Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
Some curious details of life in Paris under the English have come down
to us. By a royal pardon granted to Guiot d'Eguiller, we learn that he
and four other servants of the Duke of Bedford, and of our "late very
dear and very beloved aunt the Duchess of Bedford whom God pardon," were
drinking one night at ten o'clock in a tavern where hangs the sign of
_L'Homme Armé_.[94] Hot words arose between them and some other
tipplers, to wit, Friars Robert, Peter and William of the Blancs
Manteaux, who were disguised as laymen and wearing swords. Friar Robert
lost his temper and struck at the servants with his naked sword. The
friar, owing to the strength of the wine or to inexperience in the use
of secular weapons, cut off the leg of a dog instead of hitting his man;
the friars then ran away, pursued by three of the servants--Robin the
Englishman, Guiot d'Eguiller and one Guillaume. The fugitive friars took
refuge in a deserted house in the Rue du Paradis (now des Francs
Bourgeois), and threw stones at their pursuers. There was a fight,
during which Guillaume lost his stick and snatching Guiot's sword struck
at Friar Robert through the door of the house. He only gave one "_cop_,"
but it was enough, and there was an end of Friar Robert.
A certain Gilles, a _povre homme laboureur_, went to amuse himself at a
game of tennis in the hostelry kept by Guillaume Sorel, near the Porte
St. Honoré, and fell a-wrangling with Sorel's wife concerning some lost
tennis balls. Madame Sorel clutched him by the hair and tore out some
handfuls. Gilles seized her by the hood, disarranged her coif, so that
it fell about her shoulders, "and in his anger cursed God our Creator."
This came to the bishop's ears, and Gilles was cast for blasphemy into
the bishop's oven, as the episcopal prison was called, where he lay in
great misery. He was examined and released on promising to offer a wax
candle of two pounds' weight before the image of our Lady of Paris at
the entrance of the choir of Notre Dame.
Many of the religious foundations had suffered by the wars, for in 1426
the glovers of Paris were authorised to re-establish the guild of the
blessed St. Anne, founded by some good people, smiths and ironmongers,
which during the wars and mutations of the last twenty years had come to
an end. In 1427, "our well-beloved, the money-changers of the Grand Pont
in our good town of Paris were permitted to found a guild in the church
of St. Bartholomew in honour of our Creator and His very glorious Mother
and St. Matthew their patron." In 1430 was granted the humble
supplication of the shoemakers, who desired to found a confraternity to
celebrate mass in the chapel at Notre Dame, dedicated to "the blessed
and glorious martyrs, Monseigneur Crispin the Great, and Monseigneur
Crispin the Less, who in this life were shoemakers."
[Illustration: OUR LADY OF PARIS--EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURY.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account