Part 35 (1/2)
(Fredericq. _Le role politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_, p.
183.)]
[Footnote 3: Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey, p. 64.)]
[Footnote 4: Toutey, p. 66. This doc.u.ment is in the Cologne archives.]
[Footnote 5:_See_ Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet, _Urkunden_, iv., 468, 470.]
[Footnote 6: Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (_See_ Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, ii., 271.)]
[Footnote 7: Toutey's suggestion.]
[Footnote 8: All sons inherited their father's t.i.tle, so that there were many landless lords.]
[Footnote 9: At this period there were eight in the confederation, which was a loose structure in which each member preserved her individuality.]
[Footnote 10: _See_ Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the _Cartulaire de Mulhouse_, iv., _et pa.s.sim_. This last furnishes the details for these pa.s.sages.]
[Footnote 11: In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. The duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) does not agree with that of Knebel and others. But the facts of the narrative are little affected by the variations. The following is the itinerary accepted by Toutey:
Dep. from Ensisheim Jan. 8 Stay at Thann ” 9-10 Dep. from Belfort ” 11 Besancon ” 17 Auxonne, slept ” 18 Dijon, a ” 23 Dijon, d Feb. 19, 1474 Auxonne, slept ” 20 Dole ” 21-March 8 (Invested with the Franche Comte of Burgundy.) Besancon March 12 or 15 Vesoul and Luxeuil March 23-28 Lorraine” 28 Luxemburg Apr. 4-June 9 Easter fetes ” 10 Fete of the Order of the Garter ” 23 Brussels June 27]
[Footnote 12: Kirk considers that they are well founded and too indecent to repeat.]
CHAPTER XIX
THE FIRST REVERSES
1474-1475
”Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?” These words in Latin, on scrolls fluttering from the hands of living angels, met the eyes of Charles of Burgundy at his r.e.t.a.r.ded arrival in Dijon. And the confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle flattery of the implied comparison between him and the subject of the words of the prophet.[1]
The traveller had slept at Perigny, about a league from the capital of Burgundy, so as to make the last stage of his journey thither in leisurely state. Unpropitious weather on Sat.u.r.day, January 22d, the appointed day, made postponement of the ducal parade necessary, out of consideration for the precious hangings and costly ecclesiastical robes that were to grace the ceremonies of reception and invest.i.ture.
Fortunately, Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds rode through the city streets at an early hour, proclaiming the duke's gracious intention to make his entry on that day. Immediately, tapestries were spread and every one was alert with the last preparations.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century]
Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like that cited, which were planted along the ducal way and on a succession of stagings erected for various exhibits. On the great city square, the platform was capacious and many actors played out divers roles. Here stood the scroll-bearing angels on either side of a living representation of Christ. In the background cl.u.s.tered three separate groups of people representing, respectively, the three Estates. Above their heads more inscriptions were to be read.[2] ”All the nations desire to see the face of Solomon,” ”Behold him desired by all races,” ”Master, look on us, thy people,” were among the legends.
The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical, from other parts of the duke's domains partic.i.p.ated, proceeded past all these soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy resembled Solomon in more ways than one, to the church of St. Benigne. Here pledges of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians and their ruler. The Abbe of Citeaux placed the ducal ring solemnly upon Charles's finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all the prerogatives of his predecessors.
From the church, the train wound its way to the Ste. Chapelle, past more stages decorated with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as ”A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any,”
”The lion hath roared, who will not fear?” ”The righteous are as bold as a lion,” etc.
Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of invest.i.ture were performed, and followed by a banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal robes, and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with gold, pearls, and precious stones. After a repast, prelates, n.o.bles, and civic deputies were convened in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where first they listened to a speech from the chancellor. When he had finished, the duke himself delivered an harangue wherein he expatiated on the splendours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. Wrongfully usurped by the French kings, it had been belittled into a duchy, a measure much to be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the speaker broke off abruptly with an ambiguous intimation ”that he had in reserve certain things that none might know but himself.”[3]
What was the significance of these veiled allusions? It could not have been the simple scheme to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an ostrich-like quality of mind which made him oblivious to the world's vision but even he could hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours regarding the interview of Treves, rumours flying north, east, south, and west.
Might not this suggestion of secrets yet untold have had reference to the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and himself to divide France between them?