IX. CHAP. 1317, for his coronation at Rheims. The agreement which he had come to with the Duke of Burgundy certainly encouraged him to such a step, nay, entitled him, if he consented to give up Navarre and Champagne; but even these he announced no intention of abandoning, and the Duke of Burgundy, as well as the royal princesses, manifested their discontent. The duke formally protested. Philip succeeded in having the ceremony of his coronation celebrated, although it was necessary to close the gates of Rheims for security during the festivity. From Rheims Philip hastened to Paris, and, having the assistance of a cardinal, convoked as many nobles and prelates as he could command, together with the citizens, to form a solemn assembly. It approved of Philip's coronation, and swore fealty to him and his son Louis. The uni versity, when consulted, gave a similar approbation, though they took no oath. "Thus was it declared," says the continuator of Nangis, "that the crown of France does not descend to women." Matters would not have passed so tranquilly had not the son of Philip expired a few days after the assembly at Paris. The king had daughters; but his own acts precluded their succession. It was therefore generally, but tacitly, agreed to submit to Philip's title. Charles of Valois, who was at the head of the noblesse, already began to entertain well-founded hopes of the royal succession accruing to his own family. The Duke of Burgundy was pacified by obtaining one of Philip's daughters in marriage, with a considerable sum of money in dowry, as well as Franche Comté. Jeanne, daughter of Louis Hutin, whose claims the duke thus abandoned, was affianced to the only son of the Count d'Evreux. The grounds for this exclusion of females from the throne of France are not to be found in any law, but in the circumstance of Jeanne's mother having been stricken with infamy, with no staunch friend to defend her, whilst Philip was in possession of the royal authority, of which it would have required a civil war to dispossess him. Charles of Valois was the only personage who could have attempted it; but he and his family had so much more to gain by the exclusion of females than by supporting Jeanne's right, that they of course abandoned it. With respect to the old Salic law afterwards invoked, it related but to fiefs and military service, and yet in fiefs it had been so generally set aside, that women succeeded to lands and to noble property in all the provinces of France. It must have been evident to the noblesse as to others, that the descent of a fief, much more of the crown to females, weakened it for a time, and eventually rendered it liable to become the prey of personages, perhaps foreigners, who had not the interest of the kingdom at heart. This, necessarily admitted by the noblesse, was still more keenly felt by the townsfolk and middle classes, who for several reigns had been taught to look up to the monarch as their protector against the feudal chiefs, and the crown itself as usually above the rules of feudalism. The accession of Philip the Long, therefore, and the exclusion of the daughters of Louis Hutin, was popular with the citizens, not displeasing to the noblesse, and not against the interest of the princes of the blood. The King of England recognised Philip, as did the Pope. And thus was it decided that the kingdom of France, instead of being considered as a patrimony that descended to direct heirs, even if female, was a high function which it required a prince to fill. But however wise or expedient it may have manifestly been to prohibit females in that rude age from ascending the throne, still the success of Philip the Fifth on taking undisturbed possession of it with rights that provoked opposition, he being neither an experienced warrior, nor in command of a military force, nor possessed of pecuniary resources, proves how reduced in CHAP. IX. IX. CHAP. pride and humbled in spirit were the higher aristocracy of the day. We have seen how the Duke of Burgundy was brought to abandon the claims of his young niece, Jeanne, nor did any other noble assume an attitude of independence or opposition save the Count of Flanders, who, insisting on the restoration of Lille, Bethune, and Douai, refused to do homage to Philip. The latter made several preparations for war. In 1316, he levied a tax for the fitting out of a naval expedition at Dieppe, which he soon after suspended. And in 1318, he forbade tournaments and private war, lest they should interfere with the muster of knights which he had ordered to take place at Arras. Famine and pestilence, however, ravaged the north this year, and suspended hostilities. Negotiations were continually taking place, and were prevented from leading to any result by the rivalry of the king's uncles, the Counts of Valois and Evreux, who each wanted to give his daughter in marriage to the Count of Flanders. The Pope in vain endeavoured to reconcile these differences. There were at the time some troubles in Poitou, where the king had declared his dominions as count annexed to the crown. The Flemings proposed to the Poitevins to associate their cause, but Poitou was a feudal county and rejected the proposal of the Flemings. In his resistance to Philip, and in insisting on the restoration of Lille, the Count of Flanders was chiefly supported by Bruges, and the democracy which prevailed there, whilst Ghent and its inhabitants, amongst whom wealth had more influence, were for making peace with France and abandoning French Flanders. In one campaign the troops of Ghent deserted their count. When during negotiations at Paris, Robert refused to make peace if Lille were not given up, the deputies told him that he must yield. The count, unable to resist, withdrew in consequence and accepted the conditions of Philip, which were of course his retention of Lille, and the marriage of one of his daughters to the heir of the Count of Flanders. The reign of Philip the Long was marked by no chivalrous enterprise or military feat. French and Flemings were disposed more to negotiate than fight. The English under Edward the Second gave no trouble to their neighbours. The families of Austria and Bavaria, struggling for the imperial crown, did not interfere with France, the Austrians, defeated by the Swiss at Morgarten, being driven more than ever remote from the French frontier. In Italy the Viscounts of Milan defied the Pope and his excommunication, in imitation of Philip the Fair. Philip of Valois, son of Charles, was induced to enter the Milanese with an army of knights; but the French found themselves in Lombardy, as in Flanders, completely outnumbered by the civic militia, and they were very glad to be allowed by the Duke of Milan to escape without disgrace. In France the king and princes were continually proclaiming the intention of setting forth for the Holy Land. And as this was a good pretext for taxing, especially the clergy, the pretext was never abandoned. But the common people, as upon former occasions, seeing the vain words and empty promises of their superiors, were influenced to undertake themselves the neglected task. Again, therefore, the shepherds of the north of France, told by some pretended prophet that they were destined to liberate Jerusalem, assembled, flung away their crooks, abandoned their flocks, seized what arms they could find, and marched southward upon their crusade. This second muster of the Pastoureaux surprised the city of Paris, which they entered without opposition, marshalling and encamping in the meadows of Saint Germain des Près, south of the river. The king found no support from the civic arm to disperse them. In time they moved southward and took to slaughtering the Jews of the towns through which they passed, a feat which procured them some plunder, and was at the same time approved by the population. CHAP. IX. СНАР. At last the royal officers of the south, alarmed and annoyed by the excesses of these new crusaders, collected a force sufficient to resist, disperse, and destroy them. The lower and ignorant orders, about the same time, sought to rival their superiors in other ways. Philip the Fair had destroyed the Templars for divers supposed crimes, and it was attempted to abolish other orders of monks. The Beguines were accused, and decrees obtained against them. The Franciscans were threatened. Whilst the king was sojourning in Poitou, a rumour was propagated by the peasantry that the unfortunate beings afflicted with leprosy had poisoned all the wells of Aquitaine. The establishments for the seclusion of lepers had, like that of the Templars, sprung from the crusades, the disease having spread from Palestine to France. And now that all relations with Palestine had ceased, the necessity for these hospitals could not survive the destruction of their present inmates. No doubt some interested person, anxious to get possession of the estates and property of the ladres, spread the report. The lepers, like the Templars, were recluses living upon charity. It is possible that they might have been discontented, and in idleness and suffering had devoted themselves to the preparation of potions, perhaps for their own ills. Report or malice accused them of using these to poison the wells; the poor creatures were seized, and put to the usual interrogation of the torture. Of course they confessed whatever crime was laid to their charge. But some of them had the wit to turn the zeal of the new inquisition in another direction. They accused the Jews of having suborned them to poison Christendom. As the Jews were richer than the lepers, every one was glad to believe and act upon the accusation. It was afterwards said that the Jews had been suborned by the King of Granada. The soldans of Syria and Egypt had ceased to be known, and the Emir of Granada became thus in |