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THIRD MILLENNIUM LIBRARY BIOHISTORY |
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CHARLES THE BOLD
I
CHILDHOOD
1433-1440
On
St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good people of Dijon were abroad, eager
to catch what glimpses they might of certain stately functions to be formally
celebrated by the Duke of Burgundy. The mere presence of the sovereign in the
capital of his duchy was in itself a gala event from its rarity. Various cities
of the dominions agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions
successively. His residence was now here and now there, without long tarrying
anywhere. His coming was usually very welcome. In times of peaceful submission
to his behest, the city of his sojourn reaped many advantages besides the
amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond their wont. In the outlay for the
necessities and the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal court, the expenditures
were lavish, and in the temporary commercial activity enjoyed by the merchants,
the fact that the burghers' own contributions to this luxury were heavy, passed
into temporary oblivion.
This
autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon was more significant than usual. It
had lasted several weeks, and among its notable occasions was an assembly of
the Knights of the Golden Fleece for the third anniversary of their Order. On
this November 30th, Burgundy was to witness for the first time the pompous
ceremonials inaugurated at Bruges in January, 1430. Three years had sufficed to
render the new institution almost as well known as its senior English rival,
the Order of the Garter, which it was destined to outshine for a brief period
at least. Its foundation had formed part of the elaborate festivities
accompanying the celebration of the marriage of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, to
Isabella of Portugal. As a signal honour to his bride, Philip published his
intention of creating a new order of knighthood which would evince "his
great and perfect love for the noble state of chivalry."
Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the duke's real motives. It was whispered that a certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair by a few merry courtiers, whereupon Philip declared that her tresses should be immortally honored in the golden emblem of a new society. But that may be set down as gossip. Philip's own assertion, when he instituted the Order of the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create a bulwark:
The
special homage to the new duchess was expressed in the device
Aultre n'aray Dame Isabeau tant que vivray
This
pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella was, indeed, utterly disregarded
by the bridegroom, but in outward and formal honor to her he never failed.
The new institution was, from the beginning, pre-eminently significant of the duke's magnificent state existence, wherein his Portuguese consort proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet. Again and again during a period of thirty years, rich in diplomatic parleying, did Isabella act as confidential ambassador for her husband, and many were the negotiations conducted by her to his satisfaction. But
it must be noted that whatever lay at the exact root of Philip's motives when
he conceived the plan of his Order, the actual result of his foundation was not
affected. He failed, indeed, to bring back into the world the ancient system of
knighthood in its ideal purity and strength. Rather did he make a notable
contribution to its decadence and speed its parting. What was brought into
existence was a house of peers for the head of the Burgundian family, a body of
faithful satellites who did not hamper their chief overmuch with the criticism
permitted by the rules of their society, while their own glory added shining
rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian court.
Twenty-five,
inclusive of the duke, was the original number appointed to form the chosen
circle of knights. This was speedily increased to thirty-one, and a duty to be
performed in th session of 1433, was the election of new members to fill
vacancies and to round out the allotted tale.
In
their manner of accomplishing the appointed task, the new chevaliers had, from
the outset, evinced a readiness to cast their votes to the satisfaction of their
chief, even if his pleasure directly conflicted with the regulations they had
sworn to obey. No candidate was to be eligible whose birth was not legitimate, a regulation quite ignored when the duke proposed the names of his sons
Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient knights did not refuse to open their
ranks to these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a bar sinister proudly
on their escutcheon. So, too, others of Philip's many illegitimate descendants
were not rejected when their father proposed their names.
Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new member should have proven himself a knight of renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one of the candidates proposed for election, though nominally a knight, had assuredly had no time to show his mettle. The dignity was his only because his spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle before his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength to grasp a rattle, and before he was even old enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his teeth upon.
Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was Charles of Burgundy, Count of Charolais, son of the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the previous St. Martin's Eve, November 10th. "The
new chevaliers, with the exception of the Count of Virnenbourg who was absent,
took the accustomed oath at the hands of the sovereign in a room of his
palace."
So
runs the record. Jean le Févre, Seigneur de St. Remy, present on the occasion
in his capacity of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle more communicative. According to him, all the gentlemen were very joyous at their election
as they received their collars and made their vows as stated. He excepted no
member in the phrase about the joy displayed, though, as a matter of inference,
the pleasure experienced by the Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat
problematical.
The
heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age of just twenty days when thus
officially listed among the chevaliers present at the festival. Born on
November 10th of this same year, 1433, he had been knighted on the very day of his baptism, when Charles, Count
of Nevers, and the Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former gave his name
to the infant while the latter's name was destined to be identified with many
unpleasant incidents in the career of the future man. This brief span of life
is sufficient reason for the further item in the archives of the Golden Fleece:
"As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into the same room. There the sovereign, his father, and the duchess, his mother, took the oath on his behalf. Afterwards the duke put the collars upon all." Thus
was emphasised at birth the parental conviction that Charles of Burgundy was of
different metal than the rest of the world. The great duke of the Occident made
a distinct epoch in the history of chivalry when he conferred its dignities
upon a speechless, unconscious infant. The theory that knighthood was a
personal acquisition had been maintained up to this period, the Children of
France alone being excepted from the rule, though in his Lay de Vaillance Eustache Deschamps complains that the degree of knighthood is actually conferred
on those who are only ten or twelve years old, and who do not know what to do
with the honour. That plaint was written not later than the first years of the fifteenth
century, and the poet's prediction that ruin of the institution was imminent
when affected by such disorders seemed justified if, in 1433, even the years of
the eligible age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not received the
accolade until he was twenty-five.
How
his predecessor in Holland, Count William VI, had acquitted himself valiantly
the moment that he was dubbed knight is told by Froissart, and the tales of
other accolades of the period are too well known to need reference.
It
is said that the baby cavalier was nourished by his own mother. Having lost her
first two infants, Isabella was solicitous for the welfare of this third child,
who also proved her last. He was, moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as
Michelle of France and Bonne of Artois, his first wives, had left no offspring.
The care and devotion expended on the boy were repaid. Charles became a sturdy
child who developed into youthful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled his
mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather than the English Lancastrians, from
whom she was equally descended.
His
dark hair and his features were very different from the fair type of his
paternal ancestors, the vigorous branch of the Valois family. Possibly other
characteristics suggesting his Portuguese origin were intensified by close association
with his mother, who supervised the education directed by the Seigneur d' Auxy.
They often lived at The Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and official
adviser to the duke's stadtholder in the administration.
Charles
was a diligent pupil, if we may believe his contemporaries, surprisingly so,
considering his early taste for all martial pursuits and his intense interest
in military operations.
At
two years of age he received his first lesson in horsemanship, on a wooden
steed constructed for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a saddler of Brussels.
His
biographers repeat from each other statements of his proficiency in Latin. This
must be balanced by noting that the only texts which he could have read were
probably not classic. In the inventory of the various Burgundian libraries of
the period, there are not six Greek and Latin classical texts all told, and
excepting Sallust, not a single Roman historian in the original. There was a translation of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi and
late abridgments of Sallust, Suetonius, Lucan, and Cæsar, with a French version of Valerius Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus.
Doubtless these versions and a volume called Les faits des Romains were
used as text-books to teach the young count about the world's conquerors. The
last mentioned book shows what travesties of Roman history were gravely read in
the fifteenth century.
There
are stories that the bit of history most enjoyed by the pupil was the narrative of
Alexander. Books about that hero were easy to come by long before the invention
of printing, though Alexander would have had difficulty in recognising his
identity under the strange mediæval motley in which his namesake wandered over
the land. No single man, with the possible exception of Charlemagne, was so
much written about or played so brilliantly the part of a hero to the Middle
Ages and after. The simplicity and universality of his success were of a type to appeal
to the boy Charles, himself built on simple lines. The fact, too, that
Alexander was the son of a Philip stimulated his imagination and instilled in
his breast hopes of conquering, not the whole world perhaps, but a good slice
of territory which should enable him to hold his own between the emperor and
the French king. Tales of definite schemes of
early ambition are often fabricated in the later life of a conqueror, but in
this case they may be believed, as all threads of testimony lead to the same
conclusion.
The
air breathed by the boy when he first became conscious of his own individuality
was certainly heavy with the aroma of satisfied ambition. The period of his
childhood was a time when his father stood at the very zenith of his power. In
1435, was signed the Treaty of Arras, the death-blow to the long coalition
existing between Burgundy and England to the continual detriment of France.
Philip was reconciled with great solemnity to the king, responsible in his
dauphin days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy. After ostentatiously
parading his filial resentment sixteen long years, Philip forgave Charles VII.
his share in the death of John the Fearless, on the bridge at Montereau, and
swore to lend his support to keep the French monarch on the throne whither the
efforts of Joan of Arc had carried him from Bourges, the forlorn court of his
exile.
England's
pretensions were repudiated. To be sure, the recent coronation of Henry VI at
Paris was not immediately forgotten, but while the Duke of Bedford had actually
administered the government as regent, in behalf of his infant nephew, it was a
mere shadow of his office that passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435,
was almost coincident with the compact at Arras when the English Henry's realms
across the Channel shrank to Normandy and the outlying
fortresses of Picardy and Maine. Later events on English soil were to prove how
little fitted was the son of Henry . for sovereignty of any kind.
Out
of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy rose triumphant with a seal
set upon his personal importance. His recognition of Charles VII as lawful sovereign of France, and his
reconciliation did not pass without signal gain to himself.
The king declared his own hands unstained by the blood of John of Burgundy, agreed to punish all those designated by Philip as actually responsible for that treacherous murder, and pledged himself to erect a cross on the bridge at Montereau, the scene of the crime. Further, he relinquished various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained by the crown from the moment when the junior branch of the Valois had been invested with the duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne, Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to the French sovereign on both banks of the Somme. To this last cession, however, was appended the condition that the towns included in this clause could be redeemed at the king's pleasure, for the sum of four hundred thousand gold crowns. Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of homage to himself, promised to demand no aides from the duke's subjects in case of war, and to assist his cousin if he were attacked from England. Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted with the emperor to Philip's disadvantage. One
clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness towards the powerful
vassal. It provided that in case of Charles's failure to observe all the
stipulated conditions, his own subjects would be justified in taking arms
against him at the duke's orders. A similar clause occurs in certain treaties
between an earlier French king and his Flemish vassals, but always to the
advantage of the suzerain, not to that of the lesser lords.
The
duke was left in a position infinitely superior to that of the king, whose
realm was terribly exhausted by the long contest with England, a contest
wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's foot. French prosperity had
been nibbled off like green foliage before a swarm of locusts, and the whole
north-eastern portion of France was in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On
the other hand, the territories covered by Burgundy as an overlord had greatly
increased during the sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships formed his domain, loosely hung
together by reason of their several titles being vested in one person—titles which the bearer had inherited or assumed under various pretexts.
Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy and county of Burgundy, came to him from his father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself heir to his cousins in Brabant and Limbourg when Duke Anthony's second son followed his equally childless brother into a premature grave, and the claims were made good in spite of all opposition. Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut became his through the unwilling abdication of his other cousin, Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of her husband, Frank van Borselen, the last representative of the Bavarian House then formally resigned her titles, which she had already divested of all significance five years previously, when Philip of Burgundy had become her ruward, to relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of responsibility too heavy for her shoulders. Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended in having the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added to his other designations. Also there were various places where his predecessor's name had to be effaced to make room for his. Antwerp
and Mechlin were included in Brabant. Luxemburg was a later acquisition
obtained through Elizabeth of Görlitz.
There
were very shady bits in the chapters about Philip's entry into many of his
possessions, but it is interesting to note how cleverly the best colour is
given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche and other writers who enjoyed
Burgundian patronage. Very gentle are the adjectives employed, and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over
the naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary criticism did
occasionally make itself heard, especially from the emperor, who declared that
the Netherland provinces must come to him as a lapsed imperial fief. For a time
Philip denied that any links existed between his domain and the empire, but in
1449 he finally found it convenient to discuss the question with Frederic III
at Besançon; still he never came to the point of paying homage.
All
these territories made a goodly realm for a mere duke. But they were individual
entities centred around one head with little interconnection.
Philip
thought that the one thing needed to bring his possessions into a national
life, as coherent as that of France, was a unity of legal existence among the
dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain this unity was the one thought
dominating the career of his successor, whose pompous introduction to life
naturally inspired him with a high idea of his own rank, and led him to dream
of greater dignities for himself and his successor than a bundle of titles,—a splendid, vain, fatal dream as it proved.
As
a final cement to the new friendship between Burgundy and France, it was also
agreed at Arras that the heir of the former should wed a daughter of Charles
VII. When the Count of Charolais was five years old, the Seigneur of Crèvecoeur, "a wise and prudent
gentleman" was despatched to the French court on divers missions, among
which was the business of negotiating the projected alliance. A very joyous
reception was accorded the envoy by the king and the queen, and his proposal
was accepted in behalf of the second daughter, Catherine, easily substituted
for an older sister, deceased between the first and second stages of
negotiation.
A
year later, a formal betrothal took place at St Omer, whither the young bride
was conducted, most honourably accompanied by the archbishops of Rheims and of
Narbonne, by the counts of Vendôme, Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the
Duke of Bourbon, named the Lord of Beaujeu, and various other distinguished
nobles, besides a train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance on
the princess, and an escort of three hundred horse.
At
the various cities where the party made halt they were graciously received, and
all honour was paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of France. At Cambray, she was
met by the duke's envoys and as she travelled on towards her destination, all
the towns of Philip's obedience contributed their quota of welcome.
At
St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming. When her approach was announced he
rode out in person to greet her, attended by a brilliant escort.
Within
the city, "melodious festivals" were ready to
burst into tune; the betrothal was confirmed amid joyousness and the ceremony
was followed by tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.
What
a series of pompous betrothals between infant parties the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries can show! Poor little puppets, in whose persons national
interests were supposed to be centred, were made to lisp out their roles in
international dramas whose final acts rarely were consistent with the promise
of the prologue.
Catherine
did not live to become Duchess of Burgundy nor to temper the duel between her
husband and her brother Louis. The remainder of her short existence was passed
under the care of Duchess Isabella, sometimes in one city of the Netherlands,
sometimes in another.
La
Marche records one return of Philip to Brussels when his arrival was greeted
by Charles of Burgundy, honourably accompanied by children of high birth about
his age or less, some only eleven or twelve years old. There were with him
Jehan de la Trémoille, Philip de Croy, Philip de Crèvecœur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others. All were mounted on little horses
harnessed like that of their governor, a very honest and wise gentleman, named
Messire Jehan, Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man, well
known, of good lineage, ready of speech and able to discuss matters of honour
and of state.
He
was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all exercise
and sport.
"Never
[asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman better adapted to supervise the
education of a young prince than he.... Among his pupils were also Anthony,
Bastard of Burgundy, son of Philip, and the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were
older than the first mentioned."
La
Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt in this youthful band of horse,
and then tells how, within Brussels,
At
various state functions the Count and Countess of Charolais appeared together
in public, and witnessed certain of the gorgeous and costly entertainments
which were almost the daily food of the gay Burgundian court. One of these
occasions was calculated to make a deep impression on the boy and to arouse his
pride at the spectacle of a proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep
humiliation.
In
1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges, when the animosity of the
burghers had caused the duchess to flee from their midst,
holding her little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal safety. Philip
suppressed the revolt, but, in his anger at its insolence, declared that never
again would he set foot within the gates unless in company with his superior.
Among
the many negotiations wherein Isabella played a prominent part as her husband's
representative, were those concerning the liberation of the Duke of Orleans,
who had remained in England, a prisoner, after the battle of Agincourt in 1415.
The last advice given by Henry V. to his brothers was that they should make
this captivity perpetual. Therefore, whenever overtures were made for his
redemption, a strong party, headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them
vehemently.
In
1440, however, there was a turn in the tide of sentiment. Possibly the low
state of the English exchequer made the duke's ransom more attractive than his
person. At any rate, 120,000 golden crowns were accepted as his equivalent, and
the exile of twenty-five years returned to France, having pledged himself never
to bear arms against England.
Isabella
of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome him, and to escort him to St. Omer, where
high revels were held in his honour and in that of his alliance with Marie of
Cleves, Philip's niece.
The
week intervening between the betrothal and the nuptials was passed in a
succession of banquets and tourneys, gorgeous in their elaboration. Moreover,
St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just then, the new Burgundian Order was
convened and the Duke of Orleans was elected a Knight of the Golden Fleece,
while in his turn he presented his cousin with the collar of his own Order of
the Porcupine. Lord Cornwallis and other English gentlemen who had accompanied
Orleans across the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor were they among
the least favoured guests, adds Barante.
Amity
was triumphant, and there was a general feeling abroad that the returned exile
was henceforth to be the ruling power in France. People began to look to him to
act as the go-between in their behalf, to be their mediator with Charles VII,
still little known at his best. Many towns turned towards him in hopes of
finding a friend, and among them was Bruges. But it was not royal favours that
Bruges sought. Her burghers felt great inconvenience from the breach with their
sovereign duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his grace, they seized the
opportunity of reminding Philip of his assertion, and they besought him to
enter their gates in company with the Duke of Orleans, a prince of the blood,
closer to the French sovereign than the Duke of Burgundy.
After
some demur, Philip consented to grant their petition. Possibly he was not loth
to be persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges to rejoice their
fellow-citizens with the news, and to prepare a reception for their appeased
sovereign, calculated to make him content with the late rebels.
Before the grand cortège, composed of the two dukes, their consorts, and the dignitaries who had assisted in the feasts of marriage and of chivalry, reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were ready with a touching spectacle of humility and repentance. A
league from the gates, the magistrates and burghers stood in the road awaiting
the travellers from St. Omer. All were barefooted and bareheaded. Under the
December sky they waited the approach of the stately procession. When the duke
arrived, they all fell upon their knees and implored him to forgive the late
troubles and to reinstate their city in his favour. Philip did not answer immediately—delay was always a feature of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of
Orleans, both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined their entreaties to the
citizens' prayers. Again a pause, and then, as if generously yielding to
pressure, Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes and their hats while he
accepted at their hands the keys of all the gates. Then the long procession
moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were the clergy, followed by the monks,
nuns, and beguins of the various convents and foundations, bearing crosses,
banners, reliquaries, and many precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too,
were the gilds and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent accoutrements
freshly burnished to do honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
overlord.
Throughout
Bruges, at convenient places, platforms and stages were erected, whereon were
enacted dramatic performances, given continuously, to provide amusement for the
collected crowds. Sometimes the presentation carried significance beyond mere
entertainment. Here a maid, garbed as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan
which wore the collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine. This last beast was
to symbolise the Orleans device, Near and Far, as the creature was
supposed to project his spines to a distance.
One
enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house with gold and the roof with silver
leaves to betoken his satisfaction. Indeed, if we may believe the chroniclers,
never in the memory of man had any city incurred so much expense to honour its
lord. The duke permitted his heart to be touched by these proofs of devotion,
and on the very evening of his arrival he evinced that his confidence was
restored by sending the civic keys and a gracious message to the magistrates.
At the news of this condescension the cries of "Noël"
re-echoed afresh through the illuminated streets.
Charles
was not present at this entry, which took place on Saturday, December 11th, but
Philip was so much entertained with the performance that he sent for his son,
and on the following Saturday he and the Countess of Charolais came from Ghent
to join the party. The Duke of Orleans and many nobles rode out of the city to
meet the young couple, who were formally escorted to the palace by magistrates
and citizens in a body. On the Sunday there were repetitions of some of the
plays and every attention was offered by the Bruges burghers to their young
guests. When Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December 14th, what
wonder that the lady wept in sorrow at leaving these gay Burgundian doings!
While
Charles did not actually witness the humiliation of the citizens, the seven-year-old
boy would, undoubtedly, have heard and known sufficient of the cause of the
festivals to be fully aware that the citizens who had dared defy his father
were glad to buy back his smiles at any cost to their pride and purse. He would
have known, too, that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, and elsewhere
joined the Bruges burghers in the welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a
spectacle of the relations between a city and the ducal father not to be easily
forgotten by the son.
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