Two years after the murder (March 1409), John the
Fearless having the upper hand for the moment, a shameful and
useless reconciliation took place, by the king's command, in
the church of Our Lady at Chartres. The advocate of the Duke
of Burgundy stated that Louis of Orleans had been killed "for
the good of the king's person and realm." Charles and his
brothers, with tears of shame, under protest, POUR NE PAS
DESOBEIR AU ROI, forgave their father's murderer and swore
peace upon the missal. It was, as I say, a shameful and
useless ceremony; the very greffier, entering it in his
register, wrote in the margin, "PAX, PAX, INQUIT PROPHETA, ET
NON EST PAX." (2) Charles was soon after allied with the
abominable Bernard d'Armagnac, even betrothed or married to a
daughter of his, called by a name that sounds like a
contradiction in terms, Bonne d'Armagnac. From that time
forth, throughout all this monstrous period - a very
nightmare in the history of France - he is no more than a
stalking-horse for the ambitious Gascon. Sometimes the smoke
lifts, and you can see him for the twinkling of an eye, a
very pale figure; at one moment there is a rumour he will be
crowned king; at another, when the uproar has subsided, he
will be heard still crying out for justice; and the next
(1412), he is showing himself to the applauding populace on
the same horse with John of Burgundy.
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