The life and times of Margaret of Anjou, queen of England and France v 1

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Chapter I. A.d. 1435

Ren6's birth—Edncation—Marriage—Childrm—His tastes and wars— ‘The Battle of Bulgneville—He becomes Duke of Lorraine and Bar—René in prison—Released on his yarole—The Emperer Si mond’s decision—Fétes in Lorraine—René retarns to his prison— Death of Louis III.—Desth of Quoon Joanna II. —She appointed René her heir—Ren6 sonds his Queen, Isabelle, into Provence and feNepe ss oe ek mw Ome Se

Chapter II. Ad. 1444

Queen Isabella's reception at Naples—Her talents and influence—Her ‘great successes —Rival claims—Alphons eet freo—Roné is libersted—He goes to Tours, Anjou, and Provence—Then to Genos and ‘Naples—His reception there—René's poverty—His cause declines— Alphonso besieges Naples—Caldora dies—Ren6 visits the Provinces—Alphonso goes to Capua—Returm and renews the siege of Naples—He enters tho city —René’s bravery and defeat — He returns to France—A marriage contrast—René’s mother die: Louis of Anjou dies—The treaty for peace at Tours, and for the marriage of Henry VI. to Margaret of Arjon =. + 170

Google ferry OF MICH xii CONTENTS.

Chapter III

Affuira in England provious to the marriago of Henry VI.

CHAPTER Iv. Ap. 14-1445

‘The marriage of Margaret of Anjou by proxy—Her progress through ‘Franco—Her arrival in England—Her illnese—Her marriage to ‘King Henry V1.—Her progress to London—Her Seta bythe people—Her coronation

Chapter V

A.D, 1446-1448, The Quoen's great influenco—A conspiracy against the Duke of Gloucostor—His death and character—The Cardinal of Winchester dies—

Colleges foundel—The Duke of Suffolk's defence—The pretensions of the Duke of York—His variance with the Duke of Somerset

The surrender of Maine and Anjou—The Duke of Suffolk's impeachment—His banishment and death—The loss of Caen—The conduct of Be etd Blea rebaras to Bifand Cab al and death . . . . . . .

Clamours against the Duke of Somersot—York takes up arms—Ho is apprehended, and released—Treaty with Scotland—The Queen visits Norwich—Her correspondence—The loss of Guienne—Lord ‘Talbot's death—Henry VI. taken ill—The birth of Prince Edward— ‘The Duke of York made ‘* Protector"—The King recovers, and resumes his authority—York retires into Wales .

APPENDIX. .

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INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.

PART I,

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OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF ANJOU.

Arter the conquests of Charlemagne the Emperor, the great kingdom of France was divided into numerous fiefs, or petty sovercigntics,

These were again, after the intervention of that long period called the feudal times, re-united under the French crown. Of these provinces, Anjou was one which took a conspicuous part in the politics of Europe. During 600 years the Angevine rulers were of three separate families or ‘“ Houses,” originating in, and acknowledging allegiance to, the crown of France.

Some difficulty has been found by writers in marking distinctly the origin and fall of the First House of Anjou; but the dynasty of the ‘‘ Third House,” from which René of Anjou and his daughter Margaret sprung by direct lineal descent, is traced with sufficient perspicuity in all the annals.

FIRST AND SECOND HOUSES OF ANJOU.

In the year 768, Charlemagne bestowed his sister

Bertha in marriage on Milon, Count of Maine, giving,

as her dower, the territory of Anjou, and conferred

upon Milon the title of Count of Angers. From this B

Vou, I.

778,

778,

824,

886, marriage proceeded four illustrious warriors, Roland, Thierr, Geoffrey, and Baldwin. After a rule of ten years, Milon was killed in battle against the Saracens in Spain.

His eldest son, Roland, succeeded him in 778. That Roland whose praises have been sung by Ariosto— that famous Roland, who is reported, in one of his hand-to-hand encounters, to have cloven through man, saddle, and horse with’ one fell blow! But Anjou can hardly be said to have felt his governing hand, since he was killed at Roncevaus, in the very year of his accession.

The title and possessions then devolved upon his brother Thierri, who was destined, during a long reign, to bear the brunt of a cruel warfare, often simultaneously carried on by two fierce enemies, and to witness continual scenes of devastation and carnage overspreading that fine portion of France entrusted to his charge.

The imperial power of Charlemagne was too mighty for the grasp of his son, and, under the mental and moral incapacity of his grandson, it dwindled and narrowly escaped extinction. Louis ‘‘le Débonnaire,” the son and successor of Charlemagne, had not been four years upon the throne of France, ere the Bretons rose in open rebellion against him.

The King repaired to Angers, and, joined by his cousin Thierri and the Angevine nobility, marched into Brittany, and speedily reduced that refractory province. Five years after, a second rising of the Bretons, under their Duke Nomenoé, is stated to have been suppressed by Louis with equal facility. But, as early as 836, according to some chroniclers, a new, enemy appeared upon the soil of France, in the persons of the famous brigand, Hasting, and the Danes, who overran and eventually colonised Normandy ; and were, therefore, often called Normans in those times. No one ever did ‘so much injury to the Angevines as this lawless chief with his pirate hordes.

In 838, the Danes made a descent upon France by the Loire, under the conduct of Hasting. It was not, however, until after the commencement of the disastrous reign of Charles “le Chauve,” son of Louis “le Débonnaire,” that the Normans on the one hand, and the Bretons on the other, succeeded to any remarkable -extent in ravaging Anjou, and dismembering France. In the earliest years of that reign the restless Bretons again took up arms against the new yoke, making their Duke Nomenoé, King of Brittany; and, mindful of the recent loyalty of their neighbours, invaded Anjou, ravaged the banks of the Loire, and destroyed the -abbey of St. Florent. They even approached the city of Angers, but, on learning that Thierri was prepared to fight, they hastily withdrew into their own country.

It was about this time, 843—5, that the Danes found their way to Nantes; and, after making a great massacre of the people in one of its churches, established themselves temporarily on a neighbouring island of the Loire. Thence they continued to devastate the province of Brittany, for a length of time, conquering the Bretons in three consecutive battles, till Nomenoé, compelled to sue for peace, loaded them with presents, to induce them to quit his territory.

Thierri, meantime, weakened by his great age and the harass of frequent wars, ceased to be formidable to these enemies. The French king therefore resolved, for the better defence of the whole county of Anjou, to divide it for the present into two parts independent of each other.

He permitted Thierri to remain in possession of the city of Angers, and all the territory between the left

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848-5,

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ES INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.

bank of the Loire and the Maine, and the right bank of the Layon, and called from that time ‘“‘Dega-Maine.” All the rest of the country, thenceforth named “ Outre- Maine,” he bestowed on a young captain, supposed of Saxon origin, named Rostulf or Robert, who was already distinguished for his bravery and military tactics. This chief with his companions in arms. shortly arrived in Anjou, and established himself at Seronne on the Sarthe (now Chateauneuf), which he made the capital of his territory.

After making peace with Nomenoé, the Normans advanced up the Loire, entered the Maine, and attacked. the city of Angers. Thierri sustained the first onset of Hasting, and even repulsed the enemy out of the city; but the Normans, after making a feint of retiring, returned in a few days and took the city by assault. They massacred nearly all the inhabitants, pillaged and set fire to the city, and finally burnt alive the unfortunate Count Thierri, a voncrable old man of more than. eighty years of age.

From this period the frontier provinces were for a long time continually the scene of devastation and carnage. The King of Brittany, Nomenoé, bent on conquest, a second time invaded Anjou, and gained the capital without striking a blow. He ravaged both Anjou and Maine for several years, until a violent malady ended his life.

His son Erispo¢, who succeeded him, obtained a signal victory over the French king, Charles le Chauve,” who was obliged to confirm to him the possessions of Thierri, viz., Angers and Upper Anjou; that portion of Anjou became, in fact, at that period an integral part of the kingdom of Brittany. Indeed, such was the deplorable state of the country, that, in order to obtain peace King Charles conceded all that was required of him, sanctioning the marriage of his son Louis “le

Begue” with the daughter of Erispoé, and confirming the latter in the attributes of royalty. Erispoé, however, was slain in 857, upon the very altar in a sanctuary to which he had fled, by his cousin Salomon, who then declared himself King of Brittany in his stead.

Robert, meanwhile, whose strength and valour had ‘won him the surname of “le Fort,” was respected in his territory, and was able successfully to repulse both Bretons and Normans. He remained always faithful to his benefactor Charles, who in return, in 861 entrusted him with the title and authority of Count of Angers -and Upper Anjou, to preserve during the minority of his son Louis, the heir naturally of Erispoé. But the French nobility, discontented with the unfortunate government of their monarch, viewed with a jealous eye the favour shown to Robert. They intrigued with Louis, King of Germany, to depose his brother Charles “le Chauve,” and at length tock up arms with him -at their head, and made their rendezvous in Brittany. Upon this, Robert collected troops and took defensive measures against the approach of the rebels. Louis invaded Anjou with a large amy in 862, and immediately encountered that of Robert, but the latter ‘succeeded, with inferior numbers, in driving back the enemy into Brittany, killing more than 2,000 of them, and recovering the whole of the booty which they had plundered during the incursion.

The fugitives rallied indeed, and afterwards reentered Anjou, but when Robert marched promptly ‘upon Louis and gave him battle a second time, the ‘result was the complete victory of the Angevines, and total rout of the Breton and other forces. Finally, both Louis and Salomon, the Kings of Germany and Britany, took the oath of fidelity to Charles “le Chauve.”

In the same year Salomon enlisted on his side the formidable alliance of the Nomnans in Brittany ; but

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‘857

362,

367, the prudence of Robert dictated to him to buy off the latter at the cost of 6,000 silver livres. Thus, at length, disembarrassed of the pretensions of Salomon in Anjou, the French king confirmed the rank and government of Angers and Upper Anjou to Robert “le Fort” who, in 863, obtained another complete victory over the Normans, entrenched in islands on the Loire, in which he was severely wounded.

Robert attained the climax of his successes in 865, over the Normans, on their return from Poitiers to the Loire after pillaging that city. Taking them by surprise, he killed 500 of them, without losing a single man. In acknowledgment of this especial feat the king created him Marquis of Angers, and gave him the counties of Auxerre and Nivernois. In the following year he was further promoted to a dukedom of France, with charge of the whole country between the Loire and the Seine. He was not, however, successful against his old foes in this new scene of his operations. The Normans, ascending the Seine as far as Melun, there fell upon a force much superior to their own in strength and commanded by Robert himself, over which they obtained a speedy and decisive victory. A year: or two later Robert returned to Lower Anjou, again to do battle with those insatiable brigands. He encountered, near ChAteauneuf, 400 Normans and Bretons,. who had despoiled the city of Le Mans. They were led by Hasting himself, who, surprised at this point, retreated within the church of Brissarth with some loss. The church having been speedily fortified, and the night coming on, Robert deferred until the morrow the attack. But, in the night, he was obliged to repel a. sally from the besieged, when he was, after prodigies of valour, cut down on the threshold of the church. Ranulph, Duke of Aquitaine, his ally on that occasion, was at the same time mortally wounded by an arrow from one of the church windows, and died three days after. Their united forces were put to flight, and the whole county fell defenceless under the yoke of the Norman adventurer.

Robert “‘le Fort,” whose just and warlike career thus terminated in battle in defence of his country, was the first ancestor of a long line of French kings, since Hugh Capet, the head of the third dynasty, was his greatgrandson, and the little town of Seronne or Chfateauneuf was consequently the first possession of that distinguished race in France. The peasantry of the ° country still cherish his remembrance under the homely title of ‘‘ General le Fort.”

At the time when Hasting thus re-appeared upon the soil of Anjou, the people of its capital, who had been peaceably employed for several years in rebuilding their city, had at‘length learnt to banish all fear of the return of that ruthless scourge, who twenty years before had sacked and burnt it so unmercifully. When therefore they were apprized of the stratagem of Hasting, so fatal to the brave Robert and his ally, the eonsternation was general. The victor returned with his spoil to his vessels on the Loire. He occupied the banks of that river during ::ve years, living on the pillage of the country.

It is certain that from 869 to 873 the Normans were in possession of Anjou, but about the year 871 their chief resolved to seize upon some important town and make it his abode.

He gave the preference to Angers, and, quitting the Loire, approached that city. The two sons of Robert “le Fort,” Eudes and Robert, were too young at his death to succeed to his rule. The title of Count of Tours and Angers was therefore bestowed on the abbot Hugues ; but at his death, a few years after, the trust of the county was confided to Eudes, who was made aml.

872-3.

Count of Paris and Duke of France. It is, however, more than probable that neither Hugues nor Eudes possessed any but a titular authority over the province of Anjou during that anarchical period. At any rate, on the approach of Hasting, the inhabitants of Angers, despite the strength of their fortifications, fled in terror. The remembrance of his cruelties had so powerful an effect upon them, that neither assurances nor menaces on the part of the authorities could stay the affrighted citizens. They abandoned their city to the mercy of the Normans, who entering, with their leader, established themselves there with their families, and became its new inhabitants.

The French king, aroused into activity by the boldness of this enterprise, at length concerted measures, with the aid of Salomon, King of Brittany, to expel the brigand. In the following year Angers was successfally besieged by the French and Bretons in alliance. It was a protracted siege, and only terminated by means of a stratagem of Salomon.

His soldiers dug a wide and deep canal to draw off the waters of the Maine, and thus leave the ships of the Normans on dry ground. The Normans were powerless, or thought themselves so, without their vessels, and, though the canal was never finished, it is confidently asserted that the cause which made the besieged treat urgently for peace was this ingenious undertaking. Hasting found himself compelled to offer a large sum of money for permission to depart the city with his followers. He even promised to quit the French territory for ever, and so completely imposed on the -credulity of Charles, that the King raised the siege, and suffered him to transport his vessels into the new bed of the Maine. Thence he reached the Loire once again, when, with a faithlessness natural to a foe of his stamp, he remained, and soon after recommenced his former system of depredation along its banks with impunity.

The first person into whose hands the real government of Angers and Upper Anjou was confided, after the siege of Angers, was one of the foresters of Anjou, born in the territory of Rennes, in the Armorique, named Torquat. After Robert “le Fort” and the Norman anarchy, Torqnat was the first governor of Angers, and was appointed in 873 simply as defender of the Angevine and Breton frontiers.

He had a son of an aspiring mind, named Tertulle, who at first filled the office of ranger, but as that appointment was accompanied by no particular distinction, in order to advance his fortunes he entered the service of the King and distinguished himself in the army.

Tertulle became one of the Leudes, or faithful, of Charles, in the year 875, but at what date he succeeded his father as governor of Angers and Upper Anjou, and guardian of.the frontiers on that side, is unknown; it is only certain that between them Torquat and Tertulle administered that part of the country from 873 to $92. In the year 875, when he had distinguished himself and became a Leude of Charles, Tertulle won the hand of Petronilla, daughter of the Duke of Burgundy, which King Charles bestowed on him, together with a benefice in the Castle of Laudon, and some lands in Gastinois. Tertulle became Seneschal of Gastinois. The offspring of his union with Petronilla was a son, born in 876, named Ingelger, who at an early age attained an historical reputation, and became the first hereditary sovereign in Anjou, as well as the founder of a long and powerful dynastic sway.

On the death of his father, Ingelger was only in his sixteenth year, too young to be invested with the

Google oF MICH important command which Tertulle had exercised, and yet full of promise of a brilliant career. He had been educated under the eye of his father; and endowed with natural genius, a noble physiognomy, and a handsome figure, he had already become remarkable for a skill in horsemanship and in the military exercises, which even compensated for the deficiency of physical strength that years alone could contribute.

It seemed as if already the French King Eudes designed for him the same appointment which his father had held, for though some years elapsed before Ingelger became Governor of Angers, yet history mentions no intermediate possessor of that title, and next after the vacancy created by the death of Tertulle records the name of Ingelger.

Meanwhile a romantic occurrence gave rise to his début, about a year after his father’s death, and contributed in no small degree to his advancement, in that early age of chivalry.

Adéle, Countess of Gastinois, the godmother of Tngelger, had found her husband one morning, dead in his bed by her side. Though respected, no Jess for her modesty than her beauty, the Countess was many years younger than the deceased, and that circumstance, coupled with a greedy ambition on the part of the Count’s nearest relative, except herself, named Gontran, made her the subject of an unworthy suspicion. Gontran, in order that she might be disinherited and himself put in possession of the title and estates, published an accusation against her of homicide and adultery. The decision in this matter rested with the crown, but the trial upon which that decision depended was, in those days, one of courage and strength totally irrespective of justice. The French king accordingly came to Chéteau Laudon on a day specified, with his princes and barons, to judge the

INTRODUCTORY HISTORY. iu affair. The Countess was present in deep mourning. Gontran reminded them simply, that some years before, when the King had wished to marry the late Count, the Seneschal of his palace, to the Countess, she had long rejected the offer with hauteur, asserting that the Seneschal was born her vassal, and that she had only yielded on the reiterated instances of the King and of all his court; in short, that she had been inspired with sentiments of hatred and contempt only towards this her second husband, and that those feelings had doubtless caused her to commit the double crime laid to her charge. To prove his assertions, he immediately cast his gage into the midst of the assembly! The Countess replied only by sobs and tears, for no one dared to take up the gage of combat, and in that age the innocence of the accused was decided by combat alone. At length she sank fainting on the ground, and seemed ready to expire. Unable any longer to endure the sight of the agony of one who had taken so much care of his infancy after he had lost his mother, and had subsequently inspired him with all the generous sentiments which form the hero; Ingelger threw himself at the feet of the King, and besought his permission to fight for the honour of his benefactress, Surprised, yet pleased, the King at length consented, though with regret. On the morrow the same assemblage re-appeared upon the field of battle; the Countess with her ladies was present in a carriage hung with mouming, and, from the raised corner of the sable drapery, her eyes met those of her champion as the signal was given and he loosed the rein to his horse.

The age, strength, and military reputation of his adversary were all superior. At the first shock the lance of Gontran pierced the buckler of the youth, but there rested entangled, and whilst he vainly endeavoured to withdraw it, Ingelger passed his through the body of his opponent, and threw him from his horse; then alighting, he despatched him with his dagger. Amidst the acclamations which followed, his godmother, having alighted from her carriage and embraced Ingelger, petitioned the King to allow her to dispose of all her fortune to him to whom she owed her honour. The royal approval was given, and Ingelger rendered homage for all the lands which the Countess of Gastinois thus bestowed upon him. They were the town of Chateau Laudon and the Gastinois territory.

The King of France, an eye-witness of this brilliant commencement of his noble career, did not lose sight of Ingelger, and some years after gave him the temporary government of the town of Angers, and of that part of the county which has been called Upper Anjou. This, however, was but the first grade in the ladder of Ingelger’s ambition. Before the ninth century, the military benefices granted by the King to his Leudes, or faithful, had been transferable; but during that epoch they existed for life, and before its close became hereditary. Thus, about this date, the French King, for the better defence of his territories against the Normans and others, divided them as heirlooms amongst his generals, with the titles of dukes and counts.

The feudal government, which has been aptly termed a system of organised anarchy, was then established in Anjou ; and that province was elevated, in the person of Ingelger, apparently before the year 900, into one of those particular sovereignties which all depended on the principal monarchy, by virtue of faith and homage alone.

Ingelger was created “hereditary Count of Anjou “Dega Maine,” and as his zeal and talents displayed themselves, he soon after became Viscount of Orleans and Prefect of Tours. He then took the command from Orleans to Andecavi, whilst the Counts of Brittany, Judicael and Alain, completed the chain of defence against the inveterate Normans by undertaking to protect the passage and mouth of the Loire through Brittany.. Ingelger’s repeated victories over these enemies acquired for him the reputation of one of the first generals of the age, while the wisdom and firmness he exhibited in his administration gained him general esteem. Thus he obtained the notice of two powerful prelates, the Bishops of Tours and Orleans, who gave him their niece, the beautiful Adéle or Aliude, the richest heiress in those countries, in marriage. The Count of Anjou became by this marriage one of the most wealthy and powerful of the nobles of France. The country of Gastinois hat for its chief town Chateau Laudon, and its boundaries were the county of Sens, the territories of Melun ant Etampes, the county of Orleans and the Nivernois, including in its compass Courtenai, St. Fargeau, Moret, Puiseaux, and Gien, as well as the territories where the téwns of Fontainebleau, Nemours, and Montargis now stand. With all these possessions, Ingelger became the object of jealousy to most of the barons of Gastinois, who had beheld him from being an equal suddenly raised to be their sovereign, At first, indeed, they refused to recognise him; but, either through fear, or out of respect to the King’s authority, they all, at length, rendered him their homage.

The last enterprise in the life of Ingelger forms an illustration, almost as happy as his first, of the energy and intrepidity, no less than the love of justice, inherent in his noble character.

It appears that fifteen or twenty years previously, the inhabitants of Tours, in expectation of an incursion of Hasting, removed the body of St. Martin, as their most precious treasure, to Auxerre. The security of their province having been in the meantime established, the people of Tours now desired the restitution of the body of their saint; but all to no purpose. In vain they petitioned the King on the subject; he replied, that, so long as it remained in France, he cared not what town possessed it.

In this extremity they appealed to their Prefect, Ingelger. He collected six thousand Angevine horsemen, placed himself at their head, and marched straightway upon the town of Auxerre; which, no longer able to resist a demand supported in so substantial a manner, restored the venerable deposit without further parley. This incident is referred to the year 912, the same in which Rollo, having married Gisella, daughter of Charles “‘le Simple,” and embraced Christianity, made peace at last between the Normans and French. In the following year occurred the death of Ingelger, whose body was conveyed to Tours, followed by all the barons and nobles of Anjou, and buried according to his desire in the church of St. Martin.

With this commencement of the feudal system, the people of Anjou, who had hitherto always enjoyed certain rights from the time of the Romans, fell into total slavery, and were parcelled out with the lands on which they dwelt. In that state of political annihilation they remained, with little exception, until the thirteenth century.

Ingelger left one son, named Foulques, and surnamed ‘le Roux” from the colour of his hair. He succeeded his father in the counties of Anjou and Charolais. Foulques inherited almost all the good qualities of his father ; but some historians assert that he tamished their lustre by his dissolute manners. He was certainly brave and enterprising, and always returned victorious from his wars with the Normans and Bretons. Foulques became the first hereditary Count of the entire territory of Anjou. In 914 Charles “le Simple” ceded to him Lower, or Outre- Maine Anjou, and from that time the two counties united continued under one head. Foulques “le Roux” married Roscilla, daughter of Garnier, Count of Tours, by whom he had three sons: the eldest Ingelger was killed in battle previous to the year 929, and the second, named Guy, surrendered himself as hostage to the Normans to obtain the liberty of Louis d'Outre-Mer, King of France.

On the death of Foulques “le Roux,” his third son Foulques succeeded him, and the first reign in Anjou commenced in which the material prosperity of the Angevine people had obtained any consideration.

This Count was entitled “‘le Bon,” for the worthy actions of his public life. He was well educated for his time, cultivated music and the belles-lettres, and associated with learned men of all ranks, eager to profit by their talents. His kindness and condescension towards the poor never varied, and his administration was remarkable for mildness and justice. In short, he was a pattern of rulers in his era. He had, besides, the wisdom and good fortune to live on amicable terms with his neighbours. The age of Norman and Breton invasion of Anjou was past. Twenty years of profound peace intervened before the age of Angevine conquests in Brittany and the territory of the Count of Blois,

‘These twenty years constituted the happy reign of Foulques “the Good,” a golden age for Anjou, a period when that province, already the most enlightened in France, attracted strangers from far and near to come and share the benefits of its learning and its prosperity. In that age of feudalism, how much of all this depended upon the individual character of the oI,

958,

Count who presided over the destinies of that portion of France. On his accession, that province presented the spectacle of towns and bourgs abandoned and in ruins, of fields left uncultivated, and of a people of wandering serfs without sustenance and without a home. Touched by so much misery, Foulques bestowed his earliest attention upon agriculture. He granted permission to the labourers to hew in his forests all the wood they required for rebuilding their houses and making their implements of husbandry, and then made them advances of money to procure cattle and seeds. In short, in the course of a few years, through the wisdom, goodness, and energy of their ruler, the inhabitants themselves, as well as their neighbours, were astonished to find the country abounding with flocks and herds, rich crops, orchards, and vines laden with fruit. Foulques “le Bon” married Gerberge, sister of Thibault I., Count of Blois, cementing by that union the peace and happiness of the two provinces, Anjou and Blois, during his time. Foulques II., who was, besides, extremely pious, was carried, according to his desire during his last illness, within the church of St. Martin at Tours, and actually died there, surrounded by the bishop and monks, a.v. 958. He left seven children by Gerberge, the eldest of whom, Geoffrey, succeeded him.