Part 3 (1/2)
He asked for a shi+rt of M de Martigues, and tore it in little strips, which he laid cross-wise,done thishe hi but six prunes and sixonly beer Nevertheless, two days later, M de Martigues died: andhiot aithout good-bye to any ht he would have been hanged and strangled, for the false proentle; and after dinner M de Savoie sent the physicians and surgeons, and his apothecary, with a store of drugs to eentleeon came to me, and asked me in a very friendly way tothat I was not worthy to carry his instruain to do it to please hi his kindness, and fearing to displease him, I then decided to show thes, which would here be too long to recite Our discourse finished, I embalmed the body; and it was placed in a coffin Then the Eeon drew me aside, and told ive ave him many thanks, and said I had no wish to serve any country but my own Then he told me I was a fool, and if he were a prisoner as I was, he would serve a devil to get his freedom In the end I told him flat I would not stop with him The Emperor's physician then went back to M de Savoie, and explained to hiues' death, and that it was impossible for all the ain I had done all that was to be done, and besought hiood ofbeen persuaded to do this, sent to me one of his stewards, M du Bouchet, to tell me, if I would serve him, he would use me well; I sent back my very humble thanks, and that I had decided not to take service under any foreigner When he heard ht to be sent to the galleys
M de Vaudeville, Governor of Graveline, and colonel of seventeen ensigns of infantry, asked hi, that he had had for six or seven years M de Savoie said he illing, so far as I was concerned; and if I used the cautery to his leg, it would serve hi it, he would have my throat cut Soon after, he sent for uard; and I was terrified, for I did not knohere they were taking me: they spoke no , he bade ed to hio without ransom I told him I had no means to pay any ransoeon-in-ordinary, to show ; and e had exaan my discourse to theeon, and went back to M de Vaudeville, and said he was sure I could cure him, and told him all I had decided to do; which pleased hiht I could cure him; I said yes, if he were obedient to as necessary He promised to do only what I wished and ordered; and so soon as he was healed, he would let o home without ranso it was too long to wait for my liberty: in fifteen days I hoped his ulcer would be less than half its present size, and give no pain; then his own surgeon and physician could finish the cure He granted this to me Then I took a piece of paper to ave it to him, and kept another by me; I asked him to keep his proentleman he would Then I set myself to dress him properly, after the manner of GalenHe wished to know if it were true, what I said of Galen, and bade his physician look to it, for he would know it for himself; he had the book put on the table, and found that what I said was true; so the physician was ashalad Within the fifteen days, it was alan to feel happy about the compact made between us He had reat persons than he and I only He gavered scarf which I ive hirapes in the vineyards His physician and surgeon took h the camp to visit their wounded; and I took care to observe what our enereat cannons, but only twenty-five or thirty field-pieces
M de Vaudeville held prisoner M de Bauge, brother of M de Martigues who died at Hesdin M de Bauge was prisoner at Chateau de La Motte au Bois, belonging to the Emperor; he had been captured at Therouenne by two Spanish soldiers; and M de Vaudeville, when he saw hiood fa his clean legs and feet, and his fine white stockings, kneas one to pay a good ransoive theladly, for they had no place to keep hiave their uarded by four of his own soldiers, to Chateau de La Motte au Bois, with others of our gentlee would not tell who he was; and enduredon bread and water, with a little straw for his bed When Hesdin was taken, M de Vaudeville sent the news of it to him and to the other prisoners, and the list of the killed, and ae heard with his own ears his brother was dead, he fell to crying, weeping, and lauards asked him why he was so ues, his brother When he heard this, the captain of the castle sent straight to tell M de Vaudeville he had a good prisoner: as delighted at this, and sent me next day with four soldiers, and his own physician, to the castle, to say that if M de Bauge would pay him fifteen thousand crowns ransom, he would send him home free: and he asked only the security of two Antwerp merchants that he should name
M de Vaudeville persuaded me I should commend this offer to his prisoner: that is why he sent me to the castle He told the captain to treat hithen his guard: and froreat deal of hie answered that he could not pay his ransom himself: it depended on M d' Estampes his uncle, and Mlle de Bressure his aunt: he had no ave this answer to M de Vaudeville; who said, ”Possibly he will not get away so cheap”: which was true, for they kneho he was Then the Queen of Hungary and M le Duc de Savoie sent word to M de Vaudeville that thisfor him, and he must send his prisoner to theh without him The ransom paid was forty thousand croithout other expenses
On my way back to M de Vaudeville, I passed by Saint Oreat cannons, most of which were fouled and broken
Also I passed by Therouenne, where I saw not one stone left on another, save a vestige of the great church: for the Eues round to clear and take away the stones; so that now you may drive a cart over the town: and the same at Hesdin, and no trace of castle and fortress Such is the evil that wars bring with theot the better of his ulcer, and was nearly healed: so he let o, and sent me by a trumpet, with passport, as far as Abbeville I posted fro Henry, at Aufiood favour He sent MM de Guise, the Constable, and d' Estres, to hear from me the capture of Hesdin; and I reat cannons they had taken to Saint Olad, for he had feared the eneave me two hundred crowns to take reat torment and thunder of the diabolical artillery, and away from the soldiers, blasphemers and deniers of God Iwas told I was not killed but taken prisoner He uier, his chief physician, write to , and she was not to be unhappy, and he would pay my ransom
BATTLE OF SAINT QUENTIN 1557
After the battle of Saint Quentin, the King sent me to La Fere en Tartenois, to M le Marechal de Bourdillon, for a passport to M
le Duc de Savoie, that I o and dress the Constable, who had been badly wounded in the back with a pistol-shot, whereof he was like to die, and remained prisoner in the eneo to hieon; that he o there only to dress him, and not rather to take some secret infors besides surgery, and remembered I had been his prisoner at Hesdin M le Marechal told the King of this refusal: rote to M le Marechal, that if Mme the Constable's Lady would send soive hi to say to hi and by M le Cardinal de Lorraine Two days later there caentlemen of the bedchamber, with his shi+rts and other linen, to whoo to the Constable I was very glad, and gave him my letter, and instructed hiht, having finished ed reat number of wounded who had retreated there after the battle, and he would write to the King to explain why I stopped; which I did Their wounds were very putrid, and full of worrene, and corruption; and I had to make free play with the knife to cut off as corrupt, which was not done without as They found no store of drugs at La Fere, because the surgeons of the caons of the artillery there, and these had not been touched I asked M le Marechal to let s which were in theiven the half only at one time, and five or six days later I had to take the rest; and yet it was not half enough to dress the great number of wounded And to correct and stop the corruption, and kill the woryptiacum dissolved in wine and eau-de-vie, and did all I could for them; but in spite of all entleed to find the dead body of M de Bois-Dauphin the elder, who had been killed in the battle; they asked o with the the dead; but it was not possible to recognize hione in corruption, and their faces changed We saw ue round us the earth all covered with the dead; and hardly stopped there, because of the stench of the dead reen flies rose from them, bred of the moisture of the bodies and the heat of the sun, that when they were up in the air they hid the sun It onderful to hear the; and where they settled, there they infected the air, and brought the plague with them Mon petit maistre, I wish you had been there with me, to experience the smells, and make report thereof to them that were not there
I was very weary of the place; I prayed M le Marechal to let me leave it, and feared I should be ill there; for the wounded , and they died nearly all, in spite of everything we did He got surgeons to finish the treatood favour He wrote to the King of the diligence I had shoard the poor wounded Then I returned to Paris, where I found one thither after the battle
THE JOURNEY TO THE CAMP AT AMIENS 1558
The King sent me to Dourlan, under conduct of Captain Gouast; with fifty men-at-ar ere always in alarms on the way, I ot on his horse, which carried o well if we had to ave hi in front, you would have taken hiarrison inside Dourlan, when they saw us, thought ere the enemy, and fired their cannon at us Captain Gouast, ns to them with his hat that ere not the ene, and we entered Dourlan, to our great relief
Five or six days before this, a sortie had been made from Dourlan; wherein many captains and brave soldiers had been killed or wounded: and a the wounded was Captain Saint Aubin, vaillant coreat friend of M de Guise: for whose sake chiefly the King had sentattacked with a quartan fever, yet left his bed to co hih the neck with an arquebus
Captain Saint Aubin thought hiht I protest to God he lost his quartan fever, and was forever free of it I dressed hi; and ot off with the loss of an arot off cheap, to be alive at all Then, the ene broken up their ca here of mon petit maistre, as more comfortable in his house than I at the wars