pective pretensions of the
provinces or of the three orders--naturally increased the importance of
this supreme magistracy. More than once the kings had cause to repent
having rendered it so powerful, and this was the case especially with the
Parliament of Paris. In this difficulty it is interesting to note how the
kings acted. They imperceptibly curtailed the various powers of the other
courts of justice, they circumscribed the power of the Parliament of
Paris, and proportionately enlarged the jurisdiction of the great
bailiwicks, as also that of the Chatelet. The provost of Paris was an
auxiliary as well as a support to the royal power, which nevertheless held
him in its grasp. The Chatelet was also a centre of action and of
strength, which counteracted in certain cases parliamentary opposition.
Thence arose the most implacable rivalries and dissensions between these
various parties.

[Illustration: Fig. 306.--Promulgation of an Edict.--Fac-simile of a
Miniature in "Anciennetes des Juifs," (French Translation from Josephus),
Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, executed for the Duke of Burgundy
(Library of the Arsenal of Paris.)]

It is curious to notice with what ingenuity and how readily Parliament
took advantage of the most trifling circumstances or of charges based upon
the very slightest grounds to summon the officers of the Chatelet before
its bar on suspicion of prevarication or of outrages against religion,
morals, or the laws. Often were these officers and the provost himself
summoned to appear and make _amende honourable_ before the assembly,
notwithstanding which they retained their offices. More than once an
officer of the Chatelet was condemned to death and executed, but the King
always annulled that part of the sentence which had reference to the
confiscation of the goods of the condemned, thus proving that in reality
the condemnation had been unjust, although for grave reasons the royal
authority had been unable to save the victim from the avenging power of
Parliament. Hugues Aubriot, the provost, was thus condemned to
imprisonment for life on the most trivial grounds, and he would have
undergone capital punishment if Charles V. had abandoned him at the time
of his trial. During the English occupation, in the disastrous reign of
Charles VI., the Chatelet of Paris, which took part with the people, gave
proof of extraordinary energy and of great force of character. The blood
of many of its members was sh