Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY
Charles dit Bureau de la Rivière was the son of Jean II de la Rivière and Ysabeau d'Anguerant. With his wife Marguerite d'Auneau, he had a daughter Jeanne who would have progeny, marrying Jacques I de Châtillon, seigneur de Dampierre.
Bureau succeeded his elder brother Jean III as first chamberlain to Charles V, king of France. Of all those serving Charles V, Bureau was closest to him, as much his friend as his chamberlain. He had the king's confidence, they shared the same aspirations, they reasoned in the same way, and their reactions to events were similar. Like the king, Bureau was modest by nature, he had a pleasant character and he was endowed with great intelligence. As well as his role as chamberlain, Bureau took an active part in the governance of the kingdom of France. Charles V also used his talents as a diplomat, a role in which Bureau excelled.
In September 1380 the king collapsed from kidney failure at the château of Beauté-sur-Vincennes, following a recurrence of his long-standing gout condition. Bureau arrived just in time for the king to die in his arms. By his will of 1374, Charles V made Bureau his main executor, proof of the king's great confidence in him.
Charles VI was only twelve when his father died, but he was well aware of the excellent service by Bureau to his father. In October 1388 he appointed the old chamberlain to the King's Council, along with his father's old counsellors Jean Le Mercier and Jean de Montagu, and Bureau became one of the king's 'marmousets', the advisers of Charles VI. In 1392, after the king's first attacks of madness, Bureau was expelled from the King's Council by the king's uncles Jean I, duc de Berry, and Philippe 'the Bold', duc de Bourgogne, and he was imprisoned for a time.
Bureau died in 1400. Like Bertrand du Guesclin and Louis de Sancerre, he was honoured by being buried in the basilica of Saint-Denis near the king he had served with such loyalty.
|