AGNES SOREL 



the leopards and quarterings of England had 

 been replaced by the fleur-de-lis. Charles, 

 preceded by a gorgeous procession of archers, 

 each company arrayed in the livery of its lord, 

 and carrying his special banner, followed, under 

 a canopy, on a horse caparisoned to the ground 

 with blue cloth sprinkled with fleurs-de-lis of 

 gold, surrounded by princes and the principal 

 captains and officers of the Crown. With his 

 wonted observance of religious duty, slowly he 

 made his way to the cathedral through the 

 shouting multitude, and to the sound of many 

 fiddles and the fanfare of trumpets. There -he 

 descended, kissed the relics as he knelt beneath 

 the great portal, and then entered its hushed 

 and solemn dimness to return thanks. But 

 scarce had the air ceased to ring with the 

 plaudits of the people, when the report of a plot 

 against the king, devised by the Dauphin, is 

 said to have come to the ears of Agnes, and she 

 hastened to the king at Jumieges, whither he 

 had retired for a short rest during the unusual 

 and inclement winter. Here, stricken by a 

 mysterious sickness, by some thought to be 

 typhoid fever, by others attributed to poison 

 administered at the instigation of Louis, she 

 died in February 1450, in her manor of Mesnil, 

 near the Abbey of Jumieges. The king was 

 with her to the end, and could only be induced 

 to withdraw when her lifeless form sank back 

 in his arms. So died this wonderful and fasci- 

 nating woman who had lived and laboured for 



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