father's place at this
assembly. The Duke of Burgundy had intrusted a Norman Cordelier, Master
John Petit, with his justification. The monk spoke for more than five
hours, reviewing sacred history, and the histories of Greece, Rome, and
Persia, and the precedents of Phineas, Absalom the son of David, Queen
Athaliah, and Julian the Apostate, to prove "that it is lawful, and not
only lawful, but honorable and meritorious, in any subject to slay or
cause to be slain a traitor and disloyal tyrant, especially when he is a
man of such mighty power that justice cannot well be done by the
sovereign." This principle once laid down, John Petit proceeded to apply
it to the Duke of Burgundy, "causing to be slain that criminal tyrant,
the Duke of Orleans, who was meditating the damnable design of thrusting
aside the king and his children from their crown;" and he drew from it
the conclusion that "the Duke of Burgundy ought not to be at all blamed
or censured for what had happened in the person of the Duke of Orleans,
and that the king not only ought not to be displeased with him, but ought
to hold the said lord of Burgundy, as well as his deed, agreeable to him,
and authorized by necessity." The defence thus concluded, letters were
actually put before the king, running thus: "It is our will and pleasure
that our cousin of Burgundy, his heirs and successors, be and abide at
peace with us and our successors, in respect of the aforesaid deed, and
all that hath followed thereon; and that by us, our said successors, our
people and officers, no hinderance, on account of that, may be offered
them, either now or in time to come."

Charles VI., weak in mind and will, even independently of his attacks,
signed these letters, and gave Duke John quite a kind reception, telling
him, however, that "he could cancel the penalty, but not the resentment
of everybody, and that it was for him to defend himself against perils
which were probably imminent." The duke answered proudly that "so long
as he stood in the king's good graces, he did not fear any man living."

Three days after this strange audience and this declaration, Queen
Isabel, but lately on terms of the closest intimacy with the Duke of
Orleans, who had been murdered on his way home after dining with her, was
filled with alarm, and set off suddenly for Melun, taking with her her
son Louis, the _dauphin_, and accompanied by nearly all the princes, who,
however, returned before long to P