On the death of Philip the
Forward, father of that John the Fearless whom we have seen
at work, the widow went through the ceremony of a public
renunciation of goods; taking off her purse and girdle, she
left them on the grave, and thus, by one notable act,
cancelled her husband's debts and defamed his honour. The
conduct of young Charles of Orleans was very different. To
meet the joint liabilities of his father and mother (for
Valentina also was lavish), he had to sell or pledge a
quantity of jewels; and yet he would not take advantage of a
pretext, even legally valid, to diminish the amount. Thus,
one Godefroi Lefevre, having disbursed many odd sums for the
late duke, and received or kept no vouchers, Charles ordered
that he should be believed upon his oath. (1) To a modern
mind this seems as honourable to his father's memory as if
John the Fearless had been hanged as high as Haman. And as
things fell out, except a recantation from the University of
Paris, which had justified the murder out of party feeling,
and various other purely paper reparations, this was about
the outside of what Charles was to effect in that direction.
He lived five years, and grew up from sixteen to twenty-one,
in the midst of the most horrible civil war, or series of
civil wars, that ever devastated France; and from first to
last his wars were ill-starred, or else his victories
useless.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261