But the joyous days of fete and pleasure at Quesnoy, at Paris,
and The Hague were fast drawing to a close. On the fourth of
April, 1417, the Dauphin John died by poisoning, in his father's
castle at Compiegne--the victim of those terrible and relentless
feuds that were then disgracing and endangering the feeble throne
of France.
The dream of future power and greatness as Queen of France, in
which the girl wife of the Dauphin had often indulged, was thus
rudely dispelled, and Jacqueline returned to her father's court
in Holland, no longer crown princess and heiress to a throne, but
simply "Lady of Holland."
But in Holland, too, sorrow was in store for her. Swiftly
following the loss of her husband, the Dauphin, came the still
heavier blow of her father's death. On the thirtieth of May,
1417, Count William died in his castle of Bouchain, in Hainault,
and his sorrowing daughter Jacqueline, now a beautiful girl of
sixteen, succeeded to his titles and lordship as Countess and
Lady Supreme of Hainault, of Holland, and of Zealand.
For years, however, there had been throughout the Low Countries a
strong objection to the rule of a woman.
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