ay
most easily be omitted--before you end a visit to the Cathedral, that
is meant to remind you of what is usually forgotten. It is the small
monument in the Chapelle de la Vierge, opposite the great tomb of the
d'Amboises, and next to the magnificent sepulchre on which Diane de
Poitiers mourns for her lost husband. It is generally passed over
because its neighbour's grandeur overshadows it, and it has very
little left to show its value except the beautifully sculptured canopy
and the exquisite carvings and initials on the columns at the side.
This is the tomb of Pierre de Breze, Seneschal of Normandy, who
married Jeanne de Bec Crespin, with a dowry of 90,000 crowns; and it
is he who entered Rouen with the King of France in November 1449, when
the English occupation ceased. He was a brave soldier and a bold
adventurer, both then and afterwards. In 1457, filibustering on the
English coast, he captured Sandwich and took a heavy ransom for the
port. Six years afterwards Louis XI. sent him across the channel again
to fight on the side of Margaret of Anjou. In the war of the League of
Public Weal, he stayed loyal to his master, and was killed by the
rebels at Montlhery in 1465. "Pierre de Breze tomba au premier rang,"
writes Commines, "de la mort des braves. Le premier homme qui y mourut
ce fut luy." The friend of Dunois and Xaintrailles could have had no
better end. But it is more with the official than the man that I have
here to do.

The Seneschal of Normandy is an official who is found already at the
Court of the Norman dukes when the province was independent. In the
matter of justice and finance, he held supreme power next to his
sovereign, and is called "La Justice de Normandie" by Wace. He also
presided at meetings of the Echiquier de Normandie in both his
capacities, and it is known that such men as Odo of Bayeux and William
Fitzosbern held this honourable office. With the arrival of Philip
Augustus in Normandy, the office falls into abeyance until the
English appeared in the fifteenth century with the Burgundian motto of
freedom for the people, and restoration of the ancient liberties of
government. The English officials were determined to carry out their
projects thoroughly, and when once they were fixed firmly in Rouen
they began to look through the old charters of Normandy to see what
ancient liberties they could restore. The Grand Seneschal of the
Norman dukes (who had also been English kings) was soon discover