Next, the King went to vespers and then out into his garden, where generally the Queen was with him, and where curious and beautiful things were often brought to them by the merchants. In winter he had different books read to him; stories from the Scriptures, philosophy, romances, &c., till supper, and during the rest of the evening he amused himself. Jeanne also had some one to read aloud to her while she was at dinner.
The King’s devotion to the Queen had never changed. From his boyish days at the court of his grandfather she had been the only woman he had ever loved. Without consulting her he would take no step of importance, and he cared for no pleasure she could not share. They lived, as Christine de Pisan says, _en paix et en amour_. Charles delighted in finding and giving her beautiful presents of jewels, curiosities, objects of art, or anything that he thought would please her.
Christine de Pisan describes with enthusiasm the way in which Jeanne held her court, the order and magnificence with which everything was arranged, whether in the daily life of her court and household, or in the splendid entertainments and ceremonies of state. She speaks of the beauty and dignity of Jeanne, as she appeared at these festivities, wearing her crown, her royal mantle of cloth of gold, or of silk covered with precious stones, and a girdle of jewels, accompanied by two or three queens (the two Queens-dowager, Jeanne and Blanche, and the Queen of Navarre), by her mother the Duchesse de Bourbon and by all the members of the royal family and court.
The peers of France in the time of Charles V. were as follows: Original peers ecclesiastical, called Clercs Ducs, _i.e._, the Archbishop of Reims and the Bishops of Laon and Langres; Clercs Comtes, _i.e._, the Bishops of Beauvais, Châlons, and Noyon.
Lay peers, _i.e._, Dukes of Burgundy, Normandy, and Aquitaine; Counts of Toulouse, Flanders, and Champagne.
But the King held in his hands the Counties of Toulouse and Champagne, and the following new ones had been created.
Comte d’Alençon, Duc de Bourbon, Comte d’Etampes, Comte d’Artois, Duc de Bretagne, Comte de Clermont and Roi de Navarre (as Comte d’Evreux).
The lay peers sat on the right of the King, the ecclesiastical on the left. New peers sat according to creation.[78]