CHALLENGE.
(Extraordinary one»)

The following is the challenge sent by the duke of Orleans in 1411, to the duke of Burgundy, after

the murder of his father by the latter, in consequence of the feuds between the two houses:—

“ Charles, duke of Orleans and Valois, earl of Blois and Beaumont, lord of Conchy; Philip, earl of Vertus; and John, earl of Angouleme, brothers: to thee, John, who callest thyself duke of Burgundy, for the most horrible murder, by thee treacherously, maliciously, by professed murderers, committed on the person of our dear and dread lord and father, Louis duke of Orleans, only brother of monseigneur the king, our sovereign lord and thine, notwithstanding the several oaths, alliances, and engagements between you subsisting, and for the great treasons, acts of disloyalty, infamy, and wickedness, by thee against our said sovereign lord the king, and against us, in divers manners perpetrated: we give thee to understand, that from this day forward we will annoy thee with all our power, and by all ways we can; and against thee, of thy treason and disloyalty, we call God, and all good men in the world, to judge and assist us: in witness of the truth whereof we have caused these present letters to be sealed with the seal of me, Charles abovenamed. Given at Jarjeau, the eighteenth day of July, in the year of grace 1411.”

The reply of the duke of Burgundy is equally explicit and unequivocal. “ John, duke of Burgundy, earl of Artois, Flanders, and Burgundy, palatin, lord of Salines and Malines: to thee, Charles, who callest thyself duke of Orleans; and to thee, Philip, who callest thyself earl of Vertus; and to thee John, who callest thyself earl of Angouleme, who have lately sent us your letters of defiance, we give to understand, and be it known to all men, that in order to defeat the most horrible treasons, manifold wickedness, and most malicious plots, conspired, contrived, and acted feloniously against the king, our most dread and sovereign lord, and yours, and against his most noble generation, by the late Lewis, your father, a

false and disloyal traitor, to attain to the final detestable execution of his purposes, which he had contrived against our said most dread lord and “his, and also against his said generation, and notoriously, that no good man ought to suffer him to live: and especially we, who are cousin-german of our said lord, dean of the peers, and twice peer, and more closely allied to him and to his said generation than any other person of the said generation; could not have suffered such a false, disloyal, cruel, and felonious traitor on the face of the earth any longer, without a great crime on our part; we have, in order to acquit ourselves loyally, and do our duty towards our high and sovereign lord, and his said generation, killed, as he deserved, the said false and disloyal traitor, and in so doing have pleased God, and rightly performed loyal service to our said most dread and sovereign lord. And forasmuch as thou and thy brothers follow the false, disloyal, and felonious steps of your said father, and do contrive to accomplish those damnable and disloyal facts attempted by him, we are not at all concerned at your said defiance; but as to the contents thereof, thou and thy brothers have lied, and do maliciously, falsely, and disloyally lie, like traitors as you are; for which, by the help of our Lord, who knows and is a witness of the most entire and perfect loyalty, love, and good will, which we always have, and always so long as we live shall have, towards our said Lord, and his said generation, to the good of his people and of all his kingdom, we will bring you to such an end and punishment, as such false and disloyal traitors, rebels, and disobedient felons, as thou and thy brothers are, deserve to come to: in witness whereof we have caused these letters to be sealed with our seal. Given in our city of Douay, the fourteenth day of August, in the year of grace 1411.”

The murder of the duke of Orleans, whose death produced the above bravadoes, was caused by an

offence still more galling than that of political rivalry. It is thus quaintly related by Brantome:— Brantome, Dames Galantes, tom. 2, p. m. 352. ⁸⁰

“ The duke of Orleans having publicly boasted on a time at a public dinner, where his cousin, duke John of Burgundy, also was, ‘ That he had the pictures of the fairest ladies he had lain with in his closet:’ it happened that duke John coming one day accidentally into his closet, the first lady whose picture was presented to his eyes, was his own noble lady and spouse, who was thought very handsome at that time; her name was Margaret, daughter of Albert of Bavaria, count of Hainault, Holland, and Zealand. The good husband was astonished. You may imagine that he said in good earnest, ‘ Ha ! I have it !’; and taking no farther notice of the flea that bit him, he dissembled the matter, and concealing the true cause of his resentment, quarrelled with him about the regency and administration of the kingdom; and making this, not the affair of his wife, his pretence, he caused him to be assassinated at the gate Baudet at Paris, his wife being already dead, as was supposed of poison. Being thus rid of one wife, he took for his second the daughter of Lewis III, duke of Bourbon; it is doubted whether he mended his market; for to such people as are subject to horns, let them change beds and haunts as oft as they will, horns will come. The duke did very wisely in that; he revenged himself on the adulterer, without scandalizing himself or his wife; which was very wise dissimulation on his part. For these reasons, duke John was very wise in dissembling and hiding his horns, and revenging himself besides on his cousin who had dishonoured him: he even laughed at him, and let him know it; which derision and scandal, without doubt, went as much to his heart as his ambition, and made him do this action like a worldly-wise and able politician.” Do not imagine that this is one of those tales that are only learned by tradition; it has been inserted in

historians, and you will find it in the memoirs of Lewis Gollut. It is true, this author supposes, that duke John of Burgundy did not believe that his wife had been unfaithful, but that the duke of Orleans had boasted of favours from her wrongfully. Let us use his own words, which will shew that this delicate affair was debated in the council of Burgundy, and that it was there resolved to use some other pretence to be revenged on the duke of Orleans. The duchess had previously complained to the duke her husband, that the duke of Orleans had watched to find her alone, and had solicited her, and attempted force upon her honour, of which she prayed him to take notice, which the duke had received in such manner as matters of that kind usually are taken and interpreted by husbands who have any spirit, or any regard for their reputation. Nevertheless, he would not immediately proceed to vengeance, but only resolved on the execution in time, and to punish the offence by the murder of the duke of Orleans, whatever came of it. He adds, that the duke had called his council, and demanded of the great men to whom he communicated this affair, under an oath, how he should proceed to be revenged for so great an injury, whether he should chastise or murder him: letting them understand that he asked not whether he should do it, but only how and in what manner he might execute it with safety. Whereupon the counsellors, after divers excuses, and three days’ deliberation, answered, “ That it was necessary to take measures that the duke of Orleans’s actions might be censured as they deserved, and to gain the opinion of the vulgar, and even of the Parisians; and that it would therefore be good to set some people at work every where, to rail against the conduct of the duke of Orleans, and stir up the people against him.” These last words of Gollut are very remarkable.—Art.Burgundy.