e bought over
influential bodies, such as universities and other corporation, by
granting exemptions from, or privileges in, matters of taxation, &c. So
much was this the case that it may be said that Charles VII. treated by
private contract for the recovery of the inheritances of his fathers. The
towns of Paris and Rouen, as well as the provinces of Brittany, Languedoc,
Normandy, and Guyenne, only returned to their allegiance to the King on
conditions more or less advantageous to themselves. Burgundy, Picardy, and
Flanders--which were removed from the kingdom of Charles VII. at the
treaty of peace of Arras in 1435--cordially adopted the financial system
inaugurated by the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good.

[Illustration: Fig. 284.--The House of Jacques Coeur at Bourges, now
converted into the Hotel de Ville.]

Charles VII. reconquered his kingdom by a good and wise policy as much as
by arms. He, doubtless, had cause to be thankful for the valeur and
devotion of his officers, but he principally owed the success of his cause
to one man, namely, his treasurer, the famous Jacques Coeur, who possessed
the faculty of always supplying money to his master, and at the same time
of enriching himself (Fig. 284). Thus it was that Charles VII., whose
finances had been restored by the genius of Jacques Coeur, was at last
able to re-enter his capital triumphantly, to emancipate Guyenne,
Normandy, and the banks of the Loire from the English yoke, to reattach to
the crown a portion of its former possessions, or to open the way for
their early return, to remove bold usurpers from high places in the State,
and to bring about a real alleviation of those evils which his subjects
had so courageously borne. He suppressed the fraud and extortion carried
on under the name of justice, put a stop to the sale of offices, abolished
a number of rates illegally levied, required that the receivers' accounts
should be sent in biennially, and whilst regulating the taxation, he
devoted its proceeds entirely to the maintenance and pay of the army. From
that time taxation, once feudal and arbitrary, became a fixed royal due,
which was the surest means of preventing the pillage and the excesses of
the soldiery to which the country people had been subjected for many
years. Important triumphs of freedom were thus obtained over the
tyrannical supremacy of the great vassals; but in the midst of all this
improvement we cannot but regret that the assessors, who