68 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. places he mastered soon found themselves far better off than under the Valois anarchy. 20. Ascendency of Burgundy, 1416. — The Dauphin Lewis, eldest son of Charles VI., died early. The next brother John, a thorough Burgundian, died a few months later. His death was thought to have been caused by poison, given in the interest of the last brother, Charles. He was a mere boy, who was wholly in the hands of the Count of Armagnac, who had obtained the constable's sword and lorded it over all France. A Breton named Tniinegny Duchdtel was Pro- vost of Paris, and much misused his office, debasing the coinage, exacting forced loans, and bringing about the banishment of the queen to Tours on account of her dissolute life. This threw her into the arms of the Burgundians. John, with a Flemish army, came and freed her from captivity ; he was forgiven for the murder of the Duke of Orleans, and declared Regent. In the meantime Henry of England, who came again in 141 7, was taking city after city in Normandy unopposed ; for the Dukes of Anjou and Britanny had made truces with him, securing their own borders, and John the Fearless did the same for Flanders and Artois. 21. Fall of Armagnac, 1418. — Paris hated the Ar- magnac rule, and when some young men opened the gate at night and brought in a Burgundian captain named Lisle Adam, with 800 men, the people rose in fury ; and though Tanneguy Duchatel shut himself up in the Bastille, or great fortress of Paris, with the dauphin, the king and constable fell into their hands. The wrongs which they had so long suffered filled the mob with the mad thirst for blood that has from time to time disgraced the towns of France, and the massacre lasted twenty-eight hours. Men, women, and children were alike slain, even new-born babes, who were killed unbaptized as accursed little Armagnacs. The Count himself was slain, and his corpse was dragged through the streets. Duchatel was out of Paris with the dauphin, and at Poitiers proclaimed young Charles lieutenant-general of the kingdom, but did nothing except ravaging the lands round Paris to famish their enemies. The Duke of Burgundy and Queen Isabel had stopped the murders, but the misery, famine and deadly sickness went on. Neither party succoured Rouen, which held out bravely against the English till it was forced to yield early in 1419.
