are like him in their disciplined living and estate; there is no vanity or
extravagance at the court of this prince, and he is at the same time rich
and loved and feared by all. Gracieuse(also called Souveraine) has
accommodation for all those necessary on the greatest ship since Noah’s
ark, people of every trade and agricultural skill: we are presented again
with the whole of society in order to place the ruling part within it. The
quality of the vessel’s money and crew are the envy of the seventeen
other ships, representing Christian kingdoms from Scotland to Armenia,
with which the French ship trades on the long voyage. Over the
centuries Gracieuse, with its three decks standing for the estates of the
clergy, nobles, and people, and its twelve castles for the strongholds of
the twelve peers of France, has had to suffer terrific storms and much
damage from the attacks of Malvoisine, the ship of England. In the Old
Pilgrim’s time ignorance of the law of merchants and the rebellion of
the mariners once again let in this enemy, but God has raised up a
young master [Charles V], who by good sense and without great battles
recovered much that had been lost. The lesson concerning the govern-
ing hierarchy which the figure of the ship makes most effectively is that
to rely on councillors who seek only to live ‘in too great estate’ invites
disaster to the polity. A vivid account of the shipwreck of a king of
Cyprus illustrates the consequences of not listening to ‘ancient and loyal
mariners’.^62
In de Mézière’s third book Truth moralizes the government of France
in terms of a four-wheeled chariot from which the king plays a game
of chess—an unlikely metaphor which turns out to allow a detailed
breakdown of the government and a set of practical proposals for its
improvement. Officials must be chosen carefully and should be required
to submit reports on their performance at least every two months,
treasurers accounting for the state of the crown lands, captains
(chevetaines) for the state of the kingdom’s frontiers, others for the state
of parlementand how poor litigants are being protected from the wiles
of advocates. The ultimate goal of government is the public good, which
consists in justice, peace with England, a sound currency, and a healthy
commerce such as the Old Pilgrim has seen in Cyprus and contrasts with
the poverty and savagery of Scotland. There should be an open review
with the three estates of the service they owe to the king, and also what
subjects, especially of the knighthood, should receive from the king,
‘according to their estate’. The French people (le peuple gallican) must
no longer be impoverished by the unceasing demand for aids, which has
caused much disaffection and almost sunk ‘the French ship’; the needs
of the chose publiqueshould be met by agreement as ‘between two
276 Monarchical State of the Later Middle Ages
(^62) Le Songe du Vieil Pèlerin, i. 525–6, 532–3, 537–8, 543–5, 549 ff., 580–2, 587–9,
594–630.