There is yet a third whom we must learn to know as well as possible. For he will play an important part in this story; and his part would appear greater still if it were laid bare in its entirety. This is Regnault de Chartres, whom we have already seen promoted to be minister of finance.[612] Son of Hector de Chartres, master of Woods and Waters in Normandy, he took orders, became archdeacon of Beauvais, then chamberlain of Pope John XXIII, and in 1414, at about thirty-four, was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Reims.[613] The following year three of his brothers fell on the gory field of Azincourt. In 1418 Hector de Chartres perished at Paris, assassinated by the Butchers.[614] Regnault himself, cast into prison by the Cabochiens, expected to be put to death. He vowed that if he escaped he would fast every Wednesday, and drink water for breakfast every Friday and Saturday, for the rest of his life.[615] One must not judge a man by an act prompted by fear. Nevertheless we may well hesitate to rank the author of this vow with those Epicureans who did not believe in God, of whom there were said to be many among the clerks. We may conclude rather that his intelligence submitted to the common beliefs. [Footnote 612: Le P. Anselme, _Histoire genealogique et chronologique de la maison de France_, vol. vi, p. 339. _Gallia Christiana_, vol. ix, col. 135. Hermant, _Histoire ecclesiastique de Beauvais_ (Bibl. nat. fr. 8581), fol. 15 _et seq._ Article by Vallet de Viriville, in _Nouvelle biographie generale_ and _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. ii, pp. 160 _et seq._] [Footnote 613: Le P. Denifle, _Cartularium Universitatis Parisiensis_, vol. iv, p. 275.] [Footnote 614: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 109. In 1411 the Butchers of Paris, led by Jean-Simonnet Caboche, rose in favour of the Duke of Burgundy (W.S.).] [Footnote 615: Le P. Denifle, _La desolation des eglises_, vol. i, pp. 594, 595. Garnier, _Documents relatifs a la surprise de Paris par les Bourguignons en Mai_, 1418, in _Bulletin de la Societe de l'Histoire de Paris_, 1877, p. 51.] A tragic fidelity, an inherited loyalty to the Armagnacs recommended my Lord Regnault to the Dauphin, who entrusted him with important missions to various parts of Christendom, Languedoc, Scotland, Brittany, and Burgundy.[616] The Archbishop of Reims acquitted himself with rare skill and indefatigable zeal. In December he prayed the Holy Father to dispense him from the fulfilment of the vow taken in the Butchers' prison,[617] on the grounds of his feeble health and his services rendered to the Dauphin, who required him to undertake frequent journeys and arduous embassies. [Footnote 616: De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, vol. i, pp. 268, 276, 339. P. Champion, _Guillaume de Flavy_, p. 4, and proofs and illustrations, lxxj.]