31.  This John de Werchin, seneschal of Hainault, was connected by marriage with the house of Luxembourg St Pol.

32.  Enguerrand VII. lord of Coucy and count of Soissons, died a prisoner in Turkey, as related by Froissart. Mary, his daughter and co-heiress, sold her possessions, and this castle of Coucy among the rest, to Louis duke of Orleans. His other daughters were, Mary wife of Robert Vere, duke of Ireland (the ill-fated favourite of Richard II.) and Isabel, married to Philip count of Nevers, youngest son of the duke of Burgundy.

33.  Spinguchen. Q. Speenham?

34.  Jodocus marquis of Moravia and Brandenburg, cousin-german to the emperor Wenceslaus, appears to be here meant. See the following

35.  Charles the bold, married to a daughter of Robert of Bavaria, elector palatine, and afterwards emperor.

36.  Adolphus II. duke of Cleves, married Mary daughter of the duke of Burgundy.

37.  This seems to allude, in an enigmatical manner, to the charge of sorcery and witchcraft against the person of the king of France, of which the duke’s enemies accused him, as we find afterwards in doctor Petit’s justification of the duke of Burgundy.

38.  This was the half-sister of Richard, and daughter of the countess of Kent, by her second husband, Thomas Holland, knight of the Garter, and earl of Kent in right of his wife. She had been before separated from her first husband, William Montague, earl of Salisbury. Her third husband was Edward prince of Wales, by whom she had king Richard.

39.  Edward duke of Aumerle and earl of Rutland, son to Edmund duke of York, and cousin-german both to Richard II. and Henry IV. The reason of the personal hatred of the count de St Pol against this prince appears to be his having deserted and betrayed the conspirators at Windsor. The discovery of that plot probably hastened the death of Richard II.

40.  James II. count de la Marche, great chamberlain of France, succeeded to his father John in 1393, died 1438.

41.  Louis, count of Vendôme (the inheritance of his mother) second son of John count de la Marche, died 1446.

42.  John, lord of Clarency, third son of John count de la Marche, died 1458.

43.  Sallemue. Q. Saltash?

44.  Chastel, the name of a noble house in Brittany. Tanneguy, so often mentioned hereafter, was of the same family.

45.  Morlens. Q. Morlaix?

46.  Chastel-Pol. Q. St Pol de Leon?

47.  At the entrance of Brest harbour.

48.  In 1383, he was appointed to the office of grand treasurer.

49.  He is said, during his exile, to have signalized himself, like a true knight, in combating the Saracens, of whom he brought back to France so many prisoners that he constructed his magnificent castle of Seignelay without the aid of other labourers.—Paradin, cited by Moreri, Art. ‘Savoisy.’

50.  William de Tignonville. The event here recorded happened in 1408. After the bodies were taken down from the gibbets, he was compelled to kiss them on the mouths.

51.  John, king of Arragon, was killed in 1395 by a fall from his horse while hunting. By Matthea of Armagnac, his queen, he had two daughters, of whom the eldest was married to Matthew viscount de Chateaubon and count of Foix, who claimed the crown in right of his wife, and invaded Arragon in support of his pretensions. But the principal nobility having, in the mean time, called over Martin king of Sicily, brother of John, to be his successor, a bloody war ensued, which terminated only with the death of the count de Foix. After that event (which took place in 1398), Martin remained in peaceable possession of the crown. The right to the crown, both by the general law of succession and by virtue of the marriage-contract, appears to have been in the countess of Foix; but the states of the kingdom here, as in some other instances, seem to have assumed a controuling, elective power. This authority, probably inherent in the constitution, was more signally exercised in the death of Martin without issue in the year 1410.

52.  Jean Carmen. Q. Carmaing?

53.  Pierre de Monstarde. Q. Peter de Moncada, the name of an illustrious family in Arragon?

54.  Duke de Caudie. Q. Duke of Gandia? Don Alphonso, a prince of the house of Arragon, was honoured with that title by Martin on his accession.

55.  De Sardonne. Q. Count of Cardona? He was one of the deputies from the states to don Martin, on the death of John.

56.  D’Aviemie. Q. Count of Ampurias? This nobleman was another descendant of the house of Arragon. He espoused at first the party of Foix, but soon reconciled himself to Martin.

57.  Before called Peter.

58.  Of this invasion, Stowe gives the following brief account: ‘The lord of Cassels, in Brytaine, arrived at Blackepoole, two miles out of Dartmouth, with a great navy, where, of the rustical people whom he ever despised, he was slaine.’

59.  John de Hangest, lord de Huqueville.

60.  Owen Glendower.

61.  Linorquie. Q. Glamorgan?

62.  Round Table. Q. Caerleon in Monmouthshire, one of Arthur’s seats?

63.  Regnault de Trie, lord of Fontenay, was admiral of France on the death of the lord de Vienne, killed at Nicopolis. He resigned, in 1405, in favour of Peter de Breban, lord of Landreville, surnamed Clugnet, and hereafter mentioned, but falsely, by the name of Clugnet de Brabant.

64.  This famous battle was fought at Angora in Galatia.

65.  Charles III. succeeded his father, Charles the bad, in 1386.

66.  This county descended to him from his great grandfather Louis, count of Evreux, son to Philip the bold, king of France. Philip, son of Louis, became king of Navarre in right of his wife Jane, daughter of Louis Hutin. He was father of Charles the bad.

67.  Mary of France, daughter of king John, married Robert duke of Bar, by whom she had issue Edward duke of Bar and Louis cardinal, hereafter mentioned, besides other children.

68.  Rather aunt. John III. duke of Brabant, dying in the year 1335, without male issue, left his dominions to his eldest daughter Joan, who married Wenceslaus duke of Luxembourg, and survived her husband many years, dying, at a very advanced age, in the year 1406. She is the princess here mentioned. Margaret, youngest daughter of John III. married Louis de Male, earl of Flanders; and her only daughter Margaret (consequently niece of Joan duchess of Brabant) brought the inheritance of Flanders to Philip duke of Burgundy.

69.  The heiress of Flanders, mentioned in the preceding page.

70.  Catherine, married to Leopold the proud, duke of Austria.

71.  Margaret, married to William of Bavaria, (VI. of the name), count of Holland and Hainault.

72.  Mary, married to Amadeus VIII. first duke of Savoy, afterwards pope by the name of Felix V.

73.  Limbourg, on the death of its last duke, Henry, about 1300, was purchased, by John duke of Brabant, of Adolph count of Mons. Reginald duke of Gueldres claimed the succession; and his pretensions gave rise to the bloody war detailed by Froissart, which ended with the battle of Wareng.

74.  John, son of Louis the good, duke of Bourbon, so celebrated in the Chronicle of Froissart. The family was descended from Robert count of Clermont, son of St Louis who married the heiress of the ancient lords of the Bourbonnois. Louis, son of Robert, had two sons, Peter, the eldest (father of duke Louis the good) through whom descended the first line of Bourbon and that of Montpensier, both of which became extinct in the persons of Susannah, duchess of Bourbon, and Charles count of Montpensier her husband, the famous constable of France killed at the siege of Rome. James, the younger son of Louis I. was founder of the second line of Bourbon. John, count of la Marche, his son, became count of Vendôme in right of his wife, the heiress of that county. Anthony, fifth in lineal descent, became king of Navarre, in right also of his wife, and is well known as father of king Henry IV.

75.  Matthew count of Foix, the unsuccessful competitor for the crown of Arragon, was succeeded by his sister Isabel, the wife of Archambaud de Greilly, son of the famous captal de Buche, who became count of Foix in her right. His son John, here called viscount de Châteaubon, was his successor.

76.  Charles d’Albret, count of Dreux and viscount of Tartas, constable, lineal ancestor of John king of Navarre.

77.  Carlefin. Q. Carlat?

78.  Duke Albert had four other children not mentioned in this history, viz. Albert, who died young,—Catherine, married to the duke of Gueldres,—Anne, wife of the emperor Wenceslaus,—and Jane, married to Albert IV. duke of Austria, surnamed the Wonder of the World.

79.  Peter de Luna, antipope of Avignon, elected after the death of Clement VII.

80.  Hollingshed says, sir Philip Hall was governor of the castle of Mercq, ‘having with him four score archers and four-and-twenty other soldiers.’

The troops from Calais were commanded by sir Richard Aston, knight, ‘lieutenant of the english pale for the earl of Somerset, captain-general of those marches.’

81.  Hangest, a noble family in Picardy. Rogues de Hangest was grand pannetier and maréschal of France in 1352. His son, John Rabache, died a hostage in London. John de Hangest, grandson of Rogues, is here meant. He was chamberlain to the king and much esteemed at court. His son Miles was the last male of the family.

82.  Aynard de Clermont en Dauphinè married Jane de Maingret, heiress of Dampierre, about the middle of the 14th century. Probably their son was the lord de Dampierre here mentioned.

83.  Andrew lord de Rambures was governor of Gravelines. His son, David, is the person here mentioned. He was appointed grand master of the cross-bows, and fell at the battle of Agincourt with three of his sons. Andrew II. his only surviving son, continued the line of Rambures.

84.  John de Craon, lord of Montbazon and Sainte Maure, grand echanson de France, killed at Agincourt.

85.  Antoine de Vergy, count de Dammartin, maréschal of France in 1421.

86.  Hollingshed says, this expedition was commanded by king Henry’s son, the lord Thomas of Lancaster, and the earl of Kent. He doubts the earl of Pembroke bring slain, for he writes, ‘the person whom the Flemings called earl of Pembroke.’ He also differs, as to the return of the English, from Monstrelet, and describes a sea-fight with four genoese carracks, when the victory was gained by the English, who afterward sailed to the coast of France, and burnt thirty-six towns in Normandy, &c.

87.  John lord of Croy, Renty, &c. counsellor and chamberlain to the two dukes of Burgundy, Philip and John, afterwards grand butler of France, killed at Agincourt.

88.  John de Montagu, vidame du Laonnois, lord of Montagu en Laye, counsellor and chamberlain of the king, and grand master of the household. He was the son of Gerard de Montagu, a bourgeois of Paris, secretary to king Charles V. Through his great interest at court, his two brothers were presented, one to the bishoprick of Paris, the other to the archbishoprick of Sens and office of chancellor.

89.  This term may excite a smile. Monstrelet was a staunch Burgundian.

90.  He styles himself count of Rethel, because, as duke of Limbourg, he was a member of the empire, and owed the king no homage.

91.  Brother of William count of Hainault.

92.  Philip the bold, king of France, gave the county of Alençon to his son Charles count of Valois, father of Philip VI. and of Charles II. count of Alençon, who was succeeded by his son Peter, the third count, who, dying in 1404, left it to his son, John, last count and first duke of Alençon, here mentioned. Alençon reverted to the crown on the death of Charles III. the last duke, in 1525.

93.  Louis II. son of Louis duke of Anjou and king of Naples, brother to king Charles V. whose expedition is recorded by Froissart.

94.  The devices of the two parties are different in Pontus Heuterus. (Rerum Burgundicarum, l. 3.) According to him, the Orleans-men bore on their lances a white pennon, with the inscription, Jacio Aleam; and the Burgundians set up in opposition pennons of purple, inscribed Accipio conditionem.

95.  William II. count of Namur.

96.  Monstrelet is mistaken as to the names of the english ambassadors. The first embassy took place the 22d March 1406, and the ambassadors were the bishop of Winchester, Thomas lord de Camoys, John Norbury, esquire, and master John Cateryk, treasurer of the cathedral of Lincoln.

A second credential letter is given to the bishop of Winchester alone, of the same date. Another credential is given to the same prelate, bearing similar date, to contract a marriage with the eldest or any other daughter of the king of France, and Henry prince of Wales.

See the Fœdera, anno 1406.

97.  This is a mistake. His true name was Peter de Breban, surnamed le Clugnet, lord of Landreville.

98.  Mary, daughter of William I. count of Namur, married first to Guy de Châtillon, count of Blois, and secondly to this admiral de Breban. On the deaths of both her brothers (William II. in 1418, and John III. in 1428) she became countess of Namur in her own right; and after her it came to Philip the good, duke of Burgundy, as a reversion to the earldom of Flanders.

99.  Frederick, second son of John duke of Lorraine, and brother of Charles the bold, obtained the county of Vaudemont (originally a branch of Lorraine) by marriage with Margaret daughter and heir of Henry V. count of Vaudemont and Joinville.

100.  Olivier de Blois, count of Penthievre and viscount of Limoges, grandson of Charles de Blois, the unfortunate competitor with John de Montfort for the duchy of Bretagne.

101.  Son to the duke of Bourbon.

102.  John de Hangest, lord of Huqueville.

103.  Called in the Catalogue of the Bishops of Liege, by Joannes Placentius, Henry lord of Parewis. The name of his son, the elected bishop, was Theodoric de Parewis. Pontus Heuterus says, they were descended from the ancient dukes of Brabant.

104.  He narrowly escaped being massacred, with all his household, at St Tron, by a body of the rabble, who burst into the monastery with that intent. His own personal courage alone saved him in that extremity.

105.  Angelus Corrarius, a noble Venetian, elected at Rome after the death of Innocent VII. He assumed the name of Gregory XII.

106.  See the Fœdera. The ambassadors were, sir Thomas Erpingham, John Cateryk, clerk, and Hugh Mortimer, treasurer to the prince of Wales.

Other credentials are given in December of this year, wherein the bishop of Durham is added to the above ambassadors.

107.  It is not very easy to say to what this chapter can refer. There appears to have been no expedition into Scotland at this period, nor at any other, to which the facts here related bear the least resemblance. Is it entirely a fabrication of Monstrelet? I have looked at Hollingshed, Stowe and Henry.

108.  St Jangon—Perth, being probably a french corruption of St John’s Town.

109.  Raoul d’Oquetonville, a knight of Normandy.

110.  The Guillemins were an order of hermits, instituted by Guillaume, duke of Guienne and count of Poitou. They succeeded to the church-convent of the Blanc-Manteaus, instituted by St Louis.

111.  The name of the adulteress was Marietta d’Enguien,—and the son he had by her the famous John, count of Dunois and of Longueville. Sir Aubert de Canny was a knight of Picardy.

112.  Præsenti animo, says Heuterus.

113.  Consult Bayle and Brantôme for a singular anecdote respecting the private reasons which urged the duke to commit this murder.

114.  The monk of St Denis, author of the History of Charles VI. adds the following damning clause to his account of this foul transaction:—‘But what raised to the highest pitch the horror of the princes at the blackness of soul displayed by the duke was, that very shortly before, he not only was reconciled but entered into an alliance of brotherly love with the duke of Orleans. They had yet more recently confirmed it, both by letters and oaths, insomuch that they called God to witness it, and received the communion together. They had every appearance of an entire union in the conduct of the war which was committed to their charge: they had defended one another’s honour from the bad success which attended them: it seemed as if they had only one interest; and, for a yet greater token of union and of love, the duke of Burgundy, hearing that the duke of Orleans was indisposed, visited him with all the marks, I do not say of civility but, of tender affection, and even accepted an invitation to dine with him the next day, being Sunday. The other princes of the blood, knowing all this, could not but conceive the most extreme indignation at so horrible a procedure: they therefore refused to listen to his excuses,—and the next morning, when he came to the parliament-chamber, they forbade him entrance.’ See Bayle, Art. ‘Petit.’ The reconciliation here mentioned is also alluded to, ch. xliv.

115.  ‘The noble duke of Bourbon,’ says the monk of St Denis, ‘was nominated to this embassy, but he generously excused himself from it: he would not even remain any longer at court, but demanded leave to retire to his own estates; for he loved better to renounce the share which he had in the government than consent to compound with the state for the murder of his nephew, which made him exclaim loudly, and many times, as I have been assured, that he could never look with a favourable eye upon the author of a treason so cowardly and so infamous.’ See Bayle, ubi supra.

116.  This shows how general wooden buildings were still in the 15th century.

117.  The titles of Guienne and Acquitaine were always used indiscriminately.

118.  Louis, cardinal de Bar, afterwards cardinal of the Twelve Apostles, youngest son of Robert, and brother of Edward, dukes of Bar, and heir to the duchy after the deaths of all his brothers.

119.  John Petit, professor of theology in the university of Paris, ‘ame venale,’ says Bayle, ‘et vendue à l’iniquitè.’ He was reputed a great orator, and had been employed twice before to plead on occasions of the first importance. The first was in favour of the university against some accusations of the cardinal-legate in 1406; the second, at Rome before pope Gregory, on the 20th of July 1407, on the subject of the king’s proposal for a termination of the schism. The very curious performance with which we are here presented was publicly condemned by the bishop of Paris and the university as soon as they were out of fear from the immediate presence of the duke of Burgundy, and burnt by the common hangman. See, in Bayle, further particulars of the work and its author.

120.  See the 19th chap. 2 Samuel.

121.  This is a very striking allusion to a particular custom at tournaments, and sometimes in actual fight, of which Sainte Palaye gives a most interesting account in the ‘Memoires sur l’Ancienne Chevalerie.’

The exclamation, ‘Aux filz des Preux!’ was evidently used to encourage young knights to emulate the glories of their ancestors, and to do nothing unworthy the noble title given them; and in many instances it was attended with the most animating consequences.

The greatest misfortune attending on a translation of french chronicles is the total absence in our language of an expression answerable to the french word ‘preux,’ which conveys in itself whole volumes of meaning. Spencer ventured to adapt the word in its superlative degree to the english tongue. He says somewhere ‘the prowest knight alive.’ In fact, the word ‘preux’ may be considered as summing up the whole catalogue of knightly virtues in one expression.

The exclamation was sometimes varied,—‘Honneur aux filz des preux!’ which seems to be the original expression.

122.  Q. ‘Et aussi deux ans paravant que nous estiemes en meur estat?’

123.  Peter, youngest son of Charles the bad, and brother of Charles III. king of Navarre. He died without issue 1411.

124.  William count of Tancarville and viscount of Melun, great chamberlain, president of the chamber of accounts, great butler, &c. killed at Agincourt. His daughter and heiress Margaret, brought the county of Tancarville, &c. in marriage, to James de Harcourt.

125.  Peter de Luxembourg St Pol, count of Brienne and Conversano, created knight of the Golden Fleece in 1430; John de Luxembourg, his father, was brother to Walleran, and son to Guy, count of St Pol; and on the death of Walleran, without issue-male in 1415, Peter succeeded to his title and estates. His mother was heiress of the illustrious house of Brienne, emperors of Constantinople, kings of Jerusalem and dukes of Athens, &c. Anghien was one of the titles which she brought to the house of Luxembourg.

126.  Fosse and Florennes,—a small town and village in the bishoprick of Liege.

127.  This is a mistake. Henry III. king of Castille, dying in December 1406, was succeeded by his son, John II. an infant of 22 months. The battle here mentioned was fought in the ensuing year, D. Alphonso Henriques being admiral of Castille. Tarquet (Hist. d’Espagne) says, there were only 13 castillian against 23 moorish galleys, and that eight of the latter were taken in the engagement. Braquemont was rewarded for his extraordinary services by the grant of all conquests which he might make in the Canaries. This contingent benefit he resigned to his cousin, John de Betancourt, for more solid possessions in Normandy; and, in the year 1417, he obtained the high dignity of admiral of France.