Page:The Queens of England.djvu/197

 JOANNA OF NAVARRE. 165 inevitable peril consequent on such rashness. She pleaded suc- cessfully, and the duke ordered that the ambassadors should be treated with the usual respect. But he was soon again involved in trouble by harboring the traitor Pierre de Craon, who had attempted to assassinate the Constable of France in the Place de St. Katherine. The Constable escaped the hand of Craon, and the assassin fled into the territories of the duke, who, re- fusing to surrender him, a large army, headed by the king him- self, entered the duchy. The duke's ruin seemed inevitable, but the sudden illness of Charles the Sixth put an end to the enterprise, and John "le Valiant" was rescued from his peril. In 1393 the Duke of Brittany besieged De Clisson in the castle of Josselin, and the Viscount Rohan was deputed to plead with the duchess to persuade her husband to raise the siege. Joanna readily undertook to do so, for she was always more favorable toward De Clisson than the duke, who, upon this oc- casion, also acceded to his wife's request De Clisson returned to his allegiance, and paid the duke uie sum of 100,000 golden francs. His confederates also obtained the duke's favor through the same intercession ; and in the treaty which they entered into, in 1393, Joanna, as though an independent sovereign, agreed to "promise, grant and swear that she would aid and defend the aforesaid." The Duke of Brittany aspired to the highest alliances for his children. He projected the marriage of his eldest son, when but eight years old, to the second daughter of the King of France, and his eldest daughter, although but seven, to Henry, the son of the Earl of Derby, and afterward Henry the Fifth of England. The first of these alliances only took place ; and the daughter, whose name was Mary, was subsequently contracted to the Earl of Alencon. During the frequent absences of the duke from his duchy, Joanna was entrusted with the administration ; so that she grad- ually became exercised in those duties, which it was afterward necessary for her to fulfill. When Henry of Lancaster, afterward Henry the Fourth of England, returned to England after the death of John of Gaunt, with the intention of claiming his inheritance, and in the remote expectation of the regal crown, he passed through Brit- tany, accompanied by the exiled Archbishop Arundel. He re- ceived the most cordial welcome from John "le Valiant," who