38 Lionel's Journey to Italy 



king.^^ On Tuesday, the two dukes entertained him and his 

 knights at dinner and supper at the Hotel d'Artois.^^ Among 

 those present at the banquet, besides the nobles mentioned above, 

 the Counts of Armagnac, Eu, and Etampes, Robert d'Alengon, 

 Constable of France, the Archbishop of Sens, and the Bishop 

 of Nevers.^- That night he slept at the Louvre, and on Wednes- 

 day dined and supped again with the king, who bestowed upon 



In Lionel's visits to King John, with whom were the Dukes of Berry 

 and Bourbon, the Counts of Eu and Tancarville (see Kervyn 6. 388), 

 and Robert d'Alengon (the last three mentioned below), there would 

 have been only a renewal of the graceful courtesy he, in conjunction with 

 two of his brothers, had shown the king in 1360, on his release at Calais. 

 King John's first act then was one of devotion. Grateful for his deliv- 

 erance, he decided to perform a pilgrimage, barefoot, to the shrine of 

 Notre Dame at Boulogne (where the future Charles V offered, July 2, 

 1362, five candles, each weighing 32 pounds; Delachenal 2. 312; cf. 

 Michelet 5. 28), twenty miles distant. Immediately Lionel, then 21 years 

 of age, the Black Prince (30), and Edward Ill's fifth son, Edmund (19), 

 offered themselves as his companions. They started on the morning of 

 Oct. 2y (Coville, in Lavisse V 156, says that King John left Calais on 

 Sunday, Oct. 25), and, all barefoot alike, walked the distance so briskly 

 that they were at Boulogne before dinner. The religious ceremony over, 

 they abandoned themselves to merry-making. The next morning early 

 the three princes returned to Calais, where their father was awaiting them, 

 and whence they sailed for Dover on Oct. 31 (Kervyn 6. 320-1). 



Another bond uniting these table-mates was their youth. The eldest, 

 the Green Count, Lionel's future uncle by marriage, was only four years 

 older than Lionel; the king and Bourbon were a year older; the queen 

 and Coucy of the same age; Berry, two years younger; and Burgundy, 

 four years younger. Thus everything must have favored a joyous aban- 

 donment to the pleasure of the moment. Yet Michelet (5. 22-22,) points 

 out that at this moment the English companies of adventure were 

 ravaging Champagne, and from there to the very suburbs of Paris. Else- 

 where (5. 34, 35) Michelet speaks of the egregious pride and ambition of 

 the English. 



^ Grandes Chroniques, as above. For the festivities in France at this 

 period, see De Noirmont (i. 93) : 'Malgre les desastres de Crecy et de 

 Poitiers, le regne des premiers Valois [1328-1380] fut I'apogee de la 

 royaute feodale. Leur cour etait une fete eternelle, une brillante imita- 

 tion de la Table ronde du roi Arthus. Dans les intervalles des grandes 

 guerres, banquets, tournois, et chasses splendides s'y succedaient sans 

 interruption.' 



"^ Op. cit., pp. 251-2. 



" Cordey, p. 184. 



