“Their journey resembled a triumphal procession, in which the Duke of
Burgundy appeared as if he were the conqueror and Louis the illustrious
captive. The trappings of the horses, that reached to the ground, were
of velvet and silk, covered with precious stones and ornaments of gold,
embroidered with the Burgundian arms and decorated with silver bells,
the jingling of which was very agreeable and solacing. A great number of
wagons draped with cloth of gold and hung with banners carried the
Duke’s tapestries, furniture, silver and other table service and the
utensils for the kitchen. These were followed by herds of fat oxen and
flocks of sheep intended for food during the progress of the Duke and
his suite. Philip and his son, with the principal nobles, appeared in
their greatest magnificence, and were preceded and followed by pages,
archers and men-at-arms, all in gorgeous costumes and blazing with
jewels.”
Their entrance into Rheims was regarded as the most superb spectacle
France had ever witnessed. Louis was crowned by the Duke of Burgundy,
“the dean of the peers of France”; and at the banquet that followed the
coronation, the Duke of Burgundy was still the most conspicuous figure.
The same chronicler continues:
“Though the King sat at the head of the table, arrayed in regal attire,
with the crown upon his head, he was still the guest of his fair uncle,
whose cooks had provided the dinner, whose plate was displayed upon the
sideboards and whose servants waited upon the company. In the midst of
the repast, the doors were opened and porters entered bearing a costly
present for the new sovereign. Such of the guests as were strangers,
except from hearsay, to the splendours of the Burgundian Court, gazed in
astonishment at the images, goblets, miniature ships, and other articles
of the finest gold and rarest workmanship—amounting in value to more
than two hundred thousand crowns—which Philip presented to the King as
an emphatic token of his loyalty and good-will.”
Chastelain’s note of the great number of wagons that were required to
carry the Duke’s tapestries in his journeyings is of interest. The
products of the Flemish looms were highly prized by the Burgundian
dukes, and great encouragement was given by them to the best work of
this nature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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