BASTILLE ST. ANTOINE, AS CONSTRUCTED BY CHARLES V., WITH SUBSEQUENT ADDITIONS From Viollet-le-Duc's Dictionnaire de l'Architecture. (For explanation, see List of Illustrations. CHAP. II. THE REVOLUTION FAILS. 37 of the King of Navarre. He offered to introduce him secretly into Paris on the night of the 31st of July, and proclaim him King of France. It was the final effort of a man who had struggled nobly for the best interests of his country, and who had failed, partly because he was yielding and moderate when he should have been firm and uncompromising, partly because he made use of men from whom he should have shrunk, but mainly because the man, on whom he most relied, was a mercenary traitor and unequal to the part he was called on to perform. A.D. 1357-59. scheme. In order to secure the entry of the Navarrese, it His was necessary to change the guards of the gates, through which they were to pass. On the appointed night, therefore, Marcel, with fifty or sixty companions, all armed, presented themselves at the Porte St. Denis, and told the keeper of the keys to give them up to Josseran de Mâcon, the treasurer of the King of Navarre. This was refused; a quarrel ensued, during which Jean Maillart, guardian of that quarter of Paris, and a partisan of the Duke of Normandy, came up and forbade the delivery of the keys. Maillart then, mounting his horse cried out, "Montjoie St. Denis for the King and the Duke," and rode off to the Halls of the people to raise them against Marcel. The Royalists had arranged their plans more The plot perfectly than Marcel, and his plot had been discovered. discovered. When Marcel and his party found that their coup d'état had failed, they tried to take possession of the Portes St. Martin and St. Honoré. At the former they met with a vigorous resistance. It was midnight. Maillart came up at the moment of their arrival and cried out to Marcel, "Etienne! Etienne! what are you doing here at this time of night ?" "John, what is that to thee?" replied Marcel, adding, "I am here to take A.D. 1357-59. Death of The coinage debased. of Charles the Bad. charge of the city, of which I am the governor." "It is not so," said Maillart, "you are here for no good," and, turning to his followers added, "I will prove it to you ; see! he has the keys in his hand to betray the town." "John, you lie." "It is you who lie," answered Maillart, and struck him to the ground. Marcel was murdered; his friends were scattered; many of them, not present at that time with Marcel, but proscribed beforehand, were put to death; and thus ended a badly managed, but, in its outset, a most legitimate and nobly intended effort to free the kingdom from misgovernment and oppression. After executing vengeance on Marcel's friends, the Duke's first act was to debase the coinage; that of the King of Navarre was to sign a treaty with Edward to assist him in conquering France, and then to march off from Paris to join his brother Philip at Nantes. A miserable period of confusion and wretchedness Treachery now followed. The King of Navarre, feeling that he had no longer any chance of ascending the throne, made terms with King Edward and took some of the "Companies," among whom were to be found many English who did not hesitate to break the truce, into his pay, and laid waste the country. He paid them with the money raised by Marcel to defend Paris, increased by contributions from Edward. The Duke of Normandy, driven to despair, tried to conciliate the people; but, having no soldiers, he also was forced to have recourse to the "Companies," and, lacking money, continually changed the value of the coinage, altering it within six days to the extent of nine hundred per cent. Wretched state of the country. The state of the country was now, if possible, worse than before. Neither corn nor vegetables nor vines were cultivated; burnt houses and churches in ruins everywhere met the eye; desolation universally prevailed, except in some isolated places where CHAP. II. DUKE OF NORMANDY REGAINS POWER. 39 1357-59. the peasants resisted the royal bandits, often per- A.D. forming the most heroic deeds of valour in defending themselves against their attacks. of the Winter increased the sufferings of the people; the Sufferings price of food became enormous, and famine raged people. throughout the land. Treaty signed by King John; At last a ray of hope seemed to brighten the prospect. It was said that a treaty of peace was signed between France and England. Alas! it was but a vain illusion! It was true that John had signed a treaty, but, under such conditions, that the Duke himself could not but prefer to leave his father still a captive, rather than accept them. Calais, Guines, Ponthieu, Normandy, Maine, Touraine, Poitou,-in short, nearly the whole of the western and great part of Central France, with all its ports and harbours and sca-coast.—were to be given up to Edward, and John had actually signed this shameful compact. He valued his own liberty higher than the honour and power of France, but his son set his country's interests above his father's ease. And he was right. He rejected the treaty with scorn, and the people resolved to stand by him. The States-General called together to assemble on May 19th, 1359. Only a few members came; for such was the danger of travelling along the road infested with brigands, that General. their lives were not safe. With one voice they declared that the treaty was too hard, and that John must remain in prison. But the Duke did not neglect the opportunity of restoring to their posts the twenty-two officers, whom the States had obliged him to dismiss in 1357. were which was Efforts were made to get rid of the "Companies." The Bishop of Troyes, a warlike prelate, put himself at the head of a large body of the nobles of Cham rejected by the Duke and by the States 1357-59. Bertrand du Guesclin. A.D. pagne and Lorraine, and drove them out of Champagne; the death of Picquini, one of their leaders, who was assassinated by one of his own men, freed Picardy; the Duke of Normandy attacked Melun, a town occupied by a Navarrese band of these robbers. At this siege the Duke of Normandy availed himself of the services of a man, whom, with rare discrimination, he picked out, against the opinion of almost all the lords who accompanied him. He was a person rough in looks, rude in his manners, and unmistakably a peasant in appearance. But the Duke saw the genius. of the man, and secured Bertrand du Guesclin to his cause. His value to the Royal arms soon became apparent. Melun however was not taken, and the Duke opened negotiations with the King of Navarre. He succeeded to such an extent, and so suddenly, that his brother Philip of Evreux believed he had been subjected to sorcery. The King himself declared he was inspired by the Holy Ghost, and was resolved to be a good Frenchman and no longer make war on France. His protestations were lies, as his subsequent conduct proved; and it is difficult to imagine what can have induced him thus to pretend a change of policy which he, almost immediately, abandoned. His utter falsity and want of principle is the only solution of the problem. His temporary defection from the opponents of the Duke of Normandy had but little effect, except to induce his mercenary troops to range themselves under the banner of the English. Still, when Edward landed at Calais on October 28th, 1359, France, though unable to offer a successful opposition to the English arms, was yet, not so utterly defenceless, as he would have found it in the previous year. Edward lands at Calais. 1 See Martin's France, vol. i. p. 243, for an interesting account of Du Guesclin. |