Quotation from: Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period

Written by: Paul Lacroix


Paris, the capital of the kingdom of rogues, was not the only town which
possessed a Cour des Miracles, for we find here and there, especially at
Lyons and Bordeaux, some traces of these privileged resorts of rogues and
thieves, which then flourished under the sceptre of the Grand Coesre.
Sauval states, on the testimony of people worthy of credit, that at
Sainte-Anne d'Auray, the most holy place of pilgrimage in Brittany, under
the superintendence of the order of reformed Carmelite friars, there was a
large field called the _Rogue's Field_. This was covered with mud huts;
and here the Grand Coesre resorted annually on the principal solemn
festivals, with his officers and subjects, in order "to hold his council
of state," that is to say, in order to settle and arrange respecting
robbery. At these _state_ meetings, which were not always held at
Sainte-Anne d'Auray, all the subjects of the Grand Coesre were present,
and paid homage to their lord and master. Some came and paid him the
tribute which was required of them by the statutes of the craft; others
rendered him an account of what they had done, and what they had earned
during the year. When they had executed their work badly, he ordered them
to be punished, either corporally or pecuniarily, according to the gravity
of their offences. When he had not himself properly governed his people,
he was dethroned, and a successor was appointed by acclamation.

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