A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 3Guizot, François
History
A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 3
Guizot, François
France -- History
after the battle, the Count of Campo-Basso brought to Duke Rend a young
Roman page who, he said, had from a distance seen his master fall, and
could easily find the spot again. Under his guidance a move was made
towards a pond hard by the town; and there, half buried in the slush of
the pond, were some dead bodies, lying stripped. A poor washerwoman,
amongst the rest, had joined in the search; she saw the glitter of a
jewel in the ring upon one of the fingers of a corpse whose face was not
visible; she went forward, turned the body over, and at once cried, “Ah!
my prince!” There was a rush to the spot immediately. As the head was
being detached from the ice to which it stuck, the skin came off, and a
large wound was discovered. On examining the body with care, it was
unhesitatingly recognized to be that of Charles, by his doctor, by his
chaplain, by Oliver de la Marche, his chamberlain, and by several grooms
of the chamber; and certain marks, such as the scar of the wound he had
received at Montlhery, and the loss of two teeth, put their assertion
beyond a doubt. As soon as Duke Rend knew that they had at last found
the body of the Duke of Burgundy, he had it removed to the town, and laid
on a bed of state of black velvet, under a canopy of black satin. It was
dressed in a garment of white satin; a ducal crown, set with precious
stones, was placed on the disfigured brow; the lower limbs were cased in
scarlet, and on the heels were gilded spurs. The Duke of Lorraine went
and sprinkled holy water on the corpse of his unhappy rival, and, taking
the dead hand beneath the pall, “Ah! dear cousin,” said he, with tears in
his _eyes_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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