that thou art abashed and grieved at what hath befallen thee in thy first
essay of knighthood, and that, to retrieve thine honor, thou wilt collect
a powerful army against me. I might, ere I release thee, bind thee by
oath not to take arms against me, neither thyself nor thy people. But
no; I will not exact this oath either from them or from thee. When thou
hast returned yonder, take up arms if it please thee, and come and attack
me. Thou wilt find me ever ready to receive thee in the open field, thee
and thy men-at-arms. And what I say to thee, I say for the sake of all
the Christians thou mayest purpose to bring. I fear them not; I was born
to fight them, and to conquer the world." Everywhere and at all times
human pride, with its blind arrogance, is the same. Bajazet saw no
glimpse of that future when his empire would be decaying, and held
together only by the interested protection of Christian powers. After
paying dearly for their errors and their disasters, Count John of Nevers
and his comrades in captivity re-entered France in February, 1398, and
their expedition to Hungary was but one of the last vain ventures of
chivalry in the great struggle that commenced in the seventh century
between Islamry and Christendom.

While this tragic incident was taking place in Eastern Europe, the court
of the mad king was falling a victim to rivalries, intrigues, and
scandals which, towards the close of this reign, were to be the curse and
the shame of France. There had grown up between Queen Isabel of Bavaria
and Louis, Duke of Orleans, brother of the king, an intimacy which,
throughout the city and amongst all honorable people, shocked even the
least strait-laced. It was undoubtedly through the queen's influence
that Charles VI., in 1402, suddenly decided upon putting into the hands
of the Duke of Orleans the entire government of the realm and the right
of representing him in everything during the attacks of his malady. The
Duke of Burgundy wrote at once about it to the parliament of Paris,