the kingdom of Napies, and the county of Provence. The sovereignty was, nevertheless, claimed by Charles of Durazzo. The duke of Anjou departed from France with all his wealth and a brilliant army, to conquer his new heritage. He marched through Italy, invaded Naples, his rival retiring before him. But being seized with a malady, brought on by his fatigues, he died; and his army, dispersing itself, made the best of its way home in scattered bands.

Philip duke of Burgundy, though the youngest son of king John, was by far the most powerful of the brothers. In addition to the duchy and county of Burgundy, (the latter is known as Franche-Comté,) he had married the daughter and heiress of the last count of Flanders, and was thus heir to that wealthy province. The Flemish burgesses were foremost in supporting their privileges and independence: they were always at war with their count, who, from his alliance with Burgundy, naturally sought the aid of the king of France. The young Charles was delighted at the idea of a campaign; an army was levied; the oriflamme, or royal standard, hoisted; and the French, under their monarch of fourteen, advanced northwards. The object of the expedition was not only to restore to the count of Flanders his authority, but to punish the turbulent commons, who stirred up those of France to imitate their example. Froissart avows it to have been a war between the commons and the aristocracy. The Flemings were commanded by Artaveldt, son of the famous brewer the ally of Edward. The town of Ghent had been reduced to the extreme of distress and famine by the count and the people of Bruges, who supported him. Artaveldt led the people of Ghent in a forlorn hope against Bruges, defeated the army of the count, and broke into the rival town, which he took and plundered.

After this disaster, the count had recourse to France. The passage of the river Lys, which defended Flanders, was courageously undertaken, and effected with some hazard by the French. The Flemings were rather dis

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pirited by this first success: nevertheless they asscmbled their forces; and the two armies of French knights and Flemish citizens met at Rosebecque, between Ypres and Courtray. The 27th of November, 1382, was the day of battle. Artaveldt had stationed his army on a height, to await the attack of the French, but their impatience forced him to commence. Forming his troops into one solid square, Artaveldt led them against the French centre. Froissart compares their charge to the headlong rush of a wild boar. It broke the opposite line, penetrating into its ranks: but the wings of the French turned upon the flank of the Flemings, which, not having the advantage of a charge or impulse, were beaten by the French men at arms. Pressed upon one

another, the Flemings had not room to fight: they were hemmed in, surrounded, and slaughtered: no quarter was asked or given; nearly 30,000 perished. The 9000 Ghentois that had marched under their banner were counted, to a man, amongst the slain: Artaveldt, their general, was among the foremost who had fallen. Charles ordered his body to be hung upon a tree.

It was at Courtray, very near to the field where this battle was fought, that Robert of Artois, with a French army, had perished beneath the swords of the Flemings, nearly a century previous. The gilded spurs of the French knights still adorned the walls of the cathedral of Courtray. The victory of Rosebecque in the eyes of Charles had not sufficiently repaid the former defeat: the town of Courtray was pillaged and burnt; its famous clock was removed to Dijon, and formed the third wonder of this kind in France, Paris and Sens alone possessing similar ornaments. The battle of Rosebecque proved more unfortunate for the communes of France than for those of Flanders. Ghent, notwithstanding her loss of 9000 slain, did not yield to the conqueror, but held out the war for two years longer; and did not finally submit until the duke of Burgundy, at the death of their count, guaranteed to the burghers the full enjoyment of their privileges. The king avenged himself on

the mutinous city of Paris; entered it as a conqueror; took the chains from the streets, and unhinged the gates: one hundred of the citizens were sent to the scaffold; the property of the rich was confiscated; and all the ancient and most onerous taxes, the gabelle, the duty on sales, as well as that of entry, were declared by royal ordonnance to be established anew. The principal towns of the kingdom were visited with the same punishments and exactions. The victory of Rosebecque overthrew the commons of France, which were crushed under the feet of the young monarch and his nobles.

The wish of Charles the Sage had been, that his son should marry a German princess: Isabella of Bavaria was mentioned. She was induced to make a pilgrimage to Amiens, where the young king saw her and admired her beauty. His marriage took place in a few days after. The following year was spent in mighty preparations for an invasion of England: a large fleet and army was assembled at Sluys, and every province was drained of men and provisions to complete the expedition. The king himself was eager to embark; but his uncle, the duke of Berri, not famed for courage, purposely delayed the departure, and the project was finally abandoned.

At length the young king liberated himself from the tutelage of his uncle. He declared in council that he alone would conduct the affairs of the kingdom for the future he changed his ministers, and gave the post commanding the chief influence to the constable De Clisson, a friend of Du Guesclin, and like him a Breton. De Clisson was a grim old veteran; brave, unyielding, and having many enemies, among whom was the duke of Britany, lately reconciled to France. One night the constable was attacked by a band of assassins in the street, and left for dead. The perpetrator of this outrage, De Craon, fled to Britany; the king vowed vengeance, and raised an army to punish the duke of Britany and De Craon. As he was leading it from the town of Le Mans, in a burning day of August, a maniac rushed from an adjoining wood, seized his bridle, and

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told him he was betrayed: soon after, the spear of one of his attendants fell on the helmet of another; the king was alarmed, and thought of the menaced treachery. The fright disturbed his reason, and, drawing his sword, Charles attacked his followers, slew some of them, who made no resistance, till he flew at his brother the duke of Orleans; they then perceived his loss of reason. He was deprived of his arms, and reconducted to Paris. The royal dukes resumed their hold of power: Burgundy menaced the constable, threatening to beat out "his other eye;" and De Clisson fled to his castle for safety. During the recovery of the king, another accident happened, to which his madness has been generally attributed. There was à masquerade, in which Charles and some of his courtiers appeared in the disguise of satyrs, dressed in shirts daubed with pitch and covered with flax: these happened to take fire. The king's unlucky garment was quenched in time, but several of his companions perished. Though this accident did not immediately affect him, yet the malady soon after returned with increased violence, and for the remainder of his life Charles VI. continued a maniac, though his phrensy had lucid intervals of short duration.

The beginning of the century marks the breaking forth of the differences between the dukes of Orleans and Burgundy. The former, though brother to the unfortunate king, and now at the mature age of thirty, was deprived of all influence in the council or in affairs of state. When Charles had thrown off the authority of his uncles, the duke of Orleans and De Clisson succeeded to their influence. The malady of the king threw Orleans into the shade. This was the original cause of rivalry; they were two political parties struggling for power. The duke of Berri was of a peaceable and timid character. Burgundy took the lead. Valentine Visconti, the duchess of Orleans, who had great power over Charles even in his phrensy, was accused of acquiring it by sorcery: the party of Orleans used recri

mination: then a mutual hatred existed between the two duchesses; and divers causes, some of them scandalous, are recorded. The duke of Orleans was a libertine: to one of his amours at this period, France owes Dunois the famous bastard of Orleans, founder of the house of Longueville. The duke of Burgundy was sumptuous, prodigal, and choleric.* In the struggle between uncle and nephew all feelings of the public good or public services were lost sight of; each pillaged the treasury, when an opportunity occurred, and then blamed his rival for the distress that ensued. The duke of Orleans brought a body of troops to Paris; his uncle imitated him; and for several weeks the respective armies occupied the capital, neither daring to strike the first blow. A peace was patched up between them. The duke of Burgundy, taking this opportunity to visit his duchy, Orleans levied a new tax, putting the name of Burgundy to the ordonnance. The latter duke protested against the forgery, disclaimed all knowledge of the tax, and refused to share in it, alleging that the people were overburdened already. This conduct and his apparent disinterestedness endeared Burgundy to the Parisians, and to the commons in general, while Orleans was proportionally hated. Chance, more than the merits of either duke, threw the whole weight of popularity into one scale, and for the moment it prevailed. The king, however, incapable as he was of using his reason or discretion, even in his lucid intervals, or of making himself cognizant of affairs, was still allowed to recover authority, when his senses returned. In one of these moments edicts were issued, admitting the queen to the council, and ordering that she should be obeyed. The duke of Orleans by these means regained the ascendant, and availed himself of it to pillage the treasury of a sum lately raised by a severe and distressing tax. The schism of the popedom at the same time contributed to embroil the princes. The death of Philip duke of Bur

*The étrennes, or new-year's gifts, presented by him on the 1st of Janu ary, 1402, amounted to 40,000 crowns.