The Washington herald., 1911-08-28
PRETENDERS TO THE THRONE.

ceeded in securing confessions from the
sorcerers to the effect that they had
been subsidized by powerful mobiles to tell
the story! She was acquitted of the
Kings murder; then the death OF the in
fant Jean was taken up This was swept
away as readily. and the countess reigned
unspotted.
But the crime didn't avail Philippe longI
he passed away within five years. His
brother succeeded him for a year or
two, and then the subjects recognized that
the curse OF jacques de Molay, executed
by Philippe le Bel, had come true, for
on the stake he had prophesied that the
evil race OF Artois would end speedily.
1t ended, but France was not a gamer,
Tor the Valois line mounted the throne.
with them came the hundred years war
with Britain. ending in the miracle Of
Jeanne d'Arc
Fifteen years after the extinction of
the Artois dynasty there was an as
semblage of citizens in Sienna, Italy.
They were discussing the news that I,
French armies under Jean II had been
defeated by the British at Poitieres ana
the King himself taken prisoner. There
was a monk at that meeting who sud
denly surprised the assemblage by the
statement that God had punished the
royal house because the legitimate King
had been excluded from his rights by an
usurper:''
He averred that the baby, Prince
Jean i, who was supposed to have been
done to death by Countess d'Artois,
was living and in Sienna at the mo-
! ment. He was known to all of them
as Jean Baglioni. The assembly looked
volumes OF incredulity. for Jean Bag
| lioni was known to them as the son Of
Guccio Baglioni, who had made a ro-
mantle marriage with a foreign woman.
| He had separated from his wife and
/ returned to Sienna with a son Of ten
der years. At the end Of ten years he
| had died. leaving the boy without
means.
Jean Baglioni at the time was a pros
porous cloth merchant. When the mer-
| chants began to rally him on the
monks story. he affirmed all the monk
had said
He told them that Rienzi, the great
dictator OF Rome. only a few years be-
fore that episode, had sent for him. To
the great tribune Jean told his lfe's
story. His father, Guccio Mini di Bag
lioni. was sent to Paris in his twen-
tieth year as hostage for his uncle,
Spinello Tomeia, who had incurred the
wrath OF the French King. There Guc-
clio fell in love with Marie de Carsix.
and married her clandestinely. The
mother OF the girl caused the daughter
to be confined in a convent and brought
about the expulsion OF the husband
A few years later Guccio returned to
Paris and found that his wife had
given him a son. He strove to induce
her to fly with him to Sienna. She
wouldn't listen to this. All that he
could obtain was permission to take
Jean, the little boy, to Paris for a few
days. Instead of going to Paris, Cue
clio fled with his son to Sienna.
1t appears that little Jean was not
the son of Guccio and Marie de Carsix.
and that their baby reposed in the royal
tombs at Rheims. The boy raised at the
chateau of Carsix was the son Of Louis
X. born posthumously. His mother was
Clemence of Hungary, wife OF Louis the
one whom the Countess d'Artois tried
to strangle while holding him over the
baptismal font. 1t fell to the lot Of two
demestics who saw what was going on
to save the babys life. All this was
stated and confirmed by the great
Rienzi. He had his case written out
succinctly, and with the Rienzi docu-
ments forwarded to his maternal kins-
Clemence's brother. The Hungarian mon
arch replied that exhaustive examination
had verified all Jeans claims, but the
political situation prevented Hungary
from taking any active part in the res
titution at that time. FLANEUR.
Copyright, 1911. by Court Gossip syndicate.)