Philippe le Bon, son of Jean sans Peur, Grand duc de L'Occident.

A magnificent prince, at the same time cunning and chivalrous, reigning over the most fertile and active provinces of the kingdom, and maintaining order there, he recognized Henry VI of England as King of France, and brought the body of his father, Jean sans Peur, from Montereau to the Chartreuse at Dijon.

French in origin, Flemish at heart, and English by self-interest, Philippe was clever enough not to accept the regency of the kingdom; but he gave his sister to Bedford in marriage. It is well known how Gloucester's aims for the territories of the north turned Philippe to the French party, to which, however, he never adhered completely. Philippe le Bon, wavering and ambitious, was nevertheless the arbiter of the Franco-English struggle and until the Treaty of Arras (1435) he conducted missions, embassies, truces and negotiations which were sometimes favorable to the efforts of the French party, sometimes discouraging, and which led finally to Jeanne's destruction.

Philippe acted at that time like an actual King of France, which he always half-way dreamed of being, according to the testimony of Chastellain who has left an unforgettable portrait of him: "His outward bearing only judged him to be emperor."

It was thus that Philippe le Bon could receive the embassy from the besieged Orléannais, and recalled those of his subjects who were participating in the siege of that city, and then turn about and denounce at Reims a conspiracy on behalf of the French. Exhorted by the Maid to make peace, summoned by her to the coronation at Reims, Philippe le Bon concluded a treaty at Compiègne with the Dauphin, a treaty that Jeanne could not have accepted. He continued to levy troops and receive embassies.

We know that he was at Compiègne when Jeanne was taken captive, and that he had conversation with her. He announced the news of her capture to the world and received from the English government the account of her trial at Rouen.

It is very singular, after all that, to see that the first witness in Jeanne's favor after her condemnation is to be found in a manuscript which is dedicated to Philippe le Bon in 1440, in Martin Le Franc's Champion des Dames. a debate in which the pro and con are set forth.