The astonishment and anger of all the French princes at these events knew no bounds. They cursed the insolent London burghers who had dared to rebel against their King, were furious with Henry of Lancaster, of whose resistance to Richard they had never contemplated such a result; and tried to stir up against him the inhabitants of the remaining English possessions in France, but without success; for although attached to Richard, who was born at Bordeaux, the inhabitants of Bordeaux, Bayonne, &c., were so much better governed, less taxed, and more prosperous than their French neighbours that they declined to exchange the English for the French rule.
The people of Paris, discontented and uneasy at the King’s illness and the various misfortunes that kept happening, bethought themselves that they never saw anything of the Dauphin, who was delicate and did not appear much in public. They therefore insisted on his being shown to them, and his uncles, in consequence, made him ride through Paris to St. Denis, attended by a _cortège_ of nobles. There was a state banquet there, and the people, delighted with the Dauphin and the splendid pageant, thronged the whole way, singing hymns and litanies, and praying for the little lad who rode in state for the first and last time as the heir of France.[191]
Courage of the young Queen of England--Death of the Dauphin--Birth of Catherine de France--Intrigues of Louis d’Orléans, and quarrels at court--Return of the Queen of England--Burgundians and Orléanists--Birth of Charles de France--Dreadful storms--Death of Burgundy--Illness of Duc de Berry--Conduct of Savoisy--Frère Jacques Legrand--The Princess Marie’s choice--Accident in the forest--The King and the Dauphin--Jean Sans-peur--King ill--Eclipse--Royal weddings--The great winter--Murder of Louis d’Orléans.
“The marriage of King Richard with Isabelle was unadvised, and so I declared when it was proposed,” said the Duke of Burgundy. “Since the English have imprisoned King Richard, they will assuredly put him to death, for they always hated him because he preferred peace to war.”[192]
His words were not long in being fulfilled. No one can doubt that it was by the order of Henry that Richard was secretly murdered, and thus came to an end the project of uniting the Valois and Plantagenets and closing by this alliance the Hundred Years’ War.