The Royal Succession (32 page)

decorations given in the course of the chapter concerning the coronation of Philippe V are taken from t
he account books of his bursar.

34. The electors of Hugues Capet - from which derives their title of peer, that is to say, equal to the King - had been: the Duke of Burgundy, the Duke of Normandy, the Duke of Guyenne, the Count of Champagne, the Count of Flanders and the Count of Toulouse.

No one either descended from or holding the titles of the six original lay peers was present at Philippe V's coronation.

35. A few months later, in September 1317, the Pope wrote to Queen Jeanne's confessor givin
g him the power to absolve her
of, all the sins she had confessed three years earlier'. It seems unlikely that Philippe V could have asked his friend Dueze for this official absolution if he had not firmly believed in the innocence of his wife, at least as far as adultery was concerned.

36. Five centuries later, in his speech of March 21st, 1817, in the Chamber of Peers, concerning a finance act, Chateaubriand brought forward in argument this ordinance of Philippe the Long's, promulgated in 1318, by which the domains of the Crown had been declared inalienable.