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Journeys. Part 4
Journeys. Part 4
The Journey To Rouen. 1562
Now, as for the capture of Rouen, they killed many of our men both before
and at the attack: and the very next day after we had entered the town, I
trepanned eight or nine of our men, who had been wounded with stones as they
were on the breach. The air was so malignant, that many died, even of quite
small wounds, so that some thought the bullets had been poisoned: and those
within the town said the like of us; for though they had within the town all
that was needful, yet all the same they died like those outside.
The King of Navarre was wounded, some days before the attack, with a
bullet in the shoulder. I visited him, and helped to dress him, with one of
his own surgeons, Master Gilbert, one of the chief men of Montpellier, and
others. They could not find the bullet. I searched for it very accurately, and
found reason to believe it had entered at the top of the arm, by the head of
the bone, and had passed into the hollow part of the bone, which was why they
could not find it; and most of them said it had entered his body and was lost
in it. M. le Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon, who dearly loved the King of Navarre,
drew me aside and asked if the wound were mortal. I told him yes, because all
wounds of great joints, and especially contused wounds, were mortal, according
to all those who have written about them. He asked the others what they
thought of it, and chiefly Master Gilbert, who told him he had great hope his
Lord the King would recover; which made the Prince very glad.
Four days later, the King, and the Queen-mother, and M. le Cardinal de
Bourbon, his brother, and M. le Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon, and M. de Guise,
and other great persons, after we had dressed the King of Navarre, wished us
to hold a consultation in their presence, all the physicians and surgeons
together. Each of them said what he thought, and there was not one but had
good hope, they said, that he would recover. I persisted always in the
contrary. M. le Prince, who loved me, drew me aside, and said I was alone
against the opinion of all the others, and prayed me not to be obstinate
against so many good men. I answered, When I shall see good signs of recovery,
I will change my mind. Many consultations were held, and I never changed what
I said, and the prognosis I had made at the first dressing, and said always
the arm would fall into a gangrene, which it did, for all the care they could
give to it; and he rendered his spirit to God the eighteenth day after his
wound.
M. le Prince, having heard of it, sent to me his surgeon, and his
physician, one Lefevre, now physician-in-ordinary to the King and
Queen-mother, to say he wished to have the bullet, and we were to look for it,
to see where it was. Then I was very glad, and assured them I should quickly
find it; which I did in their presence, with many other gentlemen: it was just
in the very middle of the bone. M. le Prince took and showed it to the King
and to the Queen, who all said that my prognosis had come true. The body was
laid to rest at Chateau Gaillard: and I returned to Paris, where I found many
patients, who had been wounded on the breach at Rouen, and chiefly Italians,
who were very eager I should dress them: which I did willingly. Many of them
recovered: the rest died. Mon petit maistre, I think you were called to dress
some, for the great number there was of them.
The Battle Of Dreux. 1562
The day after the battle of Dreux, the King bade me go and dress M. le
Comte d`Eu, who had been wounded in the right thigh, near the hip-joint, with
a pistol-shot: which had smashed and broken the thigh-bone into many pieces:
whereon many accidents supervened, and at last death, to my great grief. The
day after I came, I would go to the camp where the battle had been, to see the
dead bodies. I saw, for a long league round, the earth all covered: they
estimated it at twenty-five thousand men or more; and it was all done in less
than two hours. I wish, mon petit maistre, for the love I bear you, you had
been there, to tell it to your scholars and your children.
Now while I was at Dreux, I visited and dressed a great number of
gentlemen, and poor soldiers, and among the rest many of the Swiss captains. I
dressed fourteen all in one room, all wounded with pistol-shots and other
diabolical firearms, and not one of the fourteen died. M. le Comte d`Eu being
dead, I made no long stay at Dreux. Surgeons came from Paris, who fulfilled
their duty to the wounded, as Pigray, Cointeret, Hubert, and others; and I
returned to Paris, where I found many wounded gentlemen who had retreated
thither after the battle, to have their wounds dressed; and I was not there
without seeing many of them.
The Journey To Havre De Grace. 1563
And I will not omit to tell of the camp at Havre de Grace. When our
artillery came before the walls of the town, the English within the walls
killed some of our men, and several pioneers who were making gabions. And
seeing they were so wounded that there was no hope of curing them, their
comrades stripped them, and put them still living inside the gabions, which
served to fill them up. When the English saw that they could not withstand our
attack, because they were hard hit by sickness, and especially by the plague,
they surrendered. The King gave them ships to return to England, very glad to
be out of this plague-stricken place. The greater part of them died, and they
took the plague to England, and they have not got rid of it since. Captain
Sarlabous, master of the camp, was left in garrison, with six ensigns of
infantry, who had no fear of the plague; and they were very glad to get into
the town, hoping to enjoy themselves there. Mon petit maistre, if you had been
there, you would have done as they did.
The Journey To Bayonne. 1564
I went with the King on that journey to Bayonne, when we were two years
and more making the tour of well-nigh all this kingdom. And in many towns and
villages I was called in consultation over sundry diseases, with the late M.
Chapelain, chief physician to the King, and M. Castellan, chief physician to
the Queen-mother; honorable men and very learned in medicine and surgery.
During this journey, I always inquired of the surgeons if they had noted
anything rare in their practices, so that I might learn something new. While
I was at Bayonne, two things happened worthy of remark by young surgeons. The
first is, I dressed a Spanish gentleman, who had a great and enormous swelling
of the throat. He had lately been touched by the deceased King Charles for the
king`s evil. I opened his swelling. . . . I left him in the hands of a surgeon
of the town, to finish his cure. M. de Fontaine, Knight of the Order of the
King, had a severe continued pestilent fever, accompanied with many
inflammatory swellings in sundry parts of the body. He had bleeding at the
nose for two days, without ceasing, nor could we staunch it: and after this
haemorrhage the fever ceased, with much sweating, and by and bye the swellings
suppurated, and he was dressed by me, and healed by the grace of God.
Battle Of Saint Denis. 1567
As for the battle of Saint Denis, there were many killed on both sides.
Our wounded withdrew to Paris to be dressed, with the prisoners they had
taken, and I dressed many of them. The King ordered me, at the request of Mme.
the Constable`s Lady, to go to her house to dress the Constable: who had a
pistol-shot in the middle of the spine of his back, whereby at once he lost
all feeling and movement in his thighs and legs . . . because the spinal cord,
whence arise the nerves to give feeling and movement to the parts below, was
crushed, broken, and torn by the force of the bullet. Also he lost
understanding and reason, and in a few days he died. The surgeons of Paris
were hard put to it for many days to treat all the wounded. I think, mon petit
maistre, you saw some of them. I beseech the great God of victories, that we
be never more employed in such misfortune and disaster.
Voyage Of The Battle Of Moncontour. 1569
During the battle of Moncontour, King Charles was at Plessis-les-Tours,
where he heard the news of the victory. A great number of gentlemen and
soldiers retreated into the town and suburbs of Tours, wounded, to be dressed
and treated; and the King and the Queen-mother bade me do my duty by them,
with other surgeons who were then on duty, as Pigray, du Bois, Portail, and
one Siret, a surgeon of Tours, a man well versed in surgery, who was at this
time surgeon to the King`s brother. And for the multitude of bad cases we had
scarce any rest, nor the physicians either.
M. le Comte de Mansfeld, Governor of the Duchy of Luxembourg, Knight of
the Order of the King, was severely wounded in the battle, in the left arm,
with a pistol-shot which broke a great part of his elbow; and he withdrew to
Borgueil near Tours. Then he sent a gentleman to the King, to beg him to send
one of his surgeons, to help him of his wound. So they debated which surgeon
they should send. M. le Marechal de Montmorency told the King and the Queen
that they ought to send him their chief surgeon; and urged that M. de Mansfeld
had done much toward the victory.
The King said flat he would not have me go, and wished me to stop with
himself. Then the Queen-mother told him I would but go and come back, and he
must remember it was a foreign lord, who had come, at the command of the King
of Spain, to help him. Then he let me go, provided I came back very soon. So
he sent for me, and the Queen-mother with him, and bade me go and find the
Lord de Mansfeld, wherever he should be, to do all I could for him to heal his
wound. I went to him, with a letter from Their Majesties. When he saw it, he
received me with good-will, and forthwith dismissed three or four surgeons who
were dressing him; which was to my very great regret, because his wound seemed
to me incurable.
Now many gentlemen had retreated to Borgueil, having been wounded: for
they knew that M. de Guise was there, who also had been badly wounded with a
pistol-shot through the leg, and they were sure that he would have good
surgeons to dress him, and would help them, as he is kindly and very generous,
and would relieve their wants. This he did with a will, both for their eating
and drinking, and for what else they needed: and for my part, they had the
comfort and help of my art: some died, others recovered, according to their
wounds. M. le Comte Ringrave died, who was shot in the shoulder, like the King
of Navarre before Rouen. M. de Bassompierre, colonel of twelve hundred horse,
was wounded by a similar shot, in the same place, as M. de Mansfeld: whom I
dressed, and God healed. God blessed my work so well, that in three weeks I
sent them back to Paris: where I had still to make incisions in M. de
Mansfeld`s arm, to remove some pieces of the bones, which were badly
splintered, broken, and carious. He was healed by the grace of God, and made
me a handsome present, so I was well content with him, and he with me; as he
has shown me since. He wrote a letter to M. le Duc d`Ascot, how he was healed
of his wound, and also M. de Bassompierre of his, and many others whom I had
dressed after the battle of Moncontour; and advised him to ask the King of
France to let me visit M. le Marquis d`Auret, his brother: which he did.
The Journey To Flanders. 1569
M. le Duc d`Ascot did not fail to send a gentleman to the King, with a
letter humbly asking he would do him so much kindness and honour as to permit
and command his chief surgeon to visit M. le Marquis d`Auret, his brother,
who had received a gunshot wound near the knee, with fracture of the bone,
about seven months ago, and the physicians and surgeons all this time had
not been able to heal him. The King sent for me and bade me go and see M.
d`Auret, and give him all the help I could, to heal him of his wound. I told
him I would employ all the little knowledge it had pleased God to give me.
I went off, escorted by two gentlemen, to the Chateau d`Auret, which is a
league and a half from Mons in Hainault, where M. le Marquis was lying. So
soon as I had come, I visited him, and told him the King had commanded me
to come and see him and dress his wound. He said he was very glad I had come,
and was much beholden to the King, who had done him so much honour as to send
me to him.
I found him in a high fever, his eyes deep sunken, with a moribund and
yellowish face, his tongue dry and parched, and the whole body much wasted and
lean, the voice low as of a man very near death: and I found his thigh much
inflamed, suppurating, and ulcerated, discharging a greenish and very
offensive sanies. I probed it with a silver probe, wherewith I found a large
cavity in the middle of the thigh, and others round the knee, sanious and
cuniculate: also several scales of bone, some loose, others not. The leg was
greatly swelled, and imbued with a pituitous humor...and bent and drawn back.
There was a large bedsore; he could rest neither day nor night; and had no
appetite to eat, but very thirsty. I was told he often fell into a faintness
of the heart, and sometimes as in epilepsy: and often he felt sick, with such
trembling he could not carry his hands to his mouth. Seeing and considering
all these great complications, and the vital powers thus broken down, truly I
was very sorry I had come to him, because it seemed to me there was little
hope he would escape death. All the same, to give him courage and good hope, I
told him I would soon set him on his legs, by the grace of God, and the help
of his physicians and surgeons.
Having seen him, I went a walk in a garden, and prayed God He would show
me this grace, that he should recover; and that He would bless our hands and
our medicaments, to fight such a complication of diseases. I discussed in my
mind the means I must take to do this. They called me to dinner. I came into
the kitchen, and there I saw, taken out of a great pot, half a sheep, a
quarter of veal, three great pieces of beef, two fowls, and a very big piece
of bacon, with abundance of good herbs: then I said to myself that the broth
of the pot would be full of juices, and very nourishing.
After dinner, we began our consultation, all the physicians and surgeons
together, in the presence of M. le Duc d`Ascot and some gentlemen who were
with him. I began to say to the surgeons that I was astonished they had not
made incisions in M. le Marquis` thigh, seeing that it was all suppurating,
and the thick matter in it very foetid and offensive, showing it had long been
pent up there; and that I had found with the probe caries of the bone, and
scales of bone, which were already loose. They answered me: "Never would he
consent to it"; indeed, it was near two months since they had been able to get
leave to put clean sheets on his bed; and one scarce dared touch the coverlet,
so great was his pain. Then I said, "To heal him, we must touch something else
than the coverlet of his bed." Each said what he thought of the malady of the
patient, and in conclusion they all held it hopeless. I told them there was
still some hope, because he was young, and God and Nature sometimes do things
which seem to physicians and surgeons impossible.
To restore the warmth and nourishment of the body, general frictions must
be made with hot cloths, above, below, to right, to left, and around, to draw
the blood and the vital spirits from within outward....For the bedsore, he
must be put in a fresh, soft bed, with clean shirt and sheets....Having
discoursed of the causes and complications of his malady, I said we must cure
them by their contraries; and must first ease the pain, making openings in the
thigh to let out the matter....Secondly, having regard to the great swelling
and coldness of the limb, we must apply hot bricks round it, and sprinkle them
with a decoction of nerval herbs in wine and vinegar, and wrap them in
napkins; and to his feet, an earthenware bottle filled with the decoction,
corked, and wrapped in cloths. Then the thigh, and the whole of the leg, must
be fomented with a decoction made of sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender, flowers
of chamomile and melilot, red roses boiled in white wine, with a drying powder
made of oak-ashes and a little vinegar and half a handful of salt....Thirdly,
we must apply to the bedsore a large plaster made of the desiccative red
ointment and of Unguentum Comitissoe, equal parts, mixed together, to ease his
pain and dry the ulcer; and he must have a little pillow of down, to keep all
pressure off it....And for the strengthening of his heart, we must apply over
it a refrigerant of oil of water-lilies, ointment of roses, and a little
saffron, dissolved in rose-vinegar and treacle, spread on a piece of red
cloth. For the syncope, from exhaustion of the natural forces, troubling the
brain, he must have good nourishment full of juices, as raw eggs, plums stewed
in wine and sugar, broth of the meat of the great pot, whereof I have already
spoken; the white meat of fowls, partridges` wings minced small, and other
roast meats easy to digest, as veal, kid, pigeons, partridges, thrushes, and
the like, with sauce of orange, verjuice, sorrel, sharp pomegranates; or he
may have them boiled with good herbs, as lettuce, purslain, chicory, bugloss,
marigold, and the like. At night he can take barley-water, with juice of
sorrel and of water-lilies, of each two ounces, with four or five grains of
opium, and the four cold seeds crushed, of each half an ounce; which is a good
nourishing remedy and will make him sleep. His bread to be farm-house bread,
neither too stale nor too fresh. For the great pain in his head, his hair must
be cut, and his head rubbed with rose-vinegar just warm, and a double cloth
steeped in it and put there; also a foreheadcloth, of oil of roses and
water-lilies and poppies, and a little opium and rose-vinegar, with a little
camphor, and changed from time to time. Moreover, we must allow him to smell
flowers of henbane and water-lilies, bruised with vinegar and rose-water,
with a little camphor, all wrapped in a handkerchief, to be held some time to
his nose. . . . And we must make artificial rain, pouring water from some high
place into a cauldron, that he may hear the sound of it; by which means sleep
shall be provoked on him. As for the contraction of his leg, there is hope of
righting it when we have let out the pus and other humors pent up in the
thigh, and have rubbed the whole knee with ointment of mallows, and oil of
lilies, and a little eau-de-vie, and wrapped it in black wool with the grease
left in it; and if we put under the knee a feather pillow doubled, little by
little we shall straighten the leg.
This my discourse was well approved by the physicians and surgeons.
The consultation ended, we went back to the patient, and I made three
openings in his thigh. . . . Two or three hours later, I got a bed made near
his old one, with fair white sheets on it; then a strong man put him in it,
and he was thankful to be taken out of his foul stinking bed. Soon after, he
asked to sleep; which he did for near four hours: and everybody in the house
began to feel happy, and especially M. le Duc d`Ascot, his brother.
The following days, I made injections, into the depth and cavities of the
ulcers, of Aegyptiacum dissolved sometimes in eau-de-vie, other times in wine.
I applied compresses to the bottom of the sinuous tracks, to cleanse and dry
the soft spongy flesh, and hollow leaden tents, that the sanies might always
have a way out; and above them a large plaster of Diacalcitheos dissolved in
wine. And I bandaged him so skilfully that he had no pain; and when the pain
was gone, the fever began at once to abate. Then I gave him wine to drink
moderately tempered with water, knowing it would restore and quicken the vital
forces. And all that we agreed in consultation was done in due time and
order; and so soon as his pains and fever ceased, he began steadily to amend.
He dismissed two of his surgeons, and one of his physicians, so that we were
but three with him.
Now I stopped there about two months, not without seeing many patients,
both rich and poor, who came to me from three or four leagues round. He gave
food and drink to the needy, and commended them all to me, asking me to help
them for his sake. I protest I refused not one, and did for them all I could,
to his great pleasure. Then, when I saw him beginning to be well, I told him
we must have viols and violins, and a buffoon to make him laugh: which he did.
In one month, we got him into a chair, and he had himself carried about in his
garden and at the door of his chateau, to see everybody passing by.
The villagers of two or three leagues round, now they could have sight
of him, came on holidays to sing and dance, men and women, pell-mell for a
frolic, rejoiced at his good convalescence, all glad to see him, not without
plenty of laughter and plenty to drink. He always gave them a hogshead of
beer; and they all drank merrily to his health. And the citizens of Mons in
Hainault, and other gentlemen, his neighbours, came to see him for the wonder
of it, as a man come out of the grave; and from the time he was well, he was
never without company. When one went out, another came in to visit him; his
table was always well covered. He was dearly loved both by the nobility and
by the common people; as for his generosity, so for his handsome face and his
courtesy: with a kind look and a gracious word for everybody, so that all who
saw him had perforce to love him.
The chief citizens of Mons came one Saturday, to beg him let me go to
Mons, where they wished to entertain me with a banquet, for their love of him.
He told them he would urge me to go, which he did; but I said such great
honour was not for me, moreover they could not feast me better than he did.
Again he urged me, with much affection, to go there, to please him: and I
agreed. The next day, they came to fetch me with two carriages: and when we
got to Mons, we found the dinner ready, and the chief men of the town, with
their ladies, who attended me with great devotion. We sat down to dinner, and
they put me at the top of the table, and all drank to me, and to the health of
M. le Marquis d`Auret: saying he was happy, and they with him, to have had me
to put him on his legs again; and truly the whole company were full of honour
and love for him. After dinner, they brought me back to the Chateau d`Auret,
where M. le Marquis was awaiting me; who affectionately welcomed me, and would
hear what we had done at our banquet; and I told him all the company had drunk
many times to his health.
In six weeks he began to stand a little on crutches, and to put on fat
and get a good natural colour. He would go to Beaumont, his brother`s place;
and was taken there in a carrying-chair, by eight men at a time. And the
peasants in the villages through which we passed, knowing it was M. le
Marquis, fought who should carry him, and would have us drink with them; but
it was only beer. Yet I believe if they had possessed wine, even hippocras,
they would have given it to us with a will. And all were right glad to see
him, and all prayed God for him.
When we came to Beaumont, everybody came out to meet us and pay their
respects to him, and prayed God bless him and keep him in good health. We came
to the chateau, and found there more than fifty gentlemen whom M. le Duc
d`Ascot had invited to come and be happy with his brother; and he kept open
house three whole days. After dinner, the gentlemen used to tilt at the ring
and play with the foils, and were full of joy at the sight of M. d` Auret,
for they had heard he would never leave his bed or be healed of his wound. I
was always at the upper end of the table, and everybody drank to him and to
me, thinking to make me drunk, which they could not; for I drank only as I
always do.
A few days later, we went back; and I took my leave of Mdme. la
Duchesse d`Ascot, who drew a diamond from her finger, and gave it me in
gratitude for my good care of her brother: and the diamond was worth more than
fifty crowns. M. d`Auret was ever getting better, and was walking all alone on
crutches round his garden. Many times I asked him to let me go back to Paris,
telling him his physician and his surgeon could do all that was now wanted for
his wound: and to make a beginning to get away from him, I asked him to let me
go and see the town of Antwerp. To this he agreed at once, and told his
steward to escort me there, with two pages. We passed through Malines and
Brussels, where the chief citizens of the town begged us to let them know of
it when we returned; for they too wished, like those of Mons, to have a
festival for me. I gave them very humble thanks, saying I did not deserve such
honour. I was two days and a half seeing the town of Antwerp, where certain
merchants, knowing the steward, prayed he would let them have the honour of
giving us a dinner or a supper: it was who should have us, and they were all
truly glad to hear how well M. d`Auret was doing, and made more of me than I
asked.
On my return, I found M. le Marquis enjoying himself: and five or six
days later I asked his leave to go, which he gave, said he, with great regret.
And he made me a handsome present of great value, and sent me back, with the
steward,and two pages, to my house in Paris.
I forgot to say that the Spaniards have since ruined and demolished his
Chateau d`Auret, sacked, pillaged, and burned all the houses and villages
belonging to him: because he would not be of their wicked party in their
assassinations and ruin of the Netherlands.
I have published this Apologia, that all men may know on what footing
I have always gone: and sure there is no man so touchy not to take in good
part what I have said. For I have but told the truth; and the purport of my
discourse is plain for all men to see, and the facts themselves are my
guarantee against all calumnies.
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