Duke
Louis of Orleans had married, and fortified themselves in their
stronghold on the site now occupied by the Palais Royal.

[Illustration: TOWER OF JEAN SANS PEUR.]

The Armagnacs, for so the Orleanists were now called, thirsted for
revenge, and for five years Paris was the scene of frightful
atrocities as each faction gained the upper hand and took a bloody
vengeance on its rivals. At length the infamous policy of an alliance
with the English was resorted to. The temptation was too great for the
English king, and in 1415 Henry V. met the French army, composed
almost entirely of the Armagnacs, at Agincourt, and inflicted on it a
defeat more disastrous than Crecy or Poitiers. The famous oriflamme of
St. Denis passed from history in that fatal year of 1415. The Count of
Armagnac hurried to Paris, seized the mad king and the dauphin, and
held the capital.

In 1417 the English returned under Henry V. The Burgundians had
promised neutrality, and the defeated Armagnacs were forced in their
need to "borrow[91] of the saints." But hateful memories clung to them
in Paris and they were betrayed. On the night of 29th May 1418, the
son of an ironmonger on the Petit Pont, who had charge of the wicket
of the Porte St. Germain, crept into his father's room and stole the
keys while he slept. The gate was then opened to the Burgundians, who
seized the person of the helpless and imbecile king. Some Armagnacs
escaped, bearing the dauphin with them, and the remainder were flung
into prison. The Burgundian partisans in the city, among whom was the
powerful corporation of the butchers and fleshers, now rose, and on
Sunday, 14th June, ran to the prisons. A night of terror ensued.
Before dawn, fifteen hundred Armagnacs were indiscriminately butchered
under the most revolting circumstances; the count himself perished,
and a strip of his skin was carried about Paris in mockery of the
white scarf of the Armagnacs. Jean sans Peur and Queen Isabella[92]
entered the city, amid the acclamation of the people, and soon after a
second massacre followed, in spite of Jean's efforts to prevent it.
Burgundy was now master of Paris, but the Armagnacs were swarming in
the country around and the English marching without let on the city.
In these straits he sought a reconciliation with the dauphin and his
Armagnac counsellors at Melun, on 11th July 1419. On 10th September a
second conference was arranged, and duke and dauphin, each with ten
attendants,