdom;
the constable De Clisson and the late councillors of Charles V. remained
in charge of it for some time longer; they had given enduring proofs of
capacity and fidelity to the king's service; and the two dukes did not
at first openly attack them, but labored strenuously, nevertheless, to
destroy them. The Duke of Burgundy one day said to Sire de Noviant,
"I have been overtaken by a very pressing business, for which I require
forthwith thirty thousand crowns; let me have them out of my lord's
treasury; I will restore them at another time." Noviant answered
respectfully that the council must be spoken to about it. "I wish none
to know of it," said the duke. Noviant persisted. "You will not do me
this favor?" rejoined the duke; "you shall rue it before long." It was
against the constable that the wrath of the princes was chiefly directed.
He was the most powerful and the richest. One day he went, with a single
squire behind him, to the Duke of Burgundy's house; and, "My lord," said
he, "many knights and squires are persecuting me to get the money which
is owing to them. I know not where to find it. The chancellor and the
treasurer refer me to you. Since it is you and the Duke of Berry who
govern, may it please you to give me an answer." "Clisson," said the
duke, "you have no occasion to trouble yourself about the state of the
kingdom; it will manage very well without your services. Whence, pray,
have you been able to amass so much money? My lord, my brother of Berry
and myself have not so much between us three. Away from my presence, and
let me see you no more! If I had not a respect for myself, I would have
your other eye put out." Clisson went out, mounted his horse, returned
to his house, set his affairs in order, and departed, with two
attendants, to his strong castle of Montlhery. The two dukes were very
sorry that they had not put him under arrest on the spot. The rupture
came to a climax. Of the king's four other councillors one escaped in
time; two were seized and thrown into prison; the fourth, Bureau de la
Riviere was at his castle of Auneau, near Chartres, honored and beloved
by all his neighbors. Everybody urged him to save himself. "If I were
to fly or hide myself," said he, "I should acknowledge myself guilty of
crimes from which I feel myself free. Here, as elsewhere, I am at the
will of God; He gave me all I have, and He can take it away whensoever He
pleases. I served King Charles of blessed memory, and also the king, his
son; and they recompensed me handsomely for my services. I will abide
the judgment of the parliament of Paris touching what I have done
according to my king's commands as to the affairs of the realm." He was
told that the people sent to look for him were hard by, and was asked,
"Shall we open to them?" "Why not?" was his reply. He himself went to
meet them, and received them with a courtesy which they returned. He was
then removed to Paris, where he was shut up with his colleagues in the
Louvre.
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