In the same year, on the 18th of April, 1349, Philip of Valois bought of Jayme of Arragon, the last king of Majorca, for one hundred and twenty thousand golden crowns, the lordship and town of Montpellier, thus trying to repair to some extent, for the kingdom of France, the losses he had caused it.

[Illustration:  John II., called the Good——­318]

His successor, John II., called the Good, on no other ground than that he was gay, prodigal, credulous, and devoted to his favorites, did nothing but reproduce, with aggravations, the faults and reverses of his father.  He had hardly become king when he witnessed the arrival in Paris of the Constable of France, Raoul, Count of Eu and of Guines, whom Edward III. had made prisoner at Caen, and who, after five years’ captivity, had just obtained, that is, purchased, his liberty.  Raoul lost no time in hurrying to the side of the new king, by whom he believed himself to be greatly beloved.  John, as soon as he perceived him, gave him a look, saying, “Count, come this way with me; I have to speak with you aside.”  “Right willingly, my lord.”  The king took him into an apartment, and showing him a letter, asked, “Have you ever, count, seen this letter anywhere but here?” The constable appeared astounded and troubled.  “Ah! wicked traitor,” said the king, “you have well deserved death, and, by my father’s soul, it shall assuredly not miss you;” and he sent him forthwith to prison in the tower of the Louvre.  “The lords and barons of France were sadly astonished,” says Froissart, “for they held the count to be a good man and true, and they humbly prayed the king that he would be pleased to say wherefore he had imprisoned their cousin, so gentle a knight, who had toiled so much and so much lost for him and for the kingdom.  But the king would not say anything, save that he would never sleep so long as the Count of Guines was living; and he had him secretly beheaded in the castle of the Louvre, whether rightly or wrongly; for which the king was greatly blamed, behind his back, by many of the barons of high estate in the kingdom of France, and the dukes and counts of the border.”  Two months after this execution, John gave the office of constable and a large portion of Count Raoul’s property to his favorite, Charles of Spain, a descendant of King Alphonso of Castille and naturalized in France; and he added thereto before long some lands claimed by the King of Navarre, Charles the Bad, a nickname which at eighteen years of age he had already received from his Navarrese subjects, but which had not prevented King John from giving him in marriage his own daughter, Joan of France.  From that moment a deep hatred sprang up between the King of Navarre and the favorite.  The latter was sometimes disquieted thereby.  “Fear nought from my son of Navarre,” said John; “he durst not vex you, for, if he did, he would have no greater enemy than myself.”  John did not yet know his son-in-law.  Two years later, in